Free Republic

MIAMI (CNN) - Inside a plane at Miami International Airport, baggage handlers are going on a shopping spree with passengers' bags. What they don't know is that they are being recorded on a hidden camera. The Miami-Dade Police Department set up the camera as part of an ongoing police investigation into luggage thefts by the very airport workers who are supposed to get bags safely onto planes. "It's a problem we all face," said police Lt. Pete Estis. "We will continue to be proactive until we can see that the claims of pilfering through luggage will actually decrease."And these insider...

Mayor Rahm Emanuel appeared to suggest renaming one of Chicago’s airports after President Barack Obama on Thursday, but also sounded confused about how the O’Hare and Midway got their current names. During a mayoral forum at Chicago State University, the mayor seemed a bit flustered as he answered a question about his quick about-face after he suggested naming a Chicago high school for President Barack Obama, and renaming Stony Island Avenue for the late civic leader Rev. Arthur Brazier. That’s when the mayor brought up the city’s two airports. “We have to, in some way, whether it’s President Obama or...

The White House said Monday that taxpayers paid for first lady Michelle Obama and President Obama to fly on separate planes to Los Angeles on the same day last week because they were traveling to “different airports” on slightly different schedules. “They flew into different airports,” said White House press secretary Josh Earnest. “It’s also my understanding that the first lady actually left to get back to Washington, D.C., before the president even arrived in California.” Mr. Obama flew to Los Angeles International airport last Thursday on Air Force One, arriving around 4 p.m. local time for an appearance on

Ibrahim Mohamed has worked at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport for almost 11 years. Within that time, his jobs have ranged from cabinet-maker, to ticket-verifier to, currently, a cart driver. "Absolutely, I do enjoy my job that's why I stay on it still," he said. But now Mohamed faces a new and daunting challenge. He's been appointed by Governor Mark Dayton to the 14-member Metropolitan Airports Commission. He will be the only current airport employee. Mohamed's appointment is also historic and has not gone unnoticed. "His appointment is welcomed by the community but it also shows that it's long overdue,"...

Dubai airport has soared ahead of London's Heathrow, riding a boom in long-haul flights between Asia and the West to become the world's top international travel hub, it said Tuesday. Traffic at the airport increased 6.1 percent last year to 70.47 million passengers, Dubai Airports said, adding that it expected a further surge in traveller numbers in 2015. Dubai International is home to Emirates, the Middle East's largest carrier, which along with Abu Dhabi's Etihad and Qatar Airways has seized a significant portion of travel between the West, Asia and Australasia.

Dubai leapfrogged Heathrow to become the world's busiest airport for international passengers in 2014, the head of the Gulf hub said on Monday. Dubai International airport dealt with about 71m international passengers in 2014, according to chief executive Paul Griffiths, surpassing the 68.1 million that passed through Heathrow. "Heathrow is losing a lot of traffic to Dubai because we're able to cater for the connections that Heathrow no longer has the capacity to service," said Mr Griffiths, referring to how the UK's largest airport is operating at near full capacity on its two runways.

Bah, humbug! A passenger was tossed off a plane at La Guardia Airport on Tuesday after flipping out — because airline workers wished him a merry Christmas. The man was waiting to board American Airlines Flight 1140 to Dallas when a cheerful gate agent began welcoming everyone with the Yuletide greeting while checking boarding passes. The grumpy passenger, who appeared to be traveling alone, barked at the woman, “You shouldn’t say that because not everyone celebrates Christmas.” ...

New York LaGuardia has been named as the most frustrating airport in the US and Canada. Taking into account the time it takes to get there, the security processes, the quality of the terminals and facilities, and how many flights get delayed, LaGuardia takes the crown it doesn't want. Around 3,000 frequent flyers gave their opinions on 36 airports in the US and Canada; the 25 busiest US airports are listed as well as six of the seven busiest in Canada.

Stepping up efforts to stop the Ebola epidemic from spreading widely in the United States, federal authorities and officials in Chicago on Wednesday announced preventive measures that will include more intense health screening for airline passengers arriving at O'Hare International Airport from West African countries. **SNIP** When screening starts at O'Hare, federal personnel will staff a triage station in the international arrivals area and run passports of passengers coming from Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone to determine whether they've been in affected regions, Hasbrouck said. Passengers will fill out questionnaires and may be subject to fever detection, he said. Temperatures...

President Barack Obama said on Monday his administration was working on additional protocols for screening airplane passengers to identify people who might have Ebola and would step up efforts to make medical professionals aware of what to do if they encounter a case. Obama made the disclosure after meeting top administration officials involved in attempting to prevent an outbreak of Ebola in the United States. After a series of missteps involving the handling of a man who arrived in Dallas from Liberia with Ebola, Obama said "we have learned lessons in terms of what happened in Dallas."

Several African nations have restricted or banned air travel from Ebola-stricken countries, and airlines including Kenya Airways, British Airways, Air Cote D’Ivoire and Nigeria's Arik Air have suspended flights from the countries. Front Page Africa reported on Wednesday, though, that Kenya Airways and Air Cote D’Ivoire are expected to resume some of their so-called "Ebola flights" this month. Others airlines have greatly reduced air travel in the region.

A double-wide mobile-home trailer that used to serve as an elementary-school classroom is now the airport terminal. A conference room is the Hertz rental counter. And there is no baggage carousel, just a small counter where baggage workers pile luggage. Sloulin Field International Airport here wasn't built to be one of the fastest-growing airports in the world, but it is now. Traffic last year was 254% higher than just two years earlier. Airlines fly in with jets weighing twice as much as what the runway was built for. And when the parking lot is full, cars are left in ditches...

Promoting travel to the U.S. as a job creator, President Barack Obama wants to make it easier for people from other countries to visit the 50 states and spend money at their hotels, restaurants, tourist attractions and other businesses. Obama planned to discuss the economic benefits of tourism to the U.S. and the latest steps he is taking to boost it at the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York, on Thursday. Obama acted two years ago to speed the processing of tourist visas for visitors from China and Brazil, steps that have dramatically reduced the length...

Concealed Firearms– Normally when our officers discover firearms, they’re inside carry-on bags. This week, three loaded firearms were discovered on the passenger. A 380. caliber firearm loaded with five rounds and one chambered was discovered strapped to a passenger’s ankle after walking through a metal detector at Cincinnati (CVG). A loaded 380. caliber firearm with a round chambered was discovered in the rear pocket of a San Antonio (SAT) passenger during Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT) screening. A 380. caliber firearm loaded with five rounds was discovered after a passenger walked through a metal detector at Dallas – Ft. Worth (DFW)....

Skytrax has released the results of its annual World Airport Awards and, once again, Singapore's Changi Airport has taken the top spot. It's no surprise that Changi came out on top again. The international transit hub has incredible amenities, such as a butterfly garden, rooftop pool, movie theaters, hotels, spas, and showers — and even a four-story slide. Skytrax based its rankings on 12.85 million customer nominations across 110 nationalities and included 410 airports worldwide. It incorporated passenger satisfaction across nearly 40 categories, including service and shopping and security and immigration. All the airports commended last year made the 2014...

SNIPPET: "The arrest of a woman accused of hiding more than 10,000 diamonds inside her body when she landed at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport comes amid warnings that Canada is one of the countries where illicit diamonds have been used for money laundering." SNIPPET: "The woman had landed at Pearson on a Feb. 3 flight from Trinidad and Tobago, when she came to the attention of a Canada Border Services Agency officer, according to CBSA spokeswoman Vanessa Barrasa. The RCMP said the woman was found to have carried 10,202 stones inside her. The 1,500 carats (about 300 grams) of rough...

A former TSA officer has confirmed many of the worst suspicions about airport security screeners: they stop passengers for having an attitude, they confiscate snow globes from children and nail clippers from pilots, they profile passengers based on their nationality. And yes, they do see travelers naked in the X-ray photos. ... ‘I confiscated jars of homemade apple butter on the pretense that they could pose threats to national security. I was even required to confiscate nail clippers from airline pilots—the implied logic being that pilots could use the nail clippers to hijack the very planes they were flying,’ he...

Over a decade of experience has shown that the nationalization of airport screening was a mistake. ... Private airport screening is the successful approach used by many other high-income nations. Indeed, all main airports in Canada use private screening firms, as do more than 80 percent of Europe’s main airports.

Antony Piazza is stopped at Pierre Trudeau Airport during security screening early Sunday morning. Piazza was stopped at Pierre Trudeau Airport during security screening early Sunday morning when bomb components -- but no actual explosives -- were found in his carry-on luggage, and his duplex in the Montreal suburb of La Salle was searched, according to media reports from Montreal. Antony Piazza, who changed his name from Houshang Nazemi in 1986, ... A native of Tehran, Iran, Piazza moved to Canada in 1979. In 1985, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison for drug trafficking, according to CBC News...

China has spent billions on building some of the largest and most modern airports in the world, but, much to everyone’s embarrassment, it seems unable to get planes to fly between them on time. Last month, only 18 per cent of the 22,000 flights out of Beijing’s Capital airport departed on schedule, according to the aviation research company FlightStats, making it the world’s worst major airport for punctuality. Not one Chinese airport managed to get even half of its flights to leave on time. The delays have seen mobs of angry passengers mount at least eight large protests at departure...