“A new, separate Bill providing significant relief for air passengers from extended on-board delays was welcomed today by Kate Hanni, founder-president of the Coalition for Airline Passengers’ Rights, Health and Safety, formerly Coalition for an Airline Passengers’ Bill of Rights (CAPBOR). The new Bill, H.R. 6355, was introduced in Congress on June 24 by Congressman James Oberstar, chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and Congressman Jerry Costello, chairman of the Aviation subcommittee.

“Despite frustrations inevitably encountered in the process, we are delighted that passengers’ rights are clearly now on the agenda of the House’s appropriate leadership,” Ms. Hanni said. “This Bill is intended to move passengers’ rights legislation along on its own merit, since similar passenger legislation was already passed by the House in the FAA Reauthorization Act, which has become stalled in the Senate,” she added.

H.R. 6355, the “Air Service Improvement Act of 2008,” requires air carriers and large and medium hub airports to file emergency contingency plans with the Secretary of Transportation for her review and approval. The Secretary may establish minimum standards for plans and require airlines to modify the plans they submit. These plans must detail how the air carrier will provide food, water, restroom facilities, ventilation, and necessary medical treatment for passengers on board an aircraft that is on the ground for an extended time period without terminal access. The Coalition had fought hard for plans that required Transportation Department approval, as opposed to the voluntary plans the DOT, favored.

Airlines that do not comply are subject to a $25,000 per day penalty. The Bill will also establish an Advisory Committee for Aviation Consumer Protection.”  - eTurboNews

U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents said he had been chosen for “random inspection of electronic media,” and kept his computer for about two weeks, recalled Hogan, 55, a freelance journalist from Falls Church, Va.

Fortunately, it was a spare computer that had little important information. But Hogan felt violated.

“It’s not an inspection. It’s a seizure,” he said. “What do they do with it? I assume they just copy everything.”

• LA Times luggage wars overview:

American Airlines earlier this month said it was enforcing its 40-pound weight limit for a carry-on bag. And when I was at LAX recently, I saw staff turn back customers who tried to bring aboard more than one bag and one personal item, requiring them to check an item.

Enforcement seemed spotty. Some fliers got through with three items. But one man, blocked because he had a bag, a tote and a book that looked too big to pack, shouted, “You pay me $15, buddy!” and bolted up the stairs toward security checkpoints.

•  TSA asking for security-friendly laptop bags to speed screening:

Life could get easier for the quarter of all air travelers who now carry laptop computers through security screening if government officials approve new “checkpoint friendly” bags later this year.

The Transportation Security Administration is testing prototype bags at airports in Ontario, Calif., Austin, Texas, and Chantilly, Va., that would mean some passengers would no longer have to remove laptops from their carry-on bags at security checkpoints.

TSA asked luggage makers to come up with prototype designs that will make it easier to view a laptop in the X-ray machines, basically by building in a place to store the laptop in a back or front compartment where there are no straps, pockets, zippers etc. Cables and chargers would have to be stored in side pouches. - Seattle Times

Passengers will need to beware American’s newest employees: The Luggage Police. Anticipating resistance to the surcharge, American has wisely laid on extra bodies. These employees are, essentially, enforcers.

Their task will be to monitor strategic locations (security lines, for instance) to see that passengers aren’t toting more than their share of Louis Vuitton. Customers with too many items or bags too large to bring on board “will be assisted in checking their luggage,” the airline said.

This idea raises questions. For instance, how will American’s baggage employees “assist” passengers, exactly? (We can see it now: “Sir, I’m going to have to ask you to come with me …”)

The story goes on to reveal that those forced to gate check will get to pay the fee by swiping a credit card! I wondered how they were going to get the money at the last minute. Surely this won’t cause any delays. We’ve heard of air rage. Get ready for gate rage.

Read more about this issue at airfarewatchdog.com’s blog. An excerpt:

American spokesman Tim Smith is confident that that those required to pay the fee won’t have a prayer of getting around it.

     Unless, of course, you manage to sneak your contraband roller board past “curbside check-in, ticket counter check-in, self-serve kiosk check-in, our people stationed before security, the TSA checkpoint itself….without anyone noticing,” he says.

It might make sense to limit the size of the checked bags or to charge for additional checked baggage — or even charge people for carry-on luggage. Checked baggage is considered pretty safe, whereas carry-on luggage has to go through extra screenings. It makes more sense to charge for carry-on bags than checked baggage. - EnidNews.com

I’m one of those people who consciously disobeys airport signs and airline instructions — in most cases, because they’re either misleading, or wrong. And you should as well.

Consider the airport departure boards: they constantly lie. The words “On Time” are — as I think we would all agree — relative. Is the plane “scheduled” to leave on time? Of course it is. But that doesn’t mean it will.

Here’s what I do. When I get to the airport, I only look at the departure board to determine what gate my flight is scheduled to leave from. And then I immediately ignore all other information on the departure side. Instead, I go immediately to the arrivals board and check to see what is arriving at my supposed departure gate. If nothing is arriving there until next Tuesday, I now know I won’t be leaving from that gate. The key here is to get solid information and to retain as many options as you can in the flying experience. - AOL

Instead of charging for checked bags, airlines could probably raise more revenue and improve the quality of the flight experience by doing just the opposite: charging for carry-on luggage.

Under this arrangement, flyers determined to keep their bags within arm’s reach can pay a premium to do so. And those who want to save money can do so by checking bags free of charge.

Such price incentives would shorten security lines, bring order to boarding, and help bring out the humanity in all of us at airports. Imagine: Even late boarders (who are willing to pay) could find space in an overhead compartment – perhaps even the one above their own seat. -  opinion piece in the Christian Science Monitor

All three airlines say it’s possible that metal templates — which prevent larger bags from making it through X-ray machines — will be reintroduced. That’s a tactic that angered many customers in the past and was eliminated when the Transportation Security Administration took control of screening after the 2001 terrorist attacks.

“It’s something we’ve looked at in the past and may look at again,” says Mark Dupont, American’s senior vice president of airport services planning.

United is in favor of bringing back templates, says Senior Vice President Scott Dolan, and US Airways Group Inc. President Scott Kirby says a return of baggage templates is “likely” at some airports. While security checkpoints are controlled by the TSA, airlines can pressure the federal agency to allow templates if a checkpoint serves a single airline, or several airlines with the same policy on templates. - WSJ/The Middle Seat

THEY’RE actually talking about ‘fat levies’. Somewhere in North America, airline executives are mulling over the concept of weighing both passengers and their bags, and charging a combined ‘levy’ for both.

The musings come as carriers search desperately for a cushion against the unprecedented oil prices that threaten global airline losses of $6.1bn this year.

Airlines have already rolled out an exhaustive list of more conventional levies, covering everything from food to fuel to check-in. So when executives gathered around the brainstorming table this time round, more exotic measures were forced into focus, or so say industry insiders Stateside.  - Irish Indepedent