Today's Winging It column reports on a recent proposed change in the voting procedures for airline employees seeking union representation that is likely to favor unions. Read more about the vote for the change by the National Mediation Board (what's that?) and the debate it has set off at this link.

Airlines that charge fees for so-called ancillary services rather than raise air fares may be depriving taxpayers of revenue from the federal excise tax on tickets. At the request of two powerful members of Congress, the issue is being studied by investigators for the Government Accountability Office. Read more about the issue and the probe in a New York Times story.

From travel writer Chris Elliott's blog, here's an entry calling for a campaign to get all hotels to offer free Wi-Fi service, thinking of it in same way that plumbing and electricity are considered basic services included in the rate when you rent a room. Read more here.

Here's more fallout from the Northwest flight that overshot MSP by 150 miles last month because the pilots were absorbed in their laptops. The FAA says it will reinforce for air traffic controllers procedures for alerting the Air Force when an aircraft disappears and doesn't respond to calls.Read more about what the FAA said here.

The trend of big airlines to merge with bigger airlines continues apace, with an announcement today that British Airways and Iberia Airlines will join forces. Read details here.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, in a closed-door meeting yesterday, heard ideas from airline labor leaders and executives, including US Airways CEO Doug Parker in a letter, on the future of the airline business and helping it achieve greater financial stability. Read a full report by the AP in Washington here. The text of Parker's letter can be found at this link.

A lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union has led to the Transportation Security Administration issuing guidelines to screeners about what their jobs are at airport checkpoints. The ACLU said the policy shift by TSA prompted it to withdraw a lawsuit it filed on behalf of a political operative after the man was detained and questioned for carrying $4,700 in cash as part of his job. TSA said it has told screeners they can only enforce aviation-safety regulations, not suspected criminal activity. Read more about it in a Washington Times story.

Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood is holding a closed-door forum today, at the request of airline labor groups, to talk about the industry's financial viability. A brief report can be found here but this event is closed to media and the public so we may not get a full report later on what was discussed.

Two business travel groups, one in this country and one in Europe, are studying the unbundling of air fares, using fees for numerous services once included in a ticket price, and what the practice means for trying to manage corporate travel. Confusion abounds in this area, with companies and individual travelers trying to figure out what air travel is really costing them using airlines that charge fees. The Business Travel Coaltion, based in our neighborhood, and the UK and Ireland Institute of Travel Management and Meetings, joined forces, assembling a group of 60 "peer reviewers" from the industry, to try to develop standards for tracking and accounting for the cost of the fees. Read more on the effort in an article in a UK trade magazine, found here.