Contagious TB patient violates federal "do not board" rule

As Continental and Delta jack up their fees for checked luggage, Southwest, the lone two-bags-free airline still out there, is asking customers how they'd respond if they too had to pay to check bags. Delta made news by raising its fees to $25 for the first bag (up from $15) and $35 for the second (up from $20), and the increases were promptly matched by Continental. Both airlines charge you a little less if you pay for checked baggage in advance online: There's a $2 discount for the first bag, and a $3 discount for the second (so $23 for your first bag, $32 for the second). Other airlines are expected to follow with baggage fee increases of their own. See a list of current baggage fees at kayak.com/airline-fees. Those "other airlines" would normally exclude Southwest, which has set itself apart from the rest of the carriers by continuing to allow passengers to check two bags for free. If you've got a TV, you're probably well aware of the airline's "Bags Fly Free" promotional campaign. But over at Christopher Elliott's blog, there's some speculation that Southwest may introduce checked baggage fees of its own. At least the airline is looking into the possibility, with surveys sent to customers asking how they'd respond to various fares (some with checked luggage fees) and to potential changes in the carrier's frequent flier program. Southwest responded to Elliott's post by saying it has "no plans" to charge for bags, explaining that "Surveys simply help us learn more about our customers." So Southwest passengers should continue to be able to check baggage fee free for the time being. After all, in light of the big free-bags commercial campaign, the airline would look awfully foolish if it started charging for luggage anytime soon. But down the line? You have to wonder. Airline policies can and do change, often not in the favor of travelers. For some perspective, it wasn't all that long ago that we were praising JetBlue for allowing passengers to check two bags up to 70 pounds apiece for free. JetBlue's current checked luggage policy, which is still better than most, allows one checked bag for free, with a 50-pound maximum.

On Friday, North Korea will let U.S. travelers visit year-round instead of only during the country's brief annual national gymnastics and propaganda festival. Guided group tours brought in 292 Americans for the festival last year, reports Reuters. Prices haven't been set, but similar tours for European visitors start at about $1,000 for four-night stays at designated hotels, guided bus tours, and round-trip flights departing from Beijing. Guests would likely fly Air Koryo, the worst rated airline on Skytrax's list of international airlines. The European Union includes it on its blacklist of 196 airlines you should avoid. Money spent on the tour by travelers will provide hard currency to the impoverished dictatorship, which walked away from nuclear disarmament talks. The U.S. is still technically at war with North Korea, as a formal peace treaty has never been signed. U.S. companies likely to offer tours are Asia Pacific Travel in Chicago, Explore North Korea Tour Group in New York, and Geographic Expeditions in San Francisco. The leading tour company internationally is Koryo Tours, based in Beijing. EARLIER North Korea puts on a show ELSEWHERE See a slide show of scenes from North Korea.

When travelers are X-rayed, how dangerous is the radiation? More than a dozen readers recently commented that they were worried about the cancer risk of being X-rayed. The worriers are in the minority, though. A recent USA Today poll found that two-thirds of travelers are comfortable with being examined by the TSA's new whole-body scanners. To answer reader questions, I've put together a short Q&A; on the topic of cancer risk and whole-body scanning machines. The following info is a summary of published reports from respected news sources about how these scanners ought to work in theory. I'm not discussing the specific equipment of any manufacturer. What kind of machine does the TSA use? The TSA has deployed two types of scanners. One type uses X-rays and emits some ionizing radiation. These machines are called "backscatter" scanners. The other type of machine uses high-frequency radio wave technology, does not emit ionizing radiation, and produces fuzzier images. The TSA has 40 whole-body scanners in place. It has purchased 150 more. It intends to buy at least 300 additional ones soon, according to the Associated Press. A majority of these scanners will likely be "backscatter," or X-ray, machines. How do the TSA scanners work? A "backscatter" machine shoots a bean of X-rays at a traveler. Then the machine measures what bounces back from your body. It uses that information to create a two-dimensional image of what's underneath your clothes. Is radiation involved? As summarized by The New York Times, "The X-rays are a form of ionizing radiation, that is, radiation powerful enough to strip molecules in the body of their electrons, creating charged particles that cause cell damage and are thought to be the mechanism through which radiation causes cancer." How many additional cancer deaths might be caused by the machines that would not have happened otherwise? The Times' interviewed Arjun Makhijani, a nuclear physicist, who said that if a billion passengers were screened with the dose assumed by researchers, "that would mean 10 more cancer deaths a year." Other scientists give different estimates. Some even say there is no increased cancer risk at all. No one knows for sure, primarily because it is unethical to perform potentially fatal experiments on people. It is also difficult to measure the effects of "a dose of radiation equivalent to 1 percent or less of the radiation in a dental X-ray." On the one hand, the National Council on Radiation Protection & Measurements, a respected agency, said in a 2002 report that researchers "cannot exclude the possibility of a fatal cancer attributable to radiation in a very large population of people exposed to very low doses of radiation." On the other hand, the TSA says, according to the AP, that "the radiation is equivalent to what a person gets in two minutes of flying on an airplane." In other words, when you fly in a plane, you are exposed to more solar radiation than you are on the Earth's surface because the earth's protective atmosphere is thinner at higher altitudes. (Get details at the TSA website.) The Times quoted a spokeswoman for the Transportation Security Administration, Kristin Lee, sayingthat even for pregnant women, children and people whose genetic makeup made them more susceptible to X-ray damage, "It would take more than 1,000 screenings per individual per year" to exceed radiation standards. EARLIER Is the TSA violating your privacy with its new body scanning machines? (500+comments)