TSA Issues Reminders For Summer Airline Travelers
By Steve Tawa
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The Transportation Security Administration wants airline passengers to follow the Boy Scouts motto when traveling this summer: Be prepared -- (but leave that Swiss Army knife at home!)
Passenger preparedness can have a significant impact on wait times at security checkpoints, according to TSA officer Geneva Pittman (photo below), who was working the Terminal D-E checkpoint this morning at Philadelphia International Airport.
And she strongly encourages travelers to download its "MyTSA" mobile application.
"On that app you can locate your identification requirements, your 3-1-1 rule, what you cannot or can bring on the aircraft, what things you can check or need to check," she explained.
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She says the MyTSA app also includes wait times, flight delays, local weather, and more.
If you travel with a carry-on, she suggests, read up on the "3-1-1" rule for liquids and gels. You're allowed to take as many containers, up to 3.4 ounces each, of cosmetics and toiletries as will fit in one quart-sized zip-top bag.
And, Pittman adds, only one zip-lock bag per person.
Or, if you are checking luggage, pack liquids, gels, creams, and aerosols in your checked baggage, she suggests. That way you don't have to worry about the 3-1-1 liquids rule.
Also, she notes there are lots of cases where a traveler will go through the TSA checkpoint successfully but will then leave one or more personal belongings on the luggage belt.
"When you go through a checkpoint, make sure you have all of your property, because it's really hard to retrieve it after it's lost," she says.
The TSA's web site, tsa.gov, has plenty of traveler info, including a "Can I bring...?" tool.
The TSA screens nearly two million passengers every day at more than 450 airports nationwide.
