Liquids soon to be allowed back on planes

by Grant Martin on

It looks like beer runs to Istanbul may be back on the table again, as the feds are reconsidering the ban on liquids greater than 3oz. According to the folks with the Associated Free Press, bigwigs at the International Civil Aviation Organization meeting in Montreal have been hinting that new technology in the baggage scanning world will soon be able to detect malicious liquids at security checkpoints. The technology could be widespread and integrated into airports by 2012.

This means that cases of wine from Argentina, packs of beer from Minneapolis and, well, large bottles of toothpaste and contact lens solution may soon once more be allowed to fly with their owners in the cabins of passengers jets. Of course this also means that that battle for overhead bins may begin once more, with desperate passengers trying to cram a weeks worth of luggage into an microscopic rollaboard. Still, the benefits will still outweigh the costs.

What will truly be interesting to see is how the airlines react to reduced to income from checked baggage fees. It wouldn’t surprise us at Gadling Labs if they either secretly try to block the ease on liquids restrictions or incorporate some hardcore checked baggage policies in the future.

Ryanair and Easyjet passengers told “you can fly home, but not with your bags”

by Scott Carmichael on

Earlier this week, 10 million Spanish workers went on strike to protest changes to workers rights and pensions. As usual, the strike shut down airports, forcing most European air carriers to cancel their flights. Once the strike was over, it took several days for things to get back to normal.

As airlines struggled to get enough planes back to Spain to pick up passengers, both Ryanair and Easyjet had a bad message for their customers – you can fly with us, but you can’t bring your luggage with you.

Most of the passengers were given absolutely no warning about this, while others only got a few hours notice. As tired vacationers struggled to find ways to get their possessions sent home, others had to give up and just leave their things at their hotels, without the chance of ever seeing them again.

One passenger left over $1,500 worth of clothes in Gran Canaria, a very quick way to completely spoil what was supposed to be a fun vacation. As is becoming common with low cost carriers, they showed that they really don’t care by saying little more than “sorry for the inconvenience”.

Treat yourself to some airport luxury – US Airways lounge memberships on sale!

by Scott Carmichael on

Unless you enjoy spending time in the departure lounge at the airport, wasting anything more than 20 minutes waiting on a flight can be a real drag.

Thankfully, many major airports have an airport lounge, but sadly there are some requirements on who is allowed to enter. If you are flying on a premium cabin ticket, or are a top tier elite member, you may be allowed to get in. For the rest of you, there are membership fees.

Normally, the membership fee for the US Airways network of lounges is $450/year – but until tomorrow, that fee has been cut to just $249. In addition to the lower fee, they have also waived the membership initiation fee ($50).

With this membership, you’ll have access to all US Airways, United Airways and Continental Airlines lounges. In most of these lounges, you’ll get free drinks (some states are required to charge a buck for a drink), free WiFi, TV’s and newspapers. And no – most U.S. based lounges are not that impressive when compared to international lounges, but it sure beats the alternative.

To sign up for the promotion, call US Airways at 1-800-828 8522 or visit their lounge promotion web site.

[Photo from Flickr/Erik Charlton]

Traveling over Thanksgiving? Here’s the best time to fly

by Grant Martin on

The only thing that’s worse than traveling through congested airports and highways during the Thanksgiving season is the airfare that’s associated with it. Taking advantage of the demand, airlines perennially jack up the prices on everyday airfare, making the simplest of tickets outrageously expensive.

Naturally, the easiest way around these fares is to fly on lower-demand days, or not Tuesday and Sunday. To illustrate this, our friends over at Travelocity put together the above dandy chart to show the differences in fares among travel days. It’s pretty easy to see that the Tuesday and Wednesday before Thanksgiving are the most expensive days to fly. Conversely, departing on Thanksgiving Day and returning on Tuesday, the 30th is most often the cheapest.

Bear in mind that the data above only applies to domestic routes — for travel to foreign countries (where there is no Thanksgiving), airfares can be drastically different and potentially even cheaper. More reason to spend the holidays abroad, we reckon.

Body scanners used as porn by airport security

by Sean McLachlan on

It had to happen sooner or later.

The Nigerian newspaper This Day has reported that security officials at Lagos airport are getting their jollies by watching female passengers go through a full-body scanner.

Nigerian investigative reporters visited the airport during a slow period when security officials had time to spare. The journalists found some of them hanging around the scanner display. Since the scanner blurs the face in an attempt to give anonymity, the officers were hurrying over to the line to peek at the passengers before going back to the scanner to check out their favorites.

The scanner was installed after the failed attack by underwear bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who was from Lagos, yet technicians have revealed a full-body scan wouldn’t have caught him. An Israeli security expert who helped plan security at Israel’s super-strict Ben Gurion Airport says body scanners don’t work. Israeli airports don’t use the device.

Many Nigerians feel it is against their religion to expose themselves to a stranger, while others fear the effects of radiation. The investigative journalists witnessed passengers objecting to go through the scanner until security turned off one of the metal detectors, giving them the choice of using the full-body scanner or waiting in a longer line.