January 2012
10 posts
'Premium Coach' Gets Popular - WSJ.com →
The Jan 26 Wall Street Journal has this article on a new way for airlines to get more from economy passengers: charge extra for better seats, food, and service. Unfortunately, it hasn’t hit America yet. It’s mostly overseas.
The premium over basic coach fares ranges from $400 to $1,500 depending on the airline and the route. Passenger comment range from “no need for business...
So. About That Whole Rand Paul Versus the TSA... →
Jaunted has a mini-rant about Rand Paul and the TSA. “Silly” and “hypocrite” and “common sense” are thrown around. Personally, my opinion is that there is no common sense, but that’s another story.
Rand Paul detained by TSA - Tim Mak - POLITICO.com →
There’s a dispute over the details, but apparently Rand Paul triggered an “anomaly” with a body scanner and refused an extended pat-down. The TSA says he wasn’t detained, Paul’s spokespersons say he was. He missed his originally scheduled flight, went through screening again later, and boarded a later flight.
The TSA has problems with regular people who refused to...
“If the TSA’s actual mission were its stated one – “protect(ing) the...”
– TSA molesting civil liberties | tsa, agent, rights - Opinion - The Orange County Register
Amy Alkon takes offense at the TSA’s enhanced patdown, comparing it to rape and molestation, and naming names. Of course, she got a demand letter from the searcher’s lawyer demanding a half million...
CarryOn Free — Welcome →
Aggravated by Spirit Airline’s $45 fee for carry on luggage that won’t fit under the seat, Brent Hopkins decided this was a business opportunity. So he makes and sells carry on bags that fit Spirit Air’s precise underseat storage. $55 means the bags pay for themselves with one round-trip flight at $45 each way being avoided.
A New Year Brings a New Fee For Those Looking To... →
The US and the UK are regulating airline ads so that all fees are disclosed, and Jaunted points out that UK’s Easyjet has already figured out how to mislead some customers.
Easyjet charges a fee of nine pounds for “administration” when you pay for your reservations online. But it only charges that fee once, no matter how many tickets you buy in one swoop. So Easyjet is showing...
Schneier on Security: The TSA Proves its Own... →
In all of 2011, no terrorists were captured by the TSA screeners. The items that were found and confiscated included guns and explosives; Mr. Schneier points out these items would have been found pre-September 11, 2001, through normal screening procedures.
Additionally, Mr. Schneier lists the stupid confiscations:
TSA confiscates a butter knife from an airline pilot. TSA confiscates a teenage...
TSA gathering info about radiation measurement... →
The TSA is looking for dosimeters to measure radiation from their machines at airports. We’ll see what happens to the reporting of the results. I’m betting it’s buried.
“I can’t help wondering if we’ve done more in the last decade to...”
– Peter Blair: Airport Security: A Decade of Madness
Much of what he says has been said before, but Mr. Blair offers some suggestions on actual improvements instead of wasting trillions of dollars preventing past attack schemes.
December 2011
12 posts
The TSA Blog: TSA Cares Helpline Starting Today →
TSA cares. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Seriously, it doesn’t care about you, it cares about all the bad press it’s getting by the way it treats you. So the TSA, instead of solving the problem, opened a “helpline to answer questions about airport security prior to travel” for passengers with disabilities and medical conditions.
The TSA says to call 72 hours ahead because your call...
Hand over the fork, sir! - Ask the Pilot -... →
Wherein the Pilot has to hand over his fork but gets to complain that pilots deserve special treatment. Unlike the baggage handlers he mentions who are smuggling cocaine in the cargo holds and stealing from the baggage they handle.
He’s right. He’s a pilot; is it rational to expect a pilot will use a fork to hijack a plane and use the plane as a weapon? Yet baggage handlers...
US to issue rules aimed at tired airline pilots -... →
The airline in the article is Colgan Air. Fifty people died when the plane flew into the ground.
Three years after the crash, the FAA has proposed shortening working hours for pilots who fly and night, in an effort to make sure they get a solid 8 hours of sleep — or at least the opportunity.
Neither of the cockpit crew of Flight 3407 had slept in a bed the night before the flight, and they...
Where Germs Lurk on Planes - WSJ.com →
The Wall Street Journal repeats the other article about contaminated tray tables and seat-back pockets, but ups the paranoia a notch by mentioning the other big source of infection: the TSA.
As we stand in line, we’re around sneezers and coughers, and those bins we all use are never cleaned. We know there are shoes in them, but you may remember other stuff you’ve put in there that you...
A Flight Attendant's Top Ten Tips for Staying... →
Jaunted has posted some tips on not getting sick when you fly. Some I scoff at: eat well and exercise before you fly; meditate; bring healthy snacks.
But some are seriously helpful: keep your stuff (and your hands) out of the seatback pockets (you don’t want to know what the crews find in there); wipe your tray and seat arms with anti-bacterial wipes, then use a placemat on the tray (you...
TSA Breaks Its Own Rules, Removes Elderly Woman's... →
The problem with the TSA is that it agents never learn, and its bosses never stop excusing their misbehavior.
Here’s an example of a rule: passengers wearing medical devices won’t be asked to remove them. Here’s the breach: an 84-year-old woman with a back brace had it removed and x-rayed. It was then returned to the woman, who was cleared to travel.
Somehow the agents became...
GOP bill would dress down TSA - Burgess Everett -... →
What goes around comes around.
The TSA dressed its agents in rent-a-cop style uniforms, then (over the objections of the real police) gave them badges, all in the hopes of getting some respect for the agents themselves.
The agency’s reputation continues its well-deserved slide, however, and now a Republican-sponsored bill (Republican!) will prohibit TSA employees from using the title...
3 women escorted off AirTran flight insist they... →
Oh, and speaking of “it sucks for the crew, too,” one churlish flight attendant kicked three women off an AirTran flight, today. One woman complained about his handling of her overhead bag; one asked him for help with a broken seat; one complained about him kicking the other two off. Air Tran is owned by Southwestern, which said the women were booked onto new flights and “given...
Are We There Yet? When Families Fly. →
And since I’ve covered the frail elderly, here’s the flip side of the coin: infants and children. Michelle Higgins has an article on how sad it is to fly with kids these days.
The opening tale of woe is about parents who ran out of milk for their 18-month-old on a 12-hour flight. They asked the flight attendant for some, even offering to pay, but they were refused. Milk was reserved...
Three women claim TSA made them strip for... →
And speaking of billions spent for no better security, here’s an article about women searched to the skin because of attached medical devices. We read of the guy whose TSA searcher broke his bag of urine; the TSA promised better training, and on the poor guy’s next trip, the TSA agent broke it again.
Here, three elderly women were given the extreme patdown because of similar issues: a...
Insider: $56 Billion Later, Airport Security Is... →
Yet another take on why our very expensive airport security program is a failure waiting to happen. We’re being toyed with while terrorists come up with a plot we not only haven’t imagined but which bureaucrats don’t have the capacity to imagine.
TSA turns the gloves on itself →
Who will guard the guards?
A TSA agent in Hawaii is suing the DHS for unwanted sexual advances, claiming that she was retaliated against for reporting it and forced to withdraw her complaint.
In her complaint, the woman says she was the third woman to report the advances and that all were suspended or threatened with termination. According to this article, she’s now suing in Federal court...
November 2011
13 posts
US Airways passenger forced to stand for 7-hour... →
Here’s a quote I find difficult to believe:
Berkowitz was denied the the use of a flight attendant “jump” seat and not offered an alternative seat on the aircraft as the flight was full - forcing him to stand throughout the entire 7-hour duration of the flight, including during takeoff and landing.
Flying With Little Children? Go to the Back of the... →
Yesterday’s Wall Street Journal had an article on how badly the airlines treat people flying with children. Among the problems: seat assignments change, and parents are separated from their children; parents who want confirmed seats adjacent to their children are being told to pay extra for the privilege; parents flying with an infant on their lap can’t always get the child onto their...
Bags to Go - Leader in advance off-airport... →
The stratification of air travel continues with Bags to Go, a baggage service that will handle your bags for you, including checking in your bags for you at certain hotels (TSA-approved screening), then delivering them to the airport for loading on some plane — maybe yours; claiming your luggage at certain airports for delivery to your cruise ship; claiming your luggage that the cruise ship,...
Hermain Cain does not exist.
I’m betting that there is no Herman Cain. It’s Sacha Baron Cohen pranking us all.
The TSA Blog: Wrapped Presents Are OK, But We... →
The TSA denies they’ll be unwrapping all your holiday gifts; they’ll only unwrap the ones they want to.
HOWTO attain radical hotel-room coffee... →
A lengthy article on how to make cold-brewed coffee in your hotel room (or at Burning Man, as the case may be). I’m not so desperate for coffee that I need it as much as this guy, but I understand his need.
“Another request was from a man stranded at the airport by his dominatrix. The...”
– BBC News - Foreign Office reveals weird requests to consulates
I don’t think the Foreign Office understands what ‘real difficulty’ is.
Follow the link for more requests for assistance made to British consuls by British subjects.
Keen On… David Cush: Why We Hate Our Airlines... →
David Cush is President and CEO of Virgin America. He sadly misses the point in this interview. It may be that he’s just out of touch, or it may be that he’s being intentionally misleading.
Mr. Cush says “the process is somewhat dehumanizing.” He gives a brief description of the process: the airport, boarding, and the little bit of space you get onboard. But Mr. Cush says...
Radiation feared in Airport shutdown →
Rumors of radiation leaks don’t add up to me, but 11 TSA agents were sickened and several were sent to a hospital on a Hawaiian island last week. Sometimes this works out to mass hysteria.
“I recently stayed at a four-star hotel in Beverly Hills, where I was charged $10...”
– Travel Q&A: Hotel fees not always easy to avoid - San Jose Mercury News
Yow! This article mentions several of the hidden fees hotels are now charging. I’ve mentioned ‘resort fees’ before, but now hotels are charging to clean the rooms? Read the entire article for additional...
“This season, planes will be even more tightly packed as airlines continue to cut...”
– Holidays bring changes for air travelers - San Jose Mercury News
Michelle Higgins gives us the low-down on what’s new if your flying Thanksgiving or Christmas.
TL;DR: longer lines, longer waits, more and higher fees. As I’ve mentioned before, flying is becoming stratified between those...
Updates to The Civilized Explorer portal page
I’ve updated our portal page and mobile portal page to include hurricane news from the National Hurricane Center and for more current news sources, including the BBC and Radio France Internationale, among others. I still have links to St. Barth, Pointe-a-Pitre, and Fort-de-France weather so you can see what it’s like in the Caribbean tropics. On the mobile portal, links are to mobile...
How to Make the Most of Airplane Wi-Fi and Never... →
The article says you get cheaper Wi-Fi on a plane with a smartphone rather than a laptop, so it recommends switching your browser’s self-identification to iPhone or similar to begin your session and pay. It also recommends checking for coupons for discounts for onboard Wi-Fi. There are also suggestions on how to speed up your access and extend your battery life.
Nothing earthshaking, but...
October 2011
17 posts
“You’ll be happy to know, though, that TSA responded by emphasizing...”
– Congressman: TSA’s New Chat-Downs Are ‘Mindless’ || Jaunted
Then it’s not as bad as I expected.
TSA goes through woman’s luggage, finds sex toy,... →
I wouldn’t call it pervy, but totally unprofessional - unsurprisingly given the hiring and training standards of the TSA.
One of the issues with any security system is who will guard the guards. And with the TSA, no one is held accountable for bad behavior, so no one guards the guards.
VIP travel services: Are the perks worth the cash?... →
I’ve commented before that flying is segmenting into the haves and have-nots. Here’s an article on how to pay for premium services even with an economy class ticket so that you avoid long lines at security and get lounge treatment while you wait at long layovers.
It’s pricy, but not nearly as expensive as first class tickets.
“Last summer Delta introduced a new option to help you stretch out on those...”
– Delta Hopes You’ll Pay to Stretch Out with Domestic ‘Economy Comfort’ Seating || Jaunted
More info at Jaunted’s site, including all the benefits you get for your extra fee.
AirTran Adopting Southwest's Weigh More, Pay More... →
Jaunted reports that AirTran will begin enforcing Southwest’s policy of requiring a passenger to buy a ticket for an adjoining seat if the passenger is so large he or she can’t lower the armrest. There are some conditions, so read the article for the full explanation.
“Passengers on Europe’s biggest airline may soon need to cross their legs – or...”
– Ryanair unveils its latest plan to save money: remove toilets from the plane - News & Advice, Travel - The Independent
“We very rarely use all three toilets on board our aircraft anyway,” says chief executive Michael O’Leary.
TSA, not flying high fiscally, looks for cash -... →
The TSA is asking for higher user fees from passengers to pay for more crap that doesn’t work and more programs that won’t increase our security.
TSA Rolling Out New Machines to Bust Fake IDs and... →
The point is, as long as the “identity check” at checkpoints is just visual, there’s nothing to make sure that IDs or boarding pass are authentic except TSA agents, who are… imperfect.
Smart scanners are being introduced to selected checkpoints. And by “smart scanners,” I mean something other than TSA agents.
“While saying the airline plans to apologize to the bumped passenger, McInnis...”
– Petite woman bumped from plane for hefty passenger - travel - TODAY.com
Worldwide: Retaliation Concerns over al-Awlaki... →
World-wide travel alert for all Americans through November.
JFK Airport's Terminal 6: The Sad Demise of a... →
I.M. Pei’s world famous Terminal 6 is scheduled for deletion. A short article on Gizmodo with a link to the NY Times article if you’ve registered.
Enduring United Economy Class from Tokyo Direct to... →
The Jaunted crew flew from Tokyo to Seattle in economy class. The recommendation? Don’t. Second recommendation? Fly long-haul in a non-US carrier if at all possible.
“Sadly, though you redacted the TSA agent’s name in this letter, you...”
– TSA Agent Retrieves Cellphone From Locked Car, Hands To You At Gate - The Consumerist
A story of a TSA agent who did someone a favor. Note, though, that the agent was not on duty.
The TSA Blog: Cancer Patient Screening At JFK:... →
The TSA apologizes here to the cancer patient for the bumbling pat-down they gave her, and they point out that scanning may point out issues requiring further screening, meaning a physical search. The issue, of course, is the bullying they gave the cancer patient and the physical search in the open over the passenger’s objections.
The TSA says they’ll train their people to screen...
BBC News - Fast Track - The future for in-flight... →
Reporter Keith Wallace (BBC) says it costs about $8 million to wire a place and kit it out for sound and video. And hardware weighs a lot. Fiber optics and WiFi may change that drastically, as well as lightening the load.
Some of the comments are pie in the sky — ordering food and drinks from your seat, for example. Flight attendants are surly enough without the added burden of serving...