June 23, 2005

IT'S the beginning of another summer travel season, and passengers at some of the busiest airports look little different than if they were shopping at a mall, their increasingly casual wardrobe of T-shirts and shorts having eclipsed any remnants of the golden era of travel, that time before airline deregulation led to cheap tickets, when dressing for the airport meant dressing up. But take a closer look, and it's apparent that many travelers are even less well dressed than if they were at the mall. Savvy passengers have discerned the subtleties of passing hassle free through the Transportation Security Administration's checkpoints. Chic at the airport this summer means no lace-up dress shoes, no belts, no heavy-metal jewelry, no jackets required.

UAW president Ron Gettelfinger is headed for showdown with General Motors Corp; Gettelfinger's willingness to compromise with GM on wages and health care benefits will have broad implications for future of American auto worker and help determine whether Big Three automakers can slash costs to compete against Toyota and other foreign rivals with lower labor costs; Gettelfinger says he is willing to offer some help to GM, but will not be pushed into corner and will not reopen company's labor contract before it expires in 2007; whether outcome leads him to settle or strike is open question; chart; photos (M)

ERICA WILSON'S famed needlepoint shop on Madison Avenue is closing after 33 years. Her husband, Vladimir Kagan, an icon of modern furniture design, who gave us the barrel chair and the kidney-shaped couch, is creating a new furniture line. And now Mr. Kagan, after apprising a reporter of these developments, has extended an invitation to an outdoor performance of ''Tosca.'' One may ask what ''Tosca'' has to do with any of this, but such is the force of Mr. Kagan's charm, the skill of his salesmanship, that though this is a day of such crippling humidity that carriage horses have been ordered off the street, this question will not occur for some time.

IN 2000, during an unusually intemperate winter in Virginia, Sandy Lerner discovered that her natural gift for mechanics was not sufficient to combat the challenges of her home heating system. Ms. Lerner, a founder of Cisco Systems, a mathematician and an audio engineering enthusiast, had retired to this stretch of Virginia horse country in the mid-1990's, moving into a cabin built partly of 18th-century hickory logs. Now some of the logs were choosing a particularly inopportune moment to split. This development, combined with an uncooperative furnace, were causing the heat in her house to be distributed unevenly.

Financial Accounting Standards Board is preparing overhaul of how companies calculate financial impact of their pension plans; corporations are likely to oppose revisions because new pension standard could lead to significant changes in how corporate earnings are reported; there could also be major changes in employee benefits and how pension funds invest workers' retirement money; current rules allow companies to report that investments in their pension funds have earned money, even in years when they did not, and to factor illusory pension gains into their operating profits; can also 'smooth' pension values by spreading year-to-year changes over several years; these accounting practices have come under criticism because they can mask health of company and pension plan; graph (M)