general

The US TSA is pushing back against reports that a wave of employees calling out sick is extending screening wait times and compromising security at airports across the country. The increased number of call-outs is a result of the ongoing partial federal government shutdown in which roughly 51,000 TSA officers are expected to work without pay. Congress has voted to grant TSA employees backpay following previous government shutdowns. TSA said in a statement that it is closely monitoring the situation. “Call-outs began over the holiday period and have increased, but are causing minimal impact given there are 51,379 employees supporting the screening process. Security effectiveness will not be compromised, and performance standards will not change,” the agency said. The agency said screening wait times “may be affected depending on the number of call-outs,” but said wait times have remained well within TSA standards so far. TSA screened over 2.2m passengers Jan. 6 with 99.8% waiting less than 30 min. and 90.1% waiting less than 15 min., the agency said. TSA spokesman Michael Bilello disputed the reports, saying on his Twitter page that “regarding the CNN report on ‘sick outs’ at airports nationwide, the statistics reported are grossly inaccurate & an insult to the dedicated workforce.”<br/>

Security staff at Berlin's two airports are staging a strike that is causing disruption to flights. The ver.di union called on staff at the German capital's Tegel and Schoenefeld airports to walk off the job from 5 to 8:45 a.m. Monday. German news agency dpa reported that airlines including Lufthansa, Easyjet, Ryanair and Aeroflot cancelled flights ahead of the walkout. Several flights were significantly delayed. Ver.di has said employers "provoked" the strike by offering a pay increase of 2% over two years. The union wants hourly pay for all workers conducting security checks to rise to E20. Employer association BDLS says this could amount to a 30% increase in some cases. The next round of talks is due on Jan. 23.<br/>

Thailand on Monday reversed plans to expel an 18-year-old Saudi woman stranded at Bangkok airport after fleeing her family from Kuwait due to concerns over her safety, the immigration chief said. Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun, 18, has been stranded at Bangkok airport since Saturday when she was denied entry by Thai immigration officials. On Monday, she barricaded herself inside an airport transit hotel to avoid being escorted to board a Kuwait Airways flight scheduled for that morning. “The flight this morning was via Kuwait Airlines to send her back to Saudi Arabia,” chief of immigration police Surachate Hakparn said. He also said he would meet UNHCR later in the day to discuss her asylum plans.<br/>

Brazil’s new government said it supports the proposed Boeing-Embraer tie-up, but is signalling that the tentative terms may have to change before the government gives its required blessing. National Security Advisor Augusto Heleno said Monday that government officials continue to review the deal, in part to ensure it is “the best possible for the country,” Reuters reported. The remarks come on the heels of President Jair Bolsonaro’s Jan. 4 comments that expressed concern over a provision that could see Boeing own 100% of Embraer’s commercial operations. The tentative deal’s structure would see Boeing own 80% of a joint venture (JV) that includes Embraer’s commercial-aircraft production business. The agreement includes a provision that would allow Embraer to sell the remaining 20% to Boeing in the future. Boeing and Embraer appear to have taken steps to help ease concerns that the $4.2b deal is too favorable for the US company. For instance, the venture’s management will be based in Brazil and will be led by a president and CEO who will report to Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg. Approval of the JV is not expected until mid-2019 at the earliest.<br/>

Japan began levying a 1,000 yen (US$9.24) departure tax on Monday, payable by anyone leaving the country by aircraft or ship, in a measure aimed at raising funds to further boost tourism. The International Tourist Tax covers everyone regardless of nationality, from businesspeople to holidaymakers older than two years of age. It will be tacked on to the price of an airline ticket, though those bought and issued before Monday are exempt. Japan’s government estimates that it will make an additional 50b yen (US$462m) from the tax, which it wants to use to improve tourism infrastructure by making airport immigration processes faster and encouraging visitors to explore areas beyond traditionally popular destinations such as Tokyo and Kyoto, for example. Japan has been aggressively courting international tourists as a new pillar of economic growth – aiming to boost visitor figures to 40m by 2020, when Tokyo hosts the Olympic Games. A record number of foreigners – more than 30 million – are estimated to have visited in 2018.<br/>

Use your credit card to buy a taco, a beer or a taxi ride, and it’s very likely the receipt screen will solicit a tip. A few years ago, that same option arrived on airlines, to the chagrin of passengers who remember when most food and drink up there was free. Frontier Airlines, a pioneer in the tip-your-attendant department, used to split their tips on each flight. As of Jan. 1, however, Frontier’s 2,200 flight attendants no longer pool their gratuities. Now it’s every man and woman for themselves, and perhaps one beneficiary will be the harried airline passenger. “We appreciate the great work of our flight attendants and know that our customers do as well, so [the payment tablet] gives passengers the option to tip,” Frontier spokesman Jonathan Freed said Friday. “It’s entirely at the customer’s discretion, and many do it.” In fact, it’s also at the discretion of the flight attendant: At Frontier, they can choose whether to trigger the tip option. The Association of Flight Attendants, which represents Frontier employees, objected to the introduction of tipping in 2016. “Management moved forward with a tipping option for passengers in hopes it would dissuade flight attendants from standing together for a fair contract — and in an effort to shift additional costs to passengers,” AFA President Sara Nelson wrote Friday in an email. The union has been trying to reach a new contract with Frontier for two years. In November, the flight attendants voted to authorise a strike, although federal mediators have yet to declare the talks at an impasse. Frontier’s tablet-based payment system allows flight attendants to skip the tip screen when a customer pays; the airline said it doesn’t track how often flight attendants solicit tips via the tablets. Frontier declined to release specifics about how much in tips it distributes monthly, though Freed, the airline spokesman, said flight attendants had earned “millions of dollars” in tips over the past three years. <br/>