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.

Sweet! According to a New York scientist, teleportation and forcefields could be possible within decades. How’s that for advancement in travel? Watch out airlines, wormholes, here we come.

Here’s an unusual travel-related summer internship: The Four Points by Sheraton Best Brews Summer Intern. Yup, the intern selected will have beer tasting as one of his or her duties for the hotel brand. Says the press release:

This isn’t your frat brother’s job though, the internship will come with the frothy perks of tasting and toasting, but will also include learning the inner workings of the Four Points by Sheraton Best Brews program and the ever expanding craft beer industry and beer business. Like all executive internships, this position will start pouring in June and tap out in August.

I’m still trying to figure out exactly what craft beer has to do with Four Points by Sheraton. While I work on that, anyone who wants to apply should get cracking. The deadline for applications in April 26.

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.

Looking for a place to rest your head in North Seattle? We think it might be a good idea to avoid one block in particular. That would be the 12000 block of North Seattle’s N. Aurora Ave., where not one, but two motels have been shut down by the Washington State Health Department in the last week.

Inspectors reportedly first found mold and unsanitary conditions at the Orion Motel and shut it down last week. Next on the chopping block? The Seattle Motor Inn, where health inspectors apparently discovered vanities concealing buckets of “dark brown, fetid water,” mattresses with exposed wires, contaminated water in the pool and inoperable smoke detectors. Eww!

Aloha Airlines declared bankruptcy for the second time in three years this week. The beleaguered carrier blamed competition from low-cost airline go!, which came onto the Hawaii scene in 2006. But the airline’s first bankruptcy occurred before go! became a serious threat, so it’s hard to peg the competition as the problem. It does seem quite clear, though, that there’s just not enough room in Hawaii for three airlines.

Aloha Airlines Files for Second Bankruptcy in Three Years

Instead of leaving Southwest Airlines to roast on the spit of public opinion all alone (you’ll remember that the airline grounded 38 planes last week after the FAA slapped it with penalties for flying unsafe aircraft), the FAA has announced that it has ordered a safety check of maintenance records at every U.S. airline. The preliminary checks are expected to take place over the next week, with completion on March 28. Full safety checks are planned to take place between now and the end of June.

Have you ever put a price on the comfort of your calves? JetBlue announced yesterday that it will start doing just that later this year, when the airline plans to roll out a pay-for-extra legroom program to boost revenue. There’s no question that many frequent travelers would pay more for additional inches between their knees and the seat ahead. The question, of course, is how much more?

The new program figures heavily in the airline’s plans to boost revenue by 60 percent this year. Right now, there’s no word on just how much JetBlue will charge for the privilege of additional space. Nor has the airline released details about how much legroom travelers can expect, how many of the premium seats there will be on JetBlue planes or how the airline plans to adjust cabin interiors to accommodate the new program.

Jet Blue to Charge Extra for More Legroom

On April 1, the Affinia hotel group re-opens its hotel in the nation’s capitol after extensive renovations. Bearing what might just be one of the most timely hotel names ever, given the recent Spitzer scandal’s connection to the surrounding city, the 343-room Liaison Capitol Hill aims to please with a six-choice pillow menu (um, I’ll take the white fluffy one), in-room spa treatments, Aveda bath amenities and the Travel Smart program, which offers frequent travelers perks like in-room chargers for electronic devices and free toiletries in airline-approved sizes. Inside, over-sized portraits of world leaders balance out the otherwise swanky urban decor. The rendering above depicts the new lobby.

To celebrate its opening, the hotel is offering the Liaison Capitol Hill Grand Opening Special, with rates starting at $110/night for weekend stays through Aug. 31.

As of today, skiers in Taos, New Mexico will know the joy of sharing the mountain with one-planking snowboarders. After years of deprivation, skiers at this southwestern ski resort area will, like their two-plank brethren around the nation, spend their days dodging snowboarders huddling in groups in the middle of groomed runs, avoiding sad sack beginners as they bounce tail bone-over-wrist down the mountain and envying the cool snowboard graphics lacking on their own skinny rides.

After years of being a ski-only mountain, Taos has finally decided to allow snowboarders to share the slopes. It’s a smart move, regardless of what the opposition (and there is one, a vocal one) says, for a resort as isolated as this one. The few remaining ski-only resorts in the country (Alta, Mad River Glen, Deer Valley) are located near competing mountains that allow both sports. That gives families and groups with both skiers and snowboarders choices. But instead of the ban at Taos attracting more visitors with its exclusive policy, it had the effect of sending more and more people, skiers included, out of state for fun in the snow.

The resort is kicking off the new policy with a celebratory weekend of events sponsored by Red Bull.