Downgraded: New York aviation landmarks
There are a handful of routes where pilots use land markers to guide their approach for landing. New York’s LaGuardia is one of them, and they’re about to lose a key marker: Shea Stadium, the home of the Mets, is being demolished. The use of these physical markers, seen from the sky, is kind of quaint. I recall flying into LaGuardia (on a different approach path) and listening to Channel 9 on United (which lets you listen in on the cockpit conversations with the tower). The tower’s instructions were something like “Turn left at the Statue of Liberty and fly up the river.” Awesome.

Downgraded: Flights to Pakistan
A note to any passengers flying to Pakistan: British Airways has indefinitely canceled its flights to Islamabad, in the wake of the Marriott hotel bombing. BA’s FAQ page for passengers with flights to Pakistan is here. Joe Brancatelli suggests that travelers to the region avoid US and UK airlines and hotels, and consider companies that cater to Japanese travelers instead.

Upgraded: Elite lines at American Airlines… and Southwest
American Airlines is rolling out the red carpets for their elite frequent flyers. Literally. Starting September 30, at select airports, you’ll find check-in lines, security lines, and boarding lines. (Before anyone gets upset: The TSA doesn’t control the security lines, the airports and airlines do. See here for a defense of the process.) I’m not frequently on board AA planes, so I’m not an elite with them. But I’m shocked that this isn’t already out there for AA flyers. Other airlines have been doing this for years. Years! More shocking, though also, not entirely: Southwest is rolling out elite lines, too.

Upgraded: Continental, caving, brings back the 500-mile minimum
An anonymous commenter brought it up early, and it’s since confirmed: Continental is reversing itself and granting passengers a minimum of 500 frequent flyer miles on flights under that distance.

Watching the stock market today hasn’t put me much in the mindset for some light-hearted after-hours travel blogging. But it’s got me thinking:

A few months ago, despite signs of a nasty downturn and increasingly negative economic forecasting, no one I knew was having their business travel curtailed. Personal travel was being cut back — hard — but not business travel.

I’m wondering — and asking you, the reader — if that’s changed in recent weeks. I had lunch with friends and former coworkers from my previous employer today, and they informed me that belt-tightening was in full effect. On the chopping block: travel. Conferences, conventions, and training were all getting cut.

If you’re seeing it at your own job, what’s taking the hit? Accommodation quality? Driving, flying, or both? Your flexibility in choosing carriers and providers? Travel, period?

Employees of Lehman, AIG, and Washington Mutual, I can guess what you’ll be saying…

Incidentally, cutbacks are a two-way street. In some instances, companies who have reduced their spend have been unable to keep their contracted rates.

Anyway, hit the poll, and tell your story in the comments. Is your travel being cut back? How? What’s the word?

(Trouble with the poll, or reading this in a feed reader? Try again here.)

European travelers who have gotten accustomed to traveling to the US without a visa might need to pay closer attention to the negotiations between the Bush administration and the European Union:

American anti-terror chiefs are threatening to withdraw the Visa Waiver Scheme for British and European tourists unless the EU signs an agreement on the new measures before Christmas.

Under the US Homeland Security scheme, all travellers – including children – without a visa must fill out a detailed online questionnaire about their health and criminal history at least three days before departure.

Travellers are currently required to answer similar questions by filling in forms on board transatlantic flights, which are handed to immigration officials when they land.

But from January 12 next year, the Department of Homeland Security wants this information in advance to check its blacklists for terrorists or anyone considered ‘undesirable’.

The system, the Electronic System of Travel Authorization, is already operational on a voluntary basis. (Gluttons for punishment can test drive it here if you really, really want.)

Travelers who actually do use the new system now will be in for a surprise if they show up at the border without a filled-out I-94 form. As this report indicates, the US Customs and Border Service currently collects volunteers’ data, and makes it look like travelers are avoiding an additional step by participating in the online process, but in reality, they’ll still need to fill out the paper forms anyway. Delightful.

So the U.S. government is spreading confusion by offering conflicting and redundant processes for international visitors. And to what end? Have you seen the questions that the form actually asks? For the most part, they’re laughable. Take a look what our governments asks the citizens of the world:

“Moral turpitude”? How very specific, and not at all relativistic.

Thankfully, this procedure keeps drug-using, diseased, terrorist Nazi ex-con kidnappers looking for work out of the United States. At least, it keeps the scrupulously honest ones, who fill out the form, out.

Why would anyone — even a guilty party — answer “yes” to any of these questions? Do these forms actually catch anyone? And if they’re genuinely threatening people, what’s more important: Keeping them out of the country, or catching them at the border?

At the end of the day, the federal government is willing to tick off thousands of international visitors (and their currency, I might add) over a stricter enforcement of these Mickey Mouse questions. And I don’t mean the Disney-organized pro-customer service PR blitz. What would the mouse think?

Paging Uri Geller! The TSA, always looking to transcend the continuities of the physical world, will soon seek clairvoyance by electronic means, with a new device designed to read emotions:

The device, dubbed MALINTENT by inventors, uses sophisticated sensors to read body temperature, heart rate and respiration.

Analysed together, these factors can lead security services to potential terrorists.

Any suspects are pulled aside for questioning and then subjected to a second scan, which involve micro-facial scanning.

This equipment is able to read minute muscle movements which give further indications of criminal intent.

So far it can recognise seven primary emotions and emotional clues and will eventually have equipment which can analyse body movement, an eye scanner and a pheromone-reader.

More importantly, developers have programmed it to recognise the difference between someone who is simply stressed and a potential terrorist.

But there have already been concerns that the equipment is overly invasive and breaches people’s privacy.

We’ll have to hear more about this. Judging people’s emotions is a big part of successful law enforcement, but having a computer do it makes me a little leery. Has the science of measuring guilt gotten so advanced that this is an acceptable technology? What’s the false positive rate? Will we see such a device stand up in a courtroom?

But look to this as the justification for a rollout:

Inventors also claim it will slash queuing times at airports – and bring an end to a ban on liquids.

Watch the TSA gloss over any civil rights worries by promoting the speed and expediency arguments. (And then require slow secondary screenings and liquid prohibitions anyway, just because.)

Stay tuned…

Screenshot of what the “mind reader” output looks like below:

(image, modified to obnoxious heights with blingee)

For many, the promise of air taxi service on microjets (a.k.a. VLJs or very light jets) was the ultimate upgrade. Air taxis would offer point-to-point service, circumventing the hassle of major airports and their security apparatuses. Plus, they’d be similar to private jets — albeit typically without onboard restrooms.

But despite the convenience of point-to-point flying, the business model may not take off as planned. The past week was particularly bad for Eclipse Aviation, arguably the leader in the manufacture of microjets.

For starters, a scandal erupted over the FAA’s certification of Eclipse’s jets. There have been numerous safety concerns with the newly-launched jet, such as “avionics software issues; the lack of a drainage system for the pitot-static system, which made it subject to clogging from ice; intermittent false stall warnings; blanking or freezing of the cockpit displays; and flaps sticking in position.” Yikes.

Click here for a thorough discussion of Congressional concerns. It’s quite disconcerting. And no, there’s no discussion of the lack of onboard restrooms, which, to me, is disconcerting as well. The company’s rebuttal is here (pdf).

Then, DayJet, the largest operator of Eclipse jets closed up shop. The company had been actively flying the VLJs since October 2007, but as of September 19, 2008, their website looks like so many other failed airlines’. The typical “We’re sorry…” and blaming a lack of financing for the need shut down.

So, does this mean that VLJ service is dead? Not quite yet, but it’s certainly on the ropes. Safety concerns, insolvent carriers, and (of course) the high price of fuel. As much as commercial air travel sucks these days, the air taxi market has a steep hill to climb right now.

Maybe having restrooms would help?

Remember when the airlines banded together to encourage customers to help them lobby Congress to ban “speculation,” i.e., hedging, or futures contracts, in the oil market? Well, obviously some of these airlines know how to play the market better than others. Case in point:

At the conference, Delta Air Lines Inc. president and chief financial officer Ed Bastian told investors that Delta should report a third-quarter gain from its fuel hedging activities. That contrasts with UAL Corp., parent of United Airlines Inc., which warned Wednesday that it will record noncash hedging losses of more than $500 million as it records the drop in the market value of its hedges.

A-ha. That helps explain why United is raising fees even in the midst of dropping oil prices. Brilliant. They mess up their investments, but they penalize the customer and blame the oil market. Spin, spin, spin.

So where’s the bailout for the airlines that lost money?

I’m only half-kidding. Given what’s happened in the last week in our financial markets, I would be dismayed, but unfortunately not surprised, if United (or other airlines that are hemorrhaging cash) would come to the US Treasury, hat in hand, asking to be relieved of their debts and obligations.

While they’re at it, why not shut down the oil futures market, like they were lobbying for a few weeks ago?

The taxpayer would be on the hook for another $700 billion blank check of good money chasing after bad. After all what’s another currency-crushing socialization of corporate losses that saddles future generations with unimaginable debts, when you’re already knee-deep bailing out your corporate friends?

Related:
- Oil is lower. Will airline fees be dropped?
- Airlines, unable to manage risk, scapegoat oil markets
- United, addicted to oil excuse, raises checked bag fee