An elderly couple was booted from a luxury ship Saturday after the wife refused to participate in the mandatory safety drill that begins every cruise.

Cruise Critic member Seabourntraveller, who's chronicling a sailing on the 450-passenger Seabourn Sojourn, offered an account of the incident, which occurred while the ship was docked in Lisbon, Portugal. "[The passengers] in [cabin] 627 did not respond to numerous requests, phone calls and announcements to proceed to the Restaurant for the muster drill, and, much to their chagrin, they are spending the next 12 days somewhere other than Seabourn Sojourn," ST wrote.

Seabourntraveller said the captain announced on the ship's PA that those who refused to participate in the muster drill -- during which passengers gather at assigned lifeboat stations and learn what to do in an emergency -- would be debarked. "He was not bluffing, and they were re-packed, removed and escorted off the gangway."

This is the second reported incident since January's Costa Concordia disaster in which a passenger has been booted off a ship for not participating in the drill. Seabourn sister line Holland America went the same route in February, debarking a passenger for muster drill "non-compliance."

Mike Driscoll, publisher of the weekly industry newsletter Cruise Week, reported that the husband, 90, attended the drill, but his wife, 84, said she didn't feel well. "She refused, saying she had done it before," wrote Driscoll, citing Steve Shulem, the California agent who booked the couples' cruise.

Driscoll reports that the two were on the second leg of a three-leg (back-to-back-to-back) cruise, but it is unclear if "done it before" refers to the first leg or some other cruise experience.

We've reached out to Seabourn via e-mail for comment.

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The muster drill is just one of several cruise ship safety protocols that have been scrutinized in the wake of January's Costa Concordia tragedy. Some 700 passengers who had boarded in Civitavecchia on January 13 had not yet participated in the drill when Concordia struck a rock; they were scheduled to attend the drill the next morning.

The International Maritime Organization (IMO), a U.N. agency tasked with improving maritime safety, requires via its Safety of Life at Sea conventions (SOLAS) that passenger ships hold a muster drill within 24 hours of embarkation. In February, the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) announced that its 26 members -- which include every major line -- would hold muster drills before a ship leaves port. At the time of January's accident, most lines were already holding drills before departing, but there were exceptions. Because Concordia operated on a "triple-homeport" schedule -- passengers could board in Barcelona, Civitavecchia or Savona -- musters were sometimes scheduled for the next day. This was still acceptable per the 24-hour window dictated by SOLAS, the ship safety regulations adopted following the sinking of the Titanic.

What lines do with muster skippers is up to them. "The only enforceable piece is that the ship completes the passenger muster as required," said Lt. Cmdr. Dan Brehm of the U.S. Coast Guard's Cruise Ship National Center of Expertise. "What [officers] do to the passengers who don't show up is a company policy at that point."

As for Saturday's forced debarkation, Cruise Critic readers have mostly taken Seabourn's side. "I agree wholeheartedly that the captain made the right call in disembarking cabin 627's passengers, who apparently could not be bothered to follow his rules," wrote markham, echoing a common sentiment. Seabourntraveller was baffled that, in light of what happened on Concordia, any cruiser would flout the muster requirement.

Still, some had sympathy for the debarked duo. "The last image I have of them is this very elderly couple standing on the cruise pier in Lisbon all by themselves with their luggage," wrote an unnamed passenger in an e-mail to Cruise Critic. "I hope these poor dear people made it home."

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Elizabeth Ruiz / EPA

Beach vacations are popular, in part, because they are affordable to other getaways, according to findings from the 2012 Flip Flop Report, released Wednesday.

With summer starting just weeks away, you might be starting to plan that big trip to visit the folks or other family.

Unless, that is, you’re like many travelers and you’re planning on hitting the beach instead.

That’s among the findings of the 2012 Flip Flop Report, a global survey sponsored by Expedia.com and released on Wednesday. When asked if they could take only one holiday, 33 percent of respondents said they’d prefer the beach vs. 10 percent who said they’d want to visit family or relatives.

“Beaches are definitely top of mind right now,” said Joe Megibow, vice president and general manager. “But even if you take seasonality out of it, beach-going and travel have been best friends for years.”

The survey, which included 8,599 consumers in 21 countries, also found that:

• 52 percent of respondents worldwide expected to vacation at the beach in the next 12 months, up from 45 percent last year, although, sadly, only 23 percent of Americans expected to do so;
• When at the beach, 60 percent of Americans preferred doing nothing/relaxing vs. exercising (13 percent) and “posing for pictures you wouldn’t want business associates to see (2 percent);
• 38 percent of Americans cited prevalence of sharks when picking a beach vacation vs. 67 percent of Singaporeans and 70 percent of Brazilians;
• 2 percent of Americans have sunbathed nude vs. 8 percent of Spaniards and Indians and 15 percent of, wait for it, Germans.

Silly statistics aside, the most telling insight, perhaps, is that 77 percent of travelers (and 78 percent of Americans) cited the “estimated price of total vacation” as their top concern when choosing a beach destination.

“It’s less about whether they spend more or less; it’s more about how much buying power they have with their budget,” said Megibow. “As flights get more expensive, they don’t fly or they fly and spend fewer days.”

That impression is echoed in two other reports released this week. On Tuesday, AAA released its annual Memorial Day forecast, projecting that budget-minded consumers will still travel but that they’ll stay closer to home, take shorter trips and decide to drive rather than fly.

Also on Tuesday, a new report from Deloitte suggested that 54 percent of Americans would take a trip between June 1 and Labor Day, a slight increase over the 52 percent who did so last year. With airfares and gas prices up over last year, says the company, travelers will be on the lookout for deals, discounts and complimentary amenities.

For fliers, that may mean choosing airlines that don’t charge to check bags or use onboard Wi-Fi; for hotel guests, seeking out complimentary breakfasts and free parking. At Expedia, the priority travelers are placing on their budgets has prompted the company to launch what Megibow says is its largest summer sale ever, with some 12,000 participating hotels in 700 destinations.

As for the 77 percent of Americans who don’t expect to take a beach vacation in the next 12 months, one last study might be worth considering. Released last month, a paper by researchers at the European Centre for Environment and Human Health in the UK revealed that visits to coastal environments resulted in greater calmness, enjoyment and refreshment than visits to other outdoor locations, such as rural settings and urban parks.

By that token — and regardless of the dent it may make in your budget — a beach vacation could be priceless.

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Rob Lovitt is a longtime travel writer who still believes the journey is as important as the destination. Follow him at Twitter.

Courtesy Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport's newest terminal opens Wednesday.

The world's busiest passenger airport is getting bigger.

On Wednesday, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport opens the new $1.4 billion Maynard H. Jackson Jr. International Terminal, named in honor of the city’s first black mayor.

“The opening of the international terminal is huge for Atlanta,” said the airport's Aviation General Manager Louis Miller. “It gives international passengers their own terminal with its own entrance, it ends the baggage recheck process for Atlanta–bound passengers, and it enhances the airport’s overall capacity now and for the future.”

The airport upgrades don’t stop there. Here are six more projects you may spy next time you fly:

Las Vegas
On June 27, McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas will open “T3,” a new high-tech, $2.4 billion terminal that will serve both international and domestic flights.

“Our plans for T3 include self-boarding podiums at all 14 gates, self-service kiosks equipped for customers to print and affix their own baggage tags, and a robust [free] wireless Internet system that will extend out to the ramp and allow customers to log on whether they’re inside the terminal or aboard an aircraft parked at the gate,” said Randall H. Walker, director for the Clark County Department of Aviation.

Miami
This summer, Miami International Airport will open a $180 million federal inspection area at the North Terminal that is twice the size of the existing Concourse E facility. In early 2013, the airport hopes to have the entire multibillion dollar North Terminal project completed. “What remains to be opened are three passenger gates and five of the 10 baggage claim carousels in the international arrivals area,” said Greg Chin, communications director for the Miami-Dade County Aviation Department.

A new AirportLink Metrorail extension that will speed connections to downtown Miami is being built for $506 million.

San Diego
San Diego International Airport is halfway through a $1 billion sustainable “Green Build” expansion of its Terminal 2 that is scheduled to be completed in August 2013.

“When complete, Terminal 2 will have 10 new gates, a dual-level roadway to separate arriving and departing passengers, a large, bright concessions core and the largest airport USO in the world,” said Katie Jones, spokesperson for the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority.

Los Angeles
Los Angeles International Airport is building a $1.5 billion Tom Bradley International Terminal, which will include new concourse areas and gates that will be able to accommodate the superjumbo Airbus A380 and Boeing 787 Dreamliner airplanes. Renovations and upgrades are also underway throughout the rest of the airport.

New York
And in New York, Delta Air Lines is spending more than $160 million to renovate Terminals C and D at LaGuardia Airport and more than $1.2 billion on John F. Kennedy International Airport's Terminal 4. The LaGuardia project may be completed by the end of 2013; the JFK project, by spring 2013.

That's a lot of airport-upgrade activity at a time when the economy remains skittish, fuel prices are still sky-high and airlines continue to scale back schedules.

“Airports are investing in modern infrastructure to ensure that their communities, and the companies in them, can successfully compete in an increasingly global economy,” said Greg Principato, president of Airports Council International -North America, an airport membership organization. “These facilities are an investment in our economic future.” 

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WASHINGTON - Law enforcement and homeland security personnel face an average of 55 daily encounters with "known or suspected terrorists" named on government watch lists, officials told Reuters. 

The figure -- which equals more than 20,000 contacts per year -- underscores the growing sweep of the watchlists, which have expanded significantly since a failed Christmas Day 2009 bombing attempt of a U.S. airliner. But officials note that very few of those daily contacts lead to arrests. 

Civil liberties groups question the use of watch lists, and they have been ridiculed for ensnaring innocent citizens. 

U.S. officials said the encounters, which involve airport and border security personnel as well as federal and local law enforcement officers, are reported to the Terrorist Screening Center (TSC), an interagency unit led by an FBI official based in a tightly guarded building in northern Virginia. 

At its headquarters, the TSC operates a 24-hour command center, resembling something from a Hollywood thriller, complete with giant wall-screen projections and signs flashing "SECRET." 

Officials said that when a law enforcement or homeland security officer in the field stops a person whose name matches a name in the TSC's databases, the officer is supposed to phone the TSC command center for instructions. Based on information in the databases, the TSC then will advise the officer in the field how to proceed, which could range from releasing the suspect to calling in federal officers as backup. 

Probe: Scant evidence 'torture' aided war on terror
The command center gets between 100 and 150 inquiries a day, of which an average of 55 involve individuals who turn out to be listed on one of the federal watch lists, officials said. Of those calls, about 60 percent come from federal officers at border or airport security posts; the rest come from local police. 

"There are incidents every single day," said TSC director Timothy Healy. 

The watch lists include the best known "no fly list" as well as a "selectee list" of people who the government thinks should get extra screening or questioning before being allowed to board an airplane. 

Officials acknowledge that the number of names on these lists -- and particularly the no-fly list -- have grown considerably since Christmas Day 2009, when a Nigerian-born militant who was listed in a classified database called TIDE, but not the no-fly list, successfully boarded a U.S.-bound aircraft but then failed to detonate a bomb which Yemeni militants had helped him stash in his underpants. 

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Before that incident, the number of names on the no-fly list was around 4,000. U.S. officials said it now contains about 20,000 names while the selectee list contains another 18,000. 

A new threat to aviation security surfaced earlier this month, in the form of a foiled plot by al-Qaida's Yemeni affiliate to deploy a more sophisticated "underwear" bomb. 

The watchlists have been the subject of controversy - most recently last week when an 18-month-old girl and her parents were taken off a JetBlue flight when the toddler's name appeared on a no-fly security list, apparently the result of a computer glitch. 

While the U.S. government has instituted measures to enable people to petition for their names to be deleted, officials insist that over time the lists have become more accurate. 

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Watchlisting officials say that airlines maintain their own lists of potentially troublesome passengers; often, they said, when a well-publicized case arises of a prominent or innocent person being denied boarding, it is because the air carrier, rather than the government, misconstrued the identity of someone on its proprietary lists. 

But Nusrat Choudhury, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union, said her organization is pursuing legal action on behalf of people who have unjustifiably been restricted from flying. She said redress mechanisms maintained by the government are at best "ineffective." 

Henry Kissinger gets a TSA pat-down

Two or three of the inquiries per day turn out to be people listed on the "no fly" list, the most restrictive of the watchlists maintained by the TSC. 

A suspect's name is put on the "no fly" list if they are deemed by government experts to be a threat to aviation, to be planning an attack or if they are "operationally capable" and are known to be planning to attend, or to have already attended, a militant training camp. 

Fewer than 500 of the individuals on the no-fly list are U.S. citizens, officials said.

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Geraldo Rivera, Sen. Diane Feinstein and now Henry Kissinger — apparently, when TSA decides you need a pat-down, it doesn’t matter whether you’re a ubiquitous TV host, a sitting U.S. senator or a one-time titan of foreign policy.

On Friday, Kissinger — former national security adviser, former secretary of state, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, etc. — got the full, hands-on treatment while passing through security at LaGuardia airport. As freelance reporter Matthew Cole told The Washington Post, the wheelchair-bound 88-year-old was subjected to “the full Monty.”

“He stood with his suit jacket off and he was wearing suspenders,” said Cole. “They gave him the full patdown. None of the agents seemed to know who he was.”

Recognized or not, Kissinger’s experience raises questions about both TSA procedures and the public’s perception of them, says Peter Ubertaccio, director of The Martin Institute at Stonehill College in Easton, Mass.

“Even if they had recognized him, they still would’ve patted him down, and that’s where we enter the realm of the absurd,” said Ubertaccio. “He’s obviously not a threat; he’s not going to harm passengers.”

On the other hand, he said, “We go through these theatrics because, reasonably, we don’t want to have people of stature able to skip the line or be afforded special consideration.”

Threat or no threat, wheelchair or walking upright, the issue, says Ubertaccio, is ultimately a function of what happens when standardized procedures meet the real world. “In any bureaucracy, processes become sacrosanct — this is what we do because this is what we do,” he told msnbc.com.

That's only exacerbated in an already stressful situation like airport security. “For travelers, it’s an assault on your dignity,” said Ubertaccio. “Then, when you see them patting down elderly individuals in wheelchairs, it’s an insult to your intelligence.”

When asked about the incident, a TSA official replied via e-mail: “TSA screens approximately 1.7 million passengers per day and TSA officers strive to treat all passengers with care and respect. There was no indication of anything out of the ordinary with Mr. Kissinger's checkpoint experience.”

Rob Lovitt is a longtime travel writer who still believes the journey is as important as the destination. Follow him at Twitter.

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A longtime security supervisor at Newark Liberty International Airport has been arrested on a charge he was using the identity of a New York City man who was murdered 20 years ago.

The arrest of Bimbo Olumuyiwa Oyewole came on the day a federal report found the Transportation Security Administration's handling of security breaches at the airport deficient.

Newark has had a number of high-profile security beaches, the most notorious being the case of a Chinese graduate student who slipped past an exit checkpoint to say goodbye to his girlfriend in 2010, shutting down a terminal and causing huge delays affecting domestic and international traffic.

This story originally appeared on NBC New York.

Oyewole, 54, worked at the airport, starting in 1992, under the name of Jerry Thomas, who was killed that year in New York City. He was arrested, after an anonymous tip, at his home in Elizabeth, N.J., on Monday and faced charges including identity theft, authorities said. It wasn't immediately known how Thomas' personal information was acquired.

Police in New York didn't say whether Oyewole was a suspect in the July 20, 1992, killing of Thomas in Queens.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said Oyewole entered the United States illegally in 1989 and had worked under several contractors at the airport, most recently FJC Security Services, and supervised about 30 guards. The agency said its investigation found no indication that he used the fake identity for any reason other than to live in the United States.

Port Authority leaders had spoken with FJC officials "and will meet with them in the coming days to take every legally permissible step to recheck their security personnel on a regular basis and to protect our customers, employees and facilities," agency spokesman Steve Coleman said.

A message left Monday on Oyewole's home phone was not immediately returned, and no one answered the door at the apartment. The Port Authority said it wasn't sure if he had retained an attorney.

FJC Security, which received an airport contract in 2003, said it conducted a background check on the guard as had New Jersey state police and U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

"In all cases, he passed the background checks," FJC spokesman Michael McKeon said. "During his time with FJC, he had nothing in his record or his performance to indicate a cause for concern or a reason to question the state police and federal government's background checks."

McKeon said Oyewole, in his position as tour supervisor, didn't have access to employees' personal information.

In a statement, the TSA said it was reviewing the Port Authority's procedures for validating employee and contractor documents.

"This investigation indicates that the individual's identification documents were presented to the Port Authority for verification about a decade before TSA existed," the statement said.

State police spokesman Lt. Stephen Jones said New Jersey requires security guards to undergo training under the Security Officer Registration Act and be fingerprinted. The fingerprints are run through the state police criminal history database before a guard is certified.

A candidate is disqualified if he or she has a conviction for a fourth-degree offense or higher or a drug offense of any level, Jones said. Oyewole, as Thomas, was certified under SORA, he said.

A spokesman for Customs and Border Protection didn't immediately return a message seeking comment Monday.

An airport employee who was familiar with Oyewole as Thomas said the private security guards he supervised are responsible for manning TSA security checkpoints after passenger gates close for the evening and before they reopen in the morning. The guards also inspect delivery vehicles for possible unauthorized cargo, he said, speaking to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak about the matter.

A search of public records found evidence of a Bimbo Oyewole and a Jerry Thomas living at the address where Oyewole was arrested.

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The Transportation Security Administration does a poor job of centrally tracking security breaches at airports, according to a report released by Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of Inspector General, which performs agency audits.

Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) requested the investigation last year after a series of security breaches at Newark Liberty Airport.

These incidents included a knife that passed through checkpoint screening, resulting in the closure of a terminal, and a dead dog that was transported on a flight without screening for explosives or disease.

The investigation found that TSA at Newark took corrective actions for only 42 percent of security breaches at the airport between January 1, 2010 to May 31, 2011. Most incidents in which corrective actions were not taken occurred in 2010; the airport's response to breaches improved after that year, according to the report. An evaluation of breaches at Newark and five comparable airports revealed that incidents led to corrective actions in just 53 percent of cases.

The redacted report did not identify how many incidents occurred or which airports were studied, though Sen. Lautenberg had requested a comparison of rates at other airports in the New York and New Jersey regions.

Finally, the report found that while TSA has programs to report and track security breaches, it does not have "a comprehensive mechanism" to centrally gather all incidents and is unable to use that information to study trends and make necessary improvements to security practices.

"This report identifies a gaping hole in our airport security system and gives us a framework for how to improve security at Newark Liberty Airport and all across the country," Lautenberg said in a statement. "The recent attempt by al-Qaida to take down a U.S.-bound airliner showed us that terrorists are still determined to exploit aviation security gaps in order to attack America.

Related: Officials: U.S. airport security could detect al-Qaida bomb

Part of the tracking problem, according to the report, is that TSA's reporting system uses 33 categories to describe a security incident. As a result, the same breach at two different airports might be recorded differently. For example, two separate incidents involving an undetected knife were recorded as an "improper/no screening event" at one airport and a "sterile area access event" at another.

In addition, some TSA employees do not consistently report and track security breaches, leading to a disparity between the number of incidents recorded and those that occurred.

"Without accurate and complete information and analysis, TSA is limited in its ability to correct and resolve security vulnerabilities," the report said. 

After reviewing the report, TSA agreed with its recommendations to agree on a single definition of "security breach" and to "enhance its oversight of airport security breaches."

David Castelveter, a spokesperson for TSA, told msnbc.com that the agency is currently "coordinating revisions" to develop a single definition of "security breach."

Rebecca Ruiz is a reporter at msnbc.com. Follow her on Twitter here.

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