The first story is either very very cool or very very creepy… probably both. Just don’t react when the security screen whispers ‘Jihad’ in your ear.

EU tests brain scanning to catch terrorists

The EU has been testing new ways to catch terrorists, and a method of brain scanning could be the way to weed them out.

Developed via the Humabio (Human Monitoring and Authentication using Biodynamic Indicators and Behaviourial Analysis) projects based in Greece, the scans would search for distinctive brain patterns as people pass through checks.

Oops. When I screw up at work usually the air force does not get involved.

Plane’s hijacking alarm flub forces jet escort

Authorities say a cockpit hijacking alarm was mistakenly tripped on an American Airlines flight carrying more than 150 people, forcing fighter jets to escort the plane onto the tarmac.

Oops. Remember that awesome opening minute of the pilot for the TV show LOST when someone learned that you don’t stand in front of a jet engine. A baggage handler at LAX must have missed that episode.

Baggage container sucked into Boeing 747 engine at LAX

A metal baggage container was sucked into an engine of a Boeing 747 as it was leaving a terminal gate Monday at Los Angeles International Airport, authorities said. No one was injured.

In a move that show might show some desire to get people to travel more, American Airlines is offering its frequent flyers more flexibility.

AAdvantage One-Way Flex Awards

Introducing AAdvantage One-Way Flex Awards – a whole new approach to frequent flyer travel – PLUS an enhanced award booking tool on AA.com.

We’ve enhanced award travel by making MileSAAver® and AAnytime® awards One-Way Flex Awards – a brand new way to use your AAdvantage miles.

Use your miles in a variety of award combinations to book a one-way trip, a round trip, or a multi-city trip. New One-Way Flex Awards are offered at a one-way mileage rate - exactly half of the round-trip rate.

Could you get paid to travel for free? Maybe.

Travel Grants Can Be the Secret to Free Travel

Are you a new travel writer looking for travel writing jobs? Would you like free travel? There is a way that few writers know about to help them get the funds they need - funds that could take you to a destination that you’ve always wanted to write about. The same way that many high-school graduates get funding for college, and many start up business get funding to help them open the doors and put up the shingle - it’s grants! Yep, good old-fashioned grants.

Airlines, which granted need the money, made hundreds of millions of dollars on baggage fees last year. Surprise, here is a new one.

United Matches US Airways’ Baggage Fee Hike

United will now charge an extra $5 for bags checked at the airport, meaning passengers will have to pony up $20 for the first bag and $30 for the second unless they check their bags online. The rule is effective May 14 for travel before June 10. If you book your ticket prior to May 14, you will not have to pay the new fee.

Other stories that are worth a mention:

• 7 Ways to Annoy a Flight Attendant
• Six Tips for Introverted Travelers
• 10 Things I Wish I’d Known Before Studying Abroad

Vauxhall Bus Station
Originally uploaded by shad_41

I understand the need for security but sometimes the line between safety and silly is pretty fine. A tourist had their photos deleted for taking a picture that I was able to find hundreds of on the web.

Police delete London tourists’ photos ‘to prevent terrorism’

Austrian tourist who photographed bus and Tube stations says ‘nasty incident’ has put him off returning to London.

Like most visitors to London, Klaus Matzka and his teenage son Loris took several photographs of some of the city’s sights, including the famous red double-decker buses. More unusually perhaps, they also took pictures of the Vauxhall bus station, which Matzka regards as “modern sculpture”.

But the tourists have said they had to return home to Vienna without their holiday pictures after two policemen forced them to delete the photographs from their cameras in the name of preventing terrorism.

Oops, missed it by that much…

Four Corners misses mark by 2.5 miles

Tourists who want to put a hand or foot in each of four states at the Four Corners area are apparently off the mark — by about 2.5 miles.

According to readings by the National Geodetic Survey, the Four Corners marker showing the intersection of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah is about 2.5 miles west of where it should be.

The first I heard of the new change fees that some airlines are charging was when a co-worker was trying to change flights on Hawaiian Air and got hit with a couple hundred dollars of change fees. Airlines seem to be making these changes quietly.

United Airlines secretly raises ticket change fees

In this instance, United raised their fee from 100$ up to 150$ to make any changes to your ticket. And they didn’t even tell anybody when they did it last Friday night. News is just slowly seeping out now.

Often times, airlines will make these changes to affect the bottom tier of passengers, exempting many of the first class and elite customers. But not in this case. This is a unilateral 50$ increase in fees across the board, so even if you’re super a super special elite passenger you still get screwed. Cool huh?

Another additional fee that United announced is OK with me. Some people are too big to fit in airline seats. That is not the fault of the airline (OK, United does have less legroom than anyone else) and they should not have to foot the bill for an extra seat for a larger passenger. Also the person seating next to them bought an entire seat and should get that. (This on the week that scientists say being overweight contributes to global warming - Scientists: Obesity Causes Global Warming).

Very obese fliers on United may have to buy 2nd seat

United Airlines is requiring extremely obese passengers who can’t fit in their seats to pay for a second seat when there is no other way to accommodate their girth.
United said Wednesday that it will charge obese, coach-class passengers for a second coach seat or for upgrading to a larger seat in business or first class, if necessary. The policy applies to United and United Express flights. United published its new policy on its website under “Passengers requiring extra space.”

“We had 700 complaints about this last year,” said Robin Urbanski, a United (UAUA) spokeswoman. “Now our employees have a formal policy they can refer to.”

Whether it was a suicide or someone just going crazy we may not know but please make sure your seat belt stays fastened until the pilot has parked the aircraft.

Man leaps out of plane to his death over Arctic

A man aboard a small passenger plane fought to push open the aircraft’s door at 23,000 feet over northern Canada and leaped to his death, forcing the pilot to make an emergency landing with the door ajar, police said Thursday.

Other articles that caught my eye:

• Travel [Almost] Free
• Gunman holds crew on passenger jet in Jamaica
• Note: Your Fellow Airplane Passenger Is Not a Urinal
• Cruise passenger falls overboard in Bahamas
• Hijacked train released in India

Don and a Pay Toilet
Originally uploaded by Sapphireblue

Wondering where the airline fees are heading. Low cost airline Ryanair has not rules out pat toilets as a next step.

Ryanair: Pay toilets coming to a plane near you

This morning, chief executive Michael O’Leary of Irish carrier Ryanair, Europe’s largest budget airline said his airline might start charging passengers for using the toilet while flying. Was this a tongue-in-cheek comment?

“One thing we have looked at in the past and are looking at again is the possibility of maybe putting a coin slot on the toilet door so that people might actually have to spend a pound ($1.43) to spend a penny in future,” he told BBC television.

Airlines need to cut back on their expenses. I think we all get that. But the reasons that they give for some of the cost cutting measures can get a bit ridiculous.

Even for a die hard Chicago Bears’s fan watching a Chicago Bear’s game is probably not worth $28,000, but that’s how much it cost on a cruise ship wireless bill.

Cruiser disputes $28,000 bill for wireless session on ship

Be careful when using your cell phone or wireless card on a cruise ship - even if the ship is docked in a U.S. port.

That’s the lesson today from a story in the Chicago Sun-Times about a cruiser hit with a $27,789 bill for a single wireless session while on a vessel docked in Miami.

Wayne Burdick of Schaumburg, Ill., tells the news outlet he used his AT&T wireless service from a ship in November to watch a Chicago Bears football game for more than two hours (using his AT&T wireless card with his laptop to call up an Internet feed of his home cable signal).

Don’t bother calling with your travel complaints

United Airlines is putting the kibosh on calling in with complaints.

Last week the airline confirmed that, come April, it will disconnect the phone line to a foreign call center contracted to field customer compliments and complaints. Customers with issues to discuss will still be able to call the airline’s general 800-number but, as anyone who’s tried navigating United’s (or any airline’s) automated phone tree knows, the focus there is on selling tickets and tweaking reservations.

United Airlines spokesperson Robin Urbanski says the company did research on the success of the feedback line and concluded that “people who e-mail or write us are more satisfied with our responses.”

I noticed on my recent trip to Mexico that public displays of affection seem quite common. A town mayor tried to put a stop to it and got started a huge fuss and a number of kiss-ins instead.

Kissing ban gets Mexico hot under the collar

The affair blew up in January, when Guanajuato’s City Council, led by the socially conservative National Action Party, or PAN, approved an ordinance on public behavior to replace a 32-year-old law. The ordinance tackled problems such as unlicensed street vendors and jaywalking. But it also targeted offensive language and “obscene touching.”

The mayor, Eduardo Romero Hicks, was asked what sort of public act would be punishable. He said the law would ban agarrones de olimpiada, which translates roughly as “Olympic fondling.” (In an interview later, he explained that this meant “fondling far beyond the norm . . . extreme eroticism in public places.”)

The outcry was swift. Protesters gathered in front of City Hall to kiss en masse. The news media got into the act, and pretty soon Romero and his city were at the center of an unflattering national controversy. A satirical video posted on YouTube played a familiar cumbiacumbia-style tune with reworked lyrics and depicted Romero in a priest’s collar. One editorial cartoon showed a couple kissing in a bird cage suspended by a fixture shaped to spell “PAN.”

UK law apparently allows the government to bar travel to people inciting hatred. The government used that law to ban a U.S. pastor from entering the country because of his intent to picket a play.

Anti-gay American cleric banned from UK for inciting hatred

A homophobic American cleric who runs a website called God Hates Fags and was allegedly planning to picket a play showing in the UK has been banned from Britain by the home secretary, Jacqui Smith.

Fred Phelps had vowed to come to Britain with his daughter, Shirley, to picket a school play in Basingstoke, Hampshire, that promotes tolerance for gay people. The play, The Laramie Project, depicts the murder of a homosexual teenager, Matthew Shepard, in the Wyoming town in 1998. It will be staged tomorrow evening at Queen Mary’s College.

Other articles that caught my eye:

• How to become a freelance travel writer?
• Budget Travel: Renting a vacation apartment
• IPod Applications For Travellers!
• Taking Your First Cruise Vacation? Here are Some Handy Tips for You

The Germans choose modesty over security.

Germany rejects full-body scanners at airports

Germany says it will not introduce much-criticized new full-body scanners at its airports even if their use is approved by the European Union. Interior Ministry spokesman Gabriele Hermani said on Friday that “we won’t join in with this nonsense.” The scanners � which produce an outline of passengers’ bodies beneath their clothes � have been tested at airports in Britain and the Netherlands but are opposed in much of Europe.

Add 27 more places to see to your list.

UNESCO adds 27 new sites World Heritage List

UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee added a whopping 27 new sites to its World Heritage List at its 32nd session this week, including French fortifications, a Hindu temple and a butterfly biosphere.

Nineteen cultural sites and eight natural sites were inscribed, said the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization panel, meeting in this oldest of Canadian cities.
The total number of World Heritage sites now reaches 878 sites in 145 countries, it said.

As many Americans plan for their next vacation they are packing their hiking boots rather than their dancing shoes.

TripAdvisor Releases Travel Trends for 2009

TripAdvisor®, the world’s largest travel community, has announced the results of its annual travel trends survey of more than 3,000 U.S. travelers. The primary trends identified are that travelers appear to be going lean and green by visiting national parks, hiking, and engaging in adventure activities. A greater amount of Americans said they will be environmentally conscious in their travel decisions in 2009, and more plan to visit eco-friendly hotels in the coming year.

Sand snatchers shrink Caribbean beaches

Ahh, the Caribbean. Sun, surf. But where’s the sand?

It is disappearing at alarming rates as thieves feed a local construction boom.

Caribbean round grains, favored in creating smooth surfaces for plastering and finishing, are being hauled away by the truckload late at night. On some islands not much bigger than Manhattan, towns and ecologically sensitive areas are now exposed to tidal surges and rough seas.

United Airlines offers door-to-door luggage delivery

United Airlines, which will soon raise checked-bag fees, is giving customers a pricier but convenient alternative: getting their luggage delivered overnight from their home or a FedEx station to their destination. The service, available only within the 48 contiguous U.S. states, costs $149 per bag each way for flights under 1,000 miles and $179 for longer flights.

Here is a travel nightmare for you. You are on vacation and your travel company goes out of business. What could be worse news? How about 40,000 passengers stranded around the world.

Anger at airport as XL rescue turns into a fiasco

Stranded victims of the XL holiday firm collapse threatened to riot and scuffles broke out after 400 travellers were effectively imprisoned in a departure lounge for 24 hours.

The incident highlighted the chaos surrounding some 40,000 British tourists marooned around the globe by the collapse of Britain’s third biggest holiday operator - despite a huge Civil Aviation Authority mission to bring most of them back.

Why is the USA a less attractive destination for Japanese tourists? We don’t know but they are studying the issue.

The vanishing Japanese tourist

OTTI statistics reveal that 3.7 million Japanese tourists visited the US in 2006. They represent the fourth-largest tourism market for the US behind Canada, Mexico and the UK. In 2006, Japan�s visitors spent approximately $16.03 billion in the US, but in 2006 the US experienced a 5 percent decline in the Japanese market following years of impressive growth.

United Airlines and Air Canada are heading in opposite directions with regard to the fees for that extra bag you want to bring along.

United Airlines increases fee to check a second bag

United is increasing the service fee to check a second bag on a domestic flight from $25 to $50 one way. These changes apply to customers who purchase a ticket on or after September 16, 2008 for travel within the US and to/from Canada, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands on or after November 10, 2008.

Air Canada eliminates second bag fee

Air Canada announced today that in response to decreasing fuel prices, the airline is eliminating all second checked-bag charges implemented this spring and will be incorporating fuel surcharges into its advertised base fares on North American flights.

I am curious what our former Turkish exchange student would make of this story? Remember this is not a story about a crime just a management issue.

Turkish hotel fires philandering male staff

A small hotel on Turkey’s Mediterranean coast has fired all its male employees for repeatedly having affairs with foreign female guests, the manager said on Wednesday.

Pelin Yucel, manager of Image Hotel in Marmaris, said her 27-room hotel now only employs female staff. Most of the guests are British and Russian tourists, she said.

“We had been facing the same problem every year but after the last incident we decided to run the hotel by only female staff,” she said.

Remember to vote for the Amateur Traveler podcast at the year’s Podcast Awards.

And lastly the answer to the question that started this post. There are worst things than getting stranded.

Tanzanian lodge in court over leopard attack to French tourist�s son

A civil suit, first of its kind in Tanzania�s tourism history, took place in northern tourist city of Arusha this week against luxury Tarangire Safari Lodge over negligence that led to a leopard attack of a 7-year-old French boy.