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The Ballpoint Pen Baggage Break-in: VIDEO

In the travel industry, today is what's known as an exodus, where those who've been home all holiday weekend finally extricate themselves from the cocoon of family and friends and head back into the regular world. What that means is hundreds of thousands of travelers will again take to the skies, their luggage busting with foil-wrapped frozen leftovers and new techie toys. Which is why you need to see this short video.

This is freaking us out. Breaking into a bag using only a ballpoint pen? Sure, we knew it could happen, but what's so odd about this video is that we can't tell if they're trying to warn about or encourage doing this. Hey, if you lost your lock key, you can get in! Or hey, if you want to steal someone's panties, you can get in! Weird.

The easiest way to protect from a ballpoint break-in, we suppose, is just to bite the bullet and go for one of the hard-case luggages that latch closed, like Samsonite's Oyster line. As for us, we're just going to continute not putting valuable items in our checked bags.

Traveling with Children / Travel Safety / Historical Travel / Europe Travel / UK Travel / Travel Tips / → All Tags

Three Tourist Places Where It's Okay to Have Your Kid on a Leash

First things first. Here at Jaunted, we like kids. Heck—some of us even have them! Thus we don't typically advocate the use of kid-leashes because they look stupid, are dehumanizing, and keeping kids in line shouldn't require strapping something around them. On the other hand, we understand their practicality in certain tourism-related settings. Here's the top three places it may be okay to put your kid on a leash:

· At a medieval castle
It was in one of the eight tall turrets at Conwy Castle in Wales that we first noticed the high percentage of little kids on leashes, and for once it all made sense. These turrets have very thin, steep steps. The walkways can be precipitous, not to mention scarily uneven. Parents had prepped for the outing by breaking out the harnesses, and we watched in awe as they easily navigated their way down spiral staircases and around the medieval layout (with a 91' deep well!) knowing their children wouldn't fall into the many abysses at any moment.

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Airport Security / Travel Safety / Terrorism / Travel News / Airport News / NTAS / Political Travel / → All Tags

The DHS' New Terrorism Alert System Has More Facebook Friends Than You

Say goodbye to the Department of Homeland Security's color-coded terrorism warnings system. It's gone! Outta here! We know it was awesome to make fun of it while it lasted, but the DHS has finally wised up to the fact that it really wasn't fazing anyone, least of all travelers. Today in NYC, Homeland Security security Janet Napolitano unveiled the new—and hopefully improved—terrorism alert structure, which does away with colors in favor of simple warning messages.

What this means is no more looking for a yellow or orange warning at the airport. Instead, you can follow the new warning system on Twitter @NTASAlerts, and even be its friend on Facebook here. Thankfully, there are no alerts posted right now, and let's hope it stays that way.

If you'd like to fully educate yourself on the new National Terrorism Alert System, check out what future alerts may look like here.

[Photo: PelicanWind]

Travel Safety / DIA / Airport News / Airports / Crime / Single Travel / Travel News / Travel Tips / → All Tags

Rape at Denver International Means Think Twice About Sleeping in Airports

Don't cry "rape" when you pass through one of the TSA's full-body scanners, because actual airport rape does happen, and it's not something to be taken lightly. In the early morning hours yesterday, a 26-yr-old man was arrested at Denver International Airport after sexually assaulting a 22-yr-old woman who was staying in the airport through the night after missing her connection.

The two allegedly began chatting at a bistro within the airport, but when the girl excused herself, the man followed then assaulted her. It was only when two of the airport employees outside saw the assault through the windows that 911 was called and the man arrested by airport security.

This crime should immediately cause a siren to go off in the heads of solo travelers who find themselves hanging out in airports, especially after hours. Being past TSA security on the "airside" end of an airport doesn't automatically guarantee safety, and in such a place of transience, it's best to reflect on the "don't talk to strangers" lesson you learned in kindergarten.

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Hijackings / Turkish Airlines / Travel News / Travel Safety / → All Tags

Would-Be Turkish Airlines Hijacker Gets Sat On by Passengers

Forget about the United pilot who spilled coffee on his controls, accidentally activating the hijacking alert button. There was a real hijacking attempt yesterday, and for some reason it's been pretty underreported. Perhaps because the alleged hijacker wasn't successful? Still...

According to BBC News, a Turkish Airlines flight headed from Oslo to Istanbul was flying high like normal, when, suddenly, a passenger towards the rear of the plane donned a mask and held up a radio handset-like device claiming he had a bomb and wanted the plane turned around and taken back to Oslo.

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Airplane News / Airplanes / FAA / Airline Safety / Travel Safety / → All Tags

The FAA is Thinking about Cracking Down on Airplanes Past Their Prime

With all the bad news about brand new airplanes it might be a wise move to stick with flying some of the older, proven birds. That’s a good idea—as long as the planes aren’t too old—so that’s why the FAA has begun to look into planes that are past their prime. Concerned with things like metal fatigue and other old age issues the FAA is seeking to set some limits on a plane’s longevity.

In addition to their countless directives and other safety paperwork, the agency is now looking to create a specific number of take-offs and landings per airplane. They’re thinking that a specific amount of flight hours would limit the risk to passenger and crew safety, and once a plane hits that magic mark it would be taken out of service. However, it does sound like they’re leaving some loopholes open just in case an airline wants to request an extension—we’re looking at you Delta with some of those older than dirt DC-9s.

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Airport Security / TSA / Airport News / Holiday Travel / Travel Safety / BDL / Souvenirs / → All Tags

Rogue Snowglobe Shuts Down Entire Airport Over the Weekend

We can now officially welcome the holiday travel season, and not just because Thanksgiving is weeks away. Over this last Halloween weekend, someone at the Bradley International Airport outside Hartford must have forgotten that snow globes are a no-go for launch. Thankfully the TSA was in place to protect us from this rogue souvenir, and the entire airport was shut down and evacuated.

Before 11am yesterday our buddies in blue identified something suspicious in a carry-on bag, and as a precaution, things in Terminal A—AKA the entire airport—were closed down until things were proven safe.

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Secure Flight / TSA / Airport Security / Travel Safety / → All Tags

Give the TSA Your Pertinent Details for Secure Flight...Or Else

Something funny happened when we were checking for a flight last week; a little message popped up saying that we hadn't yet provided our details in coordination with the Secure Flight regulations, and that our travel plans could be cancelled if not provided up to 72 hours before the flight. Well, it was most definitely within that time span so we rushed to input the info they required, even though we swore we had done that when we booked the tickets. Whatever. Secure Flight is cracking down now.

What secure flight requires from travelers is their full name as stated on their ID documents, their birth date and gender. This way, they can properly check you up against no-fly lists and such with plenty of time to pull you from the flight if deemed a threat or if your papers aren't properly in order.

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Travel Safety / Travel Alerts / Europe Travel / Terrorism / → All Tags

No Really, The Government is Serious About That Europe Travel Alert

It may be the vaguest warning to be issued this year at least, but the State Department stands by their alert that American travelers should be ultra-aware of their surroundings while in public places and on public transportation throughout Europe. But like the majority of travelers, we remain unconvinced.

Trust the Guardian UK to dig up the dirt on why the alert remains:

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Airline Safety / Airlines / Airline News / FAA / Accidents / Technology / Travel Safety / Airplanes / → All Tags

Gulp. After UPS Crash, FAA Focusing on Lithium Battery Safety

Back in September, a UPS plane caught fire and crashed in Dubai, tragically killing two American pilots. The FAA has spent the last month investigating and, while they're not certain of anything, they're pointing a suspicious finger at the cargo of lithium batteries that the airplane was carrying in its cargo hold. In response, the safety organization is suggesting that airlines move future lithium battery packages to the area reserved for so-called Class C cargo, which is safer and more fire resistant. They're also proposing more stringent regulations for customers to identify shipments of the batteries.

Apparently lithium-ion and lithium-metal batteries are vulnerable to something called "thermal runaway." Once they heat up past a certain point they can release their energy, heating up more, which causes them to release more energy, until something explodes. If there are a lot of batteries in the same place and even just one explodes, the resulting fire can heat up the rest of the batteries past their own tipping points. That scenario plays out about how you'd expect, which is what the FAA suspects may happened on the UPS flight.

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Seating / Travel Safety / Seats / In-Flight Comfort / Airline News / Airplanes / → All Tags

Thousands of Airline Seats Out There Have Sketchy Safety Records

When we usually talk about airline seats, it’s because they are either really awesome or really awful. Well today we have some really awful seats to discuss, but it’s not just because they are as hard as rocks and lack any space for our knees.

Koito Industries has manufactured airline seats in just shy of 300 planes in the United States, but apparently these seats don’t meet safety standards. The FAA wants airlines to inspect their seats, and obviously fix the ones found lacking in the safety department. Continental seems to be the airline with the most of these questionable seats, so that’s just one more issue to resolve as they merge with United.

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Travel Safety / iPad / iPod / Technology / Travel Gear / Travel Gadgets / Android / Blackberry / → All Tags

An Essential Travel Skill: Track, Secure, and Remotely Wipe Your Phone or Laptop

We live in perpetual fear of losing our laptops or phones. Above and beyond the cost and inconvenience of replacing the electronics, the privacy impact—emails, passwords, access to logged-in websites—would be devastating. So we sympathize with the Cogdill family, who accidentally left an iPad on a recent Southwest flight. But since they were prepared, and had set up their iPad with the MobileMe "Find My Phone" app so that it was trackable from their iPod Touch, they got it back from the Southwest employee who tried to appropriate it. Smart!

We put "remote tracking" and "remote deleting" up there with "backing up from the road" as things that travelers absolutely must have set up. You want to make sure that you always have access to your data, and that nobody else does. Simple enough. And since there are free services that allow you to do both, there's really no excuse not to take 15 minutes and install yourself some peace of mind. We've put brief instructions for phones and laptops after the jump.

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