If you are travelling either to, from or within the United States, there is one site that will help you more than any other site, and that site is the Transportation Security Administration website. This is the site where you can get all of your questions about what you can bring on the plane, how to handle children through security checkpoints, etc. Here are just a few links:
Basically if you have a question, start here.
News about the Registered Traveller program. This is the program that will "provide expedited security screening for passengers who volunteer biometric and biographic information to a TSA-approved RT vendor and successfully complete a security threat assessment".
The most current list of what you can and can not take on airplanes. Everything you ever wanted to know about what's permitted and what's not permitted, for both carry-on and checked luggage, straight from the government itself.
The latest information for travelers with disabilities. This includes medical aids, prescription medication, prostethics, etc.
Traveling with special items, such as alcohol, camping gear, cremated remains, musical instruments, parachutes, etc. Frankly if you're traveling with a parachute I hope you're not on my flight, because that's going to make me nervous!
Traveling with children, rules on breast milk, gel filled teethers, etc. Thankfully, they still allow you to bring breasts on board to feed your children. All other breasts must be stowed in with your luggage.
If you have a claim against the TSA for damaged property, locks, etc., then you need to go here.
If you want to know what locks are acceptable, then go here. And for what it's worth, we use the locks that have a little dot on them that tells you whether or not someone has unlocked your lock. You'll see what I mean if you view the locks on this page.
And one of THE MOST important links on their whole site, the TSA estimated wait times by state, by airport, and by date.
You can also sign up "to receive (via email) U.S. Department of Homeland Security/TSA critical travel alerts. This system is designed to alert travelers to changes in the Homeland Security Alert status, TSA Policy updates, and other critical information to assist you in your travel plans."
They also have information on the "pat down" search, where they search your body for illegal material. Frankly, to be honest, Americans have it easy when it comes to this. Last year, we stopped off in Germany to switch planes, and by the time I was done with their "pat downs", I was ready to smoke a cigarette and cuddle.
And lastly, they answer the age-old question, that travelers and fashionable people in general all want to know: "Am I wearing the right shoes"?
The site isn't only for airplane passengers, they also have information if you're traveling by rail, by ship, by mass transit, or by highway.
Here's their customer service page, and if you need to contact them for any reason, here's the page to do that.
In the end, I urge you to check out all of these links, because you'll not only be saving yourself time, but that of your fellow passengers as well.