Aviation Daily on Airports

The Latest Update On The Registered Traveler Program

My colleague John "Ringo" Doyle attended a press conference Jan. 29 held by Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), the new chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee.  In his Jan. 30 story (see here for free) in Aviation Daily, Thompson likened the Registered traveler program as a "glorified frequent flyer" program.

"I'm not certain that a new program where people pay extra money to get in a lane will do any better because they still will have to go through the same screening. They're just in a different lane," said Thompson, but he vowed to work with industry.  Verified Identity Pass founder Steven Brill acknowledged that there was little difference in screening now, but that the process would change when TSA approves the shoe-scanning technology in the security kiosk.  Verified ID operates the Clear RT program at Orlando International Airport, Mineta San Jose Airport, British Airways JFK Airport Terminal 7 and Indianapolis International and Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International airports.

And thanks to our good friend Mark at Upgrade: Travel Better for alerting me to this (free, but registration required) New York Times op-ed piece on the Registered Traveler (RT) program.  And USA Today columnist Joe Brancatelli has his own take on RT here.

As you know, we've written several pieces on the progress of the Registered Traveler program.  My most recent Aviation Daily story is here (subscribers only).  Verified ID had been operating its Clear RT program at Orlando , the only one in existence -- until now. 

The Times piece, written by Bruce Schneier, calls the Clear program "two ideas rolled into one: one clever and one very stupid."  He agrees it's a clever idea to have people pay for better service, which means being separated from less-frequent travelers who don't know the drill and slow lines down.  It also means that users can take advantage of technology by eliminating the need to remove shoes, and explosives detection machines  can eliminate the need to remove coats and jackets.

But Schneier thinks that the background check is stupid.   He states that there isn't a terrorist profile that a pre-screening program like Clear can uncover, noting that Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh and Atlanta Olympic pipe bomber Eric Rudolph could have obtained RT cards.  He also criticizes the government's unreliable list of known terrorists.

Brancatelli has a different problem with Clear.  One, it can take weeks, or even months, for potential Clear members to be vetted and receive their cards.  But even with the card, members still have to show government ID and pass through a TSA security checkpoint just like the rest of us.  And at that checkpoint, members still have to do things like remove their laptops, put liquids in a clear plastic bag, remove coats, shoes and jackets and run everything through the x-ray machine and walk through the metal detector. 

Bracantelli notes that machines to scan shoes are in place at JFK and Indianapolis, but haven't been turned on.  And several stories have been written about how the scanners aren't working as well as expected because they can't tell the difference between "good" and "bad" metal.

In Aviation Daily and Airports, I've written stories polling the top U.S. airports about bringing on an RT program.  Even now, most continue to take a wait-and-see attitude despite the Transportation Security Administration's (TSA) clearance of the plan in December, which I wrote (subscribers only) about in the Dec. 12 issue of Aviation Daily.  Some noted that their lines were short to begin with and that the program wasn't needed.  Others noted separate lines for first-class and airline frequent-flyer elite passengers made Clear unnecessary. 

My take on this?  You have to show people -- and airport operators -- a clear (forgive the pun) reason why it would benefit them to sign up for and create an RT program.  For some people who are on government watch lists, it's a convenience not to get the dreaded SSSS at the bottom of the boarding pass, which forces you to be submitted to screening every time you fly.  But here are my questions -- will it get me through security faster every time?  Can I avoid having to undress every time I got through the checkpoint?

Update On My "Boston Legal"/Secure Flight Posting

On Jan. 18, I did a post on an episode of "Boston Legal" dealing with the No-Fly List that just happened to air the night before a Congressional hearing on the same topic.  In my posting, I tried to summarize the closing statement made by Alan Shore on why Denny Crane should be removed from the list.  I wanted to post the statement, but I couldn't find it anywhere online.

Well, a BIG shout-out to the Travel Security blog, which has the statement posted on the Jan. 23 edition.  I've also taken the liberty to excerpt it, below.

Some of the new iPods, you can load up to twenty thousand songs on them... The technology in this country is staggering! And yet, the government can't get their computers to erase my client from the No-Fly list. Even though they admit he shouldn't be on it.

Instead, nobody named Denny Crane can fly. Now! Mr. Winchell is correct, he doesn't need me to indict Homeland Security, the 9/11 commission already did that... I'm sure Tom Ridge is a nice man, capable too, as is Michael Chertoff.

But I can get twenty thousand songs on my iPod! We have geniuses in this country. True pioneers of aviation. Steve Jobs, Steven Woziak, Steve Ballmer. If we could just round up some of our best Steves. We've got kids in garages inventing Google and YouTube.

Jets can not only fly by computer, but they can now take off and land on auto pilot. Should we truly be stumped by this No-Fly computer list? How about something as simple as issuing a flyer's license?

It could have your picture, fingerprints, you show it, scan the card and your fingers at the gate, if it's a match you get your aisle seat! This can't be undoable. Expensive? Maybe. But judging from recent spending patterns we've got billions to throw around. Halliburton alone has profited ten billion from the war, maybe we could get them to kick in.

Why is it our government leaders only tap into the private sector for campaign contributions or to pass out contracts to cronies? Bill Gates is out there! Paul Allen! Has anybody called them? I bet Mark Cuban [owner of the Dallas Mavericks] would personally fund the computer upgrades if you gave him free publicity.

Is it really against national security to think outside the box? This isn't about beating up on Homeland Security. Everybody knows they're trying, I'm sure they're good people, but they simply cannot dispatch a representative to this courtroom to say the problem isn't fixable, while thousands of Americans are being denied due process. It so easily has to be fixable. And in the meantime my client sits here today, a law-abiding man, grounded!

Story Of The Week: Five Good Questions With TSA's Kip Hawley

The Jan. 30 edition of Aviation Daily's Airports includes an interview (see here for free) I did with Kip Hawley, Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). He launched a new regular feature in Airports I'm calling "Five Good Questions."  I've been a subscriber to Time magazine (thanks Dad) since the age of seven, and I always enjoy the 10 Good Questions feature, so consider this an homage to the magazine.

In Five Good Questions, I plan to interview an industry newsmaker about current issues and events.  On the one hand, I was happy to get access to the Administrator.  But a tiny part of me was a bit wary, because having been on the PR side of the house, I know how the top leaders in companies, organizations and government agencies can be a bit programmed.  But with everything that will be coming up in the FAA reauthorization bill concerning airports, I thought it was important to have Hawley on the record for key issues.

Hawley has served as administrator since July 27, 2005. He brings more than 20 years of transportation and technology experience to TSA, now part of the Dept. of Homeland Security, with security responsibilities across all modes of transportation.  The interview is below.

AD: Why has it taken TSA so long to cull the No-Fly List?

Kip Hawley: I don't think it's taken long at all. What has happened was that extra resources were needed by the terror screening agencies that are given to TSA to nominate people to the list. They all review who they have on their lists. What we do is provide support to expedite the list. It's an ongoing process and we're having a milestone of a review next month to reduce it by half. We recognize that Secure Flight needs to go out as soon as possible. We want to make the list as small as possible to ease the concerns of those who are on the list and shouldn't be. We're also reviewing the process to check the review of people with similar names of those on the list.

AD: A complaint from travelers and airports is a perceived inconsistency about what TSA policy is with issues such as acceptable and unacceptable liquids or the situation in Cleveland over whether pies were considered a liquid. What processes does TSA have in place to make sure that security regulations are implemented uniformly across the country?

KH: Thanksgiving is a good example. At [the pre-holiday] press conference [in November], we all would have been delighted to go forward in a time machine to see that the system worked well (AVIATION DAILY, Nov. 20, subscribers only). Anytime we make changes, it takes a month for preparation. We made a number of changes because of the threat level [moving up] in August. We handled more than 20 million people [over Thanksgiving] and we had one location that incorrectly assessed the situation. It made for an interesting blog sound bite, but in Cleveland, there was a concern but it was quickly fixed. We are running operations all over [the] world around the clock and sometimes people interpret regulations incorrectly. We say let's be clear about the rules and get them across the system and then give them time to get in place. As you could see after Aug. 10, TSA, airports and the public are adept at making changes when we need to.

AD: Funding inline baggage screening systems has been a worry for airports. TSA's FY2007 budget included $202 million for the purchase and installation of these systems, and airports have also had access to Other Transactional Agreements. What is the status of TSA funding for these systems?

KH: TSA continues to support the acquisition and installation of explosive detection system machines. The problem area is in the construction related to inline systems. The purchase of the EDS machines is well funded. The industry and TSA agree that the financial model for integrated systems isn't complete. We had a productive work group [on inline systems] last year with industry participants (AVIATION DAILY, Sept. 14, subscribers only). We all acknowledge a shared responsibility and all realistically know that appropriation dollars to fund the entire need are not there. But we're doing good work with Congress to come up with a system where everyone contributes to the solution.

AD: Why did TSA decide to focus the Transportation Worker Identification Credential program on port workers before airport and airline workers?

KH: We made it a priority for port workers because nothing was being done at the federal level for ports. Airports and airlines have done a lot of work to make security better. The only piece missing is a biometric measure on [Security Identification Display Area] SIDA badges.

AD: The U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security came out with a list of its accomplishments in 2006, which included some of TSA efforts during the year. You have to grade TSA's performance in 2006. What would that grade be and why?

KH: I'd prefer to go with a grade point average. TSA has so many interactions with the public that in some areas we get an A, and in some areas we need improvement. We're using more metrics to help managers manage with data. On the effort and commitment side, I give us an A in terms of how our work force and partners were able to react to the events of Aug. 10 the way they did. A plan was put together overnight as a team and went into effect quickly. It was an extraordinary accomplishment. It gives us confidence that as we all mature together, the system is secure and flexible enough to maintain security no matter what the threat.

United Airlines Continues Efforts to Woo Premium Passengers

The Jan. 29 issue of Aviation Daily includes my story (subscribers only) on an effort United Airlines to cater to its elite passengers by easing the check-in and boarding processes.  The program is currently being tested at San Francisco International Airport and will launch at Washington Dulles International Airport next month.

Under the program, United installed separate premium boarding lanes at  18 domestic and 12 international gates at SFO in late September, and the construction on the lobby started Jan. 22, said a spokeswoman.

The first step of the program is improving the experience in the lobby, said Graham Atkinson, executive VP and chief customer officer for United (see photo, right).  "We have separated the check-in lines so that our best customers have a more predictable and quick experience," he said. "And for our Global Service customers, once they are checked in, we personally walk them to the front of the security line."

The second step is the boarding process at the gate, said Atkinson. "European airlines do a much better job to create a calm boarding process. We have created separate boarding lanes for premium customers with clear signage and a red carpet," he said. "This makes it more orderly for our top flyers. We hold back the economy line while boarding our premium customers first. But we can also board them at the dedicated line whenever they are ready, and we stop the economy line to let them through."

Employees and customers have responded favorably to it because it creates a much more orderly environment, said Atkinson. "When you are ready to board 150 passengers on a plane, everyone stands up when the gate agent begins the announcements and crowds around the gate," he said. "The new process improves customer satisfaction across the board and lets us board more quickly."

United plans to introduce the program at Washington Dulles by March, with Chicago O'Hare, Denver and Los Angeles scheduled for completion by mid-year, said a spokeswoman. The airline's top 40 stations will be completed by the end of 2007, said Atkinson.

I know there are the usual arguments about the elitism of programs like this.  Legacy carriers have been struggling to differentiate themselves from their low-cost brethren, and efforts like this go a long way toward keeping those all-important premium passengers, who tend to spend the most money.  I have been Premier Executive on United and OnePass Gold on Continental, and I appreciate the extra perks, like separate check-in lines, early boarding and potential for upgrades.  As a business traveler, I appreciate anything that will smooth the traveling process.

With this program, United is saying that it appreciates its best customers.  The airline surveyed 6,000 customers at United and other airlines and asked them what would make them loyal to an airline, said Atkinson. "They noted that a pressure point was the airport, saying they wanted predictability and a high-quality experience from the curb to the aircraft," he said.  So why not separate yourself from the pack by offering your best customers the amenities they want?

Strange, But True Airport News

Now boarding, Con Air Flight...oh, I can't tell you.  CIA business.  A European Parliament report says that Ireland's Shannon Airport is the third-most used facility in Europe by the Central Intelligence Agency to transport kidnapped prisoners, according to limerickpost.ie.  The report wants the CIA to be banned from stopping in Ireland and accused the country of failing to investigate the flights.

Repeat after me -- guns and airports don't mix.  You would think that this guy would know better.  Nusli Wadia, the head of Bombay Dyeing, was questioned at Dubai International Airport after a revolver and ammunition were found in his luggage, according to NDTV.com.  He had been on an Air India flight from Mumbai.  He was questioned by the local police for 45 minutes, then released.  But the finger pointing about security in Mumbai began between Air India and the country's Central Industrial Security Force.

Repeat after me again -- don't drink and drive a tug cart.  Police arrested an allegedly intoxicated 28-year-old man after he broke into a secure area near McCarran International Airport and stole a tug car, according to the Washington Post.  Joshua Scheuerman damaged the wing of a Gulfstream IV jet and ran into a fence before rolling into a ditch.  He was charged with grand larceny, malicious destruction of private property, hit and run property damage and trespassing.  What? No disturbing the peace?

I missed this one on Dateline: NBC.  A part-time professor at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, was arrested in a bathroom at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on indecent exposure charges, according to WRAL.com.  What makes this story strange is that apparently Hartsfield has worldwide reputation as a place for men to pick up other men.   Dr. Hugh Tilson, 67, was caught as part of a month-long undercover police operation.

Snoop Dogg pleads not guilty.  Rapper Snoop Dogg says that a collapsible police baton found in his carry-on at John Wayne Airport last September was a prop for one of his videos, according to FOXNews.com.  He is free on $150,000 bail, but faces up to three years in prison if convicted.

You don't want to drop the salt at this dinner.  A shout out to the new Endless Capacity for Useless Information blog for telling me about Dinner in the Sky.  The Belgian company will serve a gourmet dinner at a table suspended 50 meters in the air.  The table seats 22 people, and holds a chef, a waiter and an entertainer in the middle of the table.

Do you really want to watch these movies -- on a plane?  My pal Richard pointed out that Qantas has some interesting movie choices on its flights this month.  Now available for your entertainment are "Snakes on a Plane" and "World Trade Center."  OK, so these are two of many movies available on demand.  Now I admit that I was right there when "Snakes" premiered -- but I was in a movie theater.  And WTC speaks for itself.  I'm just not sure these are films I'd want to be watching while sitting on a plane.  But that's just me.

No Surprise Here -- Film Industry Contributes Big Bucks To L.A. Area Airports

The Jan. 24 issue of Aviation Daily includes my story (for free) on a new report that shows filming at airports controlled by Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) brought in $590 million in economic output, paid $280 million in wages and created 4,800 jobs in the four-year period between 2002 and 2006 .

After 9/11, airports across the country ended the practice of allowing film crews on their property, citing new security regulations.  But LAWA decided to keep its filming-friendly policies in place and tapped the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. (LACEDC) to do a study on the economic impact of that decision. The airports covered in the report were LAX, Ontario, Van Nuys and Palmdale.

There were 108 productions filming on LAWA properties in 2002, a drop of 50% from pre-9/11 levels, said the report. Productions rose to 137 in 2003, 164 in 2004 and 182 in 2005, it added. The list of films, television shows, commercials and other projects reads like a Who's Who of the film world.  Those shooting at LAWA properties in 2005 included: movies “Snakes on a Plane,” “The Shaggy Dog” and “Akeelah & the Bee;” television shows “Airline,” “CSI: Miami” and “Lost;” commercials for Geico, American Airlines and McDonalds; and various documentaries, music videos and public service announcements.

“The ‘LAX’ [television] series was filmed in Los Angeles and not Dallas because of the ease and convenience of location access at LAWA property,” according to the LACEDC report. “While other states and countries offering significant incentives aimed at luring productions away from Los Angeles, easy access to shooting locations and LAWA make shooting in Los Angeles easier, and the decision to leave L.A. that much harder.”

You can see a full copy of the report here.

Random Airport News

The new Suvarnabhumi Airport just can't catch a break.  In the latest episode, inspectors have discovered about 100 cracks in the taxiways that lead up to runways, and the areas will need to be closed for repairs, according to the International Herald-Tribune.  IHT quotes Somchai Sawasdeepon, general manager of Suvarnabhumi Airport and a senior executive in state-run Airports of Thailand, denying news reports saying that the cracks had also emerged in runways.  "The cracks do not appear in runways and pose no safety threat to aircraft," Somchai said when contacted by telephone.

The U.K.'s Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA) is calling on that country's airport operators to pay the full cost of policing whether or not they are required to do so under current legislation.  In my Jan. 19 story (subscribers only) in Aviation Daily, I noted that the Civil Aviation Act of 1982 requires nine airports, including London Heathrow, London Gatwick, Manchester and Glasgow, to contribute to policing costs.  MPA and the Metropolitan Police Service are negotiating with BAA, which owns six of the nine designated airports, to recover a greater proportion of the costs of policing London Heathrow Airport. "BAA are paying us GBP26 million (US$51.1 million) this year. We are asking for GBP36 million (US$70.8 million) but it costs GBP48 million (US$94.4 million) to police," said spokesman Philip Powell.

North Carolina's 74 commercial and general aviation airports provide $11.8 billion a year in economic impact and support 88,400 jobs across the state, says a new study released by the state Dept. of Transportation's Division of Aviation.  The state's 11 commercial airports serve more than 42 million passengers and carry more than 800 million pounds of air freight a year, said the study, written by the Institute for Transportation Research and Education at North Carolina State University.

The industry saw 15 major airports/airport groups privatized in 2006, the according to a new report from the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation.   My Jan. 19 story (subscribers only) in Aviation Daily notes that the key reasons for growing interest in airport investment is that in emerging markets privatization can tap domestic and foreign capital markets; provide independent financing of large-scale projects; and reduce the financing requirements of central governments, according to author David Bentley. In existing markets, privatization can help avoid additional debt; transfer risk and/or responsibility in an operation; and introduce efficiencies that improve financial performance, he added.

The Islands of the Bahamas is offering to pay for your U.S. passport if you visit Nassau or Paradise Island for at least two nights between now and March 31, 2007.  As we all know, starting today -- Jan. 23 -- U.S. citizens need a passpoprt for flights to Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean.  And your friends in the Bahamas want to ease that pain and offer you their hospitality, along with walking you through the process to get that passport.  It currently costs $97 to get a passport.  That will pay for a lot of Goombay Smashes, the official drink of the Bahamas!

New Orleans Unveils Airline Incentive Program To Bring Flights Back To Pre-Katrina Levels

The Jan. 23 issue of Aviation Daily includes a story (subscribers only) that I wrote about efforts at New Orleans Louis Armstrong International Airport to bring its flight operations back up to the levels they were at before Hurricane Katrina hit in August 2005.  I happened to be thinking about how the airport was faring after watching the TiVo'ed Jan. 9 episode of one of my favorite television shows, "Boston Legal." 

The episode, entitled "Angel of Death," had characters Alan Shore (played by James Spader), Denny Crane (played by William Shatner) and Vanessa Walker (played by guest star Nia Long), traveling down to the Big Easy to defend a doctor who was charged with murder for "relieving the suffering" (read "killed") five hospital patients who were in critical condition.  After the hospital was evacuated, the doctor stayed with the five patients in the most horrible condition.

The episode showed scenes from the French Quarter, which looked pretty good, and to other neighborhoods, which are still looking horrible 17 months after Katrina.  I am a big fan of the city, and went to Jazz Fest and visited at least three times a year pre-Katrina.  But after seeing the episode and how empty the French Quarter looked, it reminded me that I needed to revisit the air service issue.

As of November 2006, the airport’s passenger volume was at 70%, said spokeswoman Michelle Duffourc.  “Continental and American are both at the same level of flight operations as they were pre-Katrina,” she said.  “AirTran will be at their pre-Katrina level as of Feb. 16.”

The program, which started Jan. 1 and will cost about $600,000 a year, was created because the airport is a major economic generator for the entire region, said Duffourc.  The program gives airlines offering service over 85% of their pre-Katrina service levels a 75-cent credit per seat that can be used toward terminal use charges over 12 months.  It will also give a 12-month waiver of landing fees to cities currently not served from New Orleans.

New Orleans is targeting service to cities including Birmingham, Kansas City, Boston, Oakland, San Francisco and San Diego, said Duffourc.  “We had service to these cities prior to Katrina and we see a need for that service to return,” she added. 

Back in the Aug. 15 issue (subscribers only) of Aviation Daily's Airports, I did a story on how the airport had partnered with the New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) to persuade airlines to return service to levels they offered a year after Hurricane Katrina struck. At that point, the airport was at 107 flights a day, well below the pre-Katrina peak of 166 a day.  But the rest of the airlines are up and down.  For an Excel chart on flight schedules out of New Orleans, click here.

The airport and the CVB worked together to keep conventions in New Orleans or bring meetings to the city by telling meeting planners about available air service.  Then the partners talked to the airlines about which conventions were coming to show that the demand to the city was real.

In the Sept. 5 issue of Airports, I did a story (subscribers only) on how the airport's efforts to announce the return of air service after Hurricane Katrina won it second place in the marketing category of Airports Council International-North America's annual Excellence in Marketing and Communications contest.

As a fan of the city, I hope these efforts will be enough.  I won't get on my soap box about the severe lack of progress made in rebuilding the city.  I just hope that more people will commit to making it livable again and reviving the vibrant tourism industry that existed before the hurricane hit.

Story of The Week: Charleston (SC) International Airport Hires An Air Service Consultant - But Doesn't Want To Talk About It

Charleston International Airport is like many others, trying to offer more service to different cities at the lowest price for passengers.  So the Charleston County Aviation Authority joined with the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce and the Charleston Area Convention and Visitors Bureau to hire an air service consultant in conjunction to look at ways it can boost traffic and bring in a low-fare carrier.

Newspapers throughout the region did variations of a story that originally appeared in the Charleston Post Courier on Dec. 25 (you can see the links from Google here).  Knowing that attracting new service is a story that my readers never tire of, I contacted Rebecca Beaman, manager of public affairs for the airport authority about doing a story on the city's efforts.  I received this reply: "Thank you for your inquiry.  We are in the early stages of this effort and it would be premature to answer questions at this time."

But I'm never one to take no for an answer, so I gave a call to the chamber and the CVB to get their take on the situation.  The chamber was more than happy to chat, while the CVB gave me a statement and said it was too soon to say more.  My story is here (for free).  I have to say I was surprised by the response from the airport, because everyone and their grandmother wrote about the hiring of the air service consultant, based on the Post Courier story. 

Although none of the stories (including mine) didn't say which air consultant was hired, there were quotes from the CVB and the airport authority on the effort.  The story noted that Charleston's traffic was down 13% after its carriers cut flights and boosted fares.  It also noted that the airport was hurt after Independence Air -- the facility's lone low-cost carrier -- shut down last January.

So why is it fine to talk not only to the home-town paper, but other outlets in North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, but not talk to a newsletter that specifically targets the airport community?

Random Airport News

The Los Angeles City Council has approved a measure that will almost triple airline fees at Terminals 1, 3 and 6 at Los Angeles Airport, despite heavy carrier opposition.  In my Jan. 17 story (subscribers only) in Aviation Daily, Los Angeles World Airports' board of directors passed increases in rent and maintenance in early January. LAWA justified the fee increase, saying airlines have paid only a fraction of the costs associated with the passenger terminals and noting that airlines had not been charged costs related to security.  But the Air Transport Association expressed strong dissatisfaction over the decision. "We are extremely disappointed that LAX today was given authority to arbitrarily raise airline terminal rates, and we question the legality of this unjustified action. The 'so-called' negotiations that led to this increase were not conducted with candor and in good faith. There was no sincere effort to reach agreement on fair and reasonable rental rates," said President and CEO James May in a statement.

GE and Smiths Group have inked a deal to create a joint venture company to handle security and detention, according to a story (subscribers only) written by my colleague Steve Lott in the Jan, 17 issue of Aviation Daily.  The JV will include GE Security's Homeland Protection business and Smiths Detection. The agreement is subject to approval by Smiths shareowners as well as regulatory reviews. The agreement also depends on the major deal unveiled on Monday, in which GE proposed an acquisition of Smiths Aerospace.

USA Today has done an interesting article outlining where travelers can find free and pay places in U.S. airports to charge up electronic equipment.  It shows which airports have free power stations and pay places offered by PowerPort and Smarte Carte's Rapid Charger (see my stories in Aviation Daily here and here -- sorry, subscribers only -- on these companies).  But you can always go to the Air Power Wiki for the most comprehensive list worldwide.

A Yemeni man who was caught trying to hide a knife in a book at Detroit Metropolitan Airport was sentenced to a year in jail and could be deported, according to The Detroit News.  The judge acknowledged that the 2.5-inch knife blade didn't really pose a threat, but questioned why Mohammed S. Ghanem of Hamtramck would try and bring it on the flight.  Ghanem claimed that he didn't know the knife was in his book.