TSA to swab airline passengers’ hands in search for explosives

To the list of instructions you hear at airport checkpoints, add this: “Put your palms forward, please.” The Transportation Security Administration soon will begin randomly swabbing passengers’ hands at checkpoints and airport gates to test them for traces of explosives. Previously, screeners swabbed some carry-on luggage and other objects as they searched for the needle [...]

Airlines cancel flights as winter storm hits South

Airlines canceled hundreds of flights Friday as snow pounded parts of the South and threatened to dump several inches of white on Atlanta, home to the world’s busiest airport. Delta Air Lines and its feeder partners canceled 1,100 flights in anticipation of 2 to 4 inches of snow in the metro Atlanta area. American Airlines [...]

British airport tries to avoid ruining proposals

A British airport is entering into the Valentine’s spirit by offering private pre-flight searches for those planning to surprise their partners on holiday with an engagement ring. Manchester, which earlier this month became one of two British airports to introduce body scanners, said that in previous years marriage proposals had risked being ruined when security [...]

East Coast storm grounds thousands of flights

Another wallop of winter weather has halted operations at several airports in the Northeast, and thousands of flights have been canceled. No flights will operate at Reagan Washington National or Dulles International airports on Wednesday, according to the Washington Metropolitan Airports Authority. Most airlines canceled Wednesday flights in and out of Baltimore/Washington International Airport, according [...]

Snow causes more headaches for travelers

Here we go again. Just as travel was getting back to normal after a monster snowstorm in the East that stranded airline passengers over the weekend, more snow is falling, and more frustration is expected at airports across the region. “If you’re traveling today or later tomorrow through D.C., New York or Philadelphia, you’re going [...]

How to save on car rental in a recession

Don’t clear your wallet when car rental companies clear their lots. Much as airlines have cut back on flights and routes since the recession began, the lodging industry has, er, built a lot more hotels and added a lot of rooms?! Oops. Expansion may have seemed like a great idea at the time, but this [...]

Find a cheaper car rental away from the airport

The best rate Darren Popik could find on a weekend car rental at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport recently was $114. So he decided to look elsewhere. Popik, a Los Angeles-based blogger, widened his search to other car rental locations in the Texas capital. And he found a lower price through Enterprise Rent-a-Car. “It was a much [...]