Update on TSA 3-1-1 Campaign - Right In Time For The Holidays

TSA has been doing a full-court press on getting the word out about its 3-1-1 campaign - 3 ounces or less of liquid, 1-quart clear plastic bag and 1 bag per passenger.  We wrote about this in our Nov. 9 issue. 

I also attended a press conference with TSA Administrator Kip Hawley, Airports Council International-North America President Greg Principato and Air Transport Association President and CEO Jim May here in D.C. on Nov. 16 to reiterate what's already been written about the 3-1-1 campaign.  My story in Aviation Daily is here (subscribers only). 

Hawley's message was clear - TSA is fully staffed and ready to handle the Thanksgiving travel season.  And ACI-NA's Principato agreed, noting that volunteers and employees will be on hand at airports across the country to make sure passengers understand the new security rules. "The goal is to get the message out before they get to the airport or before they get to security checkpoints,” he emphasized.

But as the holidays get closer, I've seen a marked increase of media stories, both trying to get the word out and warning about record crowds at the airports.  Take, for example, this story I found in the Baltimore Examiner, one of my hometown newspapers.  the begining of the story was very simple -- Arrive early. Expect delays.  Now that's what's called getting right to the point, scaring people about the potential mass hysteria that awaits them at Baltimore Washington Thurgood Marshall International Airport.   The TSA warning about properly packing liquids isn't even mentioned until the eighth paragraph of the story and the details are saved until the very end of the story.

When I did a Google news search using the key words "Thanksgiving Air Travel," 546 stories popped up, ranging from a free plastic bag giveaway at larger airports, to warnings about record crowds at airports to those TSA packing tips.  And let's not leave out the blogosphere, which has more than 8,000 postings on "Thanksgiving Air Travel."  I'll do a post-holiday review to see if things went as expected or worse.  Watch this space!

Comments

[Bad Eyesight]

The TSA has done a decent job at educating the masses with the 3-1-1 campaign. If it could only now educate its screeners on their own saline solution regulations...

[Benet Wilson]

Eye: I would have to agree. Consistency with "offical" TSA policy has been a problem almost since the agency's beginning. As the mother of a baby who has myriad liquids she needs during flight, I got tired of arguing about what I could and could not carry, so what did I do? I now carry a printout from TSA's web site on what liquids are and are not allowed. It's been very useful. Happy Thanksgiving!!