At the heart of the American Airlines/distribution system battles that are raging in the travel industry today is the bottom line of saving money. AA wants to basically distribute for free and cut out all of the middle men. The other central issue is what American (AA) and other legacy airlines feel is the unjust relegation of their precious seats to the status of a commodity.

Unfortunately, no matter what AA does, a legacy airline seat, is an airline seat, is an airline seat.

For some reason, AA and other legacy airlines feel that by getting control of their own airline seats again and only selling them through their proprietary data pipelines they will stem the tide of having their airline seats sold as, well, an airline seat between Point A and Point B.

I am obviously not a trained MBA or airline executive. For me a legacy carrier non-stop flight in coach from JFK to LAX is just that. The differences might be their frequent flier program and my level of membership. However, the seats are all threadbare, a percentage of the reading lamps don’t work, many seat pockets are filthy, some seats don’t recline, entertainment is limited, there is no food to speak of, tray tables wobble, blankets and pillows cost extra and the flight times are more or less the same.

It makes no difference whether I buy the ticket from AA.com, Delta.com, United.com, Expedia.com (except for AA), Travelocity.com, etc. The transcontinental seat is a seat, is a seat. It is a commodity — a perishable commodity.

Somehow, AA is making the argument that their direct-connect system that eliminates easy price comparisons between airline seats will allow them to “package” their seats. By “packaging” they plan to offer passengers various combinations of extra services that each cost a fee.

They already do this. American now allows passengers to pay a fee to avoid possible future fees. Isn’t that nice.

For a relatively reasonable price (they don’t tell you until the time of booking) passengers will be allowed to board early, fly standby on the same day of travel and save $75 off the $150 change fee should they want to change flights. Such a deal AA has for you.

From aa.com FAQs:
Q: How much does the Boarding and Flexibility package cost?
A: Pricing for the Boarding and Flexibility Package varies and will be provided at the time of booking.

Through bundles like this, marketing geniuses at AA think they can sell more tickets. Of course, included in this marketing matrix is the elimination of as much competition and price comparisons as possible.

Where is the benefit to the consumer?

AA’s new system eliminates the ability to create tickets that include connections between different airlines. AA makes it more difficult to compare prices when purchasing tickets. AA still hides their fees “until booking” on their website, making it more difficult to learn the total airline transportation prices.

Weeks ago I sent emails to AA requesting three benefits to passengers that their new direct-connect program will provide. I still have not received an answer from this airline.

I also hear repeatedly that Southwest Airlines does not work through the GDSs. AA envies the Southwest control of their seats and claims that Southwest seats are not a commodity because they are sold outside of the GDS channel. But, AA is learning the wrong lesson from Southwest who carries far more passengers domestically than AA.

Southwest is not the top dog because they don’t work through a GDS. In fact back when Southwest started, AA (who used to own the biggest GDS) probably wouldn’t have allowed them into the GDSs for fear of competition (they tried to stop them every other way). Southwest is a winner and makes money, year after year, because they differentiate their product by providing what consumers want — fair prices, on-time schedules, simplicity in fare structure, honesty and great service.

AA and the legacy carriers are in trouble because they have lost sight of the consumer in an MBA frenzy to squeeze profits here and there. The GDSs provide one of the most cost-effective distribution methods of selling a complex, multi-part product that exists in America. CocaCola, General Motors or any publisher would love to have the distribution costs of the airline industry.

AA’s actions are misguided. Rather than focusing on customers and truly differentiating their product with quality, AA continues with hidden fees, marketing gimmicks and frequent-flier loyalty. At the same time they provide consumers a lower level of customer service and a dingy, second-class, back-of-the-plane product.

Customer service is the way to change the perception of AA’s product. Look at service at Southwest. Look at inflight entertainment at JetBlue and Virgin America. Examine the clean and functional cabins at each of those airlines. Those are some examples of how to differentiate your products.

I think every passenger who has experienced a transcontinental flight on JetBlue or Virgin America will choose one of those airlines every time they need to fly across the country. I can’t imagine any coach traveler who has experienced excellence in customer service going back willingly (or without the bribery of frequent flier programs) to any of our legacy carriers.

Conventional wisdom says most airfare searches start at an online travel agency or airline website.

But the conventional wisdom could be wrong.

Asked where they begin a ticket query, a new survey points to so-called “meta” search sites such as Hipmunk.com, Kayak.com and Mobissimo.com, which cull fares from multiple airlines and online agencies and then display the choices.

A slim plurality of travelers polled in a new Consumer Travel Alliance survey (37 percent) say they click on a meta-search site first. Another 35 percent begin with the airlines’ own websites, such as AA.com and Delta.com.

About 1 in 5 travelers go directly to an online agency, while only 7 percent call a travel agent and 2 percent visit a search engine like Google or Bing.

The survey of more than 800 air travelers comes at time when a coalition of online agencies is fighting a proposal by Google to acquire ITA Software, which develops airfare search applications for several major travel sites and has its own site, ITAsoftware.com, that is something of a cult favorite for meta-searches.

The coalition, which calls itself Fair Search, claims Google’s acquisition will create a monopoly that would raise airfares, and is pressuring the Justice Department to stop the sale.

It also comes as online travel agencies are fighting airlines over how tickets are distributed online, according to Charlie Leocha, director of the Consumer Travel Alliance. None of the major airlines currently disclose their ancillary fees, such as extra charges for baggage, meals and reservations, to travel agents in a meaningful, systematic way.

Google’s pending purchase of ITA would further distort what consumers see through a Google-dominated search, since most meta-search engines use ITA software, he says.

“The airlines move towards obscuring airfares and fees, combined with possible Google manipulation of search results to keep advertisers happy rather than provide unbiased prices, bodes poorly for consumers,” he says.

A closer look at the way air travelers buy their ticket suggests they are adaptable, savvy and somewhat frustrated as a group. Perhaps more so than the industry is willing to acknowledge, at least publicly.

“I always start with Kayak.com,” says Jack Vanesko, a retiree who lives in Ajijic, Mexico. “Then I go to the specific airline I think I will be using, and make the reservation directly with the airline. I have yet to find an easier way.”

Tom Logue, a market researcher from Memphis, plays an agency off an airline when he goes shops for a ticket.

“First I go to Delta, my airline of choice,” he says. “If the fare seems outrageous, I will go to Expedia to compare fares, hoping that I can justify a purchase through Delta. Either way, I always buy through the airlines rather than other sites.”

Marti Mayne, a frequent flier from Yarmouth, Maine, does it the other way around, beginning with Expedia.

“I guess that’s because I’m used to their format and it allows me to scan different airlines and prices and schedules quickly and easily,” she says. “I then move on to Travelocity and Orbitz, but usually don’t find anything very different there.”

But Mayne always books the final ticket through the airline, because airlines take better care of direct-booking customers.

“I’ve been screwed too many times and ended up having to spend the night in the airport because I had an Expedia-issued ticket, and the airline wouldn’t do anything to re-book it when delays occurred,” she says.

Barbara Gorman, on the other hand, typically shops for the lowest price.

“I start at Orbitz.com to do a search to see which airline has the lowest fare but then I normally go directly to the airlines site of one of the few airlines I prefer to travel in order to earn my frequent flier miles,” she says.

If all of this seems like a game, that’s because it is – at least to many of the air travelers who participated in the poll. If there were a place — either online or offline — where they could be assured of a reasonable price and service, they say, they’d choose it every time.

“I feel that we have been forced to spend inordinate amounts of time searching online ourselves for the best deal, the best times to fit our schedules so that we can take a trip, and then after we make tentative decisions about those, we have to wade through all the a la carte charges for everything,” says Sylvia Prast, an exasperated frequent traveler.

Finding such a place to buy airline tickets could be a tall order.

It’s been more than two years since most major airlines “unbundled” their fares and began charging passengers for the first checked bag. And although air travelers are now paying more for their luggage than ever — $2.7 billion last year, compared with just $1.1 billion in 2008 — they are deeply unhappy about it, according to a new poll.

A survey of more than 1,000 travelers by the Consumer Travel Alliance suggests air travelers are more upset about the checked luggage charges than any other airline fee. Asked what they missed the most about air travel, 56 percent said it was the ability to check their first bag without paying extra. Roughly 20 percent said they missed meals, and slightly fewer — 19 percent — missed the ability to make a confirmed seat reservation. About five percent of respondents missed the free pillows and blankets.

“It’s almost impossible for the casual traveler to go without luggage, or even the road warriors who have to stay over several nights,” says Robin Edelston, a frequent traveler from Cos Cob, Conn. “And charging for checked luggage encourages people to cram stuff into the overhead bins when the airlines should be encouraging people to stow it in cargo.”

Airlines have used these and other surcharges, such as ticket change fees, to return to profitability. Last week, for example, US Airways president Scott Kirby said his airline expects to bring in $500 million in so-called “ancillary” fees this year, recording a net profit of between $450 million to $475 million.

“A la carte revenues represent 100 percent of that profitability,” he said.

Passengers know the fees are an important source of revenue. But it doesn’t seem to matter.

“It’s good for the airlines because they are picking up a lot of money in fees,” says Tab Stone, a pediatrician from Los Angeles. “It’s like the words in the old Tom Lehrer song, ‘Now there is a fee, for what she used to give away for free.’ But they’re terrible for the passengers who are screwed over by having to pay for everything separately and having differing rules and fees for every airline and waivers of some fees for paying for the right credit card or being a higher-level frequent flier, or flying in a slightly higher class of service or who knows what else.”

One reason luggage fees are so problematic to airline passengers is that there’s a perception the fees are being charged in a dishonest way. When the fees were added, airlines suggested the change would be a temporary measure to offset higher fuel prices. But the fees stayed, even when fuel costs dropped.

Travelers are used to their bags flying with them at no additional cost, and that becomes a challenge when they’re fare shopping.

“The problem is, there’s no comparison point,” says Mitchell Weinstock, an air traveler from San Jose, Calif. “As long as the airlines never present what the full ticket cost is at the time of sale, compared to the unbundled price, it is nothing more than a unsubstantiated claim that these parts would add up to the whole bundled price, or the bundled price may have been a better deal. They can change the price on any of the elements and you have no idea if they are telling you anything useful.”

A proposed federal regulation would change that. The government is considering a requirement that airlines quote a “full” fare, including all mandatory charges, as well as that full fare plus the cost of baggage charges that traditionally have been included in the price of the ticket. If the rule is put into effect early next year, it might effectively end flier’s frustration with baggage fees.

One thing the federal government can’t regulate, because it is impossible to quantify, is airline service. Beyond baggage problems, that was what air travelers say they missed more than anything.

“I miss the courtesy and helpfulness of the airline staff,” says Lee Bice, an IT director from Tampa. “Where once travel was a pleasure, it feels like a minefield. Too many attendants give off an air of irritation and I feel we may be imposing on them.”

Christine Austin, a bookkeeper from Louisville, Ky., says so much has been removed from the air travel experience that she dreads getting on a plane.

“All the joy and thrill of flying has been sucked out of the experience,” she says. “Every part of flying has become a hassle from making the reservation, to packing, to getting through security, to cattle herding onto the plane, having to stay in your seat virtually the entire time, and hope your bags have made it to your destination.”

Travelers say it can’t continue like this.

“The devious ways of hiding the true cost of flying is not acceptable in any other industry,” says Bob Rosenberg, a salesman from New Fairfield, Conn., adding that a government crackdown is inevitable, at some point.

“I think that the airlines are the worst-managed industry that we have in America,” he adds.

The holidays are here and many people are flying out to see their family and friends back home.  Major airports are about to be packed like the LAX nightclub at the Luxor in Las Vegas. Since LAX the airport doesn’t have a good DJ like LAX the club, travelers better prepare to make the best of it.

We’ve prepared four survival tips for air travel, follow them and hopefully you’ll make it home in time for figgy pudding.

4 – Check in online and print your boarding pass at home.  I know, I know! That seems like a given in the internet age but I’m always amazed by the long lines at the Print Boarding Pass Only Kiosks.  Either people don’t know or they forget.  Take care of as much check in business online as your airline will allow (seat selection, pay for bags, etc.). The ticketing and check in area is to be avoided during the holiday season.  “What if I have to check luggage,” you ask? See tip 4.

3 – Don’t even think about checking luggage! Baggage lines are out. Door -to- Door luggage shipping is in.  Standing in the baggage check line will cut into the valuable time needed for the long TSA security lines.  Use Fedex or some other shipper to ship your bags ahead.  Odds are your bags will make it (fingers crossed) but why risk it?  If your family is like mine you don’t want to risk showing up without Christmas presents.  Even if your bags are in the lucky number properly routed, why waste time on the other end at baggage claim.  If anyone in your family cooks like my cousin Brenda then you want to get straight to the holiday feast.

2 – Push your Carry-ons to the limit. Avoid the baggage fees! If you’re honest with yourself about what you really need on your trip then you can probably fit everything into the allowed two bags.  Try the whole ‘less is more’ Zen thing.  Stuff clothes and non breakables in a soft bag that you can stuff under the seat (it’s not like you’ll be comfortable anyway with the ever shrinking (yet profitable) cabin space).  Everything else can be tightly packed into a large carryon bag and stowed in the overhead bin.  I’ve seen Flight Attendants work miracles with oversized carryon bags in the name of sticking to a departure schedule.  Sure the other passengers will give you the evil eye but at least you won’t miss your flight standing around in the baggage check line (again – see tip 4).

1 – Keep your ears open for the gate agent to announce that your flight has been oversold. Yes Virginia, the airlines really do overbook their flights.  To fix their greedy little boo-boo the airline will usually offer a free roundtrip ticket to anyone who is willing to take a later flight. Don’t play Deal or No Deal in your mind. Quick! Take the deal! Or you’ll be bested by a quicker traveler who doesn’t care so much about getting home on time. Hey! Not everyone has a Cousin Brenda waiting with a Paul Deen like holiday spread.

Happy Holidays!

What’s it like on the other side of the car rental counter? The answer may surprise you. I’ve been corresponding with a former car rental employee, and he’s shared some remarkable insights into the business that might help you make a more informed decision the next time you rent a car.

The first thing you need to understand, he says, is that agency employees aren’t in the customer service business. They’re salespeople.

I’m judged almost solely on a number. It’s determined by the number of times I sell our products per given opportunity.

Every customer who walks up is an opportunity to sell a number of different services. For me, I can sell the damage waiver — that’s the most popular — liability insurance, personal accident and effects coverage, and the pre-pay fuel option.

Upon returning a customer’s vehicle, I can charge a fee if the tank is not filled up to the level it was rented at. For customers who have reservations, I can upgrade them to a better vehicle. That’s six different opportunities to sell to each customer.

As a car rental employee, your goal is to sell “every one of these products to every customer,” he adds. And if he can’t? Then that all-important number by which every car rental employee is judged is lowered.

So even though you may sell, for instance, the liability insurance, you have failed to sell four to five other services and thus your number will be docked. This number is very important because we get paid a commission on it according to a pay scale and the dollar amount we’ve brought in each month and quarter.

There is a floor and ceiling to this pay scale. If your number is below a certain level you aren’t eligible for a commission.

If our numbers remain consistently high, we can be considered for promotion. If our numbers are low, we hear about it from umpteen different managers in e-mails, by phone, and in person.

The numbers game is played at the highest level. Managers are judged based on their location’s cumulative number — an aggregate of all employee numbers — so they’re likely to encourage more aggressive sales strategies.

“I saw all kinds of tactics to increase these numbers,” he says. “Some higher managers turned a blind eye to questionable and unethical methods.”

How does this affect you?

Keep in mind that you’re dealing with overworked, stressed-out employees from the moment you walk up to the counter to the moment you return your vehicle. At one point, this ex-employee was working 12-hour shifts without a break. Also, remember that they see dollar signs the moment you walk through the door. So they will do anything in their power to sell you insurance, a fuel purchase option or an upgrade.

How to get around this racket? Here are six tips from my insider.

1. Always inspect the car you are renting with an employee before signing anything. Car rental offices should have a vehicle inspection form that’s signed by you before the car leaves the lot. This limits the possibility that you’ll get blamed for damage that you didn’t cause. “Unfortunately, from my experience, many customers were blamed for damage they did not cause,” he says. “As a tired and busy employee, the last thing I want to do is walk around the car with you and make notations about the small scratches on the rear bumper. I could care less. But you should be adamant that this is done before you sign for anything.”

2. Off-airport locations are often cheaper than airport locations. The vehicles at airport locations typically cost more because of airport fees, which cover the car rental agency’s rental and transportation costs. “The cost difference can be great,” he says. “You may want to reserve a car at a location nearby the airport. You should see a difference.”

3. Make multiple reservations and play the system. Most reservations can be canceled without penalty. My insider suggests making multiple reservations. “Look at rates online or call in for them,” he says. “If you’re not too picky, make a reservation for one of the small, cheap cars. Make another for a nicer car that you might like to rent. When you show up, use the reservation for the smaller car. Ask the rep how much it costs to upgrade to the nicer car you want to rent. If they rate ends up being less than what you reserved the higher-class car at, then do it. If not, use the other reservation. They have to honor reservation rates.”

4. Negotiate your upgrade. Upgrade rates don’t exist. They’re made up by salespeople. “If you come in with a Ford Focus reservation and were interested in a larger car, I’ll charge an upgrade for you to get into a Ford Escape,” he says. “If you have a Ford Escape reservation and are looking for something more fuel-efficient, I’ll charge you an upgrade to a Ford Focus. This actually happens!” The “fee” is entirely at the salesperson’s discretion, and is entirely negotiable.

5. Timing is everything. The largest expense incurred by a car rental company is depreciation. Basically, these companies are leasing all the cars in their fleet. They’re charged different rates for different types of cars. “It is very important for car rental companies to have as many cars on the road as possible, as any cars that are sitting are not making money, and are actually costing the company money in depreciation fees.” A customer who shows up after a busy holiday weekend can more or less name the price for a rental car. “They should be begging for you to take cars off their lot,” he adds.

6. Complain and you shall receive. Car rental companies often go to great lengths to make customer happy — even when their grievance are not legit. “Like most companies, we want you to use again — and again and again,” says the insider. “Even some of the most ridiculous complaints that I’ve seen have been resolved by one of my managers. They offered a full refund and a free rental to a customer I knew was full of it. But we want you back so much that an occasional hit is fine.”

For the past few months the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has been testing the new ‘enhanced pat down’ at airports around the United States, before implementing this new security measure at every airport under its authority.

The ‘enhanced pat down’ is in place primarily for airline travelers who choose to ‘opt out’ of being screened by one of the new whole body imaging (WBI) scanners.  Should a passenger ‘opt out’ they walk through a standard walk-through-metal-detector (WTMD) and are then subject to being touched and felt in an extremely intrusive manner by a TSA Transportation Security Officer (TSO).

During an ‘enhanced pat down,’ TSA TSO’s feel passengers with the front of their hands and palms, touching a person’s buttocks, breasts, under a woman’s breasts, inner thigh, under and behind a man’s genitals and everywhere else you could imagine. Passengers may be asked to open their belt and be felt inside the top of their pants.

The ‘enhanced pat down’ is seen by many as a violation of their personal space and of their body in general. However effective the TSA may be billing this security procedure as a viable security screening option for those who opt-out of the whole body imaging scanners, the fact is that it misses hidden items.

Recently in speaking with a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) anti-terrorism expert, it was detailed for me how the new ‘enhanced pat down’ would have likely missed the December 2009 ‘underwear bomb‘ that failed to detonate on a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit.   This DHS anti-terrorism expert has first hand knowledge of the complete design of the ‘underwear bomb,’ and claims that the way most TSA TSOs are performing ‘enhanced pat downs’ that would have likely missed the feeling of the contents of the bomb as it was integrated into the underwear design.

The DHS anti-terrorism expert went onto say “should terrorists decide to use a woman instead of a man during her menstrual period or simulated menstrual period and pack the pad with a powder explosive, placing a trigger device in a seemingly unrelated traveler’s bag, we won’t catch them. Absolutely no one is going to check a woman’s pad, even if the feel it between their legs. Any terror group out there has learned the lessons they need and have been working on adapting.”

Aside from items hidden in undergarments, the DHS anti-terrorism expert continued with “the WBI scanners see everything, even items hidden inside a person. We know that terror groups have explored placing explosives into breast implants, a WBI would see this, an enhanced pat down would not.  Terrorists are likely to use a body cavity to smuggle items on board a plane, which is something that was never discussed publicly when talking about Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab‘s underwear bomb plot last year. The enhanced pat down will never reveal an item hidden in a body cavity while the WBI screening will.”

So, with the TSA having access to terrorism expert analysis and intelligence, one has to question why they are choosing to deploy security tactics of an ‘enhanced pat down’ when the agency is already aware that the security procedures are ineffective.

Edited To Add: The DHS source quoted above has clarified that the whole body imaging scanner capable of detecting objects inside a passenger is a technology in development. I will attempt to gather further information on this new technology and write about it when I feel I have sufficient information.

Happy Flying!

Someone apparently forgot to tell Virgin America about that whole deregulation thing.

You know, the sad story of how America’s legacy carriers, who once competed for your business based on service, began thinking of their seats as commodities – and us as cargo.

Virgin America is unashamedly retro, when if comes to service.

Don’t look for solemn-faced ticket agents trying to make their weekly quota of luggage fees. They’ve been replaced by helpful employees with real-looking smiles. The flight attendants seem genuinely happy to be there, a sharp contrast to the tired counterparts at some of the more established carriers.

Even the way in which they describe us – we’re “guests” instead of “passengers” – conveys a sense of hospitality that you don’t hear too often.

I flew from Orlando to Los Angeles, Virgin America’s newest route, on Thursday evening. I’m posting this on my return trip, thanks to a GoGo wireless connection.

I haven’t had a domestic flight like this since … it’s hard to remember. I scored an upgrade on a Delta transpacific flight in September, and this was every bit as good.

Before I go on, a disclaimer: I’ve been writing about Virgin America for a while, and I’ve admired it from afar. The airline has been quick to respond to customer complaints, and I’ve interviewed its CEO, David Cush, several times – most recently last month, when Virgin started its Orlando service.

Cush has invited me to fly with Virgin America as its guest on numerous occasions, but I’ve never needed to go anywhere — until my cousin’s wedding in Palm Springs this weekend. So I decided to take Virgin up on its offer.

I’m really taken aback by how different this flying experience is, from the blue lights in the cabin (see photo above) to the hard-pumping techno piped into the restrooms.

And I could write a whole post about the inflight entertainment system, which is in a class by itself (you can order food, chat with a neighbor, track your flight progress, but best of all, it’s easy to use). I will resist the temptation.

Instead, I wanted to focus on the service aspect, which, even if you strip away the brand-new A320s, the creature comforts and the mood lighting, would still set Virgin America apart from almost anyone else flying today.

The service is – well, Virgin-esque.

Understated. Somewhat British. A little edgy, too.

The inflight announcements are self-deprecating and poke fun of passengers at the same time, including their tendency to leave their brains at home and forget how to use a seatbelt, to the ones who take souvenirs from the plane, like seatbacks.

Virgin also has a pretty decent on-time record. For the second quarter of 2010, it recorded an 86 percent on-time ranking, which would have placed it third among all U.S. reporting carriers for on-time performance during the quarter, according to the airline.

I got the sense a few times that Virgin America was trying really hard to set itself apart from the rest of the pack. On our flight from Orlando to LAX, the pilot greeted passengers and made the initial inflight announcement from the front of the plane, where everyone could see him.

I’ve only seen that a few times before, on a JetBlue flight.

The other place where I found myself saying “wow” was when I checked in at Los Angeles earlier this morning. I felt as if I was at a rave, and I mean that in a good way. Again, there was this trendy music – maybe more like lounge music – playing. There were floral arrangements. The employees looked happy to see us.

Check in anywhere else, and you feel a sense of dread. A serious ticket agent is ordering you to squeeze your bag into the tiny template and trying to collect a $50 excess baggage fee from you. Here, I felt as if I was going to a party.

But the proof of Virgin America’s greatness will not come from the many times it excels in the customer service department, but how it responds when it falls short. Remember when JetBlue was worshipped by the travel media? Remember how they turned on JetBlue after the 2007 ice storm?

When Virgin America has a major customer-service meltdown (everyone does) it will be interesting to watch what it does. From what I can tell, it has the kind of corporate culture that will allow it to overcome such an event, not be defined by it.

“Your TSA. Providing the complete illusion of security as humorless theater since 2001.”

While I won’t nitpick that the TSA wasn’t completely phased in to handle airport security within the United Stated until 19-November-2002 and I won’t take this moment to debate the pros and cons of the TSA’s procedures … but I have to challenge the ‘humourless’ sentiments.

Sure you might not see much humour on the front lines, but for those who have downloaded the TSA’s iPhone App, My TSA, which I reviewed as my iPhone App of the here HERE, or used the TSA’s mobile site (TSA.gov/mobile), there is humour hidden beneath the surface.

If you search the App or Mobile Site under the “Can I Bring” section, type in “Light Saber.”

Yes …Light Saber, as in the weapon of choice by both Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader and you might be surprised by what pops up.

Oh … and if you happen to want to bring a Light Saber onto your flight as carry on, there’s an App for that, which by the way I also reviewed as an iPhone App of the Week HERE).

Below is a screen shot of Light Saber from the My TSA iPhone App.

Happy Flying!

If airline passengers are feeling hassled by the never-ending stream of airline hidden fees that are driving up their travel costs for the holidays and planes that are more crowded than ever, they now have another boogieman, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) making holiday travel more of a hassle.

TSA is unwrapping gifts, slowing down screening systems, subjecting passengers to punitive pat-downs should they have the temerity to decline a virtual strip search or extra dose of radiation and introducing new Secure Flight check-in requirements.

Unwrapping holiday gifts
We all have known that it may not be the best idea to wrap presents for the holidays and they try to go through airport security. It seems that TSA has received a secret message that the next terrorist bomb will come disguised as a present wrapped with a bow. Whether or not that intelligence insight is true or not, inspectors may require any wrapped gift that seem suspect to be unwrapped.

My suggestion for anyone planning on bringing gifts for either Thanksgiving or Christmas holidays — don’t. Ship them ahead of time using FedEx or UPS (or if you have plenty of time, use the postal service). Not only will travelers spare themselves the problem of having gifts unwrapped (in both carry-on and checked luggage), but they can save the extra airline baggage fees that can amount to $120 round-trip. Plus, unlike the airlines where getting your bag at the end of your trip is still hit-or-miss, FedEx and UPS will track your package and guarantee its arrival date. Plus, the costs are less if you use normal shipping instead of overnight services.

Slower screening systems
The arguments about whole-body scanners stripping passengers naked have been going on for years. TSA really doesn’t care. The more transparency the better from their point of view. Questions about excess radiation and the unknown effects are routinely dismissed even though many doctors are recommending that pregnant women and children avoid the new backscatter machines. That’s old news.

The new problem that is rising to the top when it comes to airports and airlines is the extra time that these new whole-body scanners take to process passengers. Lines are getting longer slowing down the TSA inspections at airports where whole-body scanners are in use at every inspection lane. With the extra crowds expected for Thanksgiving and Christmas, these security lines are only going to get longer and longer. Passengers’ patience will get shorter and shorter.

Punitive pat-downs
TSA is introducing, just in time for the mirth of the holidays, new “enhanced” pat-down techniques. Little did we know that pat-downs have been a long-running issue with TSA. Originally, they were relatively benign, then the administration, according to discussions I have had with senior executives in Homeland Security decided to frisk passengers differently based on the reason for the pat-down.

In other words, passengers who had to be patted down because of medical reasons like pacemakers, hip and knee replacements got one relatively light level of pat-down. Those who refused to go through the whole-body scanners received a more robust pat-down. Folk who set off metal detectors were subjected to another type of pat-down. And so it went for what was mentioned to me as being five different types of pat-downs.

According to executives with whom I discussed these various pat-downs, training was too difficult for a selection of pat-downs, so the decision was made to treat everyone like a common criminal suspected of carrying a hidden snub-nosed pistol or secreting drugs or explosives. (No one at TSA or DHS has ever put it in those words. That is my own description.)

Be that as it may, anyone declining a walk through the whole-body scanner should get ready for what some have described as an abusive pat-down complete with hands to the crotch. Those who feel everyone is a potential terrorist will have warm and fuzzy feelings for the agent poking and probing their body. Others will feel violated.

Secure Flight requirements
Again, coming to an airport near you just in time for the holidays, TSA’s Secure Flight program will add new hassled for passengers and check-in personnel that will blindside most of them.

Basically, every airline ticket must have the full name of the passenger, their birth date and gender. This means airline tickets must list a passenger’s first, middle and last names. Many travelers who made reservations months ago in order to secure low prices will find themselves unable to check in at airport kiosks without a middle name on their ticket or in their record. They will have to wait in line and be checked in by an agent and have their middle name added to the record.

It is not rocket science to see that this will add uncertainty to the check-in process and a lot more time at the check-in counter should a traveler’s ticket be missing full name, birth date and gender.

Suggestion: Call your airline and make sure your tickets have all the appropriate information. If you have a passenger profile with any airline, now would be a good time to make sure your middle name is listed.

Finally, get to the airport early for check-in for any holiday travel. That advice is always useful because of the additional crowds, but this year, with TSA security point slowdowns and pending confusion, especially for Thanksgiving travel, the advice may be even more important.

The other day I went through two months of e-mail and made an interesting discovery … I discovered that more than forty people had contacted me to either seek advice or complain about an airline not refunding their fares after they themselves changed or cancelled their tickets.

This revelation in reading these e-mails was this … that travelers do not seem to understand what “Non-Refundable” really means.

So let’s start with this … non-refundable has its first known origins in 1963, so it’s a fairly new word in our lexicon … it’s an adjective and Webster’s Dictionary defines ‘non-refundable’ as “not subject to refunding or being refunded.”

No traveller expects to have to cancel their trip or change their flights, but these things happen, and when they happen there are ways to avoid being told “no refund.”   Travellers actually have multiple choices.

The first and most obvious choice to avoid hearing “no refund” should you need to cancel a flight is to purchase a flexible or refundable ticket.  Each airline uses they’re own fare codes, however in economy class a “Y” fare is almost always fully flexible and refundable.

Yes … flexible and refundable airfares are more expensive than the lowest cost restricted fares, but that is the trade off for your freedom to change your ticket on a whim. By purchasing the lowest possible fare, the most restricted fare, travelers are gambling that they won’t need to cancel or change their travel plans. I admit it, I often buy the lowest fare and play the odds, and the few times I have lost out on that gamble I knew it was my problem since I purchased the lowest fare with the most restrictions.

For those not interested in paying a higher airfare, there is travel insurance.  Travel insurance protects travelers in case they have to cancel a trip due to illness, injury or personal tragedy. Travel insurance is also good for unforeseen incidents where travel plans change once travel has begun.

Airline seats  are ‘perishable’ items.  Once the cabin door closes on a flight an airline can’t get that revenue back. A passenger opting off a flight leaves the airline limited access to resell a seat, if they can resell it at all and there is no way to sell that empty seat the following day … once it flies, its gone.

Before any airline website or travel website allows customers to pay for their tickets customers must check off a box stating that they understand the rules and regulations of their purchase.  Failure to read the terms of service shouldn’t be made the airlines’ problem.

So next time you purchase tickets please read the fare rules and restrictions. Should you have to cancel your travel plans remember this … no matter what happened, no matter how sad or horrible … its not the airlines’ responsibility.

We’ve all been there; the difference is knowing where to place the blame …

Happy Flying!