The Blame Game

Don't you love it when airlines who tout all the benefits of their cozy mileage partnerships, then end up blaming each other when things go wrong?

Months after Delta acquired Northwest and became Alaska Airlines' new mileage partner, the two still can't seem to get their act together.

I booked a mileage ticket a while back with Delta for an Alaska Airlines flight to Tucson. Imagine my surprise when I went to check in for the flight online, and was told that I had to check in at the airport. Web check-in would not be possible, Alaska said, because of an error on Delta's part in writing the ticket. When I phoned Delta, it blamed the problem on Alaska. No skin off either of their backs - I'm the one who has to wait in a line at the airport ticket counter instead of checking on online at home. The customer, in this and so many cases when it comes to the airlines, always seems to be stuck in the middle.

The kicker: The Delta agent "congratulated'' me for being a member of its elite frequent flier program. She was reading from a script of course, since, in this case, the benefits of elite status got me nowhere when it came to solving whatever the problem was.

Around a Lazy River

I don't know what took me so long to get to Eugene, Oregon, but it's a great weekend getaway destination, and easy to get to from Seattle. Tom and I took Amtrak a few weeks ago, and explored by bike along the Willamette riverpath. Best part: Our B&B supplied the bikes.

      
This is the River Walk Inn, a half-block from one of the entrances to the bike path. The path itself is level, smooth and scenic, with lots of parks, gardens and green space. We had fun exploring off the path as well as on. Read all about it in my story in today's Seattle Times. Click here to find out more.

Coming soon to an airport near you: Full-body scans, new pat-down procedures

If you haven't been confronted with new security checks at U.S. airports, you will be soon, especially if you're traveling around the holiday season.


Airports around the country, including Seattle's Sea-Tac international are being outfitted with full-body X-ray scanning machines federal authorities say will help identify terrorist threats, but other say pose concerns about privacy, health risks and longer waits in security lines.


The scans, which effectively allow agents to see through clothes by scattering low-dose X-rays at a passenger's front and back, produce a blurry nude image that can be screened for nonmetallic items such as weapons and explosives hidden under clothes.

TSA is making the screening optional, but opting to go through a metal detector instead will require a physical pat-down that promises to be more thorough than those given in the past. 

TSA is introducing new physical search procedures at two airports – Boston Logan and Las Vegas McCarran International Airport – before implementing them nationwide. Known as "enhanced pat-downs," the procedure involves using the palm-first method for the entire body search. The TSA had previously had its officers use the backs of their hands when moving over a subject's more sensitive areas. 

The pat-downs have raised the ire of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in Massachusetts which questions the effectiveness of screening techniques when weighed against what it feels are increasing threats to privacy.

Meanwhile, the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington D.C. has filed a suit to stop the use of body scans, charging they are the equivalent of a digital strip-search.

Read more about the controversy in this Seattle Times article.