Tag: Airworld

Can Professor Gates Blame Jet Lag?

Can Professor Gates Blame Jet Lag? iStockPhoto

Eric Weiner says altered circadian rhythms may explain how a minor confrontation escalated into a national brouhaha

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Continental Adds DirecTV on Domestic Flights

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’

Maybe the Mile High Club isn’t dead yet, after all? Jaunted recommends the Kindle version for discretion.


Miami International: Off to the Races?

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’

Tokyo International Airport Photo by Hyougushi via Flickr (Creative Commons)
Photo by Hyougushi via Flickr (Creative Commons)

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.


The Colony of LAX Parking Lot B

Great story in the Los Angeles Times about a community of pilots and other airline workers that lives in trailers and motor homes in a parking lot at Los Angeles International Airport. Dan Weikel writes:

For several years, clusters of RVs were scattered around the airport’s parking lots until LAX officials decided to consolidate them in Lot B. Now operating as an organized camp overseen by the airport, it has an unofficial mayor, a code of conduct and residency requirements, including background checks, regular vehicle inspections and proof of employment at an air carrier.

The constant noise of the airplanes flying overhead would drive me nuts, but the residents of the colony don’t seem to mind. Or maybe they just have good white noise machines, like one of the three residents profiled in the terrific accompanying audio slideshow.


Pet Airways Begins Flights for Pampered Animals; Humans Still Out of Luck

Beginning today, Florida-based Pet Airways will fly your critters to and from New York, Washington D.C., Chicago, Denver and Los Angeles. The new airline promises that pets will be constantly attended to and treated as first-class “pawsengers,” with rates for one-way flights—for Fido only; you’ll have to book on a regular carrier—starting at $149. Representatives are confident that the high prices are well worth it, offering peace of mind against the “severe emotional and physical harm, even death” that can befall your pet traveling in the cargo hold on human-centric flights.

The airline has even started a blog featuring everything from the latest in-flight pet news to expert tips on keeping fit with your dog on the road.


AirTran Presents ‘Internetiquette’

As we’ve noted, AirTran has been leading the charge on in-flight Wi-Fi service—and now it’s pioneering in-flight internet protocol too. The airline’s new seat pocket guide, “Internetiquette: A Guide to Keeping Everyone in Line, While They’re Online,” is no dry list of rules, either. Take, for instance, Tip #10 on personal photo galleries:

SFF, or Suitable For Flights: family vacation photos, graduation photos, birthday party photos.

NSFF, or Not Suitable For Flights: the photos from Vegas. You know the ones.

Sometimes humor can be the best way to get a point across. Here’s hoping AirTran’s passengers take note, and that e-card jingles and musical MySpace pages are kept to a minimum on future wired flights.


‘United Breaks Guitars’: A Passenger’s Fight Song*

After watching from the plane window as United’s baggage workers damaged his guitar, and then having his compensation claims denied, one musician is taking his battle with the airline to YouTube. Check it out:

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Study: Long-Distance Travel Triples the Risk of Deep Vein Thrombosis

The dangers have long been suspected. Now, apparently for the first time, there’s research to support the theory. A report in the Annals of Internal Medicine says anyone flying for longer than four hours has increased risk of blood clotting known as deep vein thrombosis. The risk is three times greater than it is for someone not traveling. USA Today and Reuters explain the science. 

Experts suggest long-distance travelers lessen the risk by, among other things, drinking water and getting up and walking around the plane every now and then, lest they suffer like Dick Cheney.


AIDS Levy for Air Travelers?

There’s a proposal in the works to add a special tax, marked for efforts to fight AIDS in developing countries, to all flight purchases in the U.S., the U.K. and Germany. A similar tax has been in place in France for three years and has raised nearly $1 billion. The Financial Times has the details on what the plan might look like.


Another Reason for Air Rage?

Another Reason for Air Rage? Photo by quintanomedia via Flickr (Creative Commons)
Photo by quintanomedia via Flickr (Creative Commons)

Sure, we all love those nifty seat-back entertainment systems—but as Jaunted astutely points out, the personal TV screens come with a major downside: a long-haul flight’s worth of punches to the back of the head.

I’m assuming that when they’re not busy making air travel greener and/or finding a way to remain afloat in this brutal economic climate, the industry’s brightest minds will be working on the problem?


So Long, Airworld

So Long, Airworld Photo by Rob Verger
Photo by Rob Verger

It’s been a pleasure covering air travel for World Hum’s blog, and I’ll miss it.

Looking back, some of my favorite posts to write were the ones that celebrated the quirkier aspects of air travel: I loved writing about, for example, a strange scabies outbreak among TSA staff at Boston’s Logan Airport (though I did not, in fact, enjoy once getting scabies myself).

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Flying as an Unaccompanied Minor: ‘It was Great!’

Flying as an Unaccompanied Minor: ‘It was Great!’ Photo by woodleywonderworks via Flickr (Creative Commons)
Photo by woodleywonderworks via Flickr (Creative Commons)

What a relief, after last week’s two incidents of unaccompanied minors being put on the wrong flights (and the resulting catastrophizing about the “risky proposition” of letting kids fly alone at all), to read something positive about the UM program.

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Travel Headline of the Day: ‘Ryanair Passengers ‘Could Put Own Luggage on Plane’’

Travel Headline of the Day: ‘Ryanair Passengers ‘Could Put Own Luggage on Plane’’ Photo by jon gos via Flickr (Creative Commons)
Photo by jon gos via Flickr (Creative Commons)

Forget a blurring of the lines: the boundary between Onion-esque humor and real airline news is long gone. Today’s headline caps a story about the budget airline’s plans to scrap checked luggage entirely. The Independent adds blandly: “An in-flight online gambling system is also being considered.”


How to Sleep on a Plane: A Tip from John Kerry

John Kerry says listen to a John Kerry speech on your iPod. That and an Ambien, and the Senator says he’s “out in seconds.” I believe it.


The Perfect Gift for the Airplane House Owner in Your Life

If you know someone who has one of these, here’s a gift idea: Furniture made of old airplane parts.


Non-Places and the End of Travel

Non-Places and the End of Travel iStockPhoto

Frank Bures on airports, Dubai and Marc Augé's "Non-Places: An Introduction to Supermodernity"

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YVR: A Traveler’s Plea for Noodles

YVR: A Traveler’s Plea for Noodles Photo by stu_spivack via Flickr (Creative Commons)
Photo by stu_spivack via Flickr (Creative Commons)

I flew into Vancouver International Airport last week with a craving: I wanted pad Thai, or some vaguely similar, spicy, wok-fried noodle dish, and I wanted it bad. On the five-hour flight from Toronto, as images of tofu bits and crushed peanuts danced in my head, I didn’t fret—I was confident I’d be able to satisfy the urge during my one-hour layover. After all, I thought, where better to find some airport noodles than in a foodie city that’s home to one of the most vital Asian immigrant communities in North America?

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Airlines Channel La-Z-Boy to Cut Costs

crowded airplane seats Photo by irishflyguy via Flickr (Creative Commons)
Photo by irishflyguy via Flickr (Creative Commons)

As more and more premium passengers move to coach, airlines are desperately trying to find ways to reduce costs and update their fleets. The latest experiment: reducing seat pitch (the distance between a point in your seat and the same point in the one behind you) to make room for a dozen or so extra passengers.

American Airlines assured Travel Weekly that the seats should seem roomier in spite of adjustments to cram in even more. A spokesman described the new sliding feature to preserve legroom “like a La-Z-Boy recliner.” Just, you know, wedged in between 159 other recliners.