American Airlines Responds to Twitter Threat

Yesterday morning, a Dutch teenager issued a very serious threat against American Airlines.  The tweet threatened the airline with terrorist activity.  Using this popular social media tool, American Airlines immediately responded and swore to take action in response to the threat made against them. 

Despite both parties deleting the tweet, with Sarah deleting her entire twitter account, this incident shows the importance of social media in all aspects of life, including national security.  In the aftermath of September 11th, these threats are taken extremely seriously.

According to Twitter's "Guidelines for Law Enforcement". the information of a specific Twitter user can be turned over and used as evidence “if there is an exigent emergency that involves the danger of death or serious physical injury to a person that Twitter may have information necessary to prevent.”  While there has not been substantial information released concerning the incident, Dutch police tweeted an update as of this morning confirming the arrest of Sarah in response to this incident.  Despite the teenager tweeting at the airline multiple times in response to their response, it is clear that they are still taking these threats seriously and are taking action against her. 

A representative for the popular social media site told Business Insider, "We’re not in a state that we can communicate any state of charges at this point, we just thought it was neccessary to bring this out mostly because of the fact that it caused a great deal of interest on the Internet."  

After this incident, it is important to remember to be careful on social media sites.  What may seem like a joke to you can be taken extremely seriously, especially if the content is aggressive and threatening in nature.  This story also shows the emphasis on security that airlines are implementing.  While security can be a pain when it adds on time to your travels, remember the service that they are doing and the lengths that they go to keep travelers safe!

Ready, Set, PACK!

If you all are anything like me, packing lightly and adequately is not my forte. However, I seized this opportunity to research some rules, tips and formalities to educate myself and to share with you all, considering I am hopping on a plane in two days. Yikes! Whenever flying, you always risk luggage troubles. I think I have had more luggage failures than successes in my personal flying experiences. However, since I am going to Florida this week for only 4 days, I must pack smart and light to stay under American Airline's weight limit and save my money. Depending on the airline, they can charge you a pretty penny to check your bag in, which is hard to do after the hundreds of dollars you already given them for your plane ticket. There are obvious circumstances where you must check a bag in, like if you are going somewhere for an extended period of time and your bag can not fit their carry on criteria. My best advice to save some money and stress, would be to bring a smaller suitcase onboard as your carry on. American Airlines specifies carry on luggage dimensions on their website. In order for your carry on to fit in their overhead compartment, your bag must not exceed the dimensions of 22" long by 14" wide by 9" tall. What's worse than cramming an oversized suitcase into a small compartment? You don't want to be that person.

Once you have made sure your bag is within these dimensions, it is important to think about the contents that you will be packing. Flying restrictions have immensely impacted our packing and travel habits post 911. It is important that we are aware and cautious of all of the restrictions to ensure a smooth transition through security. No longer can we pack liquids greater than 3 fluid ounces in our carry on bags. The most recent restriction being absolutely NO toothpaste regardless of its size on your carry on. My advice would be to first make a list of your liquid bottled essentials, then go to Target and buy them in their travel sizes. It is always good to put them in a zip block bag, to prevent any leakage.

Now we get to the tricky part...clothes. The hardest part about traveling is to resist temptation of packing your entire wardrobe. I realize you need your options, but that is just not realistic. It is (sometimes) OK to wear something more than once on a trip, or to do some laundry. Thinking about what you really need versus what you may want is the hardest obstacle to overcome. It is also crucial to check the weather forecast of your destination when packing to ensure you are fully prepared for anything mother nature might throw your way. Depending on your trip's duration, you may only really need 1 pair of flip flops, not 5 that look slightly different. 

Each trip and travel experience will be different for everyone. Different climates, different durations and different destinations all bring different needs. If you find yourself in a similar situation like me, take the worries out of packing, keep it simple and have fun!