What would you do for a cheap airfare?

If you said "anything" then you're probably going to love flying in the future. It's a place that will be filled with steals and deals, and for a lucky few who take their time to study the system, you'll be able to...

Ward Chartier almost choked on his breakfast croissant he ordered at Oakland International Airport recently.

The reason for his consternation: an item on the bill that he thought he recognized, but hoped he didn't.

It said, "EmpBen_Srchg" and it came to 12 cents, or about two percent of his bill.

Businesses like to say their best customers are educated ones. But that doesn't necessarily apply to the timeshare industry.

After you hear Mike Seldin's story, you might be forgiven for thinking that industry's best customers are ignorant ones. And you might wonder which other businesses prefer to keep their customers...

Hold on to your wallet. Businesses don't just want to get their hands on your cash when you're on the road -- they also want more of your money, and on their terms.

Take what happened to Gordon Angell when he was visiting La Paz, Mexico, recently. Many restaurants in...

It's every parent's worst nightmare. You arrive at the airport to fly home from your family vacation, and something goes wrong -- terribly wrong -- at the TSA screening area.

It happened to Susan Bruce recently when she flew from Phoenix to Dallas with her husband, teenage son and daughter.

The TSA screening area at Reno-Tahoe International Airport's B gates isn't much to look at. It's a dark, cavernous processing area with well-worn linoleum floors that almost makes you feel like you're visiting a relative in prison.

But looks can be deceiving. I just had the best TSA screening experience...

Next time you fly, take a minute to look around at the airport screening area. You'll see all kinds of interesting passengers, from the "get-alongs" to the dissidents to the folks who think the rules don't apply to them.

Just last week at the crowded Orlando airport, I had a...

Andy deLivron says he's no threat to aviation security. But he flies with box cutters in his checked luggage -- the same weapon used by the 9/11 terrorists. And he recently packed the sharp tools in the wrong bag.

By the time deLivron, a sales manager from Pottersville, NY, realized...

Wanna insult a reporter? There's no easier way than accusing him or her of being a shill for the other side, of churning out propaganda instead of covering a subject.

And that's especially true when it comes to the TSA.

But consider the following "exclusive" story from a local...

Maybe the TSA hasn't ever caught a single terrorist red-handed, but it's given us something almost as good: guns. Lots of guns.

Guns are a hot topic today, and not just in Washington. The TSA confiscated them in record numbers last year, and most of them were loaded. They...

It's been more than a decade since the creation of the Transportation Security Administration, the agency assigned to protect America's transportation systems.

Almost from the beginning, a small group of activists have kept a vigilant eye on the agency. When TSA agents pilfered your luggage, they spoke up. When the...

Hotels turn away guests for all kinds of reasons, but here's one you don't hear every day: You're not gay enough.

That's what Laura Bradmeyer says a Fort Lauderdale, Fla., hotel did to her parents when they tried to check in recently. A receptionist told her father the hotel wouldn't...

Intrusive airport searches are just fine with a majority of air travelers, many of whom think the TSA has likely prevented a 9/11 repeat and that critics of the agency's current practices are nothing more than "anxious advocates."

At least that's the impression you might be left with if you...

Kerry Drake's mother was dying. She'd suffered from rheumatoid arthritis for decades and the drugs used to treat her condition had decimated her immune system. One morning his brother called him to say her time time had come.

Drake caught the next flight from San Francisco, where he works for...

When Qatar Airways oversold Anto Nirmal's recent flight from Trivandrum, India, to Doha, he volunteered to surrender his seat and take the next scheduled flight. In exchange, Qatar Airways offered him a voucher, which he could use for a future trip.

This overbooking-bumping tango takes place every day around the...

It happened again.

At a time when the federal agency assigned to protect America's transportation systems can least afford it, there was another dust-up involving a young passenger -- this time to Lucy Forck, a three-year-old with spina bifida flying to Disney World with her family.

When the little...

Let's face it, airlines aren't exactly known for their outstanding customer service. They haven't been for years. And you don't have to be Alison Jaerianna to know that.

It helps, though. After scoring a space-available upgrade to business class on a Delta Air Lines flight from Pittsburgh to New York,...

If you look enviously at the TSA Pre-Check line whenever you're at the airport -- where pre-cleared air travelers breeze through the checkpoint without having to be scanned, remove their shoes or face a humiliating "enhanced" pat-down -- then join the club.

If you ask yourself: "What sets them apart...

Ric Vesely knows about the car rental industry's double standards. When he returned his Dollar Rent a Car vehicle in Minneapolis recently, an employee asked him a strange question: Did he have a receipt for his gasoline purchase?

Vesely, an engineer who was visiting from Colorado, hadn't bought Dollar's pricey...

Like most infrequent air travelers, Vicki Burton just wants to get through security without causing a scene. So on a recent flight from Chattanooga, Tenn., to Miami, she obediently stepped into the airport's full-body scanner, held her arms up and waited for the agent to wave her through.

He didn't.