When I was walking into the airport security in Las Vegas last weekend, this video that was playing caught my attention. It is both informative and entertaining as you learn how to pass through security in Las Vegas style. Blue Man group, magicians, clowns, celebrities and celebrity impersonators show you how it is done.

Popularity: 24% [?]

A while back I wrote an article analyzing the finances of online travel agency YTB. My conclusion was that it was better to be YTB than someone who is building a travel agency based on them. It all smelled a bit. Apparently I am not the only one who reached that conclusion as they were just sued by California’s Attorney General as a Ponzi scheme.

Brown Sues To Topple Online Pyramid Scheme

California Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. today announced a lawsuit against YourTravelBiz.com for operating a “gigantic pyramid scheme” that recruited tens of thousands of members with deceptive claims that members could earn huge sums of money through its online travel agencies.

Wireless culture taking to the air

Delta Air Lines announced Tuesday that it will introduce Wi-Fi access on certain aircraft by fall and expand it to its entire domestic fleet of more than 330 planes by next summer. American Airlines and Virgin America previously have said they will launch in-flight broadband Internet services on certain planes by year-end.

TSA to allow laptops to stay in approved bags

There’s a new option for people annoyed at having to take their laptops out of their bags at airport security. The Transportation Security Administration will now allow travelers to leave their computers inside “checkpoint friendly” cases.

Airline industry axes 60m seats

The global airline industry will fly 60m fewer seats in the run-up to Christmas - equivalent to a 7% cut in flights - as the oil spike and economic downturn force carriers to axe services.

Kayak and American Airlines are having a bit of a tif:

Kayak.com drops American Airlines airfares from listings

American Airlines telling you that it will no longer be displaying airfares on Kayak.com or sister site Sidestep.com.

American Airlines spokesman Tim Wagner explained the company’s tiff with Kayak. The airline asked the meta-search engine to bar American ticket purchases through online travel agencies such as Orbitz.com or Cheaptickets.com. As of today, American’s airfares were not available on Kayak.com but flight schedules were still listed.

and in the expected follow up story:

Kayak.com drops American Airlines airfares from listings

American Airlines spokesman Tim Wagner explained the company’s tiff with Kayak. The airline asked the meta-search engine to bar American ticket purchases through online travel agencies such as Orbitz.com or Cheaptickets.com. As of today, American’s airfares were not available on Kayak.com but flight schedules were still listed.

American Airline sues parent of Kayak.com and Sidestep.com

Fort Worth-based American Airlines is suing the parent of meta-search sites Kayak.com and Sidestep.com, saying the Web sites violated its agreement to use the airline’s airfare content.

At issue is whether the sites were allowed to display American fares through third-party sites, including orbtiz.com and cheaptickets.com — where the carrier must pay booking fees — rather than just on www.aa.com.

After Beheading, Greyhound Kills Ad Campaign

Yes, the company offering famously lousy service had just launched an ad campaign with the line “There’s a reason you’ve never heard of ‘bus rage’” when, on a trip from Alberta to Winnipeg, one of its passengers was apparently beheaded and eaten. Suffice to say, they’re doing away with the campaign

and in the strangest piece of news, the conspiracies around the murder that happened at the Olympics:

An American tourist is murdered, and conspiracy theories abound

What would make you stab a 62-year-old tourist to death in the middle of the day and then leap off a 150-foot tower? That’s a question you can’t help puzzling over if you’re in Beijing. What on earth was going on in the mind of Tang Yongming, the 47-year-old man who stabbed two Americans and their Chinese guide over the weekend? Todd Bachman, the father-in-law of the U.S. men’s volleyball coach, was killed in the attack.

Popularity: 38% [?]

TUAW (The Unofficial Apple Weblog) reports a recent kerfuffle at airport security:

Programmer Michael Nygard is used to travel. He’s got the process down, from airport to hotel. Unfortunately, the TSA isn’t as prepared.

While passing through airport security recently, he was pulled aside and made to sit in the holding area. He watched as a gaggle of TSA workers examined his things, especially his laptop …

“‘There’s no drive,’ one says. ‘And no ports on the back. It has a couple of lines where the drive should be,’ she continues….”

As you’ve probably guessed, Michael’s MacBook Air had them all baffled. Fortunately, a younger member of the team eventually arrived and explained that it’s not a “device,” but a computer with a solid state hard drive. It’s good to know they’re keeping up with this kind of thing.

Life is not always easy as an early adopter, apparently that also is true for passing through airport security.

Popularity: 39% [?]

According to a story in the USA Today you may soon get to choose which security line you use at the airport depending on how fast you will get through. Pack lighter and you can choose a faster line.

Salt Lake City International Airport is trying to get travelers through security checkpoints faster.
Travelers are being divided into three groups, depending on the number of carry-on bags, whether they’re with kids and other factors.

The head of the Transportation Security Administration says the idea is to separate large groups or heavy packers from those who can move through the lines quickly. Kip Hawley was at the Salt Lake City airport to announce the program Friday.

Popularity: 40% [?]

If you have run into problems understanding some of the new airline security rules then you are not alone. Knowing this, but not wanting to have a lot of long drawn out conversations with passengers in the security line at Newark and elsewhere, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has created a new blog where they will respond to user’s questions and feedback. According to an article at ComputerWorld:

TSA Administrator Kip Hawley noted on the blog that there is no time for agency personnel to answer passenger questions during the airport screening process. Screeners have no time to explain to passengers why they are asked to do certain things and can only demand that they follow orders. The blog, he said, provides a forum to explain processes and to allow passengers to suggest changes to the TSA checkpoint processes.

“One of my major goals of 2008 is to get TSA and passengers back on the same side, working together,” Hawley wrote. “We need your help to get the checkpoint to be a better environment for us to do our security job and for you to get through quickly and on to your flight. We will not only give you straight answers to your questions, but we will challenge you with new ideas and involve you in upcoming changes.”

Here at Tripinator we applaud any effort to open the lines of communication. (Granted we would say that anyway just to stay off “the list”).

Popularity: 33% [?]