What’s the biggest travel news of the day? Well, for airlines, things are still looking pretty bleak. Joining Aloha Airlines and ATA, Skybus shuttered its doors over the weekend, and British Airways is still trying to paw its way out of the Heathrow Terminal 5 mess that’s made its shiny new building the hub of what is quite possibly the biggest travel debacle thus far in 2008. Continental has decided to join the fray of airlines charging $25 for coach passengers to check a second piece of luggage.

While some airlines are busy charging travelers more, some are having sales. JetBlue’s spring sale is going on now and keeps popping up on just about every travel newsletter I’ve gotten today - and I get a lot of travel deals newsletters. Speaking of JetBlue, I had been wondering about the exact cost of JetBlue’s new extra legroom offering ever since I learned of the new program, and now we have the answer. The New York Times reported yesterday that the airline is pricing its roomier seats (38″ of pitch) at $10 extra for flights under 600 miles, $15 for those between 600 and 1,500 miles and $20 for flights over 1,500 miles.

Extra legroom isn’t the only new perk to be offered to airline passengers. Today, the EU announced that it will allow aircraft operating in the region to offer in-flight mobile phone services. Get ready for some in-flight altercations to go along with that. Like star-crossed lovers that just can’t call it quits, Delta and Northwest are reportedly back in merger talks.

Meanwhile, Kiplinger’s has added a new Business Travel section to its online offerings. A quick perusal revealed some decent articles, nothing earth-shattering yet, but we’ll keep checking back.

And with that, we’re off to dig through more RSS feeds, blogs and travel news sources. Back tomorrow with more of the latest travel news.

Air Canada’s newly announced On My Way program sure sounds all sugar ‘n spice on the face of it, but bloggers are having a field day slamming this new customer service offering. In brief, the program offers travelers the option of paying an additional fee ($25 or $35, depending on flight length) that, in the event of flight delays caused by problems beyond the airline’s control, entitles them to complimentary hotel accommodations, meals, etc. and rebooking on the next available flight, Air Canada or otherwise. Like I said, sounds good at first, right?

Upon closer inspection, On My Way sounds like it should be named Pay or Stay Put. While Hartford Courant writer Jeanne Leblanc laments the program’s “preferential treatment for basic services that should be covered in the cost of the ticket and provided on a first-come, first-served basis,” A View from the Wing’s Gary Leff argues that the program amounts, at best, to the same sort of gamble consumers make when they buy extended warranties from places like Best Buy. The bottom line? Not only is the program, in many ways, a slap in the face to travelers, it’s a pretty bad financial deal for most of us.

Howdy. If you’ve noticed fewer posts here in the last few days, your eyes fail you not. But lest you think I’ve been off on some un-bloggable vacation, I’m here to set the record straight. The content has not waned, it’s merely moved. Paddled, in fact, on over to the new and improved Kayak Insider, the daily travel dispatch from TravelPost.com’s parent company. There will still be posts here on a regular basis, but most of the travel news, deals and advice from around the world wide web will now live happily over there.

Reasons to read the Kayak Insider:

- Comments! While this blog doesn’t accept comments, the Kayak Insider does. Write to us. We like that.

- More bloggers. Instead of just one lone blogger, the Kayak Insider has three. David, Tyler and Lorraine (that’s me).

- Weekly deals. Check in each Thursday for a list of rad weekly deals. Then get right out of this town.

- Interviews. They’re coming. You will like them.

In the coming months, we expect the Kayak Insider to grow by leaps and bounds. We hope you’ll mosey on by and check us out.

A pesky little practice called the Frequent Flyer Tax Recovery Surcharge means car rental companies are actually charging travelers daily fees for the privilege of earning airline miles (and in some cases, hotel points) through partnership promotions. Here’s how it works: You rent a car, and the company tells you that you can earn miles for your chosen airline. You end up paying between $.06 and $.50 a day for the privilege of earning those miles - and usually you’re not even earning that many miles to begin with. The fee is the car companies’ way of recouping their cost - levied by the airlines - for participating in the partnership and offering miles to you, the end customer. Here’s an interesting little tidbit I spied yesterday on the Consumerist blog:

Budget’s Free Frequent Flyer Miles Promos Will Cost You

If you ask us, it’s pretty shady to quietly charge travelers for the privilege of earning miles through a promotion. So we checked into it, and Budget is hardly the only company whacking travelers with hidden - or to be fair, very quiet - charges.

Avis Frequent Flyer Tax Recovery/Surcharge

Thrifty Frequent Flyer Tax Recovery/Surcharge

As I am sure you’d imagine, there are so many ins and outs to these surcharges that it’ll make you feel like the car rental companies are doing you a favor by charging you so you don’t have to read all this crap. But interestingly, the surcharges vary quite a bit depending on the combination of frequent flier program and car rental company in question. For example, Thrifty only charges $.06 per day when you earn American Airlines miles, but $.50 if you choose to earn Alaska Airline miles.

And buried in Northwest Airlines’ Special Offers for Elite Members, I learned that World Perks members will pay $.24 per day when they earn miles for a Dollar Rent A Car rental.

If you really want to geek out on how all this works, the topic has been hashed out in detail by the intrepid travelers on the FlyerTalk Forums:

Frequent Flyer Tax Recovery/Surcharge on FlyerTalk

In the end, the charges are so small that most travelers will just continue renting and earning miles as usual. But it sure makes for good cocktail conversation.

Today, Gadling pointed us to UK company PHD Mountain Software and its new Design Your Own Sleeping Bag Service, a D.I.Y. approach to securing the perfect sleep sack for your outdoor adventures.

Okay, it’s not D.I.Y. in the strictest sense of the word(s). A computer does the work, but you get the joy and satisfaction of knowing your powerful little brain sat in the captain’s chair (mwuh-ha-ha-hah). You can choose bag length, width, minimum temperature (-58F to 50F), fabric, color, fill weight and comfort features like mummy hoods, collars, cords, draft tubes, etc. Great for gear nerds and outdoorsy travelers with a penchant for extreme activities (like those nutty ice climbers), as well as people who happen to be taller or otherwise larger than average (NBA players, you can finally camp comfortably). Cost depends each bag’s specifications, but expect to drop upwards of $500.

Design Your Own Sleeping Bag

Feeling a little post-Valentine’s Day journey into the macabre? After a day of sweet nothings and mushy come hithers, it seems only fitting to indulge in something slightly morbid. Thankfully, Gridskipper had just the thing to our love hangover:

The New York City Celebrity Death Map

Featured celebs include everyone from Malcolm X to Nick de Noia (who’s that? Only the original choreographer for the Chippendale’s. Duh.).

What makes FareCompare’s Rick Seaney hot under the collar? Misguided trust in the power of Rule 240, which has kinda become the unicorn of travel tips over the past year, i.e. everybody coos about how wonderful it is, but no one’s ever really seen it work its magic in real life.

A recent post by a travel blogger incited Seaney’s semi-rant, which marks an exciting little moment of controversy in the get-a-long gang world that is the travel blogosphere. And this being a blog, we must, I repeat, must blog when controversy strikes!

After debunking the Rule 240 myth, embarrassing a few travel pundits along the way, Seaney offers up a 240-Alternative List, which includes suggestions like supporting the Passengers’ Bill of Rights movement in its quest for state and federal legislation to better protect travelers.

We (cough) heartily concur.

I’m Frustrated: “Rule 240″ Myth Still Alive. See My “240-Alternative LIST”

Tee hee hee. For some reason, it makes us chuckle that even the TSA has its own blog. First Bill Marriott, now the Transportation Security Administration. Loftily titled The Evolution of Security (funny because, standing in most security lines more often than not leaves me wondering whether evolution could be working in reverse these days), the blog describes itself as a platform for communication and feedback among the TSA and the millions of passengers who encounter its security rules, airport policies and personnel each day. As the blog astutely points out, “There isn’t much opportunity for our Security Officers to explain the ‘why,’ of what we ask you to do at the checkpoint, just the ‘what’ needs to be done to clear security.”

Laughing aside, I’ll be reading it, and I suspect many other travelers and travel bloggers will be, too.

As we were digging through our backlog of RSS goodies, we found this insider jaunt into the new (as of last month) NYLO Plano Hotel from those hotel know-it-alls at HotelChatter. We were intrigued. We think you will be, too. Plus, we just plain like videos.

HotelChatter Goes Inside NYLO Plano

Orbitz announced its new travel blog today, and of course we checked in to see what the newbie is all about. Right now, it’s a combination of travel advice, photos and coverage from Orbitz employees on vacation, as well as round-up recommendations for popular travel destinations (e.g. best bars for spring break in the Bahamas, cool buffets in Vegas) and other similar features. Oh, and lots of SEO-minded keyword phrases - something I’m inclined to make fun of, but can’t considering that I have to use ‘em, too.

Orbitz Travel Blog