VamoSnafus, Tie-Ups, Threats.
Quagmire One is the phalanx/series of post-Trumpian travel bans, however misguided they have been and continue being. Hotly, immediately contested by the courts, tougher visa screening and extreme vetting methods have sown anger and anxiety in U.S.-bound travelers and hopeful immigrants the world over.
Initially targeted toward Muslims and Middle Easter countries on security and terrorism grounds, these ban efforts have expanded to Cuba and North Korea—intense scrutiny and/or restrictions on luggage to laptops. 
All along, judges from San Francisco to Honolulu to Maryland have issued stays on these executive orders as constituting religious discrimination, even through partial revisions and ‘watering down’ of various ban plans. The latest ruling finds an exception for Muslim relatives. In the meantime, visits and admissions to the U.S. have plunged amid a creeping Trumpian travel slump; then came the COVID exacerbated lockdowns.
This is an appeals court volley we will follow closely moving and stalling forward…even moreso the November 8 reopening of US land borders for the fully VAXxed and/or currently negative tested.
Destination: Disruption.
Otherwise, this passing U.S. summer season saw disruption from coast to coast—from an impassible Big Sur mudslide to hurricanes and widespread flash flooding throughout the southeast. Couple that forest/parkland wildfires throughout the drier western U.S. and Southern Europe.
Already questionable airline on-time/on-schedule claims became markedly more dubious in the face of midsummer heatwaves topping 120 degrees delayed, if not grounded flights altogether. The most powerful and efficient of modern commercial aircraft were simply unable to generate enough lift at 118 degrees (and even hotter runway conditions) for fully loaded takeoff.
Climate changes or no, such weather ‘aberrations’ promise to become commonplace, and we will track and transmit them accordingly—as well as any skysnarl, roadblock, embargo or issue that poses, threatens or arises to hamper Vamigré freedom of movement…
The Heat Is On…board?
10/15/21—At a time when travelers are flying under a COVID cloud, with crowded airliner cabins at a fever pitch over vaccinations and facial masking, the last thing needed is passengers packing heat.
Yet that is precisely what could be going down without intensive airport checkpoint scanning and searches, at least according to the US Transportation Security Administration.
Close Encounters of a .38 Caliber Kind.
Indeed, a current TSA presser reports that a record 4,495 guns have been detected and collected by its officers at airport check-ins thus far this year—nearly 65 more than in 2019 overall. Some 11 such weapons per one million passengers were found on person and in carry-on luggage at 248 different domestic 
airports—and most of them were loaded. And that’s not counting the pieces that do secrete though harried, understaffed agents.
Duly alarmed, TSA administrator David Pekoske states that “Firearms, particularly loaded firearms, introduce an unnecessary risk at checkpoints, have no place in the passenger cabin of an airplane, and represent a very costly mistake for the passengers who attempt to board a flight with them.”
Guns ’n’ Ruses: Rules and Risks.
Specifically, firearms are banned in an aircraft’s cabin, even if a passenger holds a concealed weapon permit. Guns can be enclosed in checked baggage, but only if they are unloaded and safely locked in a hard-sided case. Travelers must declare and present the weapon and case at the TSA checkpoint—then the locked firearm(s) must be relegated with baggage to the airplane’s cargo hold.
Otherwise, it is incumbent upon us passengers to bone up on state and local gun possession laws, departure to arrival points, as well as checked-bag packing and declaration guidance. Moreover, the 
airlines themselves may have added firearm and ammunition requirements to their (ever changing) contracts of carriage.
In any case, get caught packin’ heat and we’ll face a civil penalty based upon previous offenses and instances of loaded versus unloaded guns seized. Cited ‘PreCheck’ members could also face forfeiture of their expedited screening privileges for three+ years.
Best way to dodge those bullets? Maybe drop the sneaky onboard guns ’n’ ruses altogether, before TSAgents get the drop on us. (MTC…)
DHS, TSA, et al: Security Faultlines.
Airport/rail station security over/underkill, slow/no motion search and scanner lines, screener abuses and shortages, punitive or mis-aimed profiling and detainment: The entire imperfect security storm and sieves can be hung around the necks of the hit-and-miss policies of such governmental agencies. Still, their inconsistent, often inept execution is largely the result of budget shortfalls, product of predominantly deadlocked legislatures, state and nationwide.
Contrailing with our Vamifesto, these issues (plus calls for FAA, Air Traffic Control privatization) will all be scrupulously examined and monitored in coming posts, much as the constant threats they may pose.
No less culpable, however, are the carriers themselves. Airline consolidation, cancelled flights and service, discontinuation and schedule reductions have only added to terminal tensions, as more and more passengers are crammed into fewer and fewer flights. As do the cattle calls of narrow-and wide-body plane boarding, only to then afford lengthy tarmac delays–let alone the overheated scramble for cramped seats and overhead storage.
This, while airlines are fattening on full flights, feelty excesses and relatively cheaper fuel. To be sure, it is one of the many travel imbalances Vamigré will address and remedy, from here to eternity, through airline by airline rating/comparison coverage…
