Tag: Airworld
What’s To Be Done About Porn on Public Transit?
by Eva Holland | 11.12.09 | 3:32 PM ET
Forget about the Mealtime Seat-Recliner or the Armrest Hog—now there’s a new breed of bad seatmate to worry about: the Porn Watcher. This Washington Post story provides a couple of horror stories as it takes a look at the ways in-flight wireless, personal video devices and other technological advances have brought pornography into the public domain. The most shocking thing about the article? In two of the incidents described, the viewers in question left the audio on for all their co-passengers to hear—in my book, that’s unacceptable even if you’re listening to something as inoffensive as Kenny G.
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Yahoo! BuzzVideo You Must See: ‘Frequent Flyer’
by Michael Yessis | 11.02.09 | 10:32 AM ET
London’s Heathrow: The Worst Airport in the World?
by Eva Holland | 10.21.09 | 2:02 PM ET
Poor Heathrow. It’s taken the title in a passenger poll for the second year in a row. Charles de Gaulle, LAX, Frankfurt and Miami rounded out the bottom five.
Alain de Botton: In Praise of Airline Food
by Eva Holland | 10.12.09 | 11:21 AM ET
In one of the dispatches resulting from his stint as Heathrow’s writer in residence, de Botton visits an airline food factory—and explains why he loves the much-maligned meals.
Naturally airline food is dismal when we compare it to what we’d get on the ground but this is to miss the point. The thrill of airline food lies in the interaction between the meal and the odd place in which one is eating it. Food that, if eaten in a kitchen, would have been banal or offensive, acquires a new taste in the presence of the clouds. With the in-flight tray, we make ourselves at home in an unhomely place: we appropriate the extraterrestrial skyscape with the help of a chilled bread roll and a plastic tray of potato salad.
‘Terminal Man’ Hits the 50-Flight Mark
by Eva Holland | 10.01.09 | 4:15 PM ET
And he still has a week to go. Judging by his latest blog post over at Wired, the 30-day airport challenge is starting to wear him down. Hang in there, Brendan!
The Best and Worst of the Airline Overnight Bags
by Eva Holland | 09.15.09 | 11:34 AM ET
Terminal Man Brendan Ross is one week into his 30-day challenge, and so far he’s been keeping busy. In his latest post, Ross collects, examines and ranks the overnight toiletry bags—you know, the ones given out to passengers whose luggage has been lost—from seven different airlines. The big winner? Southwest.
Travel Movie Watch: ‘Up in the Air’
by Eva Holland | 09.11.09 | 12:59 PM ET
The first trailer for the much-anticipated adaptation is here. Check it out:
“Up in the Air” will be making a big, red-carpeted splash at the Toronto International Film Festival this weekend. Beyond that, it goes into limited release Nov. 13 and—with a recent bump-up in the schedule—hits theaters nationwide on Nov. 25.
Wired’s Very Own Terminal Man
by Eva Holland | 09.04.09 | 2:26 PM ET
Instead of 24 hours in Airworld, Wired.com brings us ... 30 days in Airworld—in which one brave guinea pig flies every day and sleeps in the airport every night for a month. While blogging the experience, of course. Here are the details, including official challenge rules and ways the readers can get involved.
Airline Food Gets an Upgrade
by Eva Holland | 09.04.09 | 1:44 PM ET
You’ll still pay for it, of course. But with early attempts at for-purchase meals largely a bust, the airlines are trying again—bringing in known brand names (Ben & Jerry’s, for instance), celebrity chefs and more upscale options (fruit and cheese plate, anyone?) to replace the “soggy turkey sandwiches” we’ve all gotten to know so well.
So will passengers pay up for new, improved airline meals? I can’t speak for the rest of you, but they had me at “Cherry Garcia.”
What Makes a Great Airplane Read?
by Eva Holland | 08.31.09 | 4:52 PM ET
I have a confession: Last week, I enjoyed the greatest airplane reading of my life. I’ve never been much of an on-board reader—for a long time, I was one of those passengers who was asleep before take-off, and who needs a good book when you have the gift of in-flight unconsciousness? But lately I haven’t been able to drop off to sleep the way I used to, and I’ve become a restless, impatient flier.
Enter—don’t laugh—the Twilight saga. Over four days, the bestselling teen-vampire-romance novels got me through 17 hours of flying time, two hefty ground delays and one long scheduled layover. They also got me thinking about ideal airplane books. What factors have me reading straight through until landing, oblivious to the hours passing? And why do some titles leave me fidgeting in my seat after the first hour?
Hands Off That Seatback Pocket
by Eva Holland | 08.26.09 | 10:47 AM ET
Here’s another twist in the increasingly weird air travel experience: The Federal Aviation Administration has apparently banned passengers from placing personal items in the seatback pockets—and most of the major airlines are just as confused as we are. Joe Sharkey has the story.
Interview With Rose Hamid: Flight Attendant, Hijab Wearer
by Andrea Cooper | 08.21.09 | 9:44 AM ET
Photo courtesy of Rose Hamid How does she navigate the tensions between her profession and her faith in a post-9/11 world? Andrea Cooper learns more.
Heathrow Gets its First Writer in Residence
by Eva Holland | 08.19.09 | 1:12 PM ET
Literally. All this week, Alain de Botton—the author of “The Art of Travel”—will be sitting at a desk in the middle of Heathrow’s new Terminal Five, typing away. The end result of the stint? “A Week at the Airport: A Heathrow Diary,” a short book that will hit shelves in September.
The project has taken some heat because de Botton is being sponsored by the airport authority, but he maintains he’s been given complete editorial freedom to explore the airport in its best and worst moments. “There are not many industries where you find 20 people camped on your doorstep, like plane and trainspotters, to find out how it works,” he told the Guardian. “You will not find people doing that outside Tesco, saying ‘look at that chicken tikka arriving.’ People are fascinated by this and I share that fascination.”
As do we. Rob Verger recently spent 24 hours at JFK and blogged about the experience for World Hum.
Welcome to Seoul’s ‘Air City’
by Eva Holland | 08.18.09 | 4:14 PM ET
Plans are in the works to build an “air city” on the grounds at Seoul’s Incheon International Airport, USA Today reports. The complex, aimed at grabbing a bigger share of in-transit passengers in the region, could apparently include apartments, studios and runways for in-house fashion designers, a theme park, a marina and a clinic designed for medical tourists. Anyone else smell a sequel to The Terminal?
Airline Crew Crash Pads: The ‘World’s Largest Illegal Housing Network’?
by Michael Yessis | 08.07.09 | 11:41 AM ET
Senators questioned airline executives yesterday about the living conditions of some pilots and other airline workers, who often live in crash pads around the country. Some context: In another Washington Post story this week, crash pads were characterized as the “world’s largest illegal housing network.”
Can Professor Gates Blame Jet Lag?
by Eric Weiner | 07.30.09 | 5:02 PM ET
iStockPhoto Eric Weiner says altered circadian rhythms may explain how a minor confrontation escalated into a national brouhaha
Continental Adds DirecTV on Domestic Flights
by Eva Holland | 07.30.09 | 3:14 PM ET
The system, which broadcasts live from satellite rather than airing pre-recorded programming, will be widely installed by 2011, and USA Today predicts that other legacy carriers will follow suit. The outcome for travelers: We may not be able to check a bag or drink a Diet Coke without paying an extra fee anymore, but soon we’ll be able to watch the latest episode of “Ice Road Truckers” at 37,000 feet. That makes up for everything else, right?
New Travel Book: ‘The Mile High Club: Plane Sex Stories’
by Eva Holland | 07.24.09 | 3:05 PM ET
Maybe the Mile High Club isn’t dead yet, after all? Jaunted recommends the Kindle version for discretion.
Miami International: Off to the Races?
by Eva Holland | 07.24.09 | 12:02 PM ET
One corner of Airworld could get a lot weirder. There’s a proposal in the works to build a horse racing track in the parking lot at Miami International—apparently, a working track is a prerequisite for the real objective, slot machines at the airport.
Hey, I can see the slogan now: Win back your checked baggage fees!
‘The History and Future of Airport Design’
by Alicia Imbody | 07.23.09 | 9:18 AM ET
Slate has a great slideshow essay on the history of airport architecture. It shows how the evolution has come full circle, from the early days when all you needed was a grassy field, through innovative and artful designs that reflected the bygone days when air travel was still glamorous, to the glorified bus stations we’ve come to expect today.
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