We’ve been talking about Americans visiting England, but how have your experiences been the other way around. I’ve flown into the United States three or four times and each time I’ve sworn I’ll never do it again.

There are plenty of great places to visit but just the process of getting through the immigration checkpoints is so stressful and threatening that I want to avoid it. Immigration and passport control officers, as I understand it, are trained to be unfriendly so that they have a better chance of catching the bad guys.

They’ve always treated me in such a way that I start to feel like a criminal, even though I’ve done nothing wrong and have legitimate reasons to visit the US. This weekend The Times had an article about some changes to the airport procedures in the US which they say will help make it a “stress-free airport experience”.

It turns out that the intimidating procedures they’ve been using until now have made even innocent passengers look so nervous that staff have been suspicious of them, and that’s made it hard to spot the passengers who really were doing something wrong.

Starting off at Washington DC’s international airport, they’re making security checkpoints more user-friendly and relaxing - even purple mood lighting is involved! However, these checkpoints also include the new body-scanning procedures.

The scanners apparently project a kind of naked image of each passenger onto the screens in the control room, to check you’re not carrying anything you shouldn’t be. I’m not sure that I’ll be feeling any more relaxed knowing that’s going on.

Are there any good or bad stories about landing in the US?

I was quite shocked to read that US Airlines are looking to charge passengers for window and aisle seats. Also when airlines allow phones in flight, you can pay extra for a seat in the quiet zone. The cost will be between £3 and £15 per flight. Oh my god, this is ridiculous.

What’s next?

Charging me to go to the toilet. It’s bad enough that they charge you for the headphones, and look pretty miffed when you show them that you have brought your own. I realise airlines are under pressure to make a profit, but charging for a window or aisle seat or paying to fly in a quiet zone is just beyond stupidity.

Would you pay extra for a window aisle seat or to sit in a quiet zone.

Since writing on Travel Rants I’ve learnt about how as a consumer I can help the environment, for example, whenever I fly, I offset my carbon emissions, by donating to Climate Care, this money goes towards helping sustainable energy projects.

It’s good to hear that the likes of Boeing, Airbus and the Air Transport Action Group, along with aviation industry leaders today signed a declaration at the global Aviation and Environment Summit in Geneva to lead towards carbon neutral growth and a totally sustainable industry.

What are you doing to help the environment?

I’ll have more on the story soon, but Oasis Hong Kong Airline, an airline only 18 months old has gone into liquidation and has grounded all of it’s flights. This has left an unknown number of passengers stranded in Hong Kong and the airline’s two destinations, London and Vancouver.

The Oasis Hong Kong Airline website is slow loading at the moment but it’s worrying that the booking functionality appears to be still working and no information has been posted on the website! I will update this post with more information as soon as I can.

If you have been affected by this please leave your comments or contact me

Update: I’m getting a lot of emails about is Oasis Hong Kong Airlines International Air Transport Association member. I’ve had a look on the IATA website and the airline is not showing up which means that you will not be bonded and legally the airline have no responsibility on getting you back home.

Update: Here’s more information from the airline if you are stranded or have a booked flight. Basically, they are saying if you are left stranded then you have to meet the cost of these alternate flight arrangements yourself.

Please read the comments as there is alot of information that might help you.

Press release just received informing me that British Airways hope to resolve the issues with Heathrow Terminal 5 by borrowing staff from competitors, SilverJet and Ryanair. BAA met with all airlines and a decision was made in the early hours that staff would be flown in to help out.

In return British Airways, chief executive, Willie Walsh, will work for Ryanair at Dublin International airport as a baggage collector, and then with SilverJet as in-flight staff polishing shoes, serving drinks and snacks.

Please subscribe to this post for updates as they arrive.

Update: April Fools!

Ofcom have given airlines the go ahead for them to allow mobile phones on board UK registered aircraft. I am personally against allowing mobile phones on planes especially if the cabin crew are not given the power to tell users to keep their voice down.

Why am I against mobile phones on flights.

A plane is not like most forms of public transport – you cannot change your seat and move away from a noisy passenger like you can on a train or bus. It only takes an individual to spoil it for everyone else as the airline turn off the service. I wonder if we could see an increase in air rage.

I’m not confident that they are no health and safety issues and mobile phone users generally speak louder than when talking to a passenger sat next to them. This is just another money spinning idea to increase revenue for the airlines without seeking the opinion of consumers.

What is your opinion?

Not a good start for the opening of Heathrow’s terminal 5 today with the news of serious delays, cancellations and baggage issues due to technical glitches at the airport. Considering how much time they have had to prepare the terminal for the opening you would have thought that it would be run like a military operation.

In some situations you cannot help delays but cancellations is extremely poor considering that Heathrow’s terminal 5 will be a massive hub for those travelling across the world. It does not fill you with confidence considering they will be thousands of passengers using the terminal in the next 24 hours and delays will only make the situation worse.

BAA or BA do not have a good track record but is this just open day jitters or the sign of things to come?

Initially, I was going to have a rant about the increase in price for flights to European destinations, especially since the UK government is so keen to blame airlines for the World’s environment issues due to carbon emissions.

Then, on Monday I took a visit to the Ryanair website, and yes it’s an ugly site, and yes call me a hypocrite because I said I would never fly with them again, but I found a bargain flight that I found difficult to walk away from.

Return flight to the island of Sardinia, for only £22 inc. airport taxes.

I have to ask myself though how can Ryanair, Easyjet and the other low cost carriers afford to offer flights so cheap. It costs me £25+ for the 2.5 hr train journey down to London, or £20 for my bus journey to and from work each week.

What’s the best flight bargain that you’ve booked?

It’ll be interesting to see how much it costs for a flight in five years time – especially since BAA are increasing operation costs for airlines by 23% at Gatwick and Heathrow airports. The government is looking to increase ‘green tax’ and the increase in the cost of oil.

Get your cheap flight tickets now because they might not exist in 2012.