It may happen.

According to the blog on the Transportation Security Administration’s website, testing is underway that could mean we keep our shoes on. Wouldn’t that be something?

“The TSA is well aware that the removal of shoes is not our most popular policy. In fact, it probably ranks up there with root canals and doing your taxes.” TSA blog

According to the blog, “last year, TSA tested a shoe scanner from General Electric in Orlando. Today, we’re testing shoe scanning technology at Los Angeles International Airport. If all goes well, these tests could lead the way to quelling of one of our most unpopular policies.”

They don’t say when this might happen, though…so keep wearing those moccasins and clogs or whatever easy-on, easy-off shoes you prefer.

Couldn’t resist a minor but somewhat shameless plug after seeing this online story from an Austin radio station.

It seems the reporter talked to a rep from the Better Business Bureau, who said you must know all the fees an airline piles on, otherwise comparing ticket prices is like comparing apples and oranges.

Right she is.

The rep went on to say, you’ll have to do some digging around on airline web sites to find them all.

Wrong she is.

All you have to do is check FareCompare’s Domestic Airline Fee Chart, which we update regularly. End of plug.

Actually, it’s an “alleged” slowdown, but real enough to United that they’ve asked a federal district judge for an injunction against it.

So far, the pilots union (Air Line Pilots Association) isn’t talking, but United claims the union is “encouraging sick-leave abuse” — according to the carrier, sick-leave among first officers is up 103% this summer.

United thinks the pilots’ alleged actions are “absolutely irresponsible” and due to unhappiness with some of the “unprecedented actions” the carrier is taking to “offset record fuel costs”.

Of course, one “action” is United’s plan to furlough nearly 1,000 pilots.

American spokesman Tim Wagner was no doubt VERY relieved when he emailed the following:

“The bag system is fixed.” And JFK is “back to normal.”

If you haven’t heard, they had a problem with the automated baggage sorting system at an American terminal at Kennedy yesterday, so they were reduced to sorting by hand. Let’s just say, it wasn’t very efficient, and hundreds and hundreds of passengers arrived at their destinations — without their bags.

The problem turned out to be a network hardware issue, according to Wagner, who adds that he hears there are still “several hundred” bags that must be reunited with their owners — and they will be, today.

By the way, American waived their fees for checked-luggage yesterday. You can see that as a nice gesture — or — the least they could do.

Well, we had about a month of silence on the airfare-hike front. But that’s over.

Last night, Northwest Airlines increased domestic airfares by $80 roundtrip on over 4,000 city pairs. We’ll call this a mini-hike, in that it does not quite reach our threshold of two-thirds of a legacy carrier’s route system — which means I will not list this as the 22nd attempted hike of the year (not yet, anyway).

But what is noteworthy, is that this is the FIRST time Northwest has initiated an airfare hike this year.

So why the long break from airfare hikes? Keep reading…

If you’re going to get a flight out of JFK on American today, this would be the day to stuff everything into a carry-on.

According to American Airlines, a glitch in the software that operates the airline’s baggage handling system there is creating all kinds of problems — and delays. Passengers are reaching their destinations, but their bags are not.

The main problem with the software: it isn’t working. Normally it reads luggage tags and sends bags to the proper gates. Now, American employees are sorting baggage by hand.

Passengers are being allowed to opt out of the affected flights, and re-schedule without paying any penalty fee. Also, the airline is waiving the first and second bag fees (but many of these flights are international, and the fees don’t apply in any event).

NOTE: As of this writing, American spokesman Tim Wagner said there is no estimate on when the problem will be solved.

This could be huge.

British Airways and the Madrid-based airline Iberia are in talks about a possible merger, which would create Europe’s largest carrier.

Like most mergers lately, the thought behind this one is to save costs.

And there’s a U.S. element to this story, as well: British Airways has also been in talks with American Airlines about “deeper cooperation” on trans-Atlantic routes.

In today’s column, I write about war.

Well, a kind of war: that between traveling families and the brief-case brigade.

Both sides seem to sneer at one another (and worse! read the column!) but I think I have some ideas to ease the hostilities.

What do you think about banishing kids to the back of the plane?

See the column here. And tell me what you think.

Police cited comedian Jerry Lewis at the Las Vegas airport yesterday for having a gun in his carry-on bag. The gun was not loaded.

The 82-year old entertainer’s manager claimed the gun was a “hollowed-out prop” that Lewis sometimes twirls during his shows.

The cop on the scene, however, said “we couldn’t cite him for carrying a weapon” if it was just a prop.

And cite him, they did.

Those huge new A380 aircraft being flown by the Emirates airline offer a special perk for first class passengers:

Showers.

You should know, though, that the showers are limited to 5-minutes. Not enough time? Oh, yes it is.

Here’s a tip from a colleague who lives in “drought country” where water-rationing is occasionally in-force: first, get in the shower, quickly get wet, then turn it off. Next, soap up, and put on the shampoo. Then turn the water back on, and rinse.

Nice way to travel.

Delta is teetering on the edge: will it or won’t it make you pay for checking that first bag of yours? So far, the answer is, no.

But they have doubled the charge for checking a 2^nd bag, from $25 to $50, and that’s one-way.

The charge goes into effect for customers who purchase a ticket on or after July 31, for travel on or after August 5.

Silver lining: on Delta’s international flights, you can still check two bags for free.

NOTE: I saw this information on many sites, including the New York Times’ but as of this writing, I cannot find it on the Delta site.

JetBlue’s CEO David Barger wants to show “solidarity” with his employees as they struggle through these tough economic times.

So he’s slashing his pay — in half.

Instead of making a base salary of $500,000, he will make $250,000.

Barger is not the first to cut his pay, and, it should be noted that this salary reduction is only effective through December of this year.

But as gestures go, it’s a heckuva good one.

Well, this is kind of a no-brainer.

The Los Angeles Board of Airport Commissioners voted to increase landing fees by 15%, which means the cost of landing a 747 at LAX jumps from $1,900 to $2,194.

The fee is retroactive to July 1. According to the Daily Breeze, this will allow the airport to “rake in $185 million in landing fees”.

Let’s see, who will the airlines pass this cost on to? Could it be — the passengers?

I was a little puzzled by this story I saw online at the Wall St. Journal website last night.

It was titled, “Northwest is Latest Airline to Add Baggage Charge”.

Indeed they are, as we (and just about everyone else) told you back on July 9^th. An editing mix-up perhaps?

Not quite. Not quite safe, just yet.

But there is this: according to a recent note from an airline industry analyst, the dropping oil prices combined with airline capacity cuts and all those pesky fees, make it less likely that any airlines will go bust this year or next.

That doesn’t mean the industry is out of those dark woods yet, but if trends continue, watch for airline stocks to rise.

The ol’ cautiously optimistic forecast. I like it.

Still, I wonder: that office pool those financial analysts have going — the “Which Airline Goes Bust Next” pot — how long is that money going to sit around in limbo?

Here’s one airline that looks as though it will do okay, oil crisis or no oil crisis.

And that’s Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic. The “mother-ship” was unveiled today in California’s Mojave Desert, and it is an impressive piece of design.

Even more impressive is that fact that 250 people have signed up to ride it into sub-orbital space and get 4-minutes of weightlessness. Ticket price: $200, 000.

Branson said he and his family will go up first, but it’s not clear when that first flight will take place. Branson says “family” includes his Mom and Dad.

I couldn’t find out how old his parents are, but I can tell you that Sir Richard turned 58 this month.

UPDATE: According to the Guardian, Branson’s mother Eve is 89 and his father Ted is 91. Good for them!

Saw a sweet/sad story from the Baltimore Sun today, titled “No friendly skies for mom traveling with two children.”

Flying with kids in NOT easy, but let the writer tell you:

“So there I was, struggling mightily to fold the stroller with one hand, while trying to soothe a crying baby with the other…not only did no one volunteer to help me, but a few travelers gave me the “stink eye”…” – Brook Williams

If this gets your emotions going — if you LIKE or LOATHE flying with-kids-on-a-plane — then you’ll LOVE my next ABCNews.com column.

It’ll be out this Wednesday. Don’t worry, I’ll remind you.

Finnair, the sixth oldest operating airline in the world, is bringing back a touch of the ’50s for their 85th anniversary. A classic paint job has been given to a Finnair Airbus A319 to give it the look of Finnair’s old 1950s Convair.

This retro plane, dubbed the Silver Bird, will also feature Finnair flight attendants sporting the old 1950s uniforms.

In honor of their anniversary, Finnair has also decked out its website with “retro pages,” so you can catch a glimpse of how commercial aviation has changed over the years. Finnair is also offering duty-free souvenirs for travelers who take flight on the Silver Bird.

Silver Bird makes its maiden voyage from Helsinki to Copenhagen on this Wednesday (July 30th), and further flights will take place throughout 2008. Even if you can’t fly on the Silver Bird, visit Finnair Retro to see the pictures, the old-style ads, and to long for the days when you received full meals and the use of an electric Philishave razor on your flight.

Keep reading for more ’50s uniforms and retro photos from Finnair…

Not everyone can be a do-it-yourself travel agent, it seems — at least, not all the time.

Saw an interesting report in the New York Times over the weekend (by the inestimable Michelle Higgins) which said that 23% of online leisure travelers would use a good travel agent – if they could find one.

The article goes on to suggest ways to find one that suits your precise needs. Of course, it will cost you — but sometimes, especially with a complicated itinerary that includes a lot of different activities, it can be worth it — very much so.

But if you want to save as much as you possibly can, online is still the way to go — and FareCompare is soon to unveil even more easy-to-use tools that will make the process so smooth, you’ll think you had a travel agent doing it for you.

Sunday, a Delta flight was supposed to depart from JFK at 10:30am for a flight to Las Vegas. But thunderstorms in the area were terrible, and the flight was delayed and delayed…

And finally cancelled at 5:30pm. And during all this time, where were the passengers?

The passengers were sitting on the plane, on the tarmac.

For SEVEN HOURS.

I thought the airlines had learned from past mistakes, that keeping passengers “trapped on the tarmac” was inhumane, not to mention very bad PR.

At least Delta is giving these folks refunds, along with a new flight. Least they can do.

UPDATE: Delta says, “our information is, it was a FIVE HOUR delay.” Oh, well…in that case…

I must have gotten 30 calls last Wednesday when the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) released their 1st Quarter 2008 report on airfares.

Unfortunately I was out of town Wed/Thurs, but I decided this weekend to pull the raw data from the BTS site and do my own analysis for a couple of reasons:

• Reading the report set off several “head scratching” alarm bells
• I wanted to see if I could reproduce the numbers from their rollup report

What I found after loading over 10 million records of raw data into a database to play with was fascinating (I’ll keep the geek speak to a minimum)

Did you purchase tickets for a “long haul” flight on British Airways or Virgin Atlantic, sometime between Aug. 11, 2004 and March 23, 2006?

If so, you may be due some money – between $7 and $34 per flight.

Visit http://www.airpassengerrefund.co.uk/ and find out.

This is the result of a settlement that’s been reached in a class action lawsuit that alleged that the two airlines illegally conspired to fix prices of fuel surcharges — surcharges place on those “long haul” fares.

We spoke with one frequent flier based in Europe, who figures he could be owed as much as $600 dollars. The businessman’s reaction was, why did the airlines allegedly conspire in the first place? “Considering that BA and Virgin have always been mortal enemies, it surprises me a bit.”

If the money comes through, the businessman figures he’ll simply spend it on another airline ticket — and yes — he will be more than happy to fly on British Airways or Virgin Atlantic.

Earlier this week, I reported on those Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) that showed the price of plane tickets rose 4.4% in the first quarter of this year, compared to that time last year.

But the BTS was quick to point out that this was actually down from the first quarter of 2001.

Let’s put this in perspective (and a report from a British travel search engine did just that when they included this comment from me): During the first half of this year, airfares across the country have seen a 20 percent rise.

Airfares are going up — a lot. But cheap fares are still out there, and if you don’t believe me (or even if you do), please check out our deals pages.

Plenty of bargains are still available.

This must have been scary.

A Qantas flight from Melbourne to Hong Kong had to make an emergency landing in the Philippines today after a giant hole appeared where the wing is attached to the fuselage of the 747-400.

No one was hurt — amazingly.

Passengers said, there was a big bang — a “violent” noise — and, according to one report, “explosive decompression.”

Some of the cabin floor gave way, and luggage in the cargo hold was visible; at the same time, some of the plane’s ceiling was giving way. See pictures of the plane here.

As they say, an investigation is underway.

The credit card company Visa has just completed a survey that shows Americans who like to travel — are still going to travel.

Or they plan to, at any rate.

The survey, done in May, found that 2/3’s of Americans who had traveled outside in the U.S. in the past 3 years were as eager — or even more eager, to do it again. And within the next year.

The weak dollar, and rising airfares just doesn’t seem to matter to them. Though some said they might not travel as far as they used to. Which makes sense when you consider the most popular destinations listed by those surveyed were Canada and Mexico.

The next most popular destinations? Coming right up, so keep reading…