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 becuase 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)Link |
Posted by Edward, 4 October 2005, 19:59 ( 7:59 PM)
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