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Chris Elliott draws our attention to an increasingly pervasive phenomenon at hotels: Earlier and earlier check-out times. What was once a 1 p.m. check-out might be an 11 a.m. check-out now, or even earlier.

Small difference, you might say, but big money: “penalties for late checkouts were among the fastest-growing of the hotel fees.” So for every hour they take away, not only are you losing an hour of time that you paid for, it’s a new revenue opportunity for them.

If you’re ever cutting it close, try to use video or phone checkout before the cutoff time, so they don’t charge you. Then gather your things and leave. You might milk another 15 minutes out of it…

Watch the posted signs, and ask at the front desk if you’re not sure of the check-out time. And better not linger, it could be expensive.

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Too bad this didn’t happen on WizzAir
An Air Canada Jazz pilot locked himself out of the cockpit after visiting the lavatory. The co-pilot and flight attendant, both up front behind the locked door, were unable to open it. (Insert joke here.) After banging on the door, perhaps even shouting “Let me in!” to the horror of the passengers aboard the 50-seat Canadair Regional Jet, the pilot unscrewed the door hinges and got back in his seat. (The plane landed safely.) — And in case you’re wondering about the puerile joke in the title, there really is a WizzAir.

Security 2: Electric Booga-loo (emphasis on “loo”)
Losing your iPod certainly sucks. Losing it by dropping it into an airplane toilet, even worse. Having your plane make an emergency landing because of your dropped iPod being in the toilet, and being questioned as a terrorist suspect: almost trip horror perfection. (via Consumerist)

Moisture-based lawsuits begin
Add it to the growing list of lawsuits. An Irish woman is suing Delta Airlines for failing to provide beverages for her 18-month old boy, whom she carried on her lap. TSA agents at JFK had required her to empty her child’s juice at security. (via Consumerist, again)

Passports not worth what they once were
The U.S. government is preventing two American citizens from returning to the United States from Pakistan, unless they agree to be questioned — with lie detectors — by the FBI about their relatives, who were convicted in a case involving terrorism. Though they are not considered suspects, and are not charged with any crime, these two Americans are on the no-fly list for now. As usual, Ed Hasbrouck, recently turned consultant to the Identity Project/papersplease.org is on the scene, making a strong (if wordy) case that this is a violation of constitutional rights.

More kung fu fighting, still fast as lightning
China is sending some of its air marshals to the United States for further training. Apparently China’s flying cops are already “trained in martial arts and carry knives and clubs.” But can they sing and dance as well?

(image, taken onboard Southwest Airlines)
tags: travel | airlines | security

“Can you hear me? I’m on a plane! A plane!!!”
It’s official: Ryanair is allowing inflight use of mobile phones, with service provided via OnAir. The airline takes a cut of the roaming charge. For the notoriously no-frills airline, does this count as a frill?

Be productive, or be a tourist, in airports
Passing several hours at the airport? Not entering a lounge? Here’s a short guide to time-killing diversions at the busiest airports in the world. (If this had been in European media, I’d wager they’d be listing the Beate Uhse shop at Frankfurt Airport, and providing a list of smoking areas.) What I’d like to see more of at airports: Napping stations like they have in Vancouver.

Private travel gets faster
Lockheed Martin is developing a supersonic private jet that should be able to cross the United States in two hours, without the loud sonic booms that gave the Concorde a bad name. Though the QSST (quiet supersonic transport) will be fast, sales will probably lag microjets, which are rapidly gaining popularity (despite some models lacking a bathroom).

What happens onboard Maxjet stays onboard Maxjet
All-business-class discounter Maxjet is starting a new route: Las Vegas to London-Stansted. But will they offer inflight gambling, as Ryanair has proposed? Who will claim The Loosest Slots in the Sky??

Door Wars: The New York Times’ Joe Sharkey heeds the call
Welcome to the revolution, Joe. Like many travelers, Joe often can’t get enough sleep in hotels. Noise, especially hallway noise, is the enemy. I sympathize. But I’m glad to see that AmericInn is promoting quieter rooms. I’ve never stayed in one of their hotels, but this certainly sounds appealing.

Britain sees security improvements, while the U.S. languishes. Or worse?:

Granted, they’re just rumors, but if they’re even close to true, look out: A FlyerTalk message board offers a frightening glimpse into the thinking of TSA supervisors on the future of airport safety. Some of the proposals supposedly under discussion — and again, this is rumor, not fact — include:

1) A relaxation of carry-on liquid rules (yay!) BUT a prohibition on liquids in checked baggage. Why? Terrorists could allegedly construct containers that mix explosives automatically in the cargo hold, causing fire or worse.
2) A limit of one checked bag per passenger. TSA is having a hard time keeping up with the increase in checked bags, so they’d like to lighten their load. (Airlines might not object to this…)
3) A prohibition on entering security more than two hours before your flight. (I don’t see this happening.)
4) A ban on printing boarding passes more than three hours before your flight, or a ban on printing connecting boarding passes at the time of check-in. Online check-in would be nixed. (What would this solve?? Airlines would have a fit.)

Again, these are rumored proposals, not policy, and they’re worth what you just paid for them.

Over in the UK, the Times of London reports that Britain’s restrictions on carry-on bags will be changed soon, allowing for “normal” sized carry-ons instead of just the small briefcase-sized bags. (Yay.) Liquids will still be banned. (Boo.) Still, full-size carry-ons are good news for travelers.

However, kicking passengers while they’re down, discount carriers EasyJet and Ryanair are raising their fees for checked luggage.:

EasyJet is to start charging passengers booking from September 1 if they check in more than one bag. The fee will be £5 if paid online or £10 at the airport. The airline said the charge was to relieve pressure on check-in staff and to encourage people to travel light. The allowance for checked-in baggage remains 20kg, as does the excess charge of £5 per kilo, regardless of the number of bags checked in. Ryanair is to raise charges from September 1. Currently, every item checked in is charged at £2.50 for those who book and £5 if passengers pay at the airport. These fees will rise to £3.50 and £7 respectively. The airline has an excess baggage charge of £5.50 per kilo and, from November 1, the allowance per person will drop from 20kg to 15kg.

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tags: travel | airport security | Easyjet | Ryanair | TSA

When is a free ticket not free? When it’s in India.

The government of India has started bilking first class and business class passengers, INCLUDING those who upgrade or buy a ticket with miles, on all flights departing their country.

The finance ministry has now decided to levy 12.25% service tax from all passengers who occupy the Business and First Class seats in international airlines. And these would also include Economy Class ticket holders who are upgraded to the upper class free of charge. […] Roughly, travellers need to pay a extra Rs 15,000-20,000 for travelling in Business Class, and around Rs 25,000-40,000 more for First Class to Europe. For US, such upgrades to Business Class would cost Rs 33,000-40,000, and Rs 60,000-80,000 for upgrades to First Class.

How do you tax a free ticket, you ask? By assuming the full fare were paid. Like charging rack rate taxes on a free hotel room (which is also done). Terrific.

That comes to anywhere between $300 and $1700 in taxes, payable at the check-in counter.

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tags: travel | India

Both Expedia and Travelocity rolled out similar features yesterday, allowing travelers buying airline tickets to placate their guilt over the environmental effects of air travel by purchasing carbon offsets. The way it works: You pay money to pay for trees and carbon-dioxide reducing environmental projects. The price you pay depends on the distance flown.

The programs are fully voluntary, and link up with existing programs such as TerraPass, which has been pushing carbon offsets for some time.

Amusingly, both Expedia and Travelocity claimed to be the first online travel agency to offer such a service. (If it’s a battle between press releases, Travelocity’s hit the wire an hour earlier. First to the gate!)

My question: Should they charge premium cabin passengers more than they charge economy passengers? On the one hand, you take up more room on the plane, as measured by square footage. On the other hand, you’re not really adding any more weight to the equation, so your presence in the front vs. the back doesn’t change the fuel requirements. Any ethicists out there want to take this on?

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Separately, the European Union is pushing for limits on the amount of greenhouse gases which airlines legally produce each year. Treating airlines like power plants, the system would allow for “carbon trading” — companies that go over their emissions quota are required to buy “credits” for their overage from cleaner competitors. Since companies thereby have incentives to reduce emissions, both by avoiding fees, and by potentially profiting off the sale of credits, emissions trading schemes are widely viewed as successful. We’ll see how it works in aviation.

Related:
- Are open skies dirty skies?
- Buy, not fly, green

tags: travel | environmentalism | Expedia | Travelocity

I don’t give a lot of specific fare deals on this site, since others (here and here) are more closely watching fares than I ever could, but this introductory Delta fare is just too good not to mention.

Commemorating their new New York-London route (which they recently purchased from United Airlines), Delta has great deals across the pond.

For travel between New York-JFK and London-Gatwick:
$199 ($303 with taxes) for roundtrip economy-class
$999 ($1141 with taxes) for roundtrip business-class

$1141 roundtrip is cheaper than anyone else in business class, including Maxjet, for the dates I checked.

The fine print: Buy tickets by September 7. Travel may begin November 15, 2006 through March 21, 2007. All travel must be completed by April 20, 2007. Blackout Dates: December 15, 2006-January 7, 2007. Saturday night stay required and 30-day maximum stay.

Of course, seats are limited, etc., etc., etc., and this will require a bit of hunting to find dates that work, especially for the business class fares.

Also, Delta has branded these flights Delta 001 and Delta 002. I guess that makes this the new flagship service?

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tags: travel | Delta Airlines | business class | low fares

Flight attendants on Asian airlines are famous for their attentiveness to customer needs. Flight attendants in the United States will often remind passengers that their primary responsibility is passengers’ safety. Now, China’s Sichuan Airlines is kicking both elements up a notch for newly-hired attendants on flights between China and Korea, by requiring musical talent and martial arts skill:

As well as being aged between 18 and 24 with a knowledge of Korean, skilled in singing and dancing and of “nice appearance”, the new flight attendants will be trained as “part-time security guards” on the flights. “There’s no specific type of martial art we require, it could be kung fu or tae kwon do,” said Cai Chao, a Sichuan Airlines spokesperson.

Ok, I understand the martial arts, for security. But singing and dancing?? Especially the dancing! Southwest flight attendants might lead the passengers in a chorus of “Row Row Row Your Boat” or “Wheels on the Bus,” but I don’t think they’re shaking their booty down the aisle. At least I hope not…

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tags: travel | airlines | security | martial arts | flight attendants

There may be waiting lines in airports, but you can blame the line at the courthouse on air travel, too:

Threats made, now delivered: Ryanair filed suit against the British government over the security restrictions on carry-on luggage. As they had promised, the airline is suing for £3 million in lost revenue. Who will win? That’s a question for the barristers: “The Dublin-based carrier is suing under the Transport Act 2000, but government officials say the security directives are covered by the Aviation Security Act 1982.”

Separately, the New Zealand government is prosecuting Malaysian Airlines for knowingly and illegally transporting asylum seekers into the country. More than half of all asylum seekers who reach New Zealand’s shores apparently get there via Malaysian Airlines. Sounds like a slogan in the making.

Back in the United States: Remember Rima Qayyum, the woman who was held at Huntington Tri-State Airport in West Virginia after she was found to have liquids, and TSA singled her out for explosives testing? (It was a false positive, and she was released after 14 hours.) According to lawyers for the family, US Airways refused to let her on a plane the next day, despite her having been cleared by the FBI. So the family is considering suing the airline, and possibly airport security, for discrimination. (Some more detail here.)

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tags: travel | airlines | lawsuits

It may be the over-commercialization of public spaces, but I’d still rather see airports offer power outlets sponsored by a bank than see airport managers cover up the sockets. Benet Wilson snapped this photo of a sponsored power outlet at Indianapolis Airport.

Time to add Indy to the Air Power Wiki, the directory of power sockets in airports around the world. (Benet, I’ll leave that to you…)

tags: travel | power outlets | airports

No void remains empty for very long. In light of the TSA’s war on moisture, startup MyWetStuff.com will let you buy trial sizes of various liquid or gooey personal care products, and have them delivered to your hotel at the destination.

The first 70,000 people to use the service get free stuff when the site launches September 5. Sign up here to get in line for the freebies.

I’m traveling right after their launch, so I’ll try to give the service a whirl.

tags: travel | liquids | free stuff | MyWetStuff

AerLingus gets it.

It’s a small gesture that goes a long way: For the last week, the Irish airline has been putting a half-liter bottle of water at every seat on flights from the U.S. And now they’re tooting their own horn about it.

I think this is great. (Unsurprisingly, since water at every seat was my first suggestion/prediction here, and I ranted against insufficient beverage service here. Glad to see someone stepped up.)

Yes, in the grand scheme of things, security is still more inconvenient than effective — go read this piece by Bruce Schneier, “Refuse to be Terrorized” — but anything that even slightly reduces the irritation of air travel is okay in my book.

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tags: travel | Aer Lingus | airport security | water