The TSA has ruled that lighters will once again be legal to take onto airplanes, effective August 4. Not Zippo lighters or other “torch” lighters, just “common” lighters.

Amazing. Bottled water is still illegal, but a container containing a flammable liquid is permissible. That’s freedom, baby.

And why the two week delay? Do lighters’ magical terrorist powers somehow expire at midnight on August 3?

Sounds like a big step forward in the expansion plans of all-smoking airline Smintair!

Speaking of Smintair, the tobbaco-laden German/British airline with the absurd claim that its air will be healthier than nonsmoking airlines’, looks like it’s actually making headway. They recently put up a timetable (pdf) that has them flying Dusseldorf to Tokyo and on to Shanghai starting October 28. The countdown is on.

The Smintair website remains one of my favorites, for sheer comedy. Everything from the poorly translated English, to the 1970s porn-esque styling, to nuggets like this line from the employment page: “Allergics to any kind of smoke or aviation specific conditions, militant Anti-Smokers, or people with other social deficiencies are kindly asked to not apply.”

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While passengers in the United States keep dumping their water bottles and sacrifice their four-ounce bottles of shaving cream or hair gel, Japan and China are installing machines that actually test for liquid explosives.

Japan has already rolled out liquid-explosives detectors at airports and train stations, though the machines “will be put to use in the near future.” No word on when that future date might be.

China is vowing to roll out similar machines and have them fully operative by the time the 2008 Summer Olympics kick off in Beijing. The machines are built by NUCTECH and run approximately $200,000 each.

The TSA is instead testing “backscatter” x-ray machines, which can detect liquids on a person through a “virtual strip search.” But these machines can only detect what’s on your person, not what’s in your luggage.

China and Japan are implementing technology to make flying safer and less of a hassle. Why isn’t the U.S.?

I went to the TSA’s website just now, and as I saw the now-classic image of the liquids in the plastic bag (above), it hit me: The item on the far right is an aerosol can of Evian water.

Of all the personal items they could use as a demonstration, they chose aerosol water?

The first time I saw this product was on my honeymoon in Barbados. One of the hotels on our trip had a beach attendant who provided chilled washcloths and offered to spray you with Evian water from a can like the TSA is picturing. I thought it was a rather silly extravagance to be sprayed with water — and not just any water, French mineral water — while lounging on an island in the Caribbean.

Yet I still keep a can from the trip in my desk at the office. But maybe the TSA was wiser than we thought, or at the cutting edge of in-flight travel care: Line three of the product description reads, “Great for use after you travel by air to combat the effects of dry, dehydrating pressurized cabin air.”

Upgraded: Coach Seats on Cathay Pacific
You don’t hear much about economy class seats improving much. Sure, there’s lots of talk about upgrading business and first class. But it’s good to see the back of the bus being considered for upgrades. Cathay Pacific of Hong Kong, considered by many to be one of the best rides in the sky, is installing new seats that function much like business class pods: hard-shell seats that recline within the shell, not by pushing back into the space behind you. The tinkering extends the legroom without technically increasing the seat pitch. Sounds great! (via RoadGladiator)

Upgraded: Economy Snacks on American Airlines, at a Price
American Airlines will start testing a new program this week — and ONLY this week — to sell snacks in flight. Flights between Dallas and LAX, Dallas and Miami, and JFK and San Francisco are included in the test. Klondike Movie Bites ice cream, Otis Spunkmeyer Chocolate Chunk Cookies, Lay’s Stax Crisps or Twix ‘4 To Go’ candy bars will run you $3. Dannon bottled water (how many ounces??) will be $2 per bottle. Cookies, etc., fine. I wonder if the $2 bottle of water was devised before the latest airport security rules were relaxed. Not sure how many people will bite. Can’t you just get a cup or two poured for you for free?

Downgraded even more: The Ryanair Experience
Sensory overload! Ryanair is adding advertisements on the underside of the tray tables, so you’ll be staring at the ad for the duration of the flight. Yay. It just keeps getting classier. (via The Cranky Flier)

Upgraded: Continental’s Reputation
Boston’s Logan Airport wanted to make a buck by providing wi-fi access and charging everyone for it. Problem was, Continental’s clubs already provided wi-fi for free. The airport tried to shut down the free connection, but Continental resisted, took it to the FCC, and won. Hats off to Continental for defending the interests of their customers. (And if you want free wi-fi, hang out near the Continental Presidents Club and try to pick up a signal…)

“I just want to say one word to you – just one word. Plastics.”

Zipper-top plastic bags, specifically. The TSA’s new rules for carrying on liquids were officially released yesterday, and while I’m happy to see any relaxation in the policy, there are still a number of questions that remain.

Echoing Chris Elliott’s commentary on Marketplace, I don’t see how the continued prohibition of liquids, except when they’re carried on board in absurdly small bottles that are subsequently re-wrapped in a 1 quart plastic Ziploc bag, is really making anyone safer.

If liquids were ever a threat, then the ban on liquids would have remained in place, regardless of size. The ban on firearms applies to a starter pistol as well as a Kalashnikov. Why should size matter for shampoo?

Assuming that a liquid threat were possible, terrorists who wanted to blow up a plane with liquids could band together, each one carrying small quantities of liquid aboard (in a 1-quart Ziploc bag, of course; 1-gallon bags are a threat to security.) So the slippery-slope argument is fair game. If some liquids are permitted, why not all of them?

And besides: How are the TSA inspectors going to know if something in your Ziploc bag is actually a dangerous substance or not? Have chromatographs been installed at airports overnight?

The fact that any liquids are being permitted through security just demonstrates the bankruptcy of the policy.

Lift the ban.

O Canada! Our neighbors to the north have wisely reconsidered some of the recently imposed airport security provisions.

In particular: Liquids purchased in Canadian airports AFTER passengers have passed security will no longer be prohibited on board airplanes. Buy that overpriced bottle of water, the venti latte, or a six-pack of Molson, and you won’t have to dump it before entering the jetway. Unless you’re traveling to the United States, in which case your liquids magically become threatening to everyone’s safety again, and you’re required to pour them out.

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: It makes no sense to have a “sterile” area in the airport, where goods and individuals have been screened for contraband, and then ban items obtained from that area anyway. It’s completely arbitrary, and part of the kabuki security we’ve all gotten accustomed to in the past weeks. Hats off to Canada for injecting some modicum of sense into matters.

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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I’ve been lucky to avoid the latest round of security mayhem, not having flown in the past week. But the missus flew United Airlines to and from Boston recently, and her report leads me to believe that the airline is, at best, missing an opportunity to build its customer base in light of the recent restrictions.

It’s irritating, of course, that one can’t take liquids onto the plane, even those purchased in the supposedly secure area past the checkpoints. And the UK even advises you not to have EMPTY bottles in your baggage. So the airlines are stepping up and serving more drinks in flight, right? Right?

Wrong. Not United. Tuesday’s flight 537 from Boston to Chicago featured a single beverage service from the cart. No walk-through with a pitcher of water, or coffee, or anything. I’m sure you could have walked to the galley and asked for a drink, but with the embargo on onboard fluids, this seems like particularly thin service, even for a short 2-hour 10-minute flight.

In the past few days, hotel chains like Omni and Wyndham have been trying to win over clients by promising free lotions, makeup, and toiletries. Avis is putting Procter & Gamble amenity packs on the passenger seats of rental cars. And the airlines?

United tries to sell itself as a premium brand within the domestic U.S. market. They advertise their Economy Plus and premium transcontinental service. They still have free headphones, pillows, blankets, etc. But the airline isn’t adding water to the catering order?

From what I’m hearing, other airlines are not any better, and haven’t made any effort to improve service either. Air travel is the epicenter of the security-related inconvenience, and yet the airlines aren’t doing much to help matters.

A smart airline would 1) make an effort to assure passengers that their time on board the plane will be a relief compared to the time in the airport. Getting more water on board, at a minimum, would be a start. 2) Then market the fact that the airline is trying to help. Blast an e-mail to its customer base, telling them what they’re doing to reduce passenger frustrations, for a start.

Seems pretty easy. It’s been over a week. Why hasn’t any airline stepped up?

Related:
- The future of airport security: Predictions and wish-lists