First time here? Check out the site's "greatest hits" or read a random post from the archives. Feel free to ask a question, and consider subscribing to the latest posts via RSS or e-mail. Thanks for visiting!

Last summer, Raed Jarrar was harassed by jetBlue employees for wearing a shirt with Arabic lettering on the front. In his ACLU-led legal team’s words, here’s what happened:

JetBlue and a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) official, identified as “Inspector Harris,” would not let Raed Jarrar board his flight at John F. Kennedy Airport until he agreed to cover his t-shirt, which read “We Will Not Be Silent” in English and Arabic script. Harris told Jarrar that it is impermissible to wear an Arabic shirt to an airport and equated it to a “person wearing a t-shirt at a bank stating, ‘I am a robber.’”

Lovely metaphor. Added bonus: Jarrar says that, after he relented and donned an additional shirt, jetBlue tore up his boarding pass, which had him seated near the front, and gave him a new boarding pass to sit at the very back of the plane. How nice of them — and how symbolic.

Jarrar threatened to bring a lawsuit. Consider it brought.

A discrimination lawsuit charges federal officials and JetBlue Airways with racial profiling for refusing to let an Iraqi man board an August 2006 flight at Kennedy International Airport because he wore a T-shirt inscribed with an Arabic phrase.

The incident is part of a discriminatory pattern at U.S. airports since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, with officials targeting people perceived to be of Arab descent — particularly those displaying their ethnic background or religious faith, two civil liberties groups said Thursday in filing the lawsuit.

I say go get ‘em, Raed. It’s important to push back against fearmongering hysteria that erodes our civil liberties. He’s doing us all a favor, and representing what the country really stands for, by standing up to this sort of small-minded censorship.

Related:
- Would an anti-Tony Blair shirt get me in trouble in the U.S.?
- Short hops - August 23, 2006 - JetBlue rewards one flyer a free t-shirt (in exchange for his civil liberties)

Is more efficient airport check-in design possible? Apparently Alaska Airlines has figured out a way to speed things up, by getting the passenger to drop their bag, rather than waiting for the gate agent to do it for them.

The system has been in use for some time now at the airline’s Anchorage hub. The Wall Street Journal profiles their patented (yes, patented) check-in area with a glowing report:

In Anchorage, the lobby is deep instead of shallow. But thanks to multiple windows, it is light and airy and provides a sweeping view of the Chugach Mountains to the east. The spacious hall is dotted with kiosks and roving customer-service agents to help passengers who aren’t familiar with the machines. Those without bags can go immediately to the security-screening lines around the corner. Those with luggage proceed to bag-drop stations where the passengers, not the agents, place the bags on conveyor belts while the clerk checks boarding passes and identification, tag the bags and give the fliers the baggage stubs.

Because the transactions are so swift at these stations — and because the passengers (or, in some cases, porters) do the heavy lifting — one agent can handle two lines of passengers, and the lines are rarely very long. Elite frequent fliers have dedicated bag-drop stations.

I’m honestly surprised at the speed improvements (surprised in a good way). The slowest part of self-check-in with bags is often the wait for the gate agent, who is working six counters at once. Until they check your id and tag you, you’re waiting, clogging the kiosk. The Alaska method moves you away from the kiosk, but it could still bottleneck at the bag drop, where the agent has to tag your bags, no?

The method will be rolled out in Seattle next year. But will it work elsewhere, in older terminal buildings where the width of the building exceeds its depth? Heck, even newer buildings are wide rather than deep.

Nonetheless, it sounds promising. It’s been 10 years, almost to the day, since I’ve passed through Anchorage Airport, so I have no first hand experience with Alaska’s new approach. Comments from those who have seen it in action are especially welcome.

(image)

Christopher Elliott has apparently been reading my mind. I was going to write up a post regarding the stupidest rules in the travel world, the rules that need changing, but he’s beaten me to the punch.

He offers five great ones: 1) the prohibition against changing the name on an air ticket, 2) the rule against bottled water at TSA checkpoints, 3) the ban on throwaway and hidden-city ticketing, 4) rental car early-return surcharges, and 5) hotel resort fees. Go read the whole thing.

All good rules to grumble about. Chris nabbed some of the biggest ones. I’d add a few:

There are more, I’m sure. Which rules annoy you most? Hit the comments!

(image)

New York passes passenger bill of rights
It’s official: New York governor Eliot Spitzer signed a passengers’ bill of rights, which kicks in January 1 for flights grounded for three or more hours at New York airports. Note that the law won’t require airlines to allow people off the planes after three hours. Rather, it will require that the airline keep the toilets clean and the beverages flowing — thereby creating a roundabout requirement for airlines to link back up to the terminal. Lawsuits will fly. Pass the popcorn.

But the fact that this is a local law, and not a federal one, is absurd. Will we now need a separate contract of carriage for every possible way station on our trips? I’m all for states taking the initiative when the federal government won’t act (think California emissions), but laws like this one or the Chicago bill just indicate how broken the system is, from top to bottom. Those “customer service plans” that the airlines have offered up as a self-regulation alternative haven’t done the job, and Congress hasn’t acted quickly enough to address the systemic problems — air traffic control as well as passenger rights. We’ll see if this lights a fire under the collective asses of our legislative branch.

How to make Amtrak fun again: Free booze!
Drunken passengers are happy passengers. So says Amtrak, which is offering $100 in free drink vouchers for long-haul sleeper car trips. Sponsored in part by “Night Train”?

Virgin America debuts tomorrow
Tomorrow is Virgin America’s first flight. Anyone out there flying them on day one? (or heck, week one?) Hit the comments and tell the tale!

TSA agents apparently want more respect from the traveling public, and their white-shirted uniforms are being replaced this fall with more police-like regalia. The blue shirt, the badge… makes it a little harder to mouth off when you see that uniform, eh smart guy?

Beyond the cosmetic change, you’ll also face some changes if you’re traveling through America’s airports. As of this past weekend, you’ll need to pull “large video game consoles and DVD players” out of your carry-ons for separate screening, much as it’s been necessary to pull out your laptop for a while now.

Who travels with their Xbox? I guess some people do.

“Small electronic items, such as cellphones, MP3 players, iPods and portable video game systems do not have to be removed from passenger’s carrying cases.” …but how many frontline TSA agents will be requiring those items to be removed anyway? Who’s making book on that?

The new rules went into effect on Friday without prior warning, and some airlines sent out alerts to their customers.

How is it that the TSA can impose new restrictions with no advance warning, and yet it takes several weeks for long-standing restrictions on lighters to be rescinded? The argument that it takes a while for information to disseminate should apply to both new restrictions and rule revisions, don’t you think? I just don’t get it.

More things to pull out of your luggage generally means slower security lines. It’ll be a few days before I travel again, so in the interim, reports from the field are welcome. Is there a noticeable change on the front lines?

(image via Benet Wilson’s Towers & Tarmacs)

Internet addicts, take heart: American Airlines says it will be the first U.S. airline to bring inflight internet access to domestic skies.

The airline said Wednesday that it will test the service next year on some Boeing 767-200 jets that mostly fly transcontinental routes.

American will charge a fee for the hookup but said it did not know how much that would be.

American, a unit of AMR Corp., said it signed a memorandum of intent with AirCell LLC to provide the service.

AirCell will build cellular towers throughout the continental United States to transmit the signals. Planes will have three antennas, two on the bottom and one on top.

Notice that there’s a whole lot of future tense in there. “Next year.” “Will build towers.” Where’s the beef?

We’ve been hearing about the buildout of AirCell for well over a year now, and it hits the news about once per quarter. (Scott McCartney’s last piece on it was on April 3 of this year, if you’re keeping track.)

Boeing tried its hand at a satellite-based system, Connexion, but that folded. Maybe AirCell will do better: Inflight internet would be nice on longer domestic flights, and I’m happy to see an American commit to it. But I’ll believe it when I see it.

Thanks to reader Paul, who quips: “No word yet on whether they’re forcing AirCell to change their name to ‘AAirCell.’” (ThAAnks PAAul!) Sorry.

Related:
- Inflight internet moves closer to reality in American airspace
- “No Cellphones” light to be added to aircraft interiors
- It’s official: Boeing pulling the plug on its inflight internet service, Connexion

(image)