Some encouraging news for those who like to travel with liquids and gels in quantities greater than 3 ounces/100 ml in carry-on luggage: The International Civil Aviation Organization has predicted an end to the restrictions within the next two years.

“In the next two years (the ban) will end,” ICAO Secretary General Raymond Benjamin told AFP ahead of the UN organization’s 37th general assembly, which kicks off in Montreal on Tuesday.

New equipment capable of detecting explosives in water bottles, makeup kits or toothpaste tubes, for example, would be installed at most airport security checkpoints by 2012, he explained.

This timeframe is more aggressive than the timeline the European Union has set for the lifting of the ban, the very-specific date of April 29, 2013:

By 29 April 2013 at the latest, all liquids will be allowed in cabin baggage and will be screened. By that date, the current restrictions on the carriage of liquids in cabin baggage will end. The transition period until 2013 is necessary to allow for a roll-out of liquids screening equipment at all EU airports.

As a preliminary step in phasing out the restrictions on liquids, as from 29 April 2011 at the latest, duty-free liquids purchased at third country airports or on board third country airlines and carried in tamper evident bags will be allowed as cabin baggage and will be screened. Today, these liquids are only allowed in cabin baggage if they come from selected third countries (United States, Canada, Singapore and Croatia).

Unfortunately, it will apparently take a little more convincing (or lobbying) to get the DHS and TSA on board with that timetable:

[U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet] Napolitano told The Associated Press she’s surprised by International Civil Aviation Organization Secretary General Raymond Benjamin’s remarks that security equipment in most airports will allow for the ban to be lifted soon.

Napolitano said the technology isn’t ready.

“I think that’s premature,” Napolitano said in an interview with The Associated Press.

Sigh. It feels like we’ve made so little progress in the world since 2006. Back in 2008, there were liquid bomb testers in Japanese airports, and we still don’t see them in the US or Europe.

However, the fact that the ICAO is publicly making statements pertaining to a timeline for phase-out is strangely encouraging. I know the ICAO has no jurisdiction over the screening of passengers at airports, but the transportation and security leaders of forty governments attended their last conference. This isn’t a bunch of crackpots, and the leaders didn’t fall off the turnip truck.

Let’s revisit this in two years, to see if we’re really any closer to lifting the ban. Until then, continue using your 3-1-1 freedom baggies.

Upgraded: This blogger
Back on the beat after a restorative vacation. Tanned, rested, ready. Bring it. Anyway, back to business:

Upgraded: Odds of chip-and-PIN in the US
A month ago, I blogged about the United Nations Federal Credit Union bringing chip-and-PIN credit cards to its American customers. That isn’t a huge customer base to be pushing a new technology. But what if a bigger player made a push for the increasingly-globalized payment technology? What if that player were Wal-Mart?…

Upgraded: Demand for parked airliners
When air travel slowed with the recession, the airlines parked a number of their planes in the desert. According to Rockwell Collins, the recent increase in demand will lead to airlines recalling those planes and putting them back into service. This may be wishful thinking by Rockwell, which services planes and spruces them back up for action, but if true, it could mean some respite from jam-packed flights, with planes flying at record loads.

Upgraded: Opportunities for speaking your mind to the TSA director
John Pistole, the recently-appointed TSA director, wants to hear from you. The TSA has a new comment/complaint form, and you’re invited to use it.

Upgraded: The male of the species
British Airways has been forced to pay restitution to a male passenger who was forced to change seats by flight attendants because he was seated next to an unaccompanied minor. BA admitted to sex discrimination against the man and paid £2,161 in costs and £750 in damages. I understand that airlines are worried about children being molested by strangers, but please: not all male travelers are child molesters. By the same token, neither are all female travelers drug-addled nymphomaniacs seeking mile-high-club entry with 14-year old male travelers… like this woman. (Thanks for that latter link to Mike Maddaloni!) Kinda puts the whole discussion of unaccompanied minor fees in some perspective…

Upgraded: First-mover disadvantage
The new Conservative-led British government has halted plans to expand Heathrow Airport, and has preemptively banned additional runway construction at Gatwick and Stansted. While I appreciate the sentiment and intent of a move by the new British government to discourage “binge flying” on environmental grounds, I fear that the net carbon footprint of the aviation industry won’t change much: Since many flights are through the UK, and not to the UK, the traffic will simply shift to Amsterdam, Paris, and Frankfurt.

Downgraded: Consumer smarts
You will no doubt recall Spirit Airlines’ decision to charge up to $45 for a carry-on bag. What may surprise (and disappoint) you: The airline has seen a surge in bookings, 50% higher than the same period last year. The airline admits to capitalizing on the media attention, much of it negative. Perhaps all press is good press, after all. Or perhaps passengers are suffering from Stockholm Syndrome.

Downgraded: Hotel Fees Running Wild
Bjorn Hanson of NYU predicts an increase in the size, variety, and breadth of hotel fees in the coming year. $1.7 billion worth. And if you were curious as to how you’ll be charged, here’s a list:

Examples of fees and surcharges include: resort or amenity fees, early departure fees, reservation cancellation fees, internet fees, telephone call surcharges, the costs of local calls, business center fees (i.e. cost of sending/receiving faxes and sending/receiving overnight packages), room service delivery surcharges, mini-bar restocking fees, charges for in-room safes, and automatic gratuities and surcharges. For groups, there have been increased charges for bartenders, service, and other staff at events; charges for set up and breakdown of meeting rooms; charges for meeting rooms in which meals are served (the common practice has been that there is a charge for meeting rooms but not an additional room charge for rooms in which meals are served); fees for master folio billing and baggage holding fees for guests leaving luggage with bell staff after checking out of a hotel but before departure.

Downgraded: Scanner privacy
Oh good: The full-body scanners that supposedly blur out the private parts, don’t. Thanks to The Smoking Gun, we learn of a TSA employee who walked through the scanner and was, ahem, judged by his colleagues for the size of his manhood. Eventually, the guy snapped at the mockery, which led to his arrest. And led to our awareness of just how personal the scanners can get…

Downgraded: The Tonga Room
There just aren’t enough kitsch-tastic tiki lounges left in America. And so it saddens me when I read that the San Francisco Fairmont is planning to demolish the Tonga Room, a Polynesian-themed bar that was launched in 1945. The city (and some preservationists) are protesting the planned demolition.

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You can’t make this up: A TSA worker abuses his authority and scares the crap out of an innocent woman by planting phony contraband… as a joke. From the Philadelphia Inquirer:

After pulling her laptop out of her carry-on bag, sliding the items through the scanning machines, and walking through a detector, [Rebecca Solomon] went to collect her things.

A TSA worker was staring at her. He motioned her toward him.

Then he pulled a small, clear plastic bag from her carry-on – the sort of baggie that a pair of earrings might come in. Inside the bag was fine, white powder.

The innocent passenger understandably freaked out, realizing she had been framed. And when drugs are involved, it’s not just a missed flight that’s of concern. But wait:

Just kidding, he said. He waved the baggie. It was his.

Kidding? Kidding??? Unbelievable. Not only is this offensive, but so stupid. On what planet did this agent reside, that he thought this was even remotely okay? And what kind of power trip must he have been on, to do this in front of other passengers and fellow agents?

According to the Inquirer, the agent in question no longer works for TSA, but you have to wonder how someone with such miserable judgment was ever hired in the first place.

So, how would you have handled being framed by TSA?…

Downgraded: Teamwork, Wine, and Cost-Savings on British Airways
Management vs. labor (or labour, if you will) on British Airways is getting nastier. Take this quote, for example: “No-one is doing anything to help save costs any more. Whereas we used to keep unfinished bottles of wine in first-class to save money, now they’re routinely poured down the sink.” Pouring good wine down the sink? That’s a sin!

Downgraded: Traveling Value, Thanks to Fees
Delta upped its checked baggage fee again. $8 more for the first bag (now $23), and $7 for the second bag (now $32). And that’s if you pay your fees online. If you wait until you show up at the airport, add another $2 ($25 total) for the first bag and another $3 ($35 total) for the second. What I don’t understand is this: The policy is effective today, January 12, for anyone who purchased tickets on or after January 5. But the policy was only announced on the 11th. How is this legal, especially in light of the DOT “crackdown” on post-purchase changes to the contract of carriage? I smell a rat.

Upgraded: Travel for People with Nut Allergies
Travelers with nut allergies may soon find a nut-free-zone on Canadian airlines. Complaints filed against Air Canada yielded the ruling, which requires the airline to create a buffer zone within 30 days of the early-January ruling. What other cordoned-off areas will we see on planes now?…

Downgraded: The One-Way Ticket Myth
Mythbusting on the details: Umar Abdulmutallab, the crotch bomber, did not travel to Detroit on Christmas Day on a one-way ticket, despite nearly every major news organization’s reports to the contrary. He might have set off a thousand other warning flags if the data mining and information sharing within the US security community were up to full speed, but a one-way ticket was not one of those flags.

Upgraded: Jokes about TSA drug use
Jimmy Fallon: “Four TSA workers at LAX were videotaped snorting drugs. It was the first time people had ever seen lines go that fast at the airport.” Hey-ohhhh…

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Who is more to blame for the recent shutdown of Newark Airport: The 28-year old graduate student who jumped a rope and entered the secure area of the airport, or the TSA agent who left his post unguarded?

Some politicians have been quick to choose sides. And friend of the blog, Robert P. — he of the world-famous “You have chunks in your beer” letter to the CEO of Midwest Airlines — calls out one particularly-vocal US Senator for playing the blame game.

The text of the letter to Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) follows in its entirety:

Dear Senator Lautenberg,

I’m not one of your constituents, but still wanted to write a note of disappointment regarding what appears to me to be your desire to publicly hang, draw and quarter Haisong Jiang, the schmuck who shut down Newark Liberty International Airport last week. While it is clear that what he did was wrong, it is wrong in the same sense that speeding or jaywalking is wrong. The terrible ramifications — shutting down the airport — speak much more to the incompetence of TSA staff and absurdity of the rules drafted by TSA leadership than to the actual violation itself.

Think about it just for a second; if Al Qaeda terrorists knew they could shut down an entire airport (and delay air traffic around the world) by skipping through a velvet rope to kiss a girl, they could save a lot of money on explosives and weapons training. Granted, they might have to spring for a dozen roses or a box of chocolates, but I suspect these might still be cheaper (and less painful) than setting ones underwear on fire.

Clearly, the problem here isn’t with Mr. Jiang but with the TSA. And your public statements that the man should face federal charges over the incident are ridiculous. Please direct your attention to the actual problem, rather than a misbehaving graduate student. Instead of absurdly saying that the man committed a “terrible terrible offense” and should turn himself in, why not ask why the TSA has a “no-fly” list that creates hassles for everyone named “John Smith” because some criminal, somewhere, used that as an alias, but nonetheless allows real, identified, terrorists with no luggage, no return ticket, and no winter coat to get on trans-Atlantic flights to Detroit in the middle of winter.

Thank you and Happy New Year.
Robert P……

Got a side to take in this debate? Hit the comments.