Airport Security Turns a Corner — Skift Business Traveler

What to Know Now

Credit where due: Things at the TSA are coming together a lot better than we expected this summer. After a catastrophically bad Spring, many expected this past holiday weekend in the U.S. to be a similar fiasco — but after the dust settled, American travelers escaped relatively unscathed.

Much of the improvement is due to a unified effort across Congress, the airlines and the TSA to improve the security situation. Tired of waiting for the situation to fix itself, most airlines have released either funding or resources to improve lines at their hub airports, while the TSA is doing its best to bump up staffing.

Meanwhile, Congress just approved a bill to improve security at U.S. airports, while airlines and the agency continue to work on unique screening solutions. Coming up, new scanning technology at Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles and Miami — four American Airlines hubs — will help speed the carry-on baggage screening process.

This doesn’t necessarily mean that long security lines are a thing of the past, but it certainly is a step in the right direction. Now can we take a look at those liquids?

Social Quote of the Day

“Unruly US airline passengers” is definitely the chart of the day. https://t.co/HdbOkyeQCs

– @zseward | Zach Seward, SVP of Product and executive editor at Quartz

Airlines

Investors Dump Airline Stocks as bad News Persists: U.S. airline stocks moved closer to their biggest annual decline in five years after Credit Suisse Group AG said a critical financial gauge won’t turn positive until the end of next year and trimmed earnings estimates for the largest carriers through 2018. Read more at Skift

How 4 European Low-Cost Carriers Are Preparing for Their Own Brexit: Many of Europe’s budget airlines are making worst-case scenario plans that would allow them to continue flying the same routes as today even if the United Kingdom shakes up the continent’s air travel market by making a clean split from the European community. Read more at Skift

For Low-Cost Airlines, South Korea Punches Above Its Weight: South Korea may be relatively small with about a 30th of China’s population. Yet, its skies are about to get more crowded with a sixth budget airline, beating its giant neighbor that boasts two major no-frills carriers. Read more at Skift

Delta Passenger Revenue and Fares Weaken, Leads Airline Stock Drop: Delta Air Lines led a decline among U.S. carriers after saying a closely watched financial measure weakened more than expected. Read more at Skift

Airports

Congress Is Finally About to Approve an Aviation Bill to Relieve Lines and Boost Security: House and Senate lawmakers announced an agreement Tuesday on an aviation bill to boost airport security, reduce screening lines and require airlines to refund fees to passengers whose bags are lost or delayed. Read more at Skift

Dreaded TSA Airport Horror Show Didn’t Materialize Over Holiday Weekend: The 2016 U.S. Airport Summer From Hell tour has been postponed, though the band may reschedule for later this summer. Read more at Skift

TSA to Automate Checked-Bag Screening in Test at U.S. Airports: Federal officials say they are expanding tests to speed up airport lines and improve security. Read more at Skift

Analysis Shows That Despite Criticism, TSA PreCheck Effectively Reduces Terrorism Risk: Frequent travelers often criticize TSA PreCheck as unhelpful and mismanaged, but a new study from the Centre For Infrastructure Performance and Reliability (CIPAR) suggests that the program is both a benefit to passengers and a deterrent to terrorism. Read more at Skift

Tech

Online Marketplace Seeks to Automate Corporate Event and Activities Bookings: The most significant challenge for corporate event planners today is continually finding unique experiences and venues that inspire participants and drive attendance. Read more at Skift

Travel Brands Experiment With Virtual Reality as Consumer Adoption Lags: Interest in virtual reality (VR) content is surging in hospitality and tourism in 2016, even though very few travelers have access to quality VR equipment. Read more at Skift

Business Travelers Are Using Mobile Apps — But Not Necessarily the Way Employers Wish They Would: According to new research from the Global Business Travel Association, some of the least-popular activities for travelers included managing expenses and itineraries and using travel management company-provided tools. Read more at Skift

Why Paying Business Travelers to Make Smarter Buying Decisions Works: Encouraging business travelers to make the right travel buying decisions has long been a challenge from the perspective of both their companies and travel management companies tasked with implementing an appropriate travel policy. Read more at Skift

Hotels

These Are the Best Hotel Companies to Work for in 2016: A career in hospitality can be rewarding, but like any job, it can be stressful, too. Read more at Skift

CEO Interview: Celeb Chefs and Youthful Brands at Vegas’ Cosmopolitan Hotel: The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas hotel opened in December 2010 during the height of the global recession, which decimated gambling revenues up and down the Las Vegas strip. Read more at Skift

Checking In at Trump Hotels: While the Trump name is ubiquitous, Trump Hotels may not be as familiar to travelers as larger brands with longer histories like Marriott and Hilton. Are Trump Hotels as big, brash and over the top as the man for whom they’re named? Read more at The New York Times

Top Hotel CEOs and Executives Talk Direct Booking, Airbnb and Cuba: We looked at hospitality trends for a recent episode of the Skift Podcast, which explored how top executives deal with the push for direct booking, the rise of the sharing economy, tricky opportunities in Cuba, and more. Read more at Skift

Your Turn

Via @Pam Mandel, an interesting story on travel bloggers and the rise of advertising surfaced in Adweek this week. Give it a peruse here.

Tips and Comments

Can be sent to gm[at]skift[dot]com or to @grantkmartin

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