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Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's activation of the California National Guard to bolster airline security began seamlessly at some airports on Friday, appeared haphazard at others and was rejected at Oakland International - one of three airports the governor said was most important to protect. With 640 activated troops, the Guard's first airport deployment since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks was to begin costing about $128,000 a day in anti-terror funding. The scattershot nature of the deployment was evident throughout the state, with troops helping ease long lines at security checkpoints in Southern California but being relegated to distant fields in San...

Three years after the extension opened, ridership is nowhere near what BART officials had hoped. The route is losing money, and BART is embroiled in a funding fight with another Peninsula transit agency. Prior to construction, BART projected there would be 17,800 average daily boardings to and from the airport by the year 2010. During the first year of operation that began in 2003, there were 5,864 daily boardings, the second year 6,675, and the third year 7,116. Likewise, ridership to and from the three other stations on the airport extension route -- in South San Francisco, San Bruno and...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Part of a San Francisco International Airport terminal was evacuated for several hours Sunday after a suspicious item was found in a piece of luggage, officials said. A baggage screener in the American Airlines section of Terminal 3 "noticed a suspicious item" in a passenger's carryon bag around 2 p.m., said airport spokesman Mike McCarron. Authorities would not say what exactly was found in the bag, but San Francisco police Lt. Bill Darr said "there were items, articles inside the carryon luggage that did resemble components of a possible device." Two men and a woman, all...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Fifteen airport cargo handlers have pleaded guilty to charges of stealing items being mailed to military personnel stationed in Okinawa, Japan, authorities said Tuesday. Nearly 600 incidents of theft were reported since November 2003 with an estimated $200,000 in losses. U.S. Postal Inspectors and military criminal investigators noted suspicious behavior among cargo handlers employed by Aeroground at San Francisco International Airport. Workers concealed merchandise under their clothing and took it to their vehicles in an adjoining parking lot, according to court documents. Stolen items included laptop computers, DVD players, jewelry, Victoria's Secret merchandise and digital cameras....

Breaking - suspicious bag, person in custody, more to come.

San Bruno -- It was an odd sight at San Francisco International Airport this morning: A 747 sitting on its tail with its nose in the air. The pilot of the previously Tokyo-bound United Airlines jet had returned to SFO Monday afternoon because of a hydraulic problem. Some of the hydraulic gear collapsed and the plane went nose-up at about 1 a.m. while maintenance crews were working on repairs, said SFO spokesman Mike McCarron. The hydraulic system is responsible for braking and lifting and lowering the landing gear. The pilot noticed a problem with the hydraulic system Monday about two...

Breaking on Fox: United flight from NY to SF makes emergency landing in Chicago. Passenger told flight attendants his seatmate had some "suspicious" items: vials of liquid, wires, and a portable DVD player.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Thirteen cargo handlers at San Francisco International Airport were charged Friday with stealing $200,000 worth of computers, cameras and other goods from mail bound for U.S. soldiers stationed in Japan, authorities said Friday. The 13 defendants, employees of cargo staffing company Aeroground, were arrested Thursday and early Friday and arraigned on charges of stealing and conspiring to steal U.S. mail, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in San Francisco. "We will not tolerate abuse of our mail system, and we will make every effort to ensure that postal customers and our postal system are protected and...

TSA Does Not Allow Military Personnel to Get Off the Plane at SFO Source: kcbs Publication date: 2005-03-17 (KCBS) - Military personnel returning from Afghanistan did not get a warm welcome when they touched down in San Francisco. KCBS reporter Margie Shafer learned that soldiers fighting the war on terror were not allowed to disembark this week, because of security concerns. The soldiers landed on a chartered ATA aircraft, but were forced to remain on the plane for three hours, while it refueled. "There are some security issues involved here. They have weapons," said Ed Gomez with the Transportation Security...

A flight of F-15's made two passes over SFO. Anybody hear anything?

I've seen an internal FAA memo stating suspicious letters sent to AT control at 5 airports: JFK, BWI, SFO, HNL & LAX. Canadian postage. One letter conatained a drawing of the "Grim Reaper". JTTF is on this, and any more info would help.

A London-bound Virgin Atlantic flight will depart from San Francisco this afternoon after being delayed for more than 20 hours by an investigation sparked by a passenger acting strangely. Virgin grounded the plane, which was scheduled to leave San Francisco International Airport Monday evening, after one passenger began making the other passengers feel uncomfortable, according to Virgin and FBI officials. The incident occurred one day after the Department of Homeland Security raised the terror alert level from yellow to orange for specific buildings in New York City, New Jersey and Washington, D.C. FBI Special Agent LaRae Quy said the problem...

Feds Take Man Off Plane SAN FRANCISCO -- San Francisco International Airport was on alert Monday night after a plane was grounded. An individual created a disturbance onboard a Virgin Atlantic flight that was headed for London's Heathrow International Airport. The man did not take his seat when he was supposed to be seated, authorities said. The FBI said it took him off the plane as a "person of interest" and took him in for questioning. Passengers onboard were asked to exit the plane and were placed in a hotel for the night. The flight will be rescheduled for Tuesday.

A Virgin Atlantic Airways flight bound for London from San Francisco International Airport was canceled Monday night after suspicious behavior by several passengers was reported to authorities. Virgin's Flight 20, scheduled to leave at 4:30 p.m., was barred from departing "based on suspicious activity by some passengers,'' said Nico Melendez, a spokesman for the federal Transportation Security Administration. The FBI later took charge of the case, according to a San Francisco police spokesman.

SAN FRANCISCO - Air New Zealand broke its nine-year drought on inaugural routes yesterday when its Lord of the Rings promo plane coasted onto the San Francisco tarmac and released 50 jetlagged guests into a day of celebration and champagne. The direct route, flying three times a week in each direction, is expected to become a valuable connection for tourists and exports. By 2006 Air New Zealand's new Boeing 777s - ordered last month and due to arrive in September next year - are likely to provide daily flights to San Francisco. The airline has been considering the route for...

It’s difficult to maintain an attitude of arrogant superiority when entire million square-foot office buildings stand nearly vacant and are sold for half of their original construction cost, when local unemployment rates remain well above national averages, as the rest of the economy picks up speed, and when downtown sidewalks reek of urine and feces, courtesy of the homeless beneficiaries of America’s most extensive support infrastructure. San Francisco, “the city which knows how” (to sneer at lesser burgs, unblessed with scenery, climate, sex and pot clubs, and far left politics), is pulling out all the stops to lure new business...

Key immigration tracking system coming to SFO Foreigners entering country will have to take photo, give fingerprints San Francisco International Airport will on Monday become one of 115 airports with a new system to electronically verify the identity of foreign tourists and track their whereabouts. Called US-VISIT, the system is a cornerstone of the Homeland Security Department's effort to prevent a repeat of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and is a direct response to the sharpest criticism about why they happened. Almost immediately after the attacks, the nation's immigration officials were peppered with questions about how they let terrorists...

<p>Chinese President Jiang Zemin's brief stopover in San Francisco today was met with protests by about 400 human rights and political activists marching in front of the Chinese Consulate.</p> <p>Jiang was on his way back to Beijing after a tour of the United States last week that included a meeting with President George W. Bush in Texas. Jiang also attended the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in Mexico.</p>

<p>Twenty-five service workers with security clearances to sensitive areas at San Francisco and San Jose international airports have been arrested for immigration violations during the latest post-Sept. 11 crackdown by federal authorities.</p> <p>Those arrested work for private businesses at the airports as food handlers, janitors, luggage loaders and other service employees. More than half of them have felony criminal records for such things as child molestation, domestic violance and weapons violations, a spokesman for the Immigration and Naturalization Service said.</p>