Spill your secrets about the Finger Lakes

President Bush announced on Thursday that the Pentagon will open unused military airspace along the East Coast to commercial planes from November 21 through November 25, in the hope of reducing delays during the notoriously busy Thanksgiving travel period. (The plan is to bring back the express lane at Christmas.) The Federal Aviation Administration, meanwhile, has put a holiday moratorium on nonessential maintenance projects. Its website, fly.faa.gov, will be providing real-time updates on airport delays that can be sent to your mobile phone. Orbitz and some airlines, including Continental and United, also allow travelers to sign up for flight and news alerts—we recommend doing so! While we welcome any steps, however overdue, that might improve the flying experience, it's tough not to be skeptical about the impact of a holiday express lane. (One blogger, The Cranky Flier, is so unimpressed that he's bestowed the Cranky Jackass Award on the Department of Transportation.) We want to hear from you: What's your reaction to the temporary express lane? And how do you think the government should reform the airline industry? RELATED: Better care for bumped passengers and Sign up for those flight alerts.

Travelers who are involuntarily bumped from a flight when it is oversold may start receiving better treatment next summer. The Department of Transportation says it will propose doubling the fee that airlines must pay to travelers who buy tickets but wind up without a seat. The proposed increase would make the fee $400 to $800, depending on long the passenger has been delayed. The rule may go into effect next summer. First, though, the airlines and other industry players will have a chance to talk with government officials about the fairness of the proposed rule change. Meanwhile, for passengers who are involuntarily bumped on domestic flights, the rules are as follows: If you're on another flight within an hour, you get nothing; within two hours, the airline pays you the equivalent of your one-way fare ($200 max); more than two hours later, you get 200 percent reimbursement ($400 max). These compensation rules are based on decades-old guidelines, and have not been adjusted for inflation over the years. Passengers who relinquish seats voluntarily face different rules. There's no federal standard for that compensation. You're only guaranteed something, usually a flight voucher.

Virgin Atlantic is making it easier for passengers to donate money to climate-friendly projects, such as tree-planting. Virgin's website has a carbon offsets page, to help calculate the correct donation to make based on one's amount of air travel. And during flights, passengers are encouraged to buy carbon offsets. Budget Travel has been following this industry-wide trend, reporting on SilverJet's program, Delta's new program, and the efforts of other airlines. (See our story, "On Flier's Remorse.") Are environmentalists unfairly targeting airlines? We posed that question to Richard Havers and Chris Tiffney, authors of Airline Confidential: Lifting the Lid on the Airline Industry an exposé on the industry as a whole (not just the environmental angle). Here's what they had to say: (Richard) I think airlines are a soft target for Governments and others to have a pop at. Big aircraft flying around the place look like they are doing an immense amount of damage, but for the distances they cover and the numbers they carry it is pretty efficient way of transporting people. The fact is that our society has developed in the way that it is and flying is a fact of life. If we are to change it then we have to consider every aspect of the way we live. I'd sooner see people's discretionary car journeys limited. Let's also not forget that vast amounts of our food are flown around the world. Chris thinks Carbon offsetting will expand - but whether it does any good is a whole different question. Never forget that someone is making money out of carbon offsetting. Added to which it's playing on our guilt. I've heard that some airlines are getting into the Carbon offsetting game on board. You're sitting in your seat and the guy next door says ,"I'm going to off set my journey." What do you say? "Good for you." Then carry on drinking your gin and tonic with the lemon slice in it that was probably flown from some long way off? It's a really serious issue but politicians and governments are in danger of opening Pandora's box. What do you think?

Mr. Larry Walters, a resident of California, had long harbored a desire to fly. He joined the air force, but sadly his poor eyesight prevented him from training as a pilot. After leaving the armed services he decided one day in 1982 to satisfy his urge to fly like a bird. Lacking the traditional means, such as an aircraft, hang glider or even parachute, he decided to resourcefully use balloon power. He purchased 45 weather balloons, tethered them to a plastic garden seat and set about filling them, one by one, with helium. He reasoned that eventually he would have sufficient lift to float up to the top of the trees in the garden and admire the view enjoying the wonderful sensation of flying. A cautious man, he tethered the chair to his jeep with a thirty-foot rope and he took with him his air rifle to shoot out some of the balloons when he wanted to go back down. He also thoughtfully took some beer and sandwiches to enjoy on the way. What could possibly go wrong? Well, at first the adventure was a roaring success. He achieved takeoff and began to climb. Once at his target height, the tree tops, he prepared to descend and looked down. And saw his friends cut the tether rope. He began to climb very fast. Petrified by the height and the danger of death if he got it wrong, he couldn't bring himself to shoot any balloons. So, transfixed by fear, he climbed further. And further. He leveled out at 16,000 feet and began to drift, cold and petrified for 14 hours. Things began to get really out of hand when the air currents took him into to airspace of the approach to Los Angeles airport. Several pilots reported seeing a man in a garden chair dangling below a cluster of balloons bobbing past them at over twenty thousand feet. Finally Larry summoned up the courage to start shooting balloons and effected a fairly controlled descent, until the dangling balloons caught on a power line, blacking out the Long Beach area for 20 minutes. Unharmed by the current, Larry managed to climb down the pylon to safety and into the arms of the waiting police. As he was led away Larry commented to a reporter "A man can't just sit around." The authorities were not amused. Federal Aviation Administration Safety Inspector Neal Savoy commented "We know he broke some part of the Federal Aviation Act, and as soon as we know which part it is, a charge will be filed." For more details on Larry Walters' story, see Snopes.com. You can read more funny tales like this in both Airline Confidential, its upcoming sequel, and the Airline Confidential blog, written by Richard Havers and Chris Tiffney. The authors say that the Larry Walters story is the most amazing air travel story they've ever heard. As we're fond of saying, If God had meant man to fly then he'd have given us tickets. EARLIER ON THE BLOG The Mile-High Club: Fact or Fiction?