Airport Avenger: Tips and Top Secrets for Airlines, Airfares, Fees, Security and Cancelations

Even though air travel can be a major disappointment when things go wrong, it's still an amazing thing. Thousands of people flying through the air around the world every day, everywhere. Like so many other incredible things humans have come up with, most of us take flying for granted: Get on a plane, climb miles into the sky, a little while later come down hundreds or thousands of miles away. What's the big deal?

Sometimes it seems like the glory days of flying are gone for good and we're all destined to be flown like so much cattle from "Point A" to "Point B." The fun, the excitement--no more.

Maybe not. Things can and probably will get better in the not-too-distant future. Here are a few things just over the horizon.

Every now and then an airplane bumps into another one. This usually happens when planes are taxiing to and from terminals as they crisscross the tarmac.

Events like this are rare, but it's astounding that they're not more frequent, given the antiquated system used to keep track of planes on the ground and in the air.

Air traffic controllers at the nation's airports follow planes with radar systems that were cutting-edge technology as recently as 50 years ago. They watch blips with flight numbers attached to them move around on a screen.

Sometimes they can't say for sure how close those planes are to each other. To be on the safe side, planes are spaced far apart and take roundabout routes to avoid crashing into each other.

It's clearly time to move up to 21st century technology.

Something like the GPS device in your car is just the ticket, and that's what the government wants functioning in U.S. airspace in another 10 years. It's called "NextGen," a system of satellite and ground stations that will tell pilots exactly where they are and, importantly, whether other planes are nearby.

NextGen will let planes fly more direct routes because they won't have to give each other excessively wide berths. This should save fuel and make for quicker flights between many destinations. NextGen could cost as much as $30 billion to be fully implemented. Airlines and their passengers will pick up a good part of the tab in the form of taxes on tickets. It's likely the government will kick in funding as well.

NASA gave the Massachusetts Institute of Technology a $2.1 million contract to come up with better designs for passenger planes that could be in use three generations beyond the fleet out there now. That's around 2035.

A team of engineers designed a couple of prototype jetliners that use 70 percent less fuel than current commercial aircraft, aren’t as noisy and have lower harmful emissions as well.

They came up with two designs. The 180-passenger D “double bubble” is intended to replace the 737 on domestic flights. And the 350-passenger H “hybird wing body” is aimed at replacing the 777 on international flights.

They put the engines on the back of the plane, where they get slower moving air and use less fuel to produce the same amount of thrust as wing-mounted engines. The wings are smaller and skinnier than those on a 737 too. The plane moves slower than a 737, but it’s wider. In theory passengers can get on and off quicker and planes can leave the gate faster.

The bigger H series plane‘s technology is similar to the smaller D. The H has a wider triangular wing-body that creates forward lift. No tail is needed to balance the plane.

While the designs of the prototype jetliners are different from traditional passenger jets, the engineers say they’re still close enough to work with the way airport gates, terminals and runways are currently configured. No major redesign on the ground required. These planes could mean quieter, more comfortable flights—provided airlines don’t cram too many seats into the wider bodies.

It doesn't look as ominous as the B-2 stealth bomber we've heard so much about, but the X-48B bears a family resemblance, doesn't it? Clearly not a twin, but there's that same flying-wing design that gives the B-2 that sleek, science-fiction movie look. In another 10 years or so, your airliner might look like this.

NASA and Boeing are working with a scale model of a so-called "blended wing body" aircraft. The X-48B has a wingspan of 21 feet, but for testing purposes performs like a much larger aircraft. It's had a number of succesful test flights and, if all goes well, could be developed as a full-size cargo carrier first and then as a passenger airliner. It promises to be quiter and to burn less fuel than the current tube-with-wings designs that have dominated flying from the get-go.

An airliner built like the X-48B could carry hundreds of passengers, just like traditional planes. They wouldn't have to sit on or in the wings. There would be amphitheater-style seating in the mid-section of the plane. Perhaps the airlines that go with this design will consider rocking seats and IMAX movies for entertainment. That would be nice.

There is some concern that people might shy away from planes that look like they're mostly wings, with no tail. But the wings are the most important parts of most flying machines, aren't they? And if the plane has roomier, more comfortable seating, it shouldn't be too much of a hard sell.

Airbus engineers think you should see where you're going: Up, down and all around. So in another 30 or 40 years, airliners could have ceilings, walls and floors that turn transparent on command. Advanced ceramic materials with just the right electrical charge will make this possible, they say. Imagine the views. Of course those with a touch of acrophobia might opt for more traditional planes.

The cabins on these see-through planes would use nothing but recyclable materials, self-cleaning and self-repairing at that. Some planes may have private cabins with virtual décor provided by holographs that project an office, a bedroom or perhaps a garden. Holodeck on the Starship Enterprise anyone?

Airbus envisions a plane with slim wings, engines that never fail embedded in the fuselage at the back of the aircraft, a U-shaped tail and a smart electrical system that constantly monitors the plane's health.

Pluses for the planet: Less fuel burned, fewer emissions, quieter flights.

London, Paris, the West Coast in about an hour from New York? Hop aboard the Hypsersonic Shuttle. A recent test of Boeing’s unmanned X-51A WaveRider got the zippy scramjet up to Mach 5—five times the speed of sound—for three and a half minutes.

A scramjet is a supersonic combustion ramjet motor that can move planes VERY fast. The X-51A was carried to 50,000 feet under the wing of a B-52H—a marriage of past and future technologies if you will—and released to fly on its own, reaching 70,000 feet where it hit Mach 5.

Before you’re strapped into a plane like the X-51A, headed from, say, New York at 9 a.m. for tea in London at 4 p.m. local time, full-scale, manned versions must be tested. And they simply must find a way to land them. The test vehicles do not have “recovery systems” built in.

There is also the question of takeoff. For scramjet engines to operate at hypersonic speeds, they have to be boosted to supersonic speed first. That means mother ships will have to lift hypersonic shuttles and then send them on their way with a boost from a rocket engine. That’s how WaveRider made it to Mach 5 briefly.

So your trip time to London will have to factor in hitching a ride to about 50,000 feet and then, presumably, gliding back to earth at your destination at far slower speeds than Mach 5. The ride could be even faster some day. Theoretically at least, scramjets can reach Mach 20 or better.

If you’re looking for more fun in flying—without necessarily going to a specific destination—then Virgin Galactic may be your cup of tea. It is the star child of Richard Branson, the British billionaire behind Virgin Airlines and other Virgin brands. Virgin Galactic intends to take half a dozen passengers at a time on a suborbital joy ride to experience weightlessness and a spectacular view of the earth from about 65 miles up.

A 60-foot long spaceship will be attached to a mother ship that will carry it to 51,000 feet, where it will be released to blast off for the rest of its flight. The spaceship will glide back to earth in California at the Mojave Air and Spaceport, which was specially built for it.

Branson says Virgin Galactic will eventually offer orbital flights as well as the up-and-down suborbital experiences.

Roundtrip time: 2 hours
Ticket price: $200,000

They’ll be testing it for a couple of more years before it’s ready to carry its first paying passengers. Virgin says more than 500 people have already made reservations.

If you want to go, plan on two or three days of preparation before you take off. There will be medical checks, getting used to g-forces and “team bonding.” Reservations are accepted through “Virgin Galactic Accredited Space Agents” around the world. Visit the Virgin Galactic website to find a space agent near you.