TravelTube.com Podcast Transcript

Host: Mark Murphy

Introduction

Hey folks, Mark Murphy with TravelTube.com, and I've got a banger of a show this week. A lot going on. I keep getting called by the networks to talk about TSA lines and whether they're improving. But before I get into anything, please do me a favor.

This channel and what we're doing on TravelTube.com is designed to support travel professionals — anyone considered a travel expert. That could be a travel supplier, someone in destination marketing organizations, travel influencers, you name it. A lot of influencers produce great content on their own and make money that way, so I'm obviously going to highlight those people.

All I ask is that you follow the show on your favorite podcast apps, follow us on social media, and subscribe on TravelTube.com. We'll send you a newsletter every week highlighting all those videos and the week's podcast. That's it. That's all I ask.

So if I'm supporting you and you can't be bothered to follow us, then just go away — I'm not interested. I'm interested in helping those who need it, which are travel agents. You're always under attack, always discredited, always brushed aside. It's been going on for decades. I've been in the space since 1991 and I've seen it all. If you like someone who's an advocate for you, who actually uses their time and money to support you — that would be me — I would greatly appreciate your support.

ICE Deployed to Airports

Earlier this week, ICE moved into airports. The political reaction was swift. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries expressed concern that ICE agents might harm travelers — you can search that yourself. Then there was the San Francisco incident where ICE arrested a person with a final order of deportation, which some people incorrectly tied to the airport deployment. The ICE arrest took place on March 22nd; the deployment didn't begin until March 23rd.

For those unfamiliar: Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has always been present at airports, particularly for international arrivals. They reserve the right to inspect bags and everything else — that's not new. When they find someone who's been ordered to leave the country and has ignored that order, they arrest them. The word "final" in a final order of deportation means exactly that: no more, you're done, time to leave.

Delta also made news this week, announcing they would not allow members of Congress to bypass TSA lines. If Congressional members want action on funding TSA, they can stand in the same lines as every other traveler.

TSA Lines: Are They Improving?

The big ongoing story is the long security lines at airports — caused by the government funding situation. The administration's response has been to bring in ICE agents to support TSA workers. And we're already seeing it work.

An ABC News reporter at Philadelphia International (PHL) was live on air noting that the line, which the previous day stretched out to the parking garage, was down to about seven people. The pre-check lane was nearly empty.

A quick practical tip for travelers out of Philadelphia: if your terminal's security line is a disaster, walk to Terminal A East or A West — the international terminals. You don't have to use the security checkpoint for your specific airline or terminal. Once you're through security, you can walk anywhere in the airport. I've done this probably 50% of the time I've traveled through PHL.

You need 60 Senate votes to pass TSA funding, and Republicans have 53. They need just seven Democrats to cross over. Instead, the shutdown is being used as a protest against ICE — yet ICE is funded through 2028. So the shutdown is inflicting pain on the traveling public while accomplishing nothing substantive.

Meanwhile, there are organized protests at airports with pre-printed signs and bullhorns. Business travelers — who have meetings to get to — are caught in the crossfire of this political theater, even as the lines are visibly getting shorter.

On the TSA privatization point: numerous airports already use private contractors for screening — San Francisco and Kansas City among them, though I may be off on the specific airports. Those facilities are not affected by government shutdowns because they operate in the private sector. If TSA were broadly privatized and put under the control of airlines and airports, whose primary goal is the safe movement of passengers, these funding crises would go away.

Time Magazine's Coverage

Time Magazine published a piece on Monday, March 23rd about ICE at airports. The headline: "An Insult to Us: TSA Agents Slam ICE Arrival at U.S. Airports." Their sourcing? Three anonymous TSA agents from the mid-Atlantic area — out of a total TSA workforce of roughly 50,000.

Those agents claimed ICE officers lack the proper training and that at best they'll get in the way. But here's the context: many of the roles ICE is filling at airports don't require specialized screening training. Monitoring exit doors to prevent unauthorized re-entry, helping organize crowd flow in long lines — these tasks don't require six months of specialized instruction. And the metric that matters — line length — is already improving.

The LaGuardia Crash

A columnist named Andrew Miller wrote an op-ed in the New York Post arguing that the true cause of the LaGuardia runway crash is hiding in plain sight: America hasn't built new airports in decades. For context, his previous New York Post piece ran in July 2017 and was about baseball.

There's a valid underlying point about outdated air traffic control systems — the ATC infrastructure is running on 1980s technology, and the Trump administration has been working with Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy on upgrading it. That's a real problem worth addressing.

But the specific crash involved a plane landing and striking a fire truck that was on the runway. Whether or not the terminal building is new has no bearing on that. Let the NTSB investigation proceed and reach its conclusions before attributing causes.

Chicago's 19% Hotel Tax

Chicago is proposing raising its hotel tax to 19% to help close a budget gap. To put that in concrete terms: a five-night stay at $400/night is $2,000. A 19% tax adds $380. And that's on top of an already challenging environment for tourism in the city.

There's a basic economic principle at work here: sin taxes on alcohol and cigarettes are designed to reduce consumption of those things. Raising taxes on travel will reduce travel to Chicago — fewer conferences, fewer business travelers, fewer tourists. Raising prices is not a strategy for attracting more visitors.

Chicago last elected a Republican mayor in 1931. The fiscal and public safety challenges the city faces today are the result of decades of one-party governance and, in the view of many observers, reflect a failure of basic urban management.

The UK Tourists Story: What the Guardian Left Out

The Guardian ran a story with the headline "Don't go to the US, not with Trump in charge" — featuring a 65-year-old British grandmother named Karen Newton who was detained by ICE for six weeks. The article described her as having a valid visa, being shackled and held, and concluded with her advice that no one should travel to the United States.

Here are the facts the Guardian did not include:

Karen and her husband were on what they described as a once-in-a-lifetime U.S. and Canada trip. When they attempted to cross from the U.S. into western Canada, Canadian border agents turned them away — the paperwork wasn't in order. When they re-entered the U.S. from Canada, American agents discovered that the husband had overstayed a previous U.S. visa by 20 years. Karen herself had overstayed a previous U.S. visa by four years.

Karen did have a valid visa for this trip. But when someone has previously overstayed a visa by four years, that's exactly the kind of red flag that border agents look for. The standard rule is that overstaying a visa results in being barred from re-entry for a minimum of 10 years. She arguably should have been flagged on entry, before she got to the Canadian border.

The Guardian article made no mention of any of this. That's not journalism — it's advocacy dressed up as a news story.

United Airlines: Relax Row

On a lighter note: United Airlines has introduced a new seating option called Relax Row. If you can't swing business or first class on a long-haul flight, this gives you a more affordable way to travel more comfortably. Worth checking out if you're a frequent flier.

Reminder: TSA PreCheck

If you haven't gotten TSA PreCheck, now is a great time. The process is straightforward: apply, get fingerprinted, pass a background check, and you get access to the faster lane. In nearly every airport right now, the PreCheck line is significantly shorter. Global Entry includes PreCheck and is worth it if you travel internationally.

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