Three popular south Florida airports will begin making allowances for the disabled and those with medical conditions, allowing them to get special assistance to move through airport security, according to the Sun Sentinel.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) will be providing 28 support specialists at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, five at Palm Beach International and 38 at Miami International Airport, beginning this week.
The support specialists will not consist of additional airport staff, but rather specially trained officers who volunteered to take on the additional duty on top of their regular job responsibilities. They had to demonstrate an ability to deal with complex passenger issues and be customer friendly in order to be selected for the positions. Those selected received four hours of training, including instructions on the civil rights of those with disabilities and medical conditions.
Part of this process involved learning to be discreet to respect the privacy of passengers.
"I've had women come up to me and say, 'I have breast cancer,' and want to keep that private," Jayashiri Dwivedi, a TSA specialist based in Fort Lauderdale, said. "Accordingly, we work with them."
The passenger support specialists are available to assist any passenger, though the program is aimed specifically at those with medical conditions and disabilities. While they are there to make the screening process easier for travelers, they still have to ensure that all travelers go through the screening process.
"This is where we've been driving for a long time," Tim Lewis, the federal security director of Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport said. "The TSA wants to provide world class security and world class customer service."
Specialists will often approach passengers that appear to be having difficulty, though passengers can also request private screenings by going to the TSA web site, TSA.gov, and printing out a notification card that can be handed to security officers. Passengers can also always just ask.
Examples of passengers that may need extra assistance include those with oxygen tanks or other portable medical devices, passengers who take insulin and those in wheelchairs.
Another program, TSA Cares, allows passengers to call the airport ahead of time to request security officers to provide assistance. The new support program is seen as the next logical step, Sari Koshetz, the spokeswoman for the program, said.
Specialists "are caring, empathetic, calm, poised, and determined to assist and solve and problem that arises," Koshetz said.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
