Thursday, 2 July 2009
"Clear" shuts down its registered-traveller system
Verified Identity Pass, Inc. ("VIP") shut down its Clear traveller registration and airport fast-lane scheme last week. Under the Clear scheme, and two much smaller competing ones run by other companies, air travellers could get access to dedicated lanes leading up to TSA checkpoints in airports, in exchange for payment... (...Read Entire Entry)Wednesday, 3 June 2009
Congress to vote on virtual strip searches at airports
I'm spending this wek in Washington, DC, at one of my favorite annual events, the Computers, Freedom, and Privacy conference. There's live streaming video of the conference plenaries, although I don;t think it includes the breakout sessions such as the one Thursday where I'll be talking about the Western Hemisphere... (...Read Entire Entry)Sunday, 10 May 2009
What does Air France do with reservation data?
Air France and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines present quite different "corporate cultures", despite being owned by the same French parent corporation , the Air France-KLM Group . Unfortunately, my latest experiments have shown that these two airlines have in common a disregard for the privacy and data protection laws applicable... (...Read Entire Entry)Saturday, 2 May 2009
"Secure Flight" data formats added to the AIRIMP
How soon will we have to get government permission to move around the USA? My analysis today in the Identity Project blog: Secure Flight data formats added to the AIRIMP... (...Read Entire Entry)Tuesday, 21 April 2009
In case you missed this news report
Prague’s Franz Kafka International Named World’s Most Alienating Airport... (...Read Entire Entry)Monday, 20 April 2009
New developments in government control of travelers in the USA
Over at the Identity Project blog, I have a pair of reports today on the latest developments in government control of air travellers in the USA: TSA claims new powers of detention, search, and interrogation Secret Secure Flight 'vetting' algorithm now in use by 4 US airlines... (...Read Entire Entry)Sunday, 12 April 2009
The Amazing Race 14, Episode 8
Phuket (Thailand) - Bangkok (Thailand) Since Thailand isn't one of my favorite countries, nor Bangkok one of my favorite cities, and I've been in both only briefly, I thought it would be better to give you a chance to hear from people who know and like these places better than... (...Read Entire Entry)Friday, 3 April 2009
Aviation and the environment
I've been in Geneva this week for a conference on aviation and the environment; more specifically, on what the air transport industry (aircraft and engine manufacturers, aviation fuel suppliers, air traffic control agencies, airport operators, and of course airlines) are doing about the impact of aircraft emissions on global warming... (...Read Entire Entry)Sunday, 29 March 2009
The Amazing Race 14, Episode 7
Jaipur (India) - Phuket (Thailand) I won't be able to watch this week's episode of The Amazing Race until I get home. I'm delighted, however, that one of my talented friends at Airtreks.com, "rate desk" expert David Derrick, was generous enough to accept my invitation to share his thoughts about... (...Read Entire Entry)Sunday, 22 March 2009
The Amazing Race 14, Episode 6
Novosibirsk (Russia) - Moscow (Russia) - Jaipur (India) Last week's episode of The Amazing Race 14 provided an example of some of the issues that arise with rail travel in Russia, India, and China. If some of you were prompted to ask, "If it's so difficult to figure out railroad... (...Read Entire Entry)Wednesday, 18 March 2009
Air France puts digital fingerprints in RFID boarding passes
I've often said that there's an unfortunate convergence of interests between travel companies' desires for business process automation and collection of marketing data, and governments' desires for surveillance and movement tracking and logging. Nowhere is this more apparent than in Air France's deployment this week, in operational beta testing, of... (...Read Entire Entry)Sunday, 15 March 2009
Travel reading, travel writing, and the public library
I spent the weekend in Sacramento, where I was interviewed by Jeffrey Callison on Capital Public Radio's Insight show (click on listen to archive for the complete show; the segment with me is from 20-35 minutes into the hour) and gave one of the keynote speaches at the Sacramento Library... (...Read Entire Entry)Sunday, 22 February 2009
The Amazing Race 14, Episode 2
Stechelberg (Switzerland) - Zürich (Switzerland) - Munich (Germany) - Ruhpolding (Germany) - Schaünau am Königssee (Germany) - Salzburg (Austria) Last week we had a lesson in European rail route planning. This week our focus will be on intra-European flights, starting with this lesson: If you're paying out of your own... (...Read Entire Entry)Saturday, 10 January 2009
How to request your travel records
By popular demand, I'm posting updated forms to request your PNR's and other records of your international travel that are being kept by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) division of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Privacy Act request form in OpenOffice format Privacy Act request form in... (...Read Entire Entry)Tuesday, 30 December 2008
Can you really see what records are kept about your travel?
One of the big differences between American and European attitudes is that people in the USA tend to be much less willing to trust that the government is doing its job in accordance with the law. Many Europeans have told me this, and it's also what I've observed in the... (...Read Entire Entry)Wednesday, 17 December 2008
TSA to require bar-coded boarding passes
Buried in the notice of the final rules for the Secure Flight airline passenger ID, surveillance, and control scheme is notice that the USA Transportation Security Administrations (TSA) intends to require airlines to add machine-readable codes to all boarding passes for flights in the USA: To ensure the integrity of... (...Read Entire Entry)Thursday, 27 November 2008
KCBS: Holiday travel bargains?
KCBS called today to ask about whether the decline in the economy has made bargain airfares available for holiday travel -- and if so, how to find them. For my answers, you can download the mp3 podcast (5 minutes). A lot of travel is discretionary, and both individuals and businesses... (...Read Entire Entry)Thursday, 13 November 2008
"Secure Flight" and the Right to Travel
I've been getting too many questions to answer individually about the regulations issued last week for the so-called Secure Flight program to require ID and permision for air travel in the USA: What does it mean? How will it work (and will it work)? When will it go into effect?... (...Read Entire Entry)Sunday, 26 October 2008
The Amazing Race 13, Episode 5
Te Puke (New Zealand) - Siem Reap (Cambodia) - Angkor Wat (Cambodia) Should The Amazing Race 13 have gone to Cambodia? And should they have sent the racers to search the vast Angkor Wat complex for a particular temple, on foot, without giving them a landmine awareness briefing first, and... (...Read Entire Entry)Thursday, 23 October 2008
Radio hour today on "Secure Flight"
I'll be on the Katherine Albrecht Show today from 2-3 p.m. Pacific time (5-6 p.m. Eastern Time, 2200-2300 GMT/UTC), talking about the final rules issued yesterday by the USA Transportation Security Administration for the Secure Flight scheme for control and surveillance of passengers on domestic airline flights in the USA.... (...Read Entire Entry)Wednesday, 22 October 2008
Secure Flight, "Watch-List Service Providers", and more
Today the TSA and DHS released their final rule for the so-called Secure Flight program to require each would-be airline passenger, even on domestic fligths within the USA, to get individualized per-person, per-flight prior permission from the TSA before they would be "allowed" to board a plane. The final Secure... (...Read Entire Entry)Tuesday, 7 October 2008
Another one bites the dust (Sun Country Airlines)
Sun Country Airlines declared itself insolvent and filed for bankruptcy yesterday. I've updated my FAQ on Airline Bankruptcies accordingly. Sun Country is not well known outside Minnesota, but had exploited the opportunity provided by Northwest Airlines' near-monopoly and consequent high fares at its Minneapolis/St. Paul (MSP) hub to offer a... (...Read Entire Entry)Sunday, 28 September 2008
The Amazing Race 13, Episode 1
Los Angeles, CA (USA) - Salvador, Bahia (Brazil) The first leg of The Amazing Race 13 took the reality-TV racers from the Los Angeles Coliseum to the city of Salvador, in northeastern Brazil. As usual, the flight choices for the first leg (on American Airlines and United Airlines, we were... (...Read Entire Entry)Tuesday, 8 July 2008
Another round of illegal USA travel controls
Recently, while I've been travelling, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) of the USA Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has issued a press release announcing new, illegal, identity verification procedures for travellers at airports in the USA, while the DHS Customs and Border Protection (CBP) division has published a formal proposal... (...Read Entire Entry)Monday, 24 March 2008
Nonstop flights between Asia and Latin America
Paul Lukacs has an interesting recent post updating some of my earlier comments on the (lack of) nonstop flights between Latin America and Asia. For the sake of completeness, there are a few flights and details he missed, although they in no way alter his, or my, conclusions about the... (...Read Entire Entry)Sunday, 3 February 2008
Will you really need a "Real-ID" to fly?
There's been a lot of confusion in the last few weeks as to (1) whether the USA Federal "Real-ID Act" will change the requirements for personal identification documents for airline passengers in the USA, and (2) if and when the Real-ID Act is fully implemented, will it be impossible to... (...Read Entire Entry)Monday, 29 October 2007
Deadline for public comment on "Secure Flight" extended to 21 November
Just a quick note that by popular demand, the USA Transportation Security Administration has extended the deadline for public comments on the so-called Secure Flight scheme for surveillance and control of domestic and international travellers until 21 November 2007. You don't have to be a citizen or resident of the... (...Read Entire Entry)Friday, 21 September 2007
Results of requests for my "targeting" records
Following the disclosure in late 2006 of the USA government's illegal Automated Targeting System (ATS), which has been secretly keeping dossiers on tens of millions of innocent international travelers to and from the USA, I and several other activists requested our ATS files under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)... (...Read Entire Entry)Thursday, 13 September 2007
Public hearing in Washington on "Secure Flight"
An obscure notice buried in the Federal Register on 5 September 2007 announced a public meeting in Washington, DC, on Thursday, 20 September 2007, to hear comments on the Department of Homeland Security's "Secure Flight" scheme for additional control and monitoring of domestic air travel within the USA. The current... (...Read Entire Entry)Sunday, 12 August 2007
Another USA-EU "agreement" on airline reservations
Wendy Grossman has a good story today in The Register on the latest "agreement" between the USA and the European Union on transfers of Passenger Name Record (PNR) data from the EU to the government of the USA. I haven't posted much about the latest PNR "agreement", largely because I... (...Read Entire Entry)Air travel and global warming
Just before leaving the USA (on a jet plane) for my current trip around the world, I was interviewed at length for a story that has now been published in the Ottawa Citizen on the growing concern (more in the UK than, to date, in the USA) about the contribution... (...Read Entire Entry)Wednesday, 8 August 2007
KLM claims it doesn't know what happens with passengers' data
In March of this year, I flew on KLM Royal Dutch Airlines (one of the subsidiaries of the merged Air France KLM Group) from San Francisco to a hearing in Brussels before the European Parliamant and a meeting of privacy and data protection supervisors of European Union (EU) member countries.... (...Read Entire Entry)Tuesday, 7 August 2007
"Automated Targeting System" redux
In November 2006, the USA Department of Homeland Security (DHS) revealed the existence of a so-called Automated Targeting System (ATS) of lifetime government dossiers on millions of international travellers to and from the USA, including airline reservations obtained (by unspecified means) from international airlines, as well as a wide range... (...Read Entire Entry)Monday, 14 May 2007
USA-EU "Open Skies" agreement signed but won't go to the Senate
On 30 April 2007, representatives of the USA and the European Union signed a so-called Open Skies agreement revising the rules for airline flights between the USA and the EU. As I've noted in my analysis of the agreement and in my testimony to EU legislators and data protection authorities... (...Read Entire Entry)Thursday, 3 May 2007
"Your Reputation Precedes You" (CFP 2007)
I'm on a panel entitled "Your Reputation Precedes You: The Transfer of European Union Passenger Name Records to the U.S. and Canada" today at the conference on Computers, Freedom and Privacy . Here are links to some of the topics and previous articles I may mention in my talk: Freedom... (...Read Entire Entry)Thursday, 19 April 2007
What's wrong with "Open Skies"?
"Open" is good, right? And what could be wrong with a new civil aviation treaty between the USA and the European Union that would "liberate" trans-Atlantic flights from the bogeyman of government regulation? Actually, quite a lot is wrong with the proposed Open Skies treaty, although you wouldn't guess that... (...Read Entire Entry)Sunday, 15 April 2007
The Amazing Race 11 (All-Star Edition), Episode 9
Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) - Hong Kong SAR (China) Once again in the latest episode of the "reality" television series about travel, the deciding factor in The Amazing Race 11 was which teams got on the fastest flights. With six nonstop flights a day on three airlines from Kuala Lumpur to... (...Read Entire Entry)Sunday, 8 April 2007
The Amazing Race 11 (All-Star Edition), Episode 8
Ojcow National Park (Poland) - Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) - Batu Caves, Selangor (Malaysia) - Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) After the fact, it's easy to criticize Joyce and Uchenna on The Amazing Race for booking flights from Krakow to Kuala Lumpur with a only an hour to change planes in Frankfurt, and... (...Read Entire Entry)Sunday, 1 April 2007
The Amazing Race 11 (All-Star Edition), Episode 7
Stone Town, Zanzibar (Tanzania) - Warsaw (Poland) - Auschwitz-Birkenau (Poland) - Krakow (Poland) - Ojcow National Park (Poland) My first travel job was with an agency specializing in airline tickets to and from Africa (among other complex international tickets). And one of the first lessons I learned was that finding... (...Read Entire Entry)Wednesday, 28 March 2007
Correction in the Wall Street Journal
From: "readersfeedback@wsj.com" To: Edward hasbrouck Subject: FW: correction re: US-UK flights Date sent: Wed, 28 Mar 2007 12:43:19 -0400 Thank you for e-mailing The Wall Street Journal. Below is the correction we ran on 3/21/07. "While British Airways is one of four U.S. and United Kingdom carriers allowed to fly... (...Read Entire Entry)Friday, 23 March 2007
European Parliament hearing on PNR's
I'm off to Brussels for this hearing on Monday (agenda , additional background documents ) on the transfer of passenger name record (PNR) data from the European union to the USA, and for a meeting of the "Article 29 Working Party" of E.U. national data protection authorities on the same... (...Read Entire Entry)Sunday, 18 March 2007
The Amazing Race 11 (All-Star Edition), Episode 5
Parque Nacional Tierra del Fuego (Argentina) - Ushuaia (Argentina) - Maputo (Mozambique) I'm tempted to reminisce about my experiences in the markets of Maputo, Mozambique, the scene of The Amazing Race this week. But I'll leave that for next week. First, I have to talk about this week's airline routing... (...Read Entire Entry)Sunday, 4 March 2007
Europe reconsidering rules for reservation systems
The European Commission (the executive branch of the European Union) has opened a two-month public consultation on possible revision or repeal of the EU Code of Conduct for Computerized Reservation Systems (CRS's). The outcome of this obscure and technical-seeming regulatory proceeding could have important effects worldwide -- not just or... (...Read Entire Entry)Sunday, 18 February 2007
The Amazing Race 11 (All-Star Edition), Episode 1
Miami, FL (USA) - Quito (Ecuador) - Cotopaxi National Park (Ecuador) The cast of The Amazing Race , which started its new All-Star season tonight with relatively short flights from Miami to Quito, Ecuador, typically spend about two weeks of the month-long race around the world on airplanes or in... (...Read Entire Entry)Thursday, 25 January 2007
Radio hour in L.A.
Things went so well the last time I was on KNX radio (1070-AM in Los Angeles) that we're going to do it again this week: I'll be on Money 101 from 10-11 a.m. (Pacific Standard Time) on Friday, 26 January 2007, with some consumer protection and smart buying advice on... (...Read Entire Entry)Friday, 15 December 2006
Congress, EU, and businesses question "targetting" of travellers
Questions are beginning to be asked by members of the U.S. Senate , the European Commission , the European Parliament , and business travellers about the illegal "Automated Targeting System" (ATS) that the USA Department of Homeland Security has already used to deny more than half a million people their... (...Read Entire Entry)Friday, 8 December 2006
Chertoff thinks it’s “righteous” to give each traveller a terror score
Everywhere he goes this week, USA Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff is being dogged by questions about the illegality of the Automated Targeting System (ATS) first pointed out in the comments I filed with the DHS Monday on behalf of the Identity Project . Today in Atlanta, Chertoff had... (...Read Entire Entry)USA to continue targetting travellers
By a notice today in the Federal Register , the USA Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has resumed accepting public comments (search for docket 2006-0060, scroll through the list of documents on that docket to DHS-2006-0060-0062, and click on the "add comment" icon in the right-most column) on the Automated... (...Read Entire Entry)Thursday, 7 December 2006
Fallout from illegal "targetting" of travellers
A Wired News story today, also picked up by Slashdot , gives the first hint of how officials of the USA Department of Homeland Security will try to rationalize having defied direct orders from Congress by developing and operating a secret "Automated Targeting System" that "builds a risk assessment for... (...Read Entire Entry)Sunday, 3 December 2006
The Amazing Race 10, Episode 11 ("Automated Targeting System")
Ouarzazate (Morocco) - Casablanca (Morocco) - Barcelona (Spain) As The Amazing Race 10 around the world approaches its final leg, it's harmless fun to take part in the polls on the CBS Web site, where viewers score and rate which team of travellers is their favorite, which they think will... (...Read Entire Entry)Sunday, 26 November 2006
The Amazing Race 10, Episode 10
Kiev (Ukraine) - Ouarzazate (Morocco) - Idelssan (Morocco) - Ouarzazate (Morocco) This week the cast of travellers on The Amazing Race became the cast of a movie within the TV show, cheered on by a crowd of extras in a chariot race on a Moroccan movie studio's desert back lot.... (...Read Entire Entry)Friday, 10 November 2006
Consumer Reports' tips for holiday flying
CR's tips for holiday flying -- sans sleigh (Consumer Reports, December 2006): Air travel might not be merry this season. Passenger loads are at a record high, and at press time you could not even carry eggnog aboard unless you bought it after the security checkpoint.... If holiday flying is... (...Read Entire Entry)Sunday, 29 October 2006
The Amazing Race 10, Episode 7
Kuwait City (Kuwait) - Plaine Magnien (Mauritius) - Grand Baie (Mauritius) - Case Noyale (Mauritius) - Bel Ombre (Mauritius) Viewers of the latest episode of The Amazing Race got a reprise of two travel lessons I talked about two weeks ago. The travellers set off from Kuwait City after midnight,... (...Read Entire Entry)Wednesday, 18 October 2006
Time for Europeans to ask for your travel records
In accordance with a decision made Monday, today the European Union and the USA Department of Homeland Security were expected to complete the signing of a face-saving new agreement on the use of passenger name record data by the DHS and other USA government agencies. This brings to an ignominious... (...Read Entire Entry)Thursday, 5 October 2006
No change in USA rules for airfare advertising
The USA Department of Transportation (DOT) has formally withdrawn its proposal to revise its rules for advertising of airline ticket prices. (Thanks to Christopher Elliott for noticing the obscure notice in the Federal Register.) The good news is that the DOT has abandoned -- at least for now -- its... (...Read Entire Entry)Sunday, 1 October 2006
Airlines and CRS's violating European privacy laws -- again
At midnight last night a decision of the European Court of Justice announced in May took effect, annulling both the "finding" by the European Council that airline reservation data transferred to the USA is protected adequately to satisfy European Union (EU) privacy and data protection rules, and the nonbinding "agreement"... (...Read Entire Entry)Thursday, 28 September 2006
Traveller registration redux
Depite a lack of enthusiasm by anyone except the vendors who hope to profit from operating a privatized traveller registration scheme, and total costs estimated at anywhere between US$100 and US$200 per person per year, the USA Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has published yet another round of draft plans and... (...Read Entire Entry)"Kip Hawley is an idiot."
On Monday the USA Transportation Security Administration revised its ever-changing but still secret rules (check out this parody if you want to try to keep track of the changes) for what it will allow airline passengers to carry onto planes. According to the offiical announcement by Kip Hawley, the Assistant... (...Read Entire Entry)Tuesday, 19 September 2006
"Forecasting The Best Airfare: Is It Possible?"
Forecasting The Best Airfare: Is It Possible? (By Eric Thomas, ABC 7 / KGO-TV, San Francisco, 30 August 2006) Several new companies that monitor and claim to be able to predict airfares have been bugging me to review their Web sites. I haven't, because I don't think any of them... (...Read Entire Entry)Thursday, 24 August 2006
European debate on airline reservation data
Government mandates for collection of, access to, and transfer to the USA of information from airline passenger name records (PNR's) are once again on the table in the European Union, with a European court decision annulling the present EU-USA agreement on PNR data transfers and a new EU directive on... (...Read Entire Entry)Monday, 21 August 2006
Bankrupt airlines and cancelled flights
Strategies for when you're stranded: What can you do when a foreign airline cancels its flights? (by Jane Engle, Los Angeles Times Sunday travel section, 6 August 2006; also in the St. Paul Pioneer Press Sunday travel section, 20 August 2006, as Research viability of carrier before ticket purchase to... (...Read Entire Entry)Friday, 18 August 2006
What's on the horizon in travel security/surveillance?
I've spent a lot of time this week answering questions from other journalists about every aspect of air travel, from the most significant to the most mundane. Here's a sampling: Anti-terror hassles may keep travelers off planes (by Chris Welsch, Minneapolis Star Tribune Sunday travel section, 13 August 2006): Even... (...Read Entire Entry)Airlines and CRS's squabble over who owns travellers' reservations
An important series of investigative reports by my friend and respected trade journalist Dennis Schaal in the past week in Travel Weekly (free registration and cookie acceptance required) has exposed a significant spat between American Airlines (IATA code AA) and the Sabre computerized reservation system or CRS (a/k/a "global distribution... (...Read Entire Entry)Thursday, 10 August 2006
Advice on today's changes in airline carry-on rules
Air travel worldwide is disrupted today. Many flights to, from, and within the United Kingdom (including short-haul flights between the UK and Europe as well as long-haul flights to and from the USA) have been cancelled entirely or delayed by many hours. Heathrow Airport in London is the world busiest... (...Read Entire Entry)Friday, 28 July 2006
TSA report on what happened to me at Dulles Airport
In response to my requests under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and Privacy Act, I've received a copy of the USA Transportation Security Administration's Incident Report on my detention, interrogation, and search for asking questions of the people demanding identification credentials of prospective passengers between the airline check-in counter... (...Read Entire Entry)Friday, 21 July 2006
Why was I detained by police at Dulles Airport?
It appears that even the FBI isn't sure what, if any, legal basis local law enforcement officers have for detentions of passengers at airports, such as I experienced in May at Dulles Airport, even when (as I don't think was the case with me) the would-be traveller is supected of... (...Read Entire Entry)Wednesday, 19 July 2006
DHS (doesn't) want comments on costs of passenger manifest rules
A week ago, The Customs and Border Protection (CBP) division of the USA Department of Homeland Security announced proposed new rules to require international airlines flying to, from, or even over the USA to give the CBP complete passenger and crew manifests between 15 minutes and an hour before push-back... (...Read Entire Entry)Sunday, 16 July 2006
USA proposes to reduce IATA's exemption from antitrust law
I've spent the last week with a severe summer cold and maybe a touch of the flu -- just the thing to put me in the best or worst frame of mind, depending on your perspective, to analyze the details of several long, arcane legal and regulatory documents of significance... (...Read Entire Entry)Sunday, 18 June 2006
GAO auditors still grade Secure Flight "incomplete"
In testimony this week to Congress, USA government auditors from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) reiterated their earlier testimony to another Congressional hearing in February 2006: the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) still hasn't met any of the prerequisites set by Congress before the airline passenger "screening" and tracking scheme could... (...Read Entire Entry)Tuesday, 13 June 2006
Airlines object to traveller registration scheme
In a 1 June 2006 public letter to airport directors throughout the USA, the Air Transport Association of airlines based in the USA has reiterated that ATA's "member carriers remain oppsed to the RT [registered traveler] program as it is currently being developed , and urge that you [i.e. airports]... (...Read Entire Entry)Friday, 9 June 2006
AIRIMP requires airlines to accept more detailed passenger data
Two years ago airline associations in the USA (ATA) and internationally (IATA) jointly amended the specifications for the 28th edition of the "ATA/IATA Reservations Interline Message Procedures - Passenger" (AIRIMP) protocol to support, for the first time, transmission between airlines and reservation systems of detailed personally identified information (address, contact... (...Read Entire Entry)Friday, 28 April 2006
KGO-TV on frequent flyer miles
New Rules For Redeeming Frequent Flyer Miles ("7 on Your Side", ABC 7 / KGO-TV, San Francisco, 28 April 2006): If you like to travel, you probably belong to a frequent flyer program or have a credit card that helps you earn miles. But many of the major players are... (...Read Entire Entry)AP on summer air travel
Air travel: Book now, or book later? (by Stephanie Hoo, Associated Press, 18 April 2006): Plan to fly this summer? Experts say you should book now because already-high airfares are only going to continue skyward thanks to rising fuel costs and other financial woes at the nation's carriers.... Is it... (...Read Entire Entry)Thursday, 30 March 2006
Business Week on rising airfares
Soaring Above High-Priced Airfares (by Marc Hogan, BusinessWeek online, 30 March 2006): SAVVIER AIRLINES. With peak travel season on the way, rates will move inexorably higher, industry watchers say. "Fares are going to go up one way or the other," says Edward Hasbrouck, author of the travel book series The... (...Read Entire Entry)Tuesday, 21 March 2006
The Amazing Race 9, Episode 3
Brotas (Brazil) - São Paulo (Brazil) - Moscow (Russia) - Frankfurt (Germany) - Stuttgart (Germany) - Bad Tolz (Germany) - Grünewald (Germany) - Munich (Germany) Transportation and navigation problems, culminating in Desiree and Wanda's elimination after a succession of wrong turns and difficulties reading a map and obtaining and following... (...Read Entire Entry)Wired News on airport searches
Fliers Can't Balk at Search (by Ryan Singel , Wired News, 20 March 2006): [A] federal court ruled that airline passengers who enter the airport screening process cannot change their minds once they're singled out for a more extensive search. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled (.pdf) that travelers... (...Read Entire Entry)Tuesday, 14 March 2006
What's behind the TSA's witness tampering?
Google TSA lawyers and one of my blog posts is the first search result. So CNN called me this morning to ask what I know about the USA Transportation Security Administration lawyer, Carla J. Martin, who was caught coaching witnesses on what testimony they should give in the court hearing... (...Read Entire Entry)Wednesday, 15 February 2006
No refund on Northwest Airlines if you won't produce ID
I mentioned in a recent article that airlines' rules explicitly require them to give you a full and unconditional refund -- even if your ticket was otherwise compeletely nonrefundable -- if they refuse to transport you because (among other reasons) you refuse to permit your person or belongings to be... (...Read Entire Entry)Monday, 13 February 2006
Are incomplete "prices" in airline advertisements misleading?
Inquiring minds at the USA Department of Transportation (DOT) want to know your opinion today: Should the DOT continue to allow airlines to advertise "prices" that are actually less than the total amount that you have to pay for a ticket? The Department [of Transportation] is considering amending its rule... (...Read Entire Entry)Monday, 30 January 2006
Government subsidies to airlines
There's a discussion on Dave Farber's Interesting-People mailing list about the ways that governments subsidize commercial passenger airlines. Airlines whine about "regulations" and "freedom of the skies", but it in fact they receive a wide range of subsidies, tax preferences, and other forms of special treatment from Federal, state, and... (...Read Entire Entry)Friday, 27 January 2006
USA Court of Appeals ruling on airline ID requirements
Yesterday the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, here in San Francisco, released its decision in Gilmore vs. Gonzales , the federal lawsuit challenging the secret USA Federal "security directive" which requires ... well, we still don't know what it actually requires, even after the court reviewed it... (...Read Entire Entry)Friday, 13 January 2006
Controlled flight into terrain
Independence Air shut down its flight operations last week. Its planes, which were leased, have been repossessed by their owners, and its remaining assets are being liquidated under the supervision of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court. As I've noted previously: Independence Air had a business plan as hopeless as the worst... (...Read Entire Entry)L.A. Times on airline vouchers
Sometimes, those airline vouchers are like a lump of coal (Jane Engle, Los Angeles Times Sunday travel section, 25 December 2005): If you get bumped off your flight, help might -- or might not -- be at hand. As always, the devil is in the details. Home for the holidays?... (...Read Entire Entry)Tuesday, 13 December 2005
Bankrate.com on bankrupt airlines
Travelers brace for turbulence on bankrupt airlines (Brigitte Yuille, Bankrate.com, 13 December 2005): "A bankruptcy filing is your final warning before an airline could be shut down by the bankruptcy court," says travel expert Edward Hasbrouck. Hasbrouck warns that although operations of these airlines will look normal, this appearance may... (...Read Entire Entry)Thursday, 8 December 2005
Appeals Court hearing on airline ID requirement
As I mentioned yesterday, the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals heard oral argument this morning in Gilmore vs. Gonzales (originally Gilmore vs. Ashcroft ), the U.S. Federal case challenging the secrecy and the legality of the requirement for would-be travellers to "show ID" (a surprisingly ambiguous phrase) as a... (...Read Entire Entry)Sunday, 27 November 2005
EU Court advisory opinion against USA access to airline reservation data
In his advisory opinion on a lawsuit initiated in June 2004 by the European Parliament, the Advocate General of the European Court of Justice has recommended that the Court annull both the agreement by the Council of the European Union to permit access by certain USA government agencies to airline... (...Read Entire Entry)Monday, 7 November 2005
Independence Air is bankrupt
Today Independence Air filed for protection from its creditors under Chapter 11 of the USA Federal Bankruptcy Act. I've updated my FAQ about Airline Bankruptcies accordingly. Independence Air is a bit different from some of the other airlines in the USA that are already in bankruptcy, in that Independence Air... (...Read Entire Entry)Tuesday, 4 October 2005
USA requires passenger details from international airlines
Effective today airlines, cruise ships, and other vessels operating on international routes to or from the USA are required to provide the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) division of the USA Department of Homeland Security (DHS), electronically, in a standard format, with detailed information on all passengers and crew members,... (...Read Entire Entry)Friday, 23 September 2005
USA Today on holiday flights
Now's the time to book holiday flights (Laura Bly, USA Today, 23 September 2005): "I would be surprised to see any airlines go under before New Year's, but holiday schedule disruptions could be problematic," warns Edward Hasbrouck, a San Francisco-based travel expert. "When flights are already fully booked at the... (...Read Entire Entry)Wednesday, 14 September 2005
Northwest Airlines and Delta Air Lines are bankrupt
Just before the close of business today at the courthouse in New York, Northwest Airlines and Delta Air Lines (including its Comair subsidiary and its Song brand) petitioned for protection from their creditors under Chapter 11 of the Federal bankruptcy laws. United Airlines, US Airways, ATA Airlines ("American Trans Air"),... (...Read Entire Entry)Wednesday, 24 August 2005
Airline bankruptcy fears in the news
As I said in an interview with Minnesota Public Radio in June, just before I left for Africa, "I think people have been lulled into an entirely unwarranted complacency about the possibility of [airline] bankruptcy." That complacency may be fading, with renewed speculation as to which additional airlines in the... (...Read Entire Entry)Friday, 19 August 2005
Update on airline codesharing
Back in March 2005, I reported here in my blog and in my e-mail newsletter on the USA Department of Transportation (DOT) solicitaiton of public comments on the practice of airline codesharing (labelling a flight actually operated by one airline with the flight number of a different airline). My comments... (...Read Entire Entry)Tuesday, 26 April 2005
The Amazing Race 7, Episode 8
Jodhpur (India) - Istanbul (Turkey) Yet again in this episode of The Amazing Race the key to finishing first was finding "interline" connections between flights on different airlines (in this case, on Indian Airlines and Turkish Airlines from Delhi to Istanbul via Dubai) that arrived earlier than the sole direct... (...Read Entire Entry)Tuesday, 1 March 2005
The Amazing Race 7, Episode 1 (airline codesharing)
Long Beach, CA (USA) - Lima (Peru) - Ancon (Peru) - Lima (Peru) - Cusco (Peru) - Huambutio (Peru) - Pisac (Peru) - Cusco (Peru) The Amazing Race began its seventh season with the racers being required by the producers of the reality-TV show -- at the behest, presumably, of... (...Read Entire Entry)Wednesday, 27 October 2004
ATA Airlines is bankrupt
ATA Airlines (also known as "American Trans Air") has joined United Airlines, US Airways, and Hawaiian Airlines (and other airlines in countries other than the USA) in bankruptcy. I've updated my FAQ about Airline Bankruptcies accordingly. I like the service on ATA Airlines -- genuinely unpretentious yet efficient -- and... (...Read Entire Entry)Tuesday, 12 October 2004
Senate votes to reassure, but not protect, holders of tickets on bankrupt airlines
In addition to the provisions for identification, surveillance, and control of travellers which I discussed in an earlier article, the version of the the National Intelligence Reform Act of 2004 (S. 2845) adopted by the Senate last week includes an amendment introduced by Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon that would... (...Read Entire Entry)Tuesday, 5 October 2004
Disparate treatment for airline lenders
In the wake of recent coverage of the lack of consumer protection for ticket holders if airline go bankrupt, the Business Travel Coalition (BTC) and the Association of Retail Travel Agents (ARTA) yesterday issued a joint appeal to USA-based airlines voluntarily to agree to honor tickets of bankrupt airlines --... (...Read Entire Entry)Friday, 1 October 2004
More airlines on the brink of bankruptcy or liquidation
With more airlines on the brink of bankruptcy, and some of those already in bankruptcy moving closer to possible liquidation, there's been steadily rising concern for what travellers need to know about tickets, travel, and frequent flyer mileage credits with bankrupt or liquidated airlines. In addition to my FAQ About... (...Read Entire Entry)Sunday, 12 September 2004
US Airways joins United, Hawaiian in bankruptcy
As many, including me, have expected for months, US Airways filed for bankruptcy today, joining United Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines. The airline's own Web site about its bankruptcy contains, as is typical in such cases, many lies. They claim for example that: US Airways is not going out of business.... (...Read Entire Entry)Friday, 10 September 2004
Low business class fares from USA to Europe
I don't normally mention specific fares, but there are some exceptionally low prices available for purchase tonight through travel agents that use the Sabre conputerized reservation system -- including through Travelocity.com, the travel agency that is a division of Sabre. If you are planning a trip from the USA to... (...Read Entire Entry)Another airline bankruptcy may be imminent
Rumors of an immiment major airline bankrupcy once again abound, with the New York Times reporting this morning that "US Airways appears all but certain to seek bankruptcy protection on Sunday". I've once again updated my FAQ on Airline Bankruptcies with the details on what this means for travellers, and... (...Read Entire Entry)Tuesday, 7 September 2004
The Amazing Race 5, Episode 10
Kolkata, West Bengal (India) - Auckland (New Zealand) - Rotorua (New Zealand) When the airline counter staff in Bangkok tell them no seats are available on the flight they want, twins Karli and Kami (who actually know they have reservations only on a later flight) don't hesitate: they lie, claim... (...Read Entire Entry)Sunday, 11 July 2004
The Amazing Race 6 filming underway now or soon
I got a flood of questions after the 6 July 2004 premiere episode of The Amazing Race 5 about how to apply to be a contestant/cast member in future seasons of The Amazing Race . Casting of The Amazing Race 6 is already complete, and filming is or will be... (...Read Entire Entry)Tuesday, 6 July 2004
The Amazing Race 5, Episode 1
Santa Monica, CA (USA) - Montevideo (Uruguay) - Punta del Este (Uruguay) - Punta Ballena (Uruguay) Before the teams in The Amazing Race 5 even get off the Santa Monica Pier, Jim is knocked down by another racer at the starting line, tears open his leg on a nail, and... (...Read Entire Entry)Thursday, 1 July 2004
"Flight Risk" Friday on KPFA Morning Show
I'll be making a brief appearance tomorrow morning (Friday, 2 July 2004) sometime between 7:30 and 7:50 a.m. PDT (15:30-15:50 UTC/GMT) on The Morning Show on KPFA , 94.1 FM in Berkeley, CA. For those outside the broadcast area, there's real-time streaming audio and archived audio files . I'll be... (...Read Entire Entry)Tuesday, 22 June 2004
TSA names more airlines, CRS's that turned over reservations for CAPPS-II tests
In preparation for today's USA Senate Government Affairs Committee hearing on the nomination of (former?) Admiral David M. Stone as Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security, Transportation Security Administration (i.e. the head of the TSA -- yet another military officer in charge of the nominally-civilian agency), Stone submitted written answers to... (...Read Entire Entry)Friday, 18 June 2004
Updated FAQ on dealing with bankrupt airlines
With United Airlines' application for loans from the USA government to bail it out of its ongoing bankruptcy having been denied again Wednesday by the USA Air Transportation Stabilization Board , and with US Airways (struggling to pay back the government loans that got it out of bankruptcy last year),... (...Read Entire Entry)Wednesday, 16 June 2004
USA government requires airline passenger licenses
Following an unpublished and bizarre interpretation of its economic sanctions laws, the USA government is requiring USA citizens and residents already holding fully-paid tickets on the Peru-based international and domestic airline Aero Continente to obtain licenses from the USA government before they are permitted to use their tickets. And if... (...Read Entire Entry)Monday, 26 April 2004
Fare fraud on the Airtrain to JFK Airport
In New York last week for the Travelcom travel marketing, distribution, and technology conference and trade show, I had my first chance to ride the new Airtrain shuttle between the terminals at John F. Kennedy International Airport, the Howard Beach station on the New York City subway's A-train, and the... (...Read Entire Entry)Saturday, 10 April 2004
American Airlines confirms reservations used in CAPPS-II tests
American Airlines has finally confirmed that, as I reported last year on my Web site, more than a million archived American Airlines reservation records were turned over to each of four competing teams of contractors working on the CAPPS-II passenger profiling and monitoring system in the summer of 2002. According... (...Read Entire Entry)Sunday, 8 February 2004
"Last-minute travel: Does it pay to wait?"
I'm featured today in the travel section of USA Weekend , the Sunday magazine supplement to Gannett newspapers throughout the USA: Last-minute travel: Does it pay to wait? It used to be a steadfast rule of travel: Plan ahead, save a bundle. But more and more vacationers are waiting until... (...Read Entire Entry)Thursday, 5 February 2004
US Airways may be liquidated.
Airline news is often unduly alarmist, especially when it comes to safety issues. But recent headlines like, US Airways losing altitude quickly and US Airways in trouble again are for real, and should be taken seriously by US Airways passengers. US Airways (IATA code "US" -- they bought the code... (...Read Entire Entry)Monday, 5 January 2004
USA uses airline reservation data as basis for flight cancellations and interrogations
As I was driving to Los Angeles (it's a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there) on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, Air France (AF) flights to LAX were being cancelled on the instigation of the USA Department of Homeland Security. By the time I got... (...Read Entire Entry)Wednesday, 10 December 2003
Priceline.com will now name its price -- sometimes
Priceline.com's US$100M startup blitz of television and other advertising in 1998 was the first time most people in the USA had heard of the discounts available on airline tickets through consolidators . Even five years later, Priceline.com remains the name-recognition (if not customer-service or customer-satisfaction) leader and largest-volume retailer in... (...Read Entire Entry)Sunday, 7 December 2003
Focus on competition at PhoCusWright conference
As in years past, the 10th PhoCusWright Executive Conference in Orlando, Florida, 17-18 November 2003, brought together the CEO's of the most influential companies at the intersection of travel, technology, and the Internet, providing those of us who observe those industries with one of our most important annual opportunities for... (...Read Entire Entry)Thursday, 13 November 2003
ICAO proposes to require remotely-readable passports by 2006
This week the Technical Advisory Group on Machine Readable Travel Documents (TAG/MRTD) of the International Civil Aviation Organisation , a technical standards organization affiliated with the UN and the ISO , published a formal proposal that all ICAO member countries begin issuing remotely-readable RFID passports by 1 April 2006. The... (...Read Entire Entry)Wednesday, 12 November 2003
Setback for "Simplified Travel" field test
Planned airport iris scans illegal Greece's national data protection authority has blocked a test that was scheduled to begin later this month of fingerprinting and iris scans of passengers on Athens-Milan flights. The ruling is a major setback for the joint IATA/SITA Simplifying Passenger Travel (SPT) project, in which "biometric"... (...Read Entire Entry)Tuesday, 11 November 2003
"Key escrow" with TSA for airline luggage locks?
In a story apparently slated for general release tomorrow, Joe Sharkey gives advance notice in his column in today's New York Times that the USA Transportation Security Administration will cooperate in a program to sell special luggage locks to which the TSA will have either master keys or a master... (...Read Entire Entry)Friday, 7 November 2003
Cendant buys huge UK consolidator
The Cendant Corp. -- already the most vertically integrated travel company in the USA -- further expanded its range of holdings yesterday with its purchase of Travel 2 / Travel 4 , perhaps the largest purely wholesale airline consolidator in the UK (as well as a major tour and land... (...Read Entire Entry)Tuesday, 21 October 2003
USA airlines say privacy must come before CAPPS-II tests
According to this article in today's Christian Science Monitor, "The Air Transport Association, which represents America's commercial airlines, is just as adamant that proper protections be put in place before they give anyone's private information to the government. They're particularly sensitive since the recent controversy over JetBlue, which provided a... (...Read Entire Entry)Monday, 20 October 2003
Senators ask questions about jetBlue
In a letter sent Friday, 17 October 2003, to Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld, three members of the US Senate are demanding answers from the Department of Defense to some (but by no means all) of the many lingering questions about the acquisition and use by a DoD subcontractor, "Torch Concepts,... (...Read Entire Entry)Link |
Posted by Edward, 20 October 2003, 21:17 ( 9:17 PM)
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