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After my two flights to Anaheim, I’ve remembered why flying has lost its charm. Some of my fellow passengers were raised in a barn. 

Too many people brought two bags per passenger on board the airplane. I wish the gate agents would make these folks check that extra bag.

The graying baby boomer sitting in front of me kept bouncing against the back of his seat, hoping he would get another inch of recline. He ended up with a sore back.

The large woman behind me used my headrest to settle herself in and pull herself out of her seat. That hairy thing that she felt on the headrest was my ponytail. No apologies offered, either. 

When the plane gets to the gate, I usually sit in my window seat and wait for the scrum to dissolve. It’s fun watching the other passengers stand up, stomp around, and wrestle each other to find their bags.

There are over 1 million records covering 400,000 names on the US Government’s terrorist watch list, according to this Reuters article, U.S. terrorism watch list tops 1 million. 

How in the name of good common sense can this list be effective? That’s what the ACLU would like to know, and I agree with them.

According to a survey by the Association of Corporate Travel Executives, 7 percent of the respondents had at least one electronic device seized for inspection while traveling. As the New York Times points out in this op-ed piece, The Government and Your Laptop, searching a computer or cell phone can involve much more information than a simple luggage search might reveal. 

Whatever happened to the Fourth Amendment? I know the US Senate, including Senators Inouye (D-HI) and Obama (D-IL) tossed it under the bus last week when they extended the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Daniel Akaka (D-HI) voted no, while John McCain (R-AZ) did not vote on the measure - see the roll call. 

At least the ACLU has filed a suit to halt FISA - see this Wired article called Bush Signs Spy Bill, ACLU Sues for details.

Starting 21 June 2008, the TSA will bar anyone who refuses to show a valid identification card, passport or document from the secure areas of airports.

People who claim, state or lie that they left their ID at home will be given an extra physical search before being allowed to fly. This is the same treatment that anyone who wanted to fly without an ID card or document were getting in the past. Now the TSA bar anyone who admits that they want to fly without an ID.

More details are available at the Surveillance State blog on Cnet.

Image courtesy of pixthree under a Creative Commons license.

From the New York Times comes Michelle LaBrosse’s account of her laptop’s travels. After she was injured, LaBrosse ended up checking her laptop computer as luggage on a flight to Chicago.

From her description, it sounds like she takes packs a lot in her bags when she travels. Maybe she should read this New York Times article about packing light.

In any case, when she arrived at O’Hare, her computer bag was missing. Never made it to the baggage carousel. No big surprise. Frankly, I’d never check my laptop computer on an airplane.

A few weeks later, one of her assistants at Cheetah Project Management determined that the computer was being used by someone for instant messaging.

Turns out the computer ended up in Nicaragua. LaBrosse never got the computer back, but at least ahe figured out where it went… and she got the story published in the Times.

Photo courtesy of william c hutton jr through a Creative Commons license.

Related posts on billso.com

• 15 May 2008: Don’t check cameras in your luggage
• 2 May 2008: Never check your computer on a plane
• 11 March 2008: Using Facebook as a lost-and-found department
• 3 March 2008: Building the perfect laptop
• 30 September 2006: Don’t steal my laptop!
• 28 June 2003: Where’s my luggage?

The Honolulu Star-Bulletin reported this morning that the last remaining business unit of bankrupt Aloha Airlines may shut down as early as today. I mentioned yesterday in this billso.com article that Aloha had shut down its air cargo business Monday.

If the contract services business does shut down, passenger flights on the following carriers may be suspended and thousands of passengers will might be stranded in the State of Hawaii:

• American Airlines
• US Airways
• Japan Airlines
• Air Canada
• Korean Air
• China Airlines

Aloha’s services unit provided gate agents, baggage services and ground personnel for these and other airlines. Outsourcing these functions to Aloha helped these airlines reduce or eliminate their payrolls in Hawaii

Pacific Air Cargo had made a bid to buy the contract services business, but the US Bankruptcy Court did not appoint a liquidation trustee yesterday to supervise the contract services business. Kany of the 950 contract services employees have decided to continue working without any guarantee that they might be paid. The deal is set to close next Monday, 5 May 2008, but PAC is trying to advance that date, and the Honolulu Advertiser reported today that PAC may try to start its own interisland air cargo business.

“I put the burden on all of our guys,” said Randy Kauhane, assistant general chairman of International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, District Lodge 141. “I told our guys to continue to work for free if it means keeping the operation going until we can find out more details what’s going to happen. If we stop, it would interrupt the operations of the carriers that we service.”

Last night, Hawaii Governer Linda Lingle announced that she would not declare a state of emergency because of the Aloha cargo shutdown. I wonder what she will do if passengers are stranded? The Star-Bulletin published a blistering editorial this morning, taking Lingle and legislative leaders to task for their inaction during the last month.

Meanwhile, in another Star-Bulletin story, food services companies and Kauai businesses are asking the state to help restore Superferry service to that island. A small and vocal group of protesters helped stop the service in August 2007:

Jimmy Trujillo, one of the organizers of the anti-Superferry movement on Kauai, said the vessel still is not wanted.

“Aloha Air cargo is certainly a valued service. Perhaps Aloha Airlines should have been the beneficiary of a special legislative session,” Trujillo said.

“The military cargo Strykerferry isn’t the vehicle to carry depleted uranium and baked goods,” he added.

Trujillo was not available for further comment. Perhaps he has locked himself in the Iolani Palace with approximately 70 other sovereignty protesters who took over the grounds at 0530 this morning.

Got bread?

Yesterday’s shipment of Love’s bread and baked goods for Lihue is still in Los Angeles, because the contact shipper used United to fly items to Kauai. United Airlines has suspended its Kauai cargo shipments because the airline used Aloha’s cargo business for its Lihue ground services.

Love’s is shipping bread to Maui on the Superferry, according to this Star-Bulletin article.