The answers I got from the Delta Airlines and the TSA were less than definitive – Icelandair was crystal-clear: They’re okay in checked luggage.

The good news is that I had no problems flying with my MRE packs. I went through security screening at three different airports (Phoenix Sky Harbor, JFK/New York and Keflavik International) and customs at two of them, and had nary an MRE-related problem (the monosyllabic and surly “instructions” of the wonderful Customs staff at JFK, however, was another story. Only one of that lot was even remotely pleasant.).

Based on my experience, you should have no problems if you put your MREs in your checked luggage and keep the packages sealed. Still, always check with your airline. Policies and regulations are always a moving target, and a terrorism-related panic du jour always seems to be around the corner waiting to monkeywrench travelers’ plans.

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Then I paused. The MREs all come with this little self-heating thing. I decided to check with the authorities. I wrote to Delta Airlines, which we’re flying from Phoenix to JFK, and Icelandair, which will take us the rest of the way. I explained my plan, and specific that I’d have the MREs in checked baggage. Here are their answers.

Icelandair (Response time: about 30 minutes)
Hello,
These will be ok in your checked bags.
Regards
Icelandair

The Verdict: This is my kind of communication: prompt, succinct, totally unambiguous. Lacking any flowery stuff, but I know where I stand.

Delta Airlines (Response Time – About 24 hours)

Thank you for contacting Delta Air Lines.

Your SkyMiles number has been added to your reservation. The mileage
will be automatically credited to your account after travel has taken
place.

The Transportation Security Administration has revised the list of
acceptable items that will be checked at security checkpoints.

For the latest information on what is and is not acceptable for both
carry-on and checked baggage please go to the Transportation Security
Administration website at: www.tsa.gov

Again, thank you for writing. We appreciate your selection of Delta and
will always welcome the opportunity to be of service.

Sincerely,

Remy Ferns
Online Customer Support Desk

The verdict: Courteous, but not really all that informative. And it’s definitely a long way to say “I don’t know.”

I heeded Remy’s advice and hit the TSA’s website. And to no surprise, it didn’t specifically mention MRE ration packs. So, I e-mailed the TSA via its online contact forum. How’d it do?

TSA (Response time: about 10 hours – not bad at all)

This item is not on the prohibited items list. However, this list is not intended to be all-inclusive. A screener may determine that an item not on this list is prohibited.

Additionally, keep in mind that security screening at foreign airports is beyond TSA jurisdiction.  Travelers must go through different clearance procedures when crossing international borders.  Passengers and their baggage are also screened for security according to standards established by the Government of that country. As a sovereign entity, that country may establish its own security requirements for airports and air carriers that are not necessarily the same as those required in the United States.

Please visit our website at www.tsa.gov for additional information about TSA. We continue to add new information and encourage you to check the website frequently for updated information.

The Verdict: Woah. I’m printing this out and keeping a copy with me. It’s not specifically forbidden, but a screener having a bad day can really bollocks up my eating options while I’m backpacking. This will be in checked baggage, so I’m reasonably sure it won’t be a problem. Wish me luck! Though the message is still a bit ambiguous, the response was swift and not written in horrible bureaucratic prose. I’m fairly impressed. I’ll be even moreso if my MRE packs come through, and the TSA decides to make a firm call on whether they’re prohibited.

Many thanks to The Cranky Flier, Brett Snyder. He took a stab at answering, but it wasn’t something he’d run across before: “That’s a good question.  Heating elements are usually not permitted, but I’m not sure exactly what is in the pouch itself.”

He also provided a link to Icelandair’s policies.There wasn’t anything covering it, but he gave it the ol’ college try. If you haven’t already, you should read his blog – especially if you still think flying is fun like I do.

UPDATE: American Airlines has a half-definitive answer for its own policies:

Self-heating meals are not approved for onboard use.

Fine, and I understand. But why not extend the question a few feet downward into the cargo area? Not very bright.

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The skies over Europe are starting to open again after a dismal week courtesy of the erupting volcano in Iceland under Eyjafjallajokull (adding “glacier” after that is redundant, by the way, since “jokull” is Icelandic for glacier).

But the interruption in air travel is a perfect illustration of how travel insurance can be more than just another expense. A few weeks ago, I started chatting with travel insurance expert and Gustey.com writer Bryant Abel about some of the ins and outs of travel insurance. Here’s a confession – I previously dismissed travel insurance out-of-hand as being another industry preying on people’s tendency to “what if?” ourselves to death. I’ve since changed my tune because of some input from other travelers I consider smart - and Bryant’s expertise helped, too. Plus, the flight delays to Europe caused by the ash cloud gave me food for thought.

I had some questions for Bryant, and here’s what he had to say:

1. What sorts of problems can travel insurance cover?

Travel insurance can cover a number of “problems” that incur when you travel. The primary helping hand comes in the form of lost baggage, trip cancellation, medical care overseas, and embassy or evacuation care in case a global emergency were to take place. These are just a few, but the main ones.

2. What are the three most popular types of coverage?

The most popular coverage is individual trip protection. This can range from $30 to $100 and covers most things like trip cancellation, baggage loss or delay, emergency medical care, accidental death and 24-hour assistance. The second-most popular would be family coverage which is cheaper per person, but involves coverage for 3 or more people. The plan provides very similar to the above individual plan. The third (and gustey’s favorite) is probably the adventure travel insurance plans. These plans cover things like mountaineering, aviation, hang gliding and everything in between. The emphasis on this plan is geared toward accidents, and the same as above.

3. Obviously, since you’re in the travel insurance business, you’d like to sell policies to everyone possible. But what three types of travelers really need it most?

Though we like to think everyone should get travel insurance, travelers that definitily should get travel insurance are adventurers (backpackers, etc…), worldwide travelers (people that travel often and to remote parts of the world, and people who are going to a destination that could be dicey. People in this category would consist of mission trips, third-world countries, etc.

4. Let’s say I’m traveling business class from LAX to Tokyo for two weeks. What would I spend on insurance, from the very bottom tier to the most-premium policy?

The very bottom tier will run you about $30. It is safe to say that $30 will cover the basics, like lost baggage, and delays. The most premium package are corporate packages. But for an individual who wants a very large travel life insurance policy it can run them into the high hundreds. Most premium policies land in the $150 – $200 range.

5. When a traveler is researching insurance providers, what are some good tips for ensuring that they’re choosing a legitimate company?

Most sites will note if they are certified. For instance, if a company in Canada is CITC certified, they will be legit. Legitimate companies in the U.S., will be state regulated. “Real” insurance companies are backed by one or more regulated underwriters that are insured and should be financially healthy. Ambest.com is a great place to go to see current insurance ratings to see if the company is a reputable travel insurance underwriter.

6. This is your free spot to offer a tip, suggestion or helpful bit that I didn’t ask about. Fire away!

I would suggest that people look into travel insurance before traveling. We have heard from a myriad of people who have been lost with a pack of gum because of situations beyond their control. All of us (well, most of us) wouldn’t drive without car insurance. We feel it is a similar concept with a greater misconception. You don’t necessarily want to pay $50 bucks more for a trip to Cabo, but we like to think it is a good idea.

Bryant writes for Gustey.com and loves to talk about travelling insurance, funny travel tips and everything in between. You can follow the Gustey Travel Blog on Twitter, too.

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California Pacific plans to fly E170s jets like this one. Photo by Adrian Pingstone

There’s some good news coming for Arizona travelers who like the occasional quick getaway to Southern California: The Cranky Flier reported that a new airline called California Pacific (which sounds a bit more like a railroad) is hoping to begin service to various spots throughout California, Arizona, Nevada and eventually into Mexico.

That’s great for us Arizona types, because one of the proposed routes is from Phoenix to Carlsbad’s Mclellan-Palomar Airport. I love this idea because my destination is usually Carlsbad, anyway. I’ve had enough of San Diego proper. I don’t really care about Sea World or Old Town – or even the Gaslamp District. This will save travelers 35 miles, some navigation and traffic hassles. I would imagine it will also benefit travelers by giving them a chance to go a little further north than they otherwise might. So a potential little tourism boost for the northern towns, too.

It seems California Pacific is angling more for business travelers. Fair enough, but I have a feeling it’ll also hit a decent vein of tourism ore, too.

Also cool – California Pacific will fly the Brazilian-made Embraer 170. It’s a nifty little plan with no middle seats. And it actually looks sleek and modern. Yeah, that sort of thing is actually kind of neat to me!

I’m hoping to hear more about California Pacific. I don’t know which airport in the Phoenix area will be its base. I’m definitely hoping it’s not Williams Gateway. That would shoot a nifty plan right down, since I’d rather drive from Lindbergh Field to Carlsbad than from central Phoenix to east Mesa. At least the drive to Carlsbad is kind of nice, traffic aside.

At the moment, the California Pacific Web site doesn’t have much. But be sure to visit The Cranky Flier post that I linked to in the first paragraph, especially if you want a bit of aviation geekery, like debating runway length and class configurations.

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But New Zealand, stop whispering “come back and finish driving the Thermal Explorer Highway and climb Mt. Ngauruhoe again and go Schweebing – you know you want to!” in my ear. You’re really not helping.

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Flying can be a bit more fun, but it's all up to you.

I’ve mentioned more than once in this blog that I actually like airports. I’d like them even more if a few things changed. And I’ll bet you would, too. Here are a few things I do to make my airport experience a little better. Try doing the same. Betcha these tip will work for you.

1. Can’t carry it? Don’t bring it. Ask yourself a question before you shove a fourth pair of jeans or a seventh pair of shoes into your suitcase: Will bringing this be worth the pain of lugging it around? If you even give it a second thought, make do without it. Your vacation or business trip already involved enough stress. Bring a little less with you, and watch it all get better. My rule of thumb is that if you need a baggage cart, you’ve got too much crap.

2. Step away from the baggage claim. If I had my way, any traveler stepping within five feet of the baggage carousel would get a zap from a cattle prod. There is no earthly reason you need to be doing a lap dance for the baggage carousel – it will not make your bag arrive any faster. All it does is make it harder for people to see and retrieve their luggage. So back off, already.

3. Watch where you’re going. Many people at airports seem to leave their spatial awareness at home. They meander, with the dull, glassy-eyed visage of cattle as others are trying to catch their flight (or even just moving purposefully).

4. Lighten up. Everybody knows that flying involves some stress. And that the TSA rules are weird, inconsistently enforced, Byzantine and often downright daft. But berating the TSA agent isn’t going to do you any good. Same for the people working in the news stand and your fellow passengers. But a little good cheer can lighten the mood a bit, and remind us all that we’re in the same boat, if I might be allowed to mix my metaphors (because nobody says “we’re all on the same plane”).

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A United A320 lands at Sky Harbor. (Photo by and courtesy of David J. Transier)

You know Southwest: It’s a perky, courteous brand with few frills – but not a lot of hidden costs. US Airways gets unfairly demonized. I’ve flown it many times, and had only one hiccup over the years. It’s not great, but it’s not the flying snake pit it’s made out to be.

Still, I didn’t want to fly either for a recent trip to Denver for skiing. Why?

1. Air Miles – I’m starting to collect a good number on my Continental OnePass account. That’s also the one that has the most potential value for international flights.
2. Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport’s Terminal Four – T4 is the lunatic asylum from which Southwest and US Airways fly. Parking is awful, which drives us over to East Long-Term Parking, which requires a bus ride. It’s laid out awkwardly, and security lines are frequently a mixed martial arts cage fight.

Continental, on the other hand, flies out of the sedate, compact Terminal 2. Is it old and outdated? Yes to the former, no to the latter. Unless you think it’s not cool to be able to walk from long-term parking to check-in within moments.

My wife booked the flights through Continental.com (CO 6498, an Airbus A319, and CO6491, an A320), and soon discovered a surprise: The flight was a code share, and we’d actually fly on United Airlines (one of Continental’s partners in the Star Alliance, along with Air New Zealand!). I didn’t know what to expect. I’ve seen travelers really slam its international service, but I didn’t see much about domestic flights. Of course, Twitter is aflame with travelers seething at United. Either way, I figure it had to be better than American Airlines! Fortunately, the code share situation didn’t deprive me of using Terminal 2 since that’s where United plops, too. Here’s the low-down:

CO 6498 – Phoenix, AZ (PHX) to Denver, CO (DEN) on Wed., Feb. 17, 2010
CO 6491 – Denver, CO (DEN) to Phoenix, AZ (PHX) on Sun., Feb. 21, 2010

United surprised us in a pleasant way. Both flights were absolutely dead on-time. The cabin crews were extraordinarily pleasant – some crew members even demonstrated a Southwest level of personality. Both aircraft were immaculate, and probably hadn’t been flying long. The seats were comfortable, too: I’m pretty sure they were the slimline type because I felt like I had a little extra legroom (for new readers, I’m 6’2, 195. I take up some room!). Checked bags were $25, not unreasonable especially considering the low fares.

The United terminal at Denver International Airport was outstanding. And DIA had the fastest baggage claim I’ve ever seen. The airport is designed in a line, with all terminals connected by a fast tram system. All terminals share a common check-in and baggage claim area. Brilliant! Unfortunately, it’s too late to bulldoze Sky Harbor and use DIA as a template for the way a real international airport should be designed.

Based on what I learned from these flights, United is a smart bet for future flights. I’d fly United again in a second, especially since it’s teamed up with Continental. Good job!

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Wandering Justin meets the captain and poses for a photo. Unfortunately, those days are long gone.

1. I’m having my photo taken with a pilot. This photo shows how the role of pilots has changed. Someone in 1979 snapped this photo of me, and I was clearly pleased to pose for a snap with a pilot. And he was clearly not put out by the effort. How many 5-year-old kids these days (incorrectly) view pilots as more than glorified bus drivers? I’m hoping a pilot will speak up on this point. Unfortunately for kids these days, the era of visiting the cockpit and posing outside the plane for a snapshot with the pilot is long-gone. It’s not like pilots’ skills have diminished – automation has changed things, but they still have to know how to fly and work all the flight management computers. Don’t believe me? Get yourself a copy of Laminar Research’s X-Plane simulator and just try getting the 747 to do anything. Multiply that difficulty times a thousand and you’ll get some small idea of what a pilot does.

2. We’re outdoors! I really love airports where you’re not confined to the indoors constantly. I love using the moveable staircase rather than the jetway. You get to see the outside of the plane. You feel the place you’re in. In the last five years, I’ve only done this in a few places: Belize City (Belize City), Brisbane (Australia), Gove (Australia), Nelson (New Zealand), Quepos (Costa Rica), Wellington (New Zealand). There’s something fun about it. The sights, sounds and smells are totally cool.

3. You’re looking at a TWA 707, a truly classic piece of hardware. Remember TWA? Ah, those were the days. Pan-Am, Braniff and its crazy liveries, PSA and those crazy-grinning planes of theirs … I thought it was all so cool. I guess the times, colors, names and many of the planes have changed. But one thing stays the same – for me, a huge part of the fun is just getting there. I may be 6′2 now, but I’ll happily squeeze myself into economy class for a 14-hour class and nary a whine will escape my gob.

The only thing I don’t miss about this golden age of air travel is the smoking section. Gak! That was the worst. Someone once said that a non-smoking section in a restaurant is like a non-peeing section in a pool. That goes triple for airplanes.

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A really, really ridiculously good-looking airliner.

Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner is set to fly this morning at 10 a.m. This is no ordinary airplane: Large-scale use of composites, a more comfortable cabin and super-efficient performance are all combining to let this widebody jet pave the way for the future.

This first flight has been delayed, and the delays have cost Boeing a pretty penny in sales. But when you’re pretty much starting from scratch rather than just replicating the past, you’re bound to have a few bumps. In Boeing’s case, the problems came from strikes and supplier problems.

To me, the bigger windows and higher cabin humidity will make this a comfy ol’ plane. The higher humidity won’t pose a threat to the mostly composite fuselage as it does to a conventional aluminum fuselage. I’m really excited for the 787 to get certified and start hitting the air. Aside from its technical cool factor, it’s also a really, really, ridiculously good-looking airplane.

The Seattle Times, naturally, is not missing this chance to flex its graphics and reporting muscle to cover this. Check out its monster Boeing spread!

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Sometimes, I just feel like skipping the airlines and FedEx-ing my bad self on vacation.

Because I fly out of Phoenix Sky Harbor, I’ve collected the majority of my air miles on US Airways. I’ve also scooped up decent amounts from Continental and American. All of these are members of either oneworld or Star Alliance – you know, those associations of various airlines that seem to have no real benefit aside from making it easier to collect air miles.

I thought it might be interesting to see how their Web sites do at picking decent routes to cool places. My predictions were that oneworld airlines would add significant times since AA hubs are at Chicago and Dallas. I tested both Web sites using destinations such as Tokyo Narita, Singapore, Buenos Aires, Reykjavik, Auckland, Sydney, Lima, Honolulu and Hanoi. Let’s check out how they scored!

oneworld
At the oneworld Web site, a pop-up window appears with your results. And it seems to work really quickly. There’s a drop-down menu for dates, which is really nice. The fonts are a bit small, but that’s not too big a quibble. It also lacks an autocomplete for city and airport names. That’s a bummer for when you’re not certain of the city, just the country or state.

But let’s talk about getting a traveler from the fifth most-populous city in the United States to some fun destinations. Let’s start with Honolulu, Hawaii. Oneworld can’t get me from Phoenix to Honolulu on Feb. 17, nor back on the 27th? Some people should be hanging their heads over this farce. Of course oneworld airlines go to Honolulu. Problem is, Phoenix isn’t a hub, and it’s barely even a spoke on their systems. Oneworld also shut me out of Buenos Aires and Reykjavik. Getting me to Lima was also a joke and a perfect indictment of the hub-and-spoke system. I mean, seriously – flying to LaGuardia before heading to South America? Miami makes a little more sense, but really. And going to Sydney? The oneworld Web site wants to send me to 2 hours east to Dallas, 3 hours west to Los Angeles, and THEN to Sydney. This is where Southwest Airlines earns its stripes.

Star Alliance
Star Alliance has a somewhat weird site. First off, you actually have to use a “www” in the URL if you’re typing the address. Then you land at a homepage that looks more like it belongs to a human resources company than a global airline alliance. Oneworld offers an easy-to-see link that says “Flight Search.” Here, that function is buried in the “Booking” pulldown. From there, things continue to be uneven: The search fields are pretty nice, actually – there’s a great autocomplete for cities and airports, but the date field is clunky. But the search field’s default mode is for a one-way flight, which is a bit silly. Adding to the technical woes, sometimes I couldn’t change the destination. I worked around it by clicking the “one-way” box and switching back to “round trip.” But you shouldn’t require that sort of trickery for a basic function.

But once the Star Alliance search engine spooled its hamster up to full speed, it blew the doors clean off oneworld on all the destinations. There were a few ties, where oneworld got close. But overall, no contest. Since IcelandAir doesn’t seem hip to join alliances, Star Alliance also couldn’t get me to Reykjavik. What a huge freakin’ bummer. But between hometown heroes US Airways and my buddies at Air New Zealand, getting to Auckland is a snap.

The bottom line? The oneworld Web site is faster by a long shot. It’s less glitchy, too. But Star Alliance wins because its airlines can get me to my destination more quickly and conveniently than oneworld’s can. And that’s really the big deal.

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