An airline passenger going through security at JFK airport last night was relieved of $5,000 cash by a quick-fingered TSA officer, authorities say. A TSA spokesperson tells us the employee has been working for the TSA for over four years, and she's been identified as Alexandra Schmid. She was allegedly caught on surveillance camera taking the cash from a passenger's jacket as it moved along the X-Ray conveyor belt at the A checkpoint in Terminal Four. more ›

A traveler who tripped up security at LaGuardia airport with a homeopathic medical device yesterday was eventually allowed to proceed on to his destination, albeit without his mysterious New Age device. But long after he was gone, the device—which could possibly be mistaken for a crude pipe bomb—caused a bomb scare at the airport, because security screeners left the pipe behind after their shift change without telling the next team what it was. more ›

The story, which will surprise no one, notes that flight delays are just as bad as they were five years ago, and that airlines pad the statistics to keep things from looking even worse. In 2007, delays that affected 320 million passengers cost the economy a total of $41 billion, roughly the cost of one copy of US Weekly, a pack of gum, and a chicken salad sandwich purchased at La Guardia's food court. more ›

Earlier this week, Senator Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) said that he was detained by the Transportation Security Administration at Nashville International Airport, telling a spokeswoman that he was being "detained indefinitely" after he set off an image scanner and refused a pat-down. The TSA countered that Paul was never detained, explaining that he "triggered an alarm during routine airport screening and refused to complete the screening process in order to resolve the issue... Passengers, as in this case, who refuse to comply with security procedures are denied access to the secure gate area. He was escorted out of the screening area by local law enforcement." So here's an annotated video: more ›

Making it past airport TSA screening with that illegal substance that does not harm your lungs and has never killed anyone, is difficult but not impossible. But 43-year-old Adam Blumenkranz was arrested on a JetBlue flight from Fort Lauderdale to Newark for allegedly smoking dope. Crew members told the AP that they gave Blumenkranz the stink eye after he "dropped a clear plastic bag in the cabin." more ›

Senator Rand Paul, friend to 9/11 Truthers, was detained by the Transportation Security Administration after refusing to submit to a full body pat-down at Nashville's airport. The Kentucky Republican's plight was mentioned by his father, 2012 presidential contender Rep. Ron Paul, who Tweeted, "My son @SenRandPaul being detained by TSA for refusing full body pat-down after anomaly in body scanner in Nashville. More details coming." Senator Paul was on his way to D.C. for the Senate session. more ›

The TSA, flush with change from your pocket, has finally gotten around to apologizing to the elderly women who were strip-searched at the JetBlue terminal at JFK over the Thanksgiving holiday. Well, sort of. more ›

It turns out that dignity isn't the only thing lost at TSA screening checkpoints. The Daily News reports that in 2010 the agency made $409,000 in loose change left behind by hurried, worn down travelers. Specifically, $376,480 in US currency and another $32,605 in foreign coins. JFK collected the most, with $46,918. "I wish they would spend that money on mood lighting," comedian Dave Hill told the paper. "If I'm going to get additional screening, how about throwing in a little more romance." Ha ha, he's referring to alleged sexual assault committed by government agents trusted to protect us, get it? more ›

Nevermind those pesky strip searches—people still like to bring guns on planes, goshdarnit. The TSA has found 1,238 firearms, or roughly four a day, at airport checkpoints last year. It's unclear whether that figure includes the many, many stun guns that seem to keep popping up around New York, but either way—that's a lot! more ›

TSA agents write the darndest notes! Hot on the heels of the agent who left a note in a woman's bag next to her vibrator that said "GET YOUR FREAK ON GIRL" (and was later punished for it) comes this hilarious note that appeared in Freddie Gibbs's bag earlier this week. Is pot not a problem for some TSA agents? more ›

Today's air travelers are barely allowed to bring colostomy bags on a plane, so we're not entirely sure why a passenger would think she can fly with five grenades in her bag. And yet, that's exactly what one Belgium-bound passenger tried to do this weekend at Newark Liberty Airport. more ›

Another day, another older woman comes forward with tales of woe from the TSA! Say hello to Linda Kallish, 66, of Boynton Beach, Florida, who says that she too was forced to take her clothes off by TSA agents at JFK Airport while trying to leave after the Thanksgiving holidays. In fact, she says she was made to strip while trying to board the same flight as 85-year-old alleged TSA-victim Lenore Zimmerman. Kallish is now the third woman to say she was stripped by TSA agents at JFK that weekend. more ›

Seems like somebody at the TSA had some issues to work out with Grandma over Thanksgiving. After this weekend's revelations regarding an 85-year-old woman being strip searched, a second elderly woman has come forward saying that she was stripped by agents at the JetBlue terminal at JFK after the holiday—in this case so that they could examine the 88-year-old's colostomy bag. Which, if you've ever known someone who had one, is an embarrassing thing to have to whip out for strangers. Even in a private room. more ›

Yesterday, 85-year-old Lenore Zimmerman shared her humiliating tale of being strip-searched at JFK Airport, a TSA ordeal that included her leg being wounded and missing her flight to Florida. But now the TSA denies that she was strip-searched, which has infuriated the Long Island grandmother even more. She tells the Daily News, “Why would I make up this story? In my wildest dreams, I couldn’t think of such a thing happening.” more ›

Oh, TSA. Today, the Daily News reports that an 85-year-old woman was strip-searched earlier this week right before a flight to Fort Lauderdale—and she's really unhappy. Lenore Zimmerman, who lives on Long Island, says, "I walk with a walker — I really look like a terrorist. I’m tiny. I weigh 110 pounds, 107 without clothes"—with her hunched back, she's 4'11"—"and I was strip-searched." See her photograph here—and naturally, Zimmerman is thinking about a lawsuit, especially since the ordeal left her bloodied up. more ›

Last week a man from Michigan was busted by the Transportation Security Administration trying to smuggle 35 pounds of marijuana onto a flight inside a wrapped present. Now we ALL have to suffer... with the enforcement of a rule that's not new. more ›

The full body imaging scanners now in use at many airports around the country have generated a lot of controversy. The U.S. Government Accountability Office said the TSA was deploying the machines without fully testing them, concerns were raised about privacy, and others have questioned the adverse health effect of some of the machines, which function as low-level X-Ray machines. Now ProPublica, the "independent, non-profit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest," has just published a scathing report accusing the TSA of "marching millions of airline passengers through the scanners, parting ways with European countries that concluded radiation from routine airport use poses a health risk." more ›

The TSA: When they're not hiding creepy notes in your luggage they're just straight-up stealing stuff. Two former TSA workers at JFK Airport pleaded guilty yesterday to grand larceny after they were caught swiping $40,000 from somebody's luggage. Coumar Persad, 44, of Jackson Heights, Queens, and Davon Webb, 31, of the Bronx will each serve six months in jail for their crime, which was perpetrated in January after Persad X-rayed a piece of baggage headed for an American Airlines flight. more ›

It may have taken the TSA ages to stop doing things like feeling up our nation's youth, but when an agent puts a note next to a passenger's vibrator saying "GET YOUR FREAK ON GIRL?" Oh you better believe their response is swift and firm. Surely we will all rest easy knowing that the Administration really means it when they say that they take "all allegations of inappropriate conduct seriously and is investigating this claim." A day after the story went viral, the TSA says it has found and punished the note-writing baggage screener. more ›

[UPDATE BELOW] A blogger and co-founder of the website Feministe recently flew from Newark to Dublin, and upon arrival found a very special personalized message from the TSA in her suitcase. Jill, who withholds her last name from part of the Internets, tells Forbes that when she unpacked her bag this morning, she discovered a note scrawled on the official form from the TSA informing her that her bag had been inspected. "GET YOUR FREAK ON GIRL," it read. more ›

Sure, the TSA's list of prohibited items for carry-on and checked luggage might say that brass knuckles, stun guns, daggers and swords are allowed in checked bags, but when TSA agents find "four sets of brass knuckles, four stun- gun batons, a dagger and a sword" in your bags at JFK Airport, they are probably going to arrest you. Because items like brass knuckles and stun guns are illegal in New York. more ›

By now you may have heard the galling story of Lori Dorn, the breast cancer survivor who was subjected to a humiliating pat-down at JFK airport last month. Dorn wrote about the experience on her blog, igniting a media firestorm that has resulted in something as elusive as a cure for cancer: A TSA apology (albeit a qualified one). It all started when Dorn—who recently underwent a bilateral mastectomy and had tissue expanders implanted for future breast reconstruction—was going through screening to get to her Virgin Airways flight to San Francisco. But the tissue expanders set off the imaging scanner, and so the TSA demanded a pat-down. On her blog, she wrote: more ›

They're all just thieving, gropey-handed perverts until they actually catch someone: TSA agents at JFK airport nabbed a 54-year-old man yesterday with a battery-powered stun gun, three "electric stun batons," an "electric stun pen," and pepper spray. According to the Post, Mohamed Hefni was waiting in a first-class lounge to board a Saudi Airlines flight to Riyadh when he was detained for the contents of his checked bag. more ›

The TSA may have lots of problems (drug dealer-enabling agents, for one) but at least they are trying to better themselves? Not only is the Administration now forgoing porno scanners for less-racy cartoon versions but yesterday, while testifying before Congress, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano threw a bone to the many parents who are wary of flying with their wee ones. Soon enough kids under 13 will no longer have to take off their shoes and will not be subject to pat-downs when going through security. Progress! more ›

If the TSA had a face we'd like to think it would be so red right now. But then we remember that the TSA just doesn't care. Because beyond the whole ongoing profiling issue, it seems that once again agents for the Administration have been caught getting paid off to let drug dealers fly freely with their wares. Authorities today announced that they've caught TSA officers in Florida in New York conspiring to ship tens of thousands of Oxycodone pills north. In total the U.S. Attorney's Office today says it has arrested three TSA officers, a Westchester County police officer and a Florida state trooper and seven Connecticut residents who bought drugs. more ›

Remember the initial reports that three people were detained after a flight from Denver to Detroit on the tenth anniversary of 9/11, supposedly because two of them were "making out" in the bathroom for "an extraordinarily long time"? One of the detained passengers, Shoshana Hebshi, has written all about the ordeal on her blog, and she is pissed. She's also not a member of the Mile High Club, which makes this story a lot less titillating. But she is half-Arab, half-Jewish—and she says the SWAT team dragged her off the plane in handcuffs because of her ethnic background, so there's that. more ›

If you traveled through Newark Airport yesterday, chances are no one saw your naughty parts! (Unless you're into that sort of thing.) According to the Post, Newark was the first area airport to implement the "why-didn't-we-do-this-initially" step of using computer software that shows drastically less detail in their full-body scanners. Presumably the only people upset by the move are those who really feel the need for other people to scope out their 8-Minute Abs. more ›

It's all the rage to overanalyze every single thing that has to do with traveling via airplanes, so it's a bit surprising to learn that New Jersey authorities let a man board a flight after they discovered a hidden knife in one of his bags. more ›

Just one more travel-induced headache: luggage-related larcenies are up almost 30 percent at JFK airport, so maybe think twice before checking that bag. And don't expect to get it back once it's gone—only 28 of the 299 complaints filed this year have lead to arrests. more ›