Now you can, if you don't mind relying on information of "citizen journalists" in a social networking environment.

Orbitz, the online travel booking service, introduced OrbitzTLC Traveler Update this month, and the wealth of information it offers can help air passengers anticipate delays that can turn a routine business trip into a nightmare.

McCarran is one of about 40 airports nationwide that are hooked into the system accessed at http://updates.orbitz.com. Go to the color-coded U.S. map and you can see at a glance if there are delays of under 30 minutes (a green flag) or delays in excess of 30 minutes (a red flag) at your airport.

Click on your airport of choice and you can get up-to-the-minute reports about how long the security lines are, how long you have to wait at ticket counters, real-time traffic delays and information about other snag points that ruin your trip.

Some of the information comes from government sources. For example, you can get flight delay status that is based on Federal Aviation Administration data and 30-day average security line wait times that come from the Transportation Security Administration.

Weather information is provided by weather.com and details about parking and the availability of spaces in certain lots is there.

The site also tells you if there are Wi-Fi hotspots available at the airport (there are at McCarran, and it's free), and there are other tips about favorite restaurants, quiet work spaces and other inside information.

Probably the coolest feature, though, is getting updates from people who are actually standing in line or who have just passed through the line.

"It's putting the advantages of social networking to work for travelers," said Jim Cohn, an Orbitz executive.

On a recent Friday afternoon, I looked in on the dispatches from travelers at McCarran and found 23 of them, some of them updated within minutes of when I signed in.

One citizen wrote that "Gate C still has a long line and is moving along well, although plan on waiting about 40 minutes to get through the checkpoint. Don't forget to wear shoes that can be taken off easily!"

Another advised, "The wait at Gates A and B is still minimal and even gotten much better over the past half hour. It is now only about 10 minutes total to get through security."

A graphic on security wait times charts the average and maximum waits one can expect by location (it shows the A and B, C and D gates as well as the international terminal) and by day of the week, hour by hour.

Glancing at the chart, you can see that the worst time of day on Sundays to go through the C gates, where Southwest Airlines operates, is at 11 a.m., when the wait time averages just more than 20 minutes and the maximum time is about 40 minutes.

Things get ugly at 10 a.m. at the D gate checkpoint, where waits average about 25 minutes and the maximum time is about 50.

The site even shows traditional traffic choke points for your trip to the airport, so if you're going someplace that you're not familiar with, you can find what routes are good or bad and how much it's going to cost to park a car.

Some critics may say much of the information provided on the site doesn't come from official sources and therefore could be unreliable.

But I've found that the we're-all-in-this-together mentality that prevails among road warriors usually provides accuracy you can count on.

In other business news:

Look north for in-flight Internet: Several airlines have talked about installing wireless Internet service in their planes and it appears that Alaska Airlines — the first flier to sell tickets online and to offer Internet check-in — will be the first to deliver.

The Seattle-based airline announced at last week's World Airline Entertainment Association Conference and Exhibition that it would install a system developed by Row 44, a Westlake Village, Calif., broadband communications provider, in its Boeing 737 jets next spring.

If the trial period is successful, Alaska Airlines will install the satellite-based system on the rest of the airline's fleet of 114 planes.

The technology will enable passengers to access the system with Wi-Fi-enabled devices, including laptop computers, PDAs, smartphones and portable gaming systems.

Row 44's system would turn Alaska's jets into flying Wi-Fi hotspots. Customers will have access to high-speed Internet service, e-mail, private networks and stored in-flight entertainment content.

A spokeswoman for Alaska said it hasn't been determined whether the airline would charge passengers for the system's use or whether it could be a complimentary amenity. Several different pricing models are expected to be tested during the trial period.

Alaska and its partner airline, Horizon Air, have about a dozen daily round trips between McCarran and Seattle; Portland, Ore.; and Vancouver, British Columbia.

Virgin America also is on track to have onboard Internet access sometime next year in a system developed by AirCell. Virgin's system can be accessed by Wi-Fi or on the Red In-flight Entertainment system. The airline begins round trips to and from San Francisco beginning next month.

Battling higher taxes: On nearly every ticket written for flights to and from Las Vegas, passengers pay a passenger facility charge, or PFC, of $4.50. Under a bill pending in Congress, the fee would go up to a maximum of $7 per trip segment.

Representatives of the Air Transport Association are trying to get the revised PFC scrapped, hoping to move the burden to operators of corporate jets, which don't pay as much into the system.

James May, president and chief executive of the association, said it's unfair for airline passengers to pay for 92 percent of the Airport and Airway Trust Fund, which pays for about $13 billion in airport improvements every year.

May is calling for a reform of the system and an overhaul of the antiquated air traffic control system.

"The public deserves much better," May said last week. "We can address today's airport delay problems and do it much more cost effectively for passengers if — and only if — Congress acts promptly to fairly reauthorize the trust fund. We are fed up with gridlock, delay and an unfair funding system — the time for Congress to act is now."

While members of Congress are at it, maybe they should look at scrapping the Federal Aviation Administration's plan to take airport scheduling at the nation's busiest airports into its own hands. For airlines, timing is everything and if the FAA modifies schedules to ease heavy traffic at Chicago O'Hare or New York's JFK airports, its likely to screw up an entire schedule.

The FAA told airlines to fix the problem or it would.

The only problem is that airlines aren't supposed to have those kinds of discussions because they could be accused of collusion.

Passport pace: The Clark County Clerk's Office announced that passport applications are up 37 percent this year.

In 2006, the office processed 1,214 passport requests. Through August, the total for 2007 was 1,107. If the pace continues, County Clerk Shirley Parraguirre said more than 1,600 could be processed, which would be a record.

The pace isn't too surprising, considering the U.S. policy that requires air travelers to and from Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean to have a passport. The deadline for having a passport and not just a voucher stating that you have a passport application on file is Sept. 30.

Witnessing history: William Westerman, chief executive of the Riviera, appearing before the Nevada Gaming Commission last week on a routine financial matter, was asked for a progress report on the potential sale of the property, a routine request from Chairman Peter Bernhard.

While he didn't have any news about a potential buyer, Westerman waxed on how the Riv is an alternative to those who prefer not to go to the megaresorts and how the building once was the seventh largest hotel in the world and is now only the 13th largest in Las Vegas. When Art Marshall, a commissioner who does his fair share of reminiscing, and Westerman started talking about the how Strip entertainment has changed, Westerman was asked if he knew that Barbra Streisand had sung there.

The meeting erupted with laughter when Westerman told Marshall that Streisand opened for Liberace "and you were probably there."