Upgraded: Delta’s regional jets
Delta announced today that they would put first-class seats on all domestic flights of more than 750 miles. That means many RJs which thusfar had been single-cabin will be revamped to two-class service. Let the upgrades begin!

Upgraded?: The Concorde
The return of the supersonic airliner? Perhaps. But alas, only one of them. And you won’t be earning any miles to fly on this one. A team of French and British engineers are trying to resuscitate a mothballed plane, for a flyover at the 2012 London Olympic games.

Still Downgraded: American credit cards abroad
Chip-and-PIN. Still the nemesis of the American traveler, as I’ve been posting here since 2006. But every few months, the print media picks up the issue again. It’s USA Today’s turn this month. The U.S. credit card industry isn’t interested in joining the rest of the planet in adopting the chip-and-PIN standard, so American travelers will continue to face hassles and the inability to use their cards at vending machines. 2006… 2010… no change.

Downgraded: The science of airport security
A long but interesting read: A detailed history and critique in the journal Nature of the use of airport deception detection — the effort to find the bad guys at security checkpoints by examining their facial tics and behavior. (Turns out, it’s based on the highly controversial and disputed research by Paul Ekman, on whom the TV show “Lie to Me” is based. Wacky!)

Upgraded: Colorful reasons for flight delays
If you were flying into or out of Washington National on Tuesday morning, here’s why: A biplane crashed on the runway. And it’s caught on tape, filmed by a Washington Post journalist who was onboard as part of a film promotion. (I’m sure that film review will be super-positive now, eh?)