Hey, Infrequent Flyers: Here's What's New This Year

The holidays are when lots of people who haven't flown in months, or even years, take to the skies—and I always feel sympathy for them. The "rules" of travel change constantly, and no sooner have you adapted than they change again. So here's what's different since last Thanksgiving. (It's safe to assume that if you're reading TravelPost's blog, you travel more than most people—but you might consider passing this on to others.)

1. JetBlue and Southwest are the only airlines that don't charge for checking a bag. On a few airlines, you pay a bit less if you "check" the bag when you check in online. One airline, Spirit, now charges (up to $45 each way) for space in the overhead compartment; if your carry-on won't fit under the seat in front of you—and you don't need that space for, say, your feet—you might want to check it instead.

2. If you check in online from home, you may be offered the choice of a "paperless" boarding pass (i.e., you download the boarding pass to your cell phone or PDA): American, United, Delta, Alaska, and Continental offer them at various airports. There's no benefit other than you don't have to keep track of a piece of paper, which would be more appealing if airlines charged a fee to replace lost boarding passes—not that anyone wants them to!


3. As you've probably heard, the Transportation Security Administration is installing full-body scanners at many airports across the country; Jaunted recently ran a list of which airports have them. They're different in that you have to take everything out of your pockets—even non-metal items—then you stand in a sort of booth, where you'll be told to lift your arms above your head. A TSA worker in another room looks at an image of your body, and once you're cleared, he/she communicates with the staffer manning the booth to let you continue. The Washington Post has a rundown of how the two types of machines in use work; the image above is courtesy of the Post.

4. Citing privacy and/or health reasons, some people are uneasy with being scanned, so they're choosing the TSA's other option: a "pat-down" that many folks believe is akin to a groping. As a protest, there are calls for this Wednesday to be National Opt-Out Day, in which passengers will refuse to be scanned. The idea is to gum up the works to such a degree that the TSA changes its system. (Whether the TSA cares whether you're late for your flight is debatable.) Be aware that you can refuse to be scanned, but you can't refuse a pat-down, too. That's civil disobedience, and it often has serious consequences.

5. While you're still only allowed to carry on liquids in containers of 3.4 ounces or less, and you should probably continue to put them in a single Ziploc bag, the TSA appears to no longer insist that the bag be screened separately.

6. If you didn't bring food for your flight, you might want to pick up something at the airport. Continental, the last airline to offer free food (beyond a snack) in coach on domestic flights, has shifted to a for-pay menu. Do not assume that food will be sold on your flight; even if it is, by the time the flight attendants get to you, they may have run out of whatever it is you wanted (or everything). Also, just FYI, much of the food for sale is bundles of packaged/processed food.

7. Almost all U.S. airlines only accept credit or debit cards for in-flight purchases (including for premium movies on planes with seat-back TVs).

8. More and more flights have wi-fi onboard. Gogo wi-fi costs $5 for flights under 90 minutes, $10 for flights between 90 minutes and three hours, and $13 for flights over three hours. You can buy wi-fi passes in advance; buying access for several flights at once is a better deal than one at a time, but of course you have to know whether you'll be flying again on a Gogo-enabled flight. If your carrier's website doesn't detail which flights have wi-fi, check haswifi.com. Remember, however, that you'll only have Internet access for as long as you have battery life or an outlet.

9. Two more things that are no longer free for most passengers: flying standby (you pay to confirm a seat, usually $50), and pillows and/or blankets (now sold as sets for under $10).

10. Last spring, the Obama Administration instituted a new rule: Domestic flights may not wait on the tarmac for longer than three hours or the airlines must allow passengers to deplane. This has dramatically reduced the number of delays, although airlines maintain they're canceling more flights as a result. As I wrote here, Thanksgiving (and/or Christmas) could turn ugly if we end up with the combination of a big storm, the three-hour tarmac-delay rule, and packed flights.