TSA Launches Helpline For Disabled And Special Needs Travelers

Just ahead of the Christmas travel rush, the Transportation Security Administration launched Thursday a hotline intended to assist disabled and other travelers with special needs.

The helpline, TSA Cares, aims to provide specific information on screening procedures and policies to assist travelers in negotiating security checkpoints.

The toll-free number is 1-855-787-2227.

“This additional level of personal communication helps ensure that even those who do not travel often are aware of our screening policies before they arrive at the airport," TSA chief John Pistole says in a statement from the agency.

The agency has repeatedly made headlines in recent years for its ham-fisted screenings of passengers with walkers, in wheelchairs and using colostomy and urostomy bags.

In a call to the hotline late Wednesday, a reporter for The Huffington Post reached a live TSA representative after just two rings. The woman, who would only give her name as Ruth and said she wasn't authorized to speak to the media, helpfully offered the phone number for the agency's public affairs office in response to questions.

In a statement, the TSA suggests "that passengers call approximately 72 hours ahead of travel so that TSA Cares has the opportunity to coordinate checkpoint support with a TSA Customer Service Manager located at the airport when necessary."

Related on HuffPost:

Comments

[Michael Ludin]

12:03 PM on 12/30/2011

People, remember most of TSA are the same screeners that were private contractors before. No new braniacs -- just uniforms and a Federal benefits, maybe.

[NunyaDamn]

01:35 PM on 01/01/2012

Also, remember they are not officers of the law.

[ritgar]

05:35 PM on 12/24/2011

Face it TSA - no one ever believes your side of the story.

[Mark Coble]

11:52 AM on 12/24/2011

TSA. The terrorists have won this. Now little old ladies, babies, nursing mothers, and just about anyone is subject to crazy inspections. Do we feel safer? No just intruded upon by seemingly low IQ TSA workers who are just following orders. I blame "awol", aka Bush, but hey, I blame him for the chickens not laying too.

[fortressfountain]

11:04 AM on 12/24/2011

The best way to board a plane without the hastle is to manage to break or sprain your foot-you will be wheeled in the plane first and not have to deal with the hastle of lines.

[Nota Dualcov]

06:32 AM on 12/24/2011

sure

[bluefalcon06]

02:29 AM on 12/24/2011

Nothing but a facade.

[dragon69]

11:30 PM on 12/23/2011

the only help we need from the tsa is their saying goodbye as they are sent packing

[precigil]

12:45 AM on 12/24/2011

And when one of your friends or relatives gets blown to kingdom come--You will be the first to ask and cry as to where was TCA
the TCA did not create all the terrorist with their lying oil wars
the TCA did not turn this country into a police state
the TCA did not design the airplanes, so that they could be used as fying bombs

[kcwookie]

08:54 AM on 12/24/2011

TCA? Really? If you are going to make stupid complaints, how about using the right initials?

[dragon69]

06:47 PM on 12/24/2011

first of all learn to read its the tsa. 2nd of all your statement is nothing but republican scare tactics and those are not working on intelligent people any more. so go hide and scare someone else we are over it

[Cliff Rothband]

07:28 AM on 12/24/2011

All those TSA people will be out of work? Work?

[bmitche]

10:27 PM on 12/23/2011

Good move for TSA.

[SCCUBSFAN]

10:26 PM on 12/23/2011

I'm disabled and use a walker, one with large wheels and a seat so that I can rest after walking, we recently traveled from Charlotte, NC to Ontario CA the week before Thanksgiving and returned the Saturday before so the airports were fairly busy at both airports I was treated with respect. At each scanner I was asked if I was able to be scanned and if I was to stand inside the the scanner without my walker. What would happen if a newspaper or TV station sent a small child or an elderly person with a dummy device that the TSA didn't catch, people would be up in arms that it wasn't caught. I just feel your attitude has alot to do with some of their actions.

[GOODDOC1]

05:20 AM on 12/24/2011

I use the same type of walker. Is it ever a problem to take onboard an airplane? I was wondering if it went in the passenger compartment or the cargo bay. Thanks.

[SCCUBSFAN]

07:48 AM on 12/24/2011

I do a gate check-in they take after I wlk down the jetway and put it in the cargo bay and bring it back up as soon as we deplane.

[parrotnorth]

09:47 PM on 12/23/2011

The TSA is a violation of the 4th Ammendment. They have mission creep and will soon be at train and bus stations. Plans for search pionts on high ways have been made and tested. This organization has the potential to become a verson of the Nazi SS. Soon we will be seeing them carrying fully automatic belt fed weapons. They need eliminated and the responsibility for security turned over to the transportation companys. Concealed carry for citizens made legal in all states like drivers licences and OK on a train or bus is better security..

[justkeepswimming]

11:32 PM on 12/23/2011

I was with you until concealed carry. I know people with concealed carry permits who shouldn't be allowed near strong perfumes, let alone firearms.

[pankate]

09:57 PM on 01/01/2012

You do not have a Constitutional right to fly on airplanes.

[vietnamvet1967]

08:35 PM on 12/23/2011

TSA is America's SS, just like Germany had, they have all the powers to do anything they want , and yet this president along with others, have allowed these so call want a bee's to Punish the American traveler and enjoy feeling up old ladies and kids

You try that and you go to jail, they do that and they get a pay raise

[nuclearkid]

09:53 PM on 12/23/2011

No. Germanys ss was not just like tsa. Germanys ss were smarter then the back woods in inbred tsa

[desertsapien]

01:39 AM on 12/24/2011

You mean "quotas". Just shocking.

[jjr526]

08:12 PM on 12/23/2011

How about a new TSA groping or non-groping line for us non terrorists. How many terrorists have the TSA caught?

[vietnamvet1967]

08:35 PM on 12/23/2011

NONE

[chrysostomos]

07:38 PM on 12/23/2011

I've got nothing against the workers on the ground at the TSA- as long as they are professional in doing their job and follow the mandates that they have been given they can't be faulted for the tasks that they are required to carry out. It's the system and procedures that are the problem. And that's the responsibility of the administrators up the chain who have designed and managed an inept system. By all means hold individual security personnel responsible when they don't act in a professional manner but recognize that they can't be held responsible for coming up with the faulty policies and failed initiatives.

[code2high]

01:46 AM on 12/24/2011

You're right, but they also aren't getting adequate training in how to talk to people. You sholdn't just 'hold them accountable" when they screw up. They need to be actively taught how to deal with people in a way that is more likely to create cooperation.

And that isn't their fault. It's something that management needs to work on along with the rest of the system, and also with doing a better job of communicating to the public why certain policies are in place.

[chrysostomos]

11:38 AM on 12/27/2011

I completely agree with you.

[ILoveGreatDanes]

07:32 PM on 12/23/2011

So TSA has a hotline now. I'm sure soon it will involve a frustrating automated system maze that will be impossible to navigate. Even if that never happens, it still doesn't solve the main problem: TSA has become too invasive with their screening procedures.

[JRS9000]

07:29 PM on 12/23/2011

Why doesn't the TSA have a presence at train stations? People travel other ways than by air.

[vietnamvet1967]

08:36 PM on 12/23/2011

They will be coming soon, Ameriaca's NEW SS , also on bus stations

[desertsapien]

01:42 AM on 12/24/2011

They are there. I've seen them.
Black trenchcoats, black fedoras.
The men in black.

[independentcynic1228]

01:14 PM on 12/24/2011

They have VIPR teams. They go to bus stations, truck stops and even bridges now. Pretty soon you'll need papers to walk out of your house since that also is a form of transportation.