Yahoo News

Federal officials are expected to announce this week a plan to raise the maximum amount that airlines must pay passengers who get bumped off an oversold flight, currently at $400 or $800 depending on how long a trip is delayed.

[...]

In the first three months of this year, American Eagle, the regional affiliate of American Airlines, was most likely to bump passengers involuntarily. US Airways, Continental, ExpressJet and Southwest were next. For several years, JetBlue has been the least likely to bump — it says it gives customers $1,000 if they’re booted off a flight.

Sounds like for those of you out there who enjoy bumping things may get harder, but the payoff may be better.

I just spent the week on vacation at Holden Beach, NC.  I love the beach and I had an audio book I was really interested in so I spent a lot of time  laying out listening to it.  I had to be very careful with sunscreen since I have to fly this week.  Flying while burned is not very comfortable.

I was lucky to evade the burn this time (several rainy days didn’t hurt either), but I’m sure many of you have gone away to Cancun or Jamaica only to fly home with a bra strap right on your shoulder burn.  Dry airplane air + limited or expensive water + not being able to carry a gallon of aloe in your carry on = OUCH!

This is your friendly PSA to avoid sunburn to prevent the trip home from ruining the vacation.

Now that I’ve had the phone for a couple weeks and a couple trips I figure it’s time to give it a full review.  This is my second smart phone and my first Android phone.

Display: very nice.  The touchscreen is responsive and the display is nice.  I had it at the lowest brightness and didn’t even realize it until I looked at the setting.  It can be difficult to read is bright sunlight, but every phone I’ve had is.

Keyboard: maybe it’s my little hands, but I feel that this keyboard is too big.  I could type on my Fuze quite a bit and never feel much strain (I wondered what “Blackberry Thumb” was really all about), but on this after a simple text message or twitter update my thumbs are sore.   It is also difficult to type numbers since I’m used to them arranged like a 10-key and now they are arranged across the top row.  I also keep pressing the Menu button instead of Function or Shift.  Seems like a long learning curve for me coming from another physical keyboard.

Operating System: Android 1.5 is fine.  It is locked down tighter than Fort Knox.  No one has managed to root it yet to allow us to install android 2.1.  It is also difficult to load apps not in the market place, but is possible with simple online instructions.

Traveling: This device is much more convenient to travel with than the fuze.  It is responsive so I don’t have to wait forever to check my flights.  If I click on Browser then the Browser comes up.  The battery life sucks.  I do like having a normal 3.5mm headphone jack again so I don’t have to mess with the stupid dongle anymore.

Battery: the battery doesn’t last long with my usage and it uses micro USB instead of mini USB so I have to purchase new adapters.  I did just learn that it is the same as the Droid so maybe I’ll be able to pick up a charger from a front desk.  I had a couple phones when I first started traveling that weren’t popular and used non-standard chargers so I’d always have to go to Verizon to buy chargers (I’m talking to you Nokia with your crazy flat charger to replace your long standard round charger!)

I’ll start my review of Android apps that help travelers with Foursquare.

I’m not really all that keen on the whole concept of Foursquare, but it has been fun for a bit.  The whole premise is that you use a GPS enabled phone such as an iPhone, Blackberry, Android, or even WinMo and check in at various venues.  This lets your friends (and facebook and twitter) know where you are.  If you are the person who has checked in the most at that location you become the mayor.  Checking in also gives you points and badges (now it’s like scouts or something).  Apparently some places do something special for the mayor, but I don’t hold the mayor position at any restaurants or coffee shops so I’m not sure.

I had Foursquare on my Fuze, but the version I downloaded from the Marketplace didn’t use cell triangulation so if you didn’t have a GPS lock it thought you were in Baltimore, Newark, or Palm Beach.  Before ditching my Fuze I did find a newer version that did use cell triangulation, but by then I had already ordered my Backflip.  With the backflip it usually gets pretty close just from triangulation, but if I turn on the GPS it usually lists my location as the first on the list.

There was some application called Autosquare that was supposed to automatically check me in, but it must not be compatible with Android 1.5 because it would just crash right away after rebooting and attempting several times.

It could be useful to let many people know where you are, but it is a little too public for me to want to use this app long-term.

The phone I decided on was the motorola backflip. I have been downloading various travel applications for Android and I’ll be posting reviews of them

Any suggestions?

From CBS News

Apparently the Government Accountability Office is investigating the BDO program.  Many of the recently busted terrorists passed through airports with BDOs, but weren’t detected by them.

The BDOs in CLT are a joke.  They pace the line and randomly ask people how their day is and where they are going.  In theory it is supposed to mimic the security methods used by Israel which are believed to be the best methods in use.  The problem is that the BDOs aren’t really properly trained.  They are wasting the money they currently have and who knows how much money it would cost to make the program work on such a large scale.  Israel has 1 airport, the US many and due to connections a terrorist can originate at any airport.

The BDOs have the same success rate as the body scanners: detecting illegal drugs.  TSA is good at doing a job they shouldn’t be doing, but fail miserably at their actual job.

I was going to call this: You aren’t the only person on the plane but figured I’d take a softer title instead.

On a recent Airtran flight from MDW to ATL we were delayed quite a bit leaving MDW and thus our 40 minute connections quickly became 15 minutes.  I always sit towards the back of the plane to get zone 3 seating so there is space for my overhead.  This also means that short connections get even shorter when the plane is slow to deplane.  The lady the row behind me was very adamant that Airtran needed to make an announcement that people without short connections should remain seated so she could make her flight.  The flight attendants did eventually make this announcement which appeased her, but when everyone began deplaning she got upset.  She didn’t believe that many people would also have such a close connection.  I explained that’s how hub work.  She said that Chicago is a hub too and no one was connecting.  I said MDW isn’t a hub for Airtran and therefore people aren’t usually connecting there because they connect in ATL.

So to my point: every day there are situations out of your control: traffic accidents leading to delays, people not showing up when they say they will, internet downtime.  Sure, they suck.  I hate them too, but there is nothing a passenger can do about a plane delay that will make it any less delayed.  The only thing you can do at that point is exactly what I did: find out the gate your next flight is at and run like the wind to that gate.  That’s it.  The flight attendants can’t get it any faster, the pilots would if they could, but usually either the FAA or airline controls are preventing them from going anywhere.

Breathe in, breathe out, and wait for your window to open.

Apparently detailed enough for coworkers to crack “junk” jokes and get one jailed.

NBC Miami

Perhaps the new airport body scanners are a bit too revealing.

A TSA worker in Miami was arrested for aggravated battery after police say he attacked a colleague who’d made fun of his small genitalia after he walked through one of the new high-tech security scanners during a recent training session.

This reaffirms my protest of the machines.

I’ve had my HTC Fuze for almost 18 months which means May 7th I’m due for a new phone at the 2 year contract rate.  I’m itching to get rid of my Fuze due to the horrible lag and lack of a 3.5mm headphone jack.  I think Windows Mobile is an OK platform, but there isn’t a lot of work going into apps for it.  It’s a pretty dead platform.

I mainly just read e-mail, update RSS feeds of podcasts, and do some light surfing on the phone.  A lot of that is due to the fact that it is tedious to do anything else.  The Twitter app I’m using doesn’t refresh.   To get foursquare to find my location I have to open Google Maps first.  Otherwise it crashes when I try to search for a location.

I want a phone that works.

Requirements:

1. Sold by AT&T
2. Physical keyboard
3. real 3.5 mm headphone jack
4. e-mail that supports OWA accounts.  My company doesn’t support smart phones so I need an OWA pull client like Seven or Emoze.
5. touch screen

Contenders:

Photo from Infosyncworld.com

1. I’d like a Motorola Droid, but no luck there the Motorola Backflip may be the closest thing I can get, but apparently AT&T gimped it and it doesn’t ship with the latest Android
2. Blackberries seem to meet every requirement except touch screen.  Bold 9700
3. not much else is there.  The others either don’t have a physical keyboard or won’t be out for several months.
4. I could sell out and get an iPhone or convince my husband to drop his so we can get off AT&T and back to Verizon, but I think Southwest will install first class before that happens.

Anyone actually use the Backflip out there?  Any suggestions for an AT&T phone?  Should I go with the blackberry 9700?

ETA: I just learned about the Amazon wireless marketplace.  If I’m reading the AT&T website correctly I can get a Back Flip and extend my current contract for $99 or I can do the same on Amazon for $0.01.

For everyone out there who enjoyed the Clear program it is scheduled to return

MSNBC

I never bothered with it because wasn’t in Charlotte and didn’t really do much for the money.  Many wanted to be able to keep their shoes on and laptop in.  Really you just cut to the ID checked and got into the same line after that.