Today we ran across two stories at opposite ends of the spectrum.

First of all there’s a story in Wall Street Journal that does a good job reporting what many consider mission creep at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). The lede paragraph sums it up:

“The Transportation Security Administration has moved beyond just checking for weapons and explosives. It’s now training airport screeners to spot anything suspicious, and then honoring them when searches lead to arrests for crimes like drug possession and credit-card fraud.”

And then there’s an editorial in today’s New York Times that effectively endorses TSA mission creep!

Playing off U.S. Representative  Dan Lipinski, who wants a new federal law to standardize the size of allowable carry-on bags, the paper endorses the notion that TSA should be the bag size enforcer. The paper writes:

“It’s a simple but smart idea to enforce carry-on rules at the security checkpoint, not on the plane. In a world that involves so many trade-offs, so many brain-numbing indignities and tests of patience, this is a plan worth lining up behind.”

Run and hide! I don’t think the editorial writers have thought this one through…

Read more about Representative Lipinski’s legislation here and here.

Frank wants to know why Allegiant isn’t using the jet bridges to load and unload customers?

Let’s begin with some background…

Allegiant no longer uses the jet bridges in Springfield to load and unload customers.  Jet bridges are those covered walkways that people use to walk between the terminal and the airplane.

Instead of using the jet bridges, customers are now walking outside on the tarmac to get to the plane. In the aviation business this is known as “ground loading.”  The airline has told us that it was a company wide decision and that it’s now ground loading in most of its markets.

We think the airline should use the jet bridges and we have told them so.  Allegiant has declined.

Air fares are going back up.  This comes after about three months of delightfully low fares at airports across the country. According to Reuters, “American Airlines hiked prices between $5 and $10 for a one-way ticket for a large number of its U.S. routes on Wednesday. Later that day, UAL Corp’s United Airlines matched those increases on many of its own U.S. flights.”

We first started noticing the bump about two weeks ago. This is not to say that good fares aren’t still out there. Yesterday, on the airport web site, a customer book roundtrip fare to Abilene, TX for $134.60. Last year at this time that Texas trip would have easily been more that $500.

U.S. Representative  Dan Lipinski wants to standardize the size of allowable carry-on bags. And he wants to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to enforce his size limits.

Never mind that different planes have different sized overhead baggage compartments. Lipinski apparently wants to limit carry-ons to 22 inches x 18 inches x 10 inches—regardless of whether you’re on a small regional jet or a 757. Wow….

Read more from the Boston Globe.