James wanted to see if he could price match a ticket he bought earlier to the current, lower price. When he attempted to call customer service, he was informed that not only couldn't he match his tickets to the cheaper price, but that by describing himself as angry he would be considered a security issue. James paraphrased:

CS: "Did you say you were going to be angry on the flight?"
James: "I totally did. If I know that the guy sitting next to me spent $150 less for his seats than me, you better believe I'm not going to be happy."
CS: "Well, if you're telling me you're going to be angry I'm going to notify security."

James escalated his complaint, and the Executive Relations (ER) representitive backed up this claim:

James: "You can't tell me you're going to put me on a no-fly list because I said I was going to be grumpy on a flight."
ER: "But you said you were going to be angry, and that's one of the words we look out for."

Sounds like at least one Airline is telling it's representatives to look for very vague keywords. These could apply to anyone - I'm sure many of us have had an experience at an airport that made us angry, but that doesn't mean we qualify for a watch-list. As for price matching the tickets, there is always US airways executive customer service.

A 64-year-old man was trying to get past airport security with a liter bottle of vodka, and, rather than surrender the bottle or pay an extra fee to check his carry-on baggage—he chugged the entire thing.

He was soon unable to stand or walk, and had to be taken to a nearby hospital to be treated for alcohol poisoning.

Man chugs liter of vodka in airport security line [MSNBC] (Thanks, Douglas!)
(Photo:Brittany G)

"No plan is guaranteed to trump Mother Nature," said John Kinney, DIA's deputy aviation manager. "But had we had the equipment lineup and the changes we're talking about in place (last winter), we likely would've had less than a 10-hour closure."

The airport says it simply didn't have the manpower, or the equipment to keep the runways clear, says MSNBC. Last year, 4,000 flights into and out of Denver were canceled due to weather. The airport blames post-9/11 budget cuts for the lack of manpower and equipment.

"There were a variety of dynamics going on . . . and the dots weren't connected," DIA's Kinney said. "In the post-9/11 environment, uncertainty reigned. Fiscal conservation was paramount, and we had had mild winters. We were lulled into a false sense (of security). We didn't feel it was an issue that needed to be addressed, given the very limited financial resources available."

DIA aims for no meltdown this winter [MSNBC]
(Photo:fortes)

Delta Flight No. 4718 took off about 9:40 a.m. and was forced to circle back to Midway shortly after takeoff when a pressure problem in the cabin was detected and instruments showed a cargo door had opened during flight, FAA spokeswoman Elizabeth Isham Cory said.

After the plane landed safely and taxied to the gate, a crew inspecting the plane found one of the two cargo doors ajar, said Kate Modolo, a spokeswoman for Atlantic Southeast. A baggage inventory determined two pieces of luggage were gone.

We are not sure if Delta was under the impression that dufflebags could fly.

Officials find bag that fell from jet near Midway [Chicago Tribune] (Thanks, Daniel!)

Hey. Flying to JFK from Portland tonight. The flight keeps getting pushed back and the flight tracker on the website is getting updated before the gate agents are. It's so foggy that it's difficult to see the ground below the terminal windows, so the situation is obviously out of the agents' hands. To compensate, they've set out several pizzas and bottled water for the waiting passengers. People seem pretty stoked. Might this be a new addition to their customer bill of rights?

We asked JetBlue if they really do order pizza and their spokesperson, Sebastian, responded: "You know, JetBlue has been doing pizza ordering since we started seven years ago — people seem to love it!"

Sebastian explains that JetBlue in an "innovator" in the airline pizza ordering sector:

"In fact, it seems as though our innovative approach to taking care of our customers on delayed flights has influenced other airlines. We've heard reports that other airlines have started serving pizza to their customers when delayed due to weather. Good for them - and great for the airline customer."

We had no idea.

(Photo:Thanks, Karolyn!)

Gotbaum, who had attempted suicide twice before, was supposed to meet a friend at the airport. The friend didn't show, and Gotbaum, who was on her way to an alcohol treatment center in Tucson, got drunk and missed her flight, according to airline workers.

From the Daily News:

The daughter-in-law of city Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum frantically dialed home when Phoenix ticket agents refused to let her board a flight to a stint in alcohol rehab.

"They are not letting me on! It's all falling apart," Carol Anne Gotbaum told her husband, Noah, before she dropped the phone at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, witnesses said.

Noah Gotbaum called back, desperately trying to persuade the U.S. Airways Express agent to calm his wife and let the mother of three board the plane for the $42,000-a-month Cottonwood de Tucson rehab program, friends and witnesses said.

"It will be okay. She just needs to take her medication. ... She hasn't taken it today," an airline worker said Noah Gotbaum begged. His wife was taking prescriptions for anxiety and depression, sources said.

The airline agent called Phoenix police, who soon grappled with and cuffed the distraught 45-year-old, then shackled her to a bench in an airport holding area Friday.

Less than an hour later, Carol Anne Gotbaum was dead, apparently strangled by the 16-inch chain used to hook her handcuffs to the bench.

Another says, "She got her cell phone, broke it on a couple of customers and she threw it on the floor, hit them."

Carol Anne Gotbaum's desperate last call [Daily News via Gothamist]
Passenger Describes Gotbaum Incident in Phoenix [WCBS]

Reader Porter says he accidentally left his Swiss Army knife in his backpack as he went through the TSA check point, an all too common mistake.

Thankfully, the TSA agent spotted his package of pudding and confiscated it, missing the knife completely.

I was passing through Sacto airport security checkpoint. I sent my carry-on backpack through the Xray machine. The operator found something, and raised her hand for assistance. Another TSA person came over and pulled my bag out of the machine and commenced with a hand search. Inside he found a package of unopened Hunts Pudding Snacks in my lunch. He confiscated the pudding "it's a liquid" and sent me on my way. Absurd, but forgettable. However later in the day I had a layover, and was going through my backpack looking for a pen and came across my Swiss Army Knife with a 4" locking blade. I had been camping and had inadvertently left it in my backpack. I was stunned that the moron TSA agent had confiscated my pudding, but missed my knife. I am left wondering if the X-ray person ordered the hand search because she saw my knife on the xray, but the hand searcher got thrown off his game by the delicious, and apparently dangerous pudding. If so the lack of communication between the Xrayer and hand searcher indicates a serious weak spot in their protocol. After I discovered the knife, I took a cell phone shot of it in the airport bathroom, and a shot of it as I was LEAVING the secure "sterile" area of the airport.

(Photo:Porter)

Men will view male images and women will view female images, but privacy advocates are concerned that those more detailed, embarrassing images will be stored inside the machine and can be viewed at a later time.

"It captures an image of a person as if they were wearing no clothes...and with quite a bit of detail," said Marc Rotenberg from the Electronic Privacy Information Center.

The manufacturer says the machine has been modified and only generates an outline, never an explicit image and nothing is saved.

Travelers Weary Of 'X-Rated' Security Scanners [CBS4]

Soon, first class may not just refer to where you sit on an airliner, but how you get on board.

The Transportation Security Administration is considering a plan to allow some frequent fliers to pay a fee and skip the time-consuming pre-flight security frisking.

The program, called Registered Traveler, would give passengers the option of paying an $80 a year fee and submitting to a background check. If they pass, they would be issued a card that would allow them to walk past the lines of people taking off their shoes and being patted down with an electric wand.

Swell. What s most enraging about this scheme is that it tries to make money off of the ubiquity of an aggravating social placebo. We all know these pat downs don t work—every week, some newspaper sneaks an intrepid reporter into an airport with a gun or a Swiss Army Knife, and with mild ingenuity manages to get them right past the bored minimum-wagers. Like most copyright protection, the only people these security checks thwart are those least likely to be doing anything wrong—except the guys doing something wrong here aren t trying to rip off the latest insufferable Coldplay CD, but slit the pilot s throat with an exacto knife. But instead of radically rejiggering an impotent system, it s nice to see someone think to himself, Hey, as long as the system s not working, might as well make money off it not working.