Airports’ TSA staff have been stripped of their chairs in the name of ‘professionalism’. Most supermarket staff have never had them. Meanwhile, Donald Trump is seated at his desk – and apparently snoozing

Great news for everyone who is soon to fly via a US airport: the Trump administration has just elevated the travel experience. You still risk getting arrested by immigration agents and thrown into a detention centre, but never mind that! Instead, luxuriate in the fact that none of the poorly paid Transportation Security Administration (TSA) staff with whom you interact will be sitting down. The government recently got rid of all the chairs at travel document checking stations, arguing that “maintaining a standing posture helps reinforce professionalism” and strengthens “our security posture and … commitment to hospitality”. Funnily enough, border patrol and customs officers have not adopted the same policy. Perhaps because their job tends to involve being as inhospitable as possible.

TSA agents aren’t the only US workers getting sore calf muscles during their shifts. Unlike their European and British counterparts, cashiers at US supermarkets have traditionally been forced to stand while working. The US’s upright obsession seems to be down to a Protestant work ethic and a lack of labour laws. Sitting apparently conveys laziness to the discerning American consumer. Over the years there have been numerous right-to-sit lawsuits pushing back on mandatory standing but, while things are shifting slightly, seated supermarket cashiers are still unusual. One exception is Aldi, which has been expanding aggressively in the US. Cashiers get chairs at Aldi because (surprise) it’s more efficient when your workers’ feet aren’t aching all the time.

Away from the public eye, deportation planes at Youngstown-Warren and Akron-Canton airports carry hundreds of immigrants daily amid Trump’s ICE crackdown

Just after 10.30am on a recent weekday morning, a Bombardier CRJ200 Air Wisconsin aircraft landed at Youngstown-Warren regional airport.

Having made the 75-minute flight from Milwaukee, the 50-seater came to a halt and its twin engines fired down next to another Air Wisconsin plane and a larger Eastern Air Express Boeing 737, planes that flew in the evening before from Alexandria, Louisiana.

Order for workers to remain standing to ‘reinforce professionalism’ draws rebuke amid plunging morale

Union officials have launched a campaign to allow airport security staff to sit once more after the Trump administration unilaterally removed all the chairs for Transportation Security Administration (TSA) staff at checkpoints.

“People are pissed,” said Johnny Jones, secretary-treasurer of American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) TSA council 100 and president of AFGE local 1040, which represents TSA workers in Dallas-Fort Worth.

Multiple hospitalized after Avianca flight from Medellín to New York had to divert to Miami due to strong turbulence

At least eight people were injured when an Avianca flight encountered severe turbulence and had to make an emergency landing in Miami early on Friday.

Miami-Dade fire rescue said one person was rushed to a trauma center with severe injuries while seven others were taken to area hospitals in ambulances.

Medical transport plane flying from Bermuda to Boston crashed off coast of Massachusetts early Saturday

Six people are presumed dead after the US Coast Guard on Sunday suspended its search for survivors of a medical transport plane crash off the coast of Massachusetts early the previous day.

The aircraft, which was flying from Bermuda to Boston, lost contact with ground authorities at about 2am on Saturday, and the Coast Guard located a debris field near the island of Nantucket later that day.

Culture of silence and fears of exclusion means aviation workers less likely to seek help for mental health issues

Pilots and air traffic controllers in the US could soon have an easier time achieving a healthy mental altitude – a move with implications for the safety of air travel in America.

The US Senate recently approved bills aimed at encouraging aviation professionals struggling with a mental health condition get treatment.

Six passengers and crew onboard still unaccounted for after medical plane vanishes off coast of Massachusetts

Researches found debris from a medical transport plane that was carrying six people when it vanished over the Atlantic early on Saturday during a flight from Bermuda to Boston, the US Coast Guard said.

A statement from the coast guard issued on Saturday evening said crews searching off the coast of the Massachusetts island Nantucket “located a debris field confirmed to be from the aircraft”, described as an air ambulance.