Business Travel Management

National Cargo Screeners Inc. of Orlando, Fla., is one of the companies certified by the TSA to screen the tons of freight loaded onto passenger flights every day, according to WOFL-TV in Orlando. The company says its powerful X-ray machine "looks for any device that looks like an explosive. Really any device that could be construed as a threat to an aircraft."

Ten years ago none of the cargo flown on passenger jets was inspected. Currently, the government says 50 percent of it has to be inspected and by August 2010, 100 percent must go through TSA certified inspection. But, there are not enough screening companies right now to avoid major back logs of freight. That could mean rapid expansion for NCSI as the August deadline draws closer.

If you’re flying with JetBlue or Southwest, you have only four hours from when you step off the plane at your destination to make a claim for lost, damaged, delayed or pilfered luggage, according to the St. Petersburg Times.  Airlines want you to file a claim quickly. It's always easier to track down what happened before too much time passes. But most people don't open bags before returning home. Unless the crook left the contents a mess, it could take a while to figure out something's missing.

Four hours "is not enough time to allow customers to get home with a bag and look at it," said Tim Smith, a spokesman for American Airlines, which allows 24 hours to make a theft claim.

Among the seven largest U.S. airlines, only JetBlue and Southwest Airlines have a limit as short as four hours from when passengers arrive at their destinations.

Long-haul airline Virgin Atlantic has launched a new Flying Without Fear application, or app. The airline said in a statement that this app was designed to help people overcome fear, be it of the unfamiliar aircraft, the strange noises a plane makes, or of losing control.

"Our first iPhone app will bring the benefits of our successful Flying Without Fear course to millions of people around the world who are now using mobile technology to make their lives better," Richard Branson, president of Virgin Atlantic, said in a statement.

The application, available for the iPhone and iPod Touch, includes relaxation and fear therapy exercises, frequently asked questions and a video that explains a flight from start to finish. It even features a "fear attack button" for emergenices, with breathing exercises and quick tips.

The Flying Without Fear app is available for $4.99 from the App Store on iPhone and iPod touch or at http://www.mentalworkout.com/flying-without-fear/iphone/buy

As technological advances allow aircraft to fly themselves for long periods of time, airlines and regulators are looking for ways to ensure that bored pilots don't doze off or lose their focus, according to The New York Times. Chesley Sullenberger, the captain of the US Airways flight that landed in the Hudson River last January, told accident investigators in June that complacency can be a problem. “I think one of the many challenges of our profession is that it’s become so ultrasafe, where it’s possible to go several calendar years without a single fatality, as we’ve just done recently, that it’s sometimes easy to forget what’s really at stake,” he said. “One of the challenges, I think, is to remain alert and vigilant and prepared.

Some carriers have protocols that require pilots to perform certain inputs every 15 minutes; failure to do so sets off an alarm in the cockpit. Meanwhile, regulators are discussing a federal ban on personal electronic devices for pilots, along with cockpit cameras to detect violations of the policy. But Bill Voss, CEO of the Flight Safety Foundation, says such steps could be more symbolic than substantive.

Merging two airlines is about more than computer programs and paint jobs, according to The Detroit News. The combination of Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines poses cultural issues as well. Northwest was known as a hardworking, no-nonsense, punctual carrier with a heavily unionized workforce appropriate to its roots in the Upper Midwest. Delta, meanwhile, is known as a friendly Southern carrier, its non-unionized employees maintaining good relations with both customers and management. While maintaining the best aspects of both cultures won't be easy, some experts believe Delta is pulling it off. "These folks learned a lot about what not to do from everybody who tried this before," says aviation consultant Michael Boyd.