New Bill Calls for TSA Temperature Checks at Airports
ORLANDO, Fla. Sept 24 2020— You’re already required to wear face masks. Now, a new bill is aimed at making airline travel in the time of coronavirus even safer.
Sen. Rick Scott’s bill would establish temperature-check pilot program at airports
TSA union says responsibility for temperature checks should be on airlines
The program would allow passengers with fevers to reschedule or cancel flights at no cost.
Republican Sen. Rick Scott of Florida has proposed “The Fly Safe and Healthy Act of 2020,” which would establish a pilot program at airports, requiring temperature checks at TSA screening checkpoints.
The president of the union representing Transportation Safety Officers at Orlando International Airport and eight other Florida airports applauds the notion of screening passengers’s temperatures but said her members’s focus is security.
“I just believe, for all involved, this should be an airline issue, not a TSA issue,” said Deborah Hanna, Union President of Local 556. “I don’t believe it’s something the average TSO should have to do. Our job is security, to make sure a plane doesn’t fall out of the sky.”
Per the bill, a 120-day pilot program would allow passengers with fevers to reschedule or cancel their flights at no cost.
Within 90 days of the completion of the pilot program, TSA would then need to create a policy for deploying temperature checks at airports, as airlines would be required to provide passengers with new guidelines about changes and discourage travelers with fevers from air travel.
“As somebody that’s had health issues in the past, I think getting the temperature screening should have been way before coronavirus,” traveler Kasi Weathers said. “It makes me feel a lot safer.”
Weathers spent a weekend at Walt Disney World with her family. On Monday, in addition to her Mickey T-shirt and sunglasses, she donned a colorful pumpkin-themed face mask at Orlando International Airport as she prepared to board a flight back to Arkansas.
She said she doesn’t mind wearing a mask or getting her temperature checked. She’ll do whatever it takes to get back to normal life.
“The mask is a nuisance, but it’s fine. I mean, it’s safety precautions,” she said. “At Disney World, (temperature screenings) took maybe five seconds. Stop, take your temperature, walk on. Right now, it’s safety. It’s all we can ask for.”
