There actually is a 2″ gun!!

The Canadian Air Transport Security stopped a woman wearing a 1-inch pistol pendant and made her stash it in her checked luggage. When they said

“How do you know it wasn’t a real gun?” asked Guy, a security agent with the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority, who also declined to provide his last name.

“Who knows if there is a gun that small that can shoot bullets? You don’t know that. They followed the rules.”

Bloggers ridiculed them.

Now we find out that there really is small gun (only 2-inches long) that can kill!!

The SwissMiniGun is the size of a key fob but fires tiny 270mph bullets powerful enough to kill at close range.

Officially the world’s smallest working revolver, the gun is being marketed as a collector’s item and measures just 2.16 inches long (5.5cm). It can fire real 4.53 bullets up to a range of 367ft (112m).

Who woulda thunk it.

Senator confirms blogger’s FAA CYA claim

Tripso.com had it right when they said the FAA order that resulted in the grounding of AA’s MD-80 fleet back in April was a CYA operation.

The tripso.com piece noted:

Both the FAA and the airlines know that the airline fleets are safe in the United States, perhaps the safest in the world. But both are now being hoisted on the petards of technical rules that they played loose with or ignored.

Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma said that the FAA was “chicken” for grounding the 299 American Airlines MD-80s. He went on to say, “FAA inspectors were more concerned about covering themselves than they were about American or its passengers.”

Bravo! But, the only ones that paid the price were the passengers who had to scramble through the mass cancellations, that could have been avoided with courage from either the FAA or AA executives.

Supreme court: Unlock cell phones

The U.S. Supreme Court, by not taking action, has let stand a lower court ruling that says cell phone companies, namely, AT&T and T-Mobile, must allow their customers to unlock their cell phones.

The specifics of the rulings and the repercussions are not finalized yet. However, Verizon and Sprint, both have decided to unlock their phones after the initial contract period. AT&T and T-Mobile, however, operate GSM phones that are far more mobile than the Verizon and Sprint CDMA technology.

This makes a world of difference to travelers. If our GSM phones are unlocked, even after the two-year original contract, we would have freedom to slip new SIM cards into our phones when traveling and save a load of money on basic calling, especially on receiving calls while overseas — its free to receive.

There are going to be far more questions that will be wrestled with by the companies and lawyers regarding the iPhone because of its relationship with AT&T, but in terms of basic calling, GSM phone users will be eventually be free to use any SIM card they desire.

Free pot at Tokyo Airport

Tokyo customs agents managed to lose around four ounces of marijuana during a training session with drug-sniffing dogs. It seems that the dog didn’t sniff so well and the customs agent forgot into what bag’s side pocket he slipped the testing packet.

According to the BBC:

An unwitting passenger arriving at Japan’s Narita airport has received 142g of cannabis after a customs test went awry, officials say.

A customs officer hid a package of the banned substance in a side pocket of a randomly chosen suitcase in order to test airport security.

Sniffer dogs failed to detect the cannabis and the officer could not remember which bag he had put it in.

Anyone finding the package has been asked to contact customs officials.

Right. Maybe, they could use some of those RFID chips I spoke about last week.

Embedding passengers with ID chips

Discussions have been swirling about tagging checked luggage with small chips that will help keep them on the right flights and eliminate lost luggage. But now, tagging has been proposed for passengers at airports to keep them from missing flights and helping to find lost children.

A British site, carrentals.co.uk, notes

University College London electronic engineer, Paul Brennan is leading work on the EU-funded Optag system. He said it combines high resolution panoramic video imaging with radio frequency identification (RFID) tags to enhance airport security, safety and efficiency. According to Brennan; “It would work if each passenger were issued with a tag, which could allow location to about one metre accuracy,” he said. “The video and tag data can be merged to give a very powerful surveillance capability.”

Embedding passengers with computer chips has been suggested before and some companies are now working on bluetooth systems that will track passengers through airline terminals.

It’s coming. That’s for sure. Now we need to figure out how to make it work to make life easier at the airport.

Hotwire deals without bidding

Just got this from Hotwire. Normally, I’m a Priceline guy because I love bargaining, but these are some great deals with which to start naming your own price. Heck, with prices like this, there is almost no need to bid. Buy and hit the road.

Have you ever thought it would be fun to take a last minute trip over the holiday weekend but thought you couldn’t afford it? Well, there’s no time like now to make it happen.

For example, if you live in driving distance of Las Vegas, you could jump into one of these car rentals from Hotwire:

• Los Angeles (LAX) — $9.95/day – weekend rate
• Seattle (SEA) — $10.95/day – weekend rate
• San Diego (SAN) — $11.95/day – weekend rate

Then, book a room in Las Vegas:

• 4 Star, Downtown, $99
• 4 Star, Near Strip East, $129
• 3 Star, North Strip, $66

And you would still have enough mad money for a show, gambling, or even a visit to the Elvis-A-Rama museum.

FAA – AA tit for tat

It was only a matter of time for the bureaucracy to strike back at American Airlines for their claim that the inspectors and executives at the FAA reneged on a deal that would give the airline more time to fix the wiring problems with the MD-80s.

The Washington Post reports that

Maintenance work by American Airlines on hundreds of jets was so sloppy that it posed a safety risk — a lapse that forced the carrier to ground many of its planes and strand hundreds of thousands of passengers last month, according to a report by federal regulators released yesterday.

The truth is somewhere in between. Heck, AA was the one that originally wrote the service bulletins that caused the whole stir. They followed their own guidelines, but didn’t quite manage to follow the tweaks that the FAA inserted later.

There is argument about the chaos caused by the mass cancellations of flights. However, the hiccup is still reverberating through the airline this month’s on-time stats are still some of the lowest in the airline’s history — around 50 percent!

Buddy passes = toilet paper?

A post on Chris Elliott’s blog notes that the buddypass the Jet Blue passenger was using to fly when wasn’t worth much more than toilet paper. Of course he is getting a chance to make a bundle from the buddy pass since he has now sued and will end up with some sort of settlement.

However buddy passes come in various shapes and sizes so to speak.
The lowest level puts those using them at the bottom of the ticketing world. Amazingly, some of the tickets with the lowest priorities end up costing about the same as an advanced-purchase ticket. The benefit (if you can get a seat on the plane) is the ability to travel at the last minute.
The perk tickets that airline folk get as employees or family members have far better priority for boarding and are free in many cases for coach travel. They are still a good perk, but not as easy to use as before.

Avoid the $25 excess baggage charge

I know a lot of folk who will be forking over $25 more dollars to fly since all the major airlines have now instituted that service fee for the second checked bag. Here is a secret that the major media seems to have missed — the fee isn’t for anyone.

I found an American Airlines list of people who do not have to pay the fee. Some are obvious such as those with First or Business Class tickets, but the fact that passengers with tickets purchased prior to May 12, 2008, don’t have to pay will be a complete surprise to most passengers.

Take note. IF TICKETS WERE PURCHASED PRIOR TO MAY 12, 2008, THE PASSENGER IS EXEMPT FROM THE CHARGE. Check out these exemptions.

This is from an American Airlines FAQ page–

Not all customers will be charged a service fee to check a second bag. Exemptions include:

*Customers who purchase First and Business Class tickets
*Customers who purchase tickets in Y, B, and H fare class inventories
*AAdvantage Executive Platinum, Platinum, and Gold members
*ConciergeKey members
*oneworld Alliance Emerald, Sapphire, and Ruby members
*Customers flying in the same reservation record (not applicable to group bookings) as an AAdvantage Executive Platinum, Platinum, or Gold member, oneworld Alliance Emerald, Sapphire, or Ruby member, or ConciergeKey member regardless of fare type
*Customers who buy a ticket before May 12, 2008 or who fly before May 12, 2008
*Customers originating on AA codeshare flights not operated by American Airlines, American Eagle, AmericanConnection on a ticket purchased through American
*Customers connecting to an American flight from another airline, including AA codeshare flights operated by another airline
* Customers traveling on an international itinerary, e.g. points beyond U.S., Puerto Rico/U.S. Virgin Islands, and Canada
*Customers traveling on Government fares
*Military personnel on active duty
*Anytime AAdvantage Award tickets, First and Business Class Award tickets, or First and Business Class upgrades confirmed prior to check-in

Hello world!

Cheap Charlie here to help travelers get the most for their travel dollar and let them know how to save money while traveling. Like today’s post noting how to save the new $25 charge for the second piece of luggage. Occasionally, I’ll chime in with where to spend luxury dollars to get the biggest bang for the big bucks. You can find more of my posts at tripso.com.