A journalist of the Dutch TV channel SBS6 has demonstrated that you can board a plane at Amsterdam airport with explosive liquids in your bag. If you travel to a non-Schengen country you can buy tax free liquor past passport control, but before the security check and leave the area.

This is what the journalist did. Outside the terminal he exchanged the bottle’s content for a fake explosive. Next, he went to the tax free shop, paid for the bottle and took it wrapped and sealed through the security check.

If terrorists aim at reducing civil liberties and the right of privacy, they have been very successful. Former US president Bush surrendered very soon. Elected on the slogan “I do not believe in big government”, he created an enormous Big Brother bureaucracy.

He reduced civil liberties and privacy rights and transformed the USA in a country where big surveillance programs, eavesdropping, interception of mail and email, etc. are daily practice.

Whole-body imaging machines at airports illustrate the loss of privacy. Airline passengers are required to submit to scanners and appear naked before security officials.

Passengers who refuse a full body scan will be barred from boarding their flights. Manchester airport in the UK confirmed on March 3, 2010 that two women were denied boarding because they declined the scan. One refused for religious and the other for medical reasons.

The US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) asserts that the scanners emit less radiation than a cell phone and that they generate robotic images of passengers.

A travel agent in Washington, DC, tells about three of his experiences with politicians among his customers:

1. A US Senator asks a question about the documents he needs in order to fly to China. After a lengthy discussion about passports, the agent reminds him that he needs a visa. "I have been to China several times and I never had to have one of those," responded the Senator.

The agent double checks and tells him his stay requires a visa. The Senator replies: "Look, I have been to China four times and every time they have accepted my American Express."

Airline safety improved in 2009, International Air Transport Association (IATA) data show. Despite several serious crashes, the accident rate for Western-built jet aircraft was the second lowest in aviation history.

Measured in hull losses per million flights the accident rate was 0.71, which is equal to 1 accident for every 1.4 million flights. Only in 2006 the accident rate was lower (0.65).

When the doors of the plane close you invariably hear the purser plugging the airline’s frequent flyer program: “Members earn miles and enjoy many benefits including free tickets.”

Why try airlines to lure you into their frequent flyer programs? They hope you will fly them again at relatively high fares by making you think you will enjoy benefits.

However, frequent flyer programs are designed to make money for the airlines, not for passengers.

“Understanding the economic aspects of terrorism can help to prevent or to mitigate terrorism”, writes Michael D. Intriligator in the January 2010 issue of Economic Inquiry.

A professor emeritus of the University of California at Los Angeles and a former president of the Western Economic Association International, Intriligator presents important conclusions:

- The Bush administration made the classic mistake of generals fighting the last war as opposed to the current war by concentrating too much on airports and airplanes and by creating an ineffectual bureaucracy in US Department of Homeland (DHS).

Aircruise is a new transportation concept: a vertical airship powered by solar energy. Seymourpowell – a London-based design and innovation company – unveiled the concept in February 2010.

The Aircruise is a hotel in the sky cruising at an altitude of 3,600 meters (11,800 feet) and a speed of 140 kilometers (87 miles) an hour.

The designers envision a low number of passengers and huge internal space offering room for living, dining and relaxing.

I flew Swiss and was working on my laptop during flight. However, a flight attendant told me that Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations prohibit the use of a wireless mouse onboard.

This information was neither included in the safety card nor in the safety video. Moreover, it was the first time ever that a flight attendant told me I cannot use a wireless mouse. Thus, I wonder whether she was right. Can you tell?
Lars Feltmann

In the movie 'Up in the Air' George Clooney plays the high-flying character Ryan Bingham, a frequent flyer who earned no less than 10 million miles.

Some real people come close to that, like Tom Stuker, who flies about 700,000 miles per year for work as an automobile sales consultant. Meanwhile, he has collected almost 9 million miles on United Airlines.

ABC News writes that “airport lines are a thing of the past for Tom Stuker. So are middle seats, waiting on hold when calling

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union the former Soviet Republic of Estonia immediately regained its independence. The Estonian government founded the national carrier Estonian Air as early as on December 1, 1991. In 1996, it privatized 66% of the shares. Currently, SAS owns 49% of the shares.

Estonia and SAS are discussing the future of Estonian Air. Last year SAS proposed the Estonian government to buy out its 49% holding in Estonian Air.

Did you already suspect that the military does not make any cost-benefit analyses for its operations? You are right; they do not. The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) confirmed this officially to Airline Passenger Guru.

We signaled in a recent article that US crews are terrified after the Christmas Day event in a Detroit-bound plane. They already consider it threatening if a passenger fills out a comment card.

The severely obese passenger on the picture blocks the aisle in an American Airlines plane. Obviously, he is unable to sit in a single seat without encroaching on an adjacent seat.

The picture was shot when the plane was still on the ground. Flight attendants gave him two extra seats before the flight took off.

This picture inspired Airline Passenger Guru to survey most members of the three airline alliances (Star Alliance, Oneworld, and Skyteam plus 6 low-cost US airlines.

In the survey we asked what the policy is with regard to big passengers.

Airlines consider it a sensitive issue. They use soft language and most respondents say they deal with big passengers on a case-by-case basis.

 Big passengers seem best off at AirTran Airways. “We leave it to our crew members to accommodate passengers. We will move big

The panic in the USA has given rise to erratic and in some respects draconic security measures.

A funny Canadian video shows that even more draconic security measures could be possible.

Presumably, panicking US officials may not be amused by the video. Hopefully, however, it will not inspire them to implement this kind of measures.

I have read your article about TSA recognized baggage locks. Can you tell me how safe these locks are?

I can imagine that someone will have copied the master key and thus can put unwanted items in my bag.

My question is whether these TSA recognized baggage locks are reliable or is it simply wiser to leave my bag unlocked?

Carolien Klijn

Airline Passenger Guru’s answer:

US security officers are so scared that they close down airport terminals for reasons like a goodbye kiss.

A man returning from Haiti walked through a wrong door at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport on January 16, 2010. His mistake led nervous security officials to evacuate a terminal delaying dozens of flights and hundreds of travelers.

After a man slipped into a secure area to kiss a woman goodbye, Newark Liberty International Airport shut a terminal for hours on January 7, 2010. Watch the video of the kiss delaying thousands of passengers.