This weekend, we look at how iPad helped a Canadian cross the US border, US airlines passing new European environmental fees along to passengers and the shift in airline outsourcing to offshore maintenance facilities.
iPad helps Canadian man enter USA sans passport
A Canadian man used a scan of his passport to cross the border in the United States. When the news hit the street, Customs and Border Protection said it was impossible. Later, they clarified that other identification could be used to allow the Canadian to enter. I’ll bet without the scan of his passport, nothing could be done. Looks like we are moving in the direction of having ID on cell phones and iPads. We already can access our tickets that way for flights and train travel in Europe.
“The assertion that a traveler was admitted into the U.S. using solely a scanned image of his passport on an iPad is categorically false,” tech site Mashable quoted a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) spokesperson as saying in an emailed statement.
“In this case, the individual had both a driver’s license and birth certificate, which the CBP officer used to determine identity and citizenship in order to admit the traveler into the country,” the spokesperson added.
United-Continental, US Airways, Delta add Europe surcharge
The European Union’s “Emissions Trading Scheme” (ETS) has come into effect and is roiling the airline industry. Some country carriers, like China have stated that they will not pay the carbon offset fees. Others like United-Continental, US Airways, Delta (and more than likely American) are simply passing it along to consumers. Once poorly conceived legislation aimed at forcing airline action land squarely on passengers.
United-Continental and US Airways have joined Delta in adding a $3 surcharge to one-way tickets to Europe, days after the European Union started requiring airlines to pay for carbon emissions.
Spokesmen for all three airlines would not discuss the reasons for the surcharges.
But industry analysts call the surcharge a clear sign that consumers could bear the brunt of a European law that the U.S. airline industry has estimated would cost it $3.1 billion from now through 2020.
AA bankruptcy may lead to more maintenance outsourcing
In an analysis of the possible actions of American Airlines (AA) under bankruptcy protection, a USAToday.com columnist points to the possibility that aircraft maintenance will see more outsourcing to off-shore facilities that are not as closely monitored by the FAA and TSA.
In 2011, I wrote about the trend of airline maintenance outsourcing and the Federal Aviation Administration’s oversight of such work. In the decade since 9/11, there’s been a dramatic upsurge in farming out aircraft maintenance, sometimes to third-party facilities here in the U.S., and often overseas to China, Singapore, El Salvador, Mexico and other countries.
Previously I addressed this topic strictly as a passenger safety issue, not as a labor issue. But the full truth is that all passengers are affected by airline labor practices—in fact, the way in which airline employees are treated directly affects safety, security, and every aspect of customer service.
Charlie Leocha is the President of Travelers United. He has been working in Washington, DC, for the past 14 years with Congress, the Department of Transportation, and industry stakeholders on travel issues. He was the first consumer representative to the Advisory Committee for Aviation Consumer Protections appointed by the Secretary of Transportation from 2012 through 2018.
