Travel Blog: News and Briefs
Delta to Offer WiFi on Domestic Flights
by Jim Benning | 08.05.08 | 2:52 PM ET
The service—for about $10—will begin on some flights next month and will be extended across the airline’s domestic fleet by next summer. Reports the Washington Post, “Delta appears to be the first U.S. airline to commit its entire fleet” to the technology. Go Delta. Now how about bringing back in-flight poetry?
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Yahoo! BuzzR.I.P. Acres of Books
by Eva Holland | 08.05.08 | 12:20 PM ET
The family-run bookstore has been operating in Long Beach for nearly 75 years. It’ll be making way for a mixture of housing and art galleries, as part of a redevelopment project put together by the city. As for the owners? They’re going traveling. (Via The Book Bench)
Photo by Molly Bewigged via Flickr (Creative Commons)
Disaster on K2: ‘Now I Really Realize That Everyone Here Has Died’
by Jim Benning | 08.05.08 | 11:04 AM ET
The AP reports on the last man to reach base camp at K2—grateful to be alive, his toes frostbitten—after falling ice resulted in the deaths of 11 climbers. Among the creepy details emerging from the scene: at least one climber apparently froze to death while hanging upside down from a rope, the Telegraph reports. And this, from a Dutch survivor: “Everybody was fighting for himself and I still do not understand why everybody was leaving each other.” The mountain is known among climbers for posing a greater challenge than Everest. Climber Ed Viesturs called it “the holy grail of mountains.”
US Airways to Reward Belligerence With Free Drinks?
by Elyse Franko | 08.05.08 | 10:30 AM ET
On Friday, US Airways will begin charging customers for soft drinks, coffee and tea on domestic flights. For those who are balking at spending $2 for a Coke, do not despair—there’s a loophole, it seems. As the New York Times report suggests, all one has to do is be aggressive enough to set off a flight attendant’s peacekeeping powers. “We’re trained to keep order on an airplane and defuse confrontation,” Mike Flores, president of US Airways’ Association of Flight Attendants chapter, told the Times. “If it takes giving a free beverage to somebody to do that, so be it. I expect there will be flight attendants who just give everything away.”
Related on World Hum:
*The Nice Thing About the Barebones U.S. Airlines…
*The Long Descent: US Airways To Cut Movies On Domestic Flights
Photo by russelljsmith via Flickr. (Creative Commons)
The Long Descent: The $7 JetBlue Pillow, Blanket
by Valerie Conners | 08.04.08 | 3:40 PM ET
Though the airline recently tried to butter up passengers with a shockingly generous gesture of goodwill, JetBlue quickly demolished this big-hearted persona with the announcement that pillows and blankets will now be sold as $7 “eco-friendly” kits that will also include a $5 Bed Bath & Beyond coupon, according to the AP.
Related on World Hum:
* A Shocking Email From JetBlue
Las Vegas Strip Going Eco-Friendly?
by Michael Yessis | 08.04.08 | 11:43 AM ET
It’s giving green a shot. More than 50 million square feet of construction built to LEED standards is planned “on and around the Las Vegas Strip, not including the 8.3 million square feet of the 7-month-old, $1.9 billion Palazzo Resort Hotel Casino, which, in May, was designated the nation’s largest LEED-certified building,” according to USA Today.
AirAsia X Says Weighing Passengers May ‘Help Aussies Lose Weight’
by Michael Yessis | 08.04.08 | 11:21 AM ET
It’s not a Derrie-Air-style joke. AirAsia X apparently is “considering charging passengers depending on their weight in a bid to fight rising fuel prices and to ‘help Aussies lose weight’,” according to News.com.au.
Where Can You Find the Most Expensive Cup of Coffee in the World?
by Eva Holland | 08.04.08 | 10:51 AM ET
And the winner is ... Moscow, where the average cup apparently costs $10.19. Forbes brings us the full list, but I have to wonder about the methodology behind the survey. Are we talking cups of joe, or are we talking venti caramel mocha frappuccinos? It was the New York City listing that got me doubting: it landed in the middle of the pack, with the average cup costing $3.75—but when was the last time you paid nearly $4 for a regular coffee from a New York City deli?
World Hum’s Most Read: July 26-Aug. 1
by World Hum | 08.01.08 | 3:01 PM ET
Our five most popular features and blog posts for the week:
1) Seven Reasons to Have a Foreign Fling (pictured)
2) A Shocking Email From JetBlue
3) World Hum Travel Movie Club: National Lampoon’s ‘Vacation’
4) How To: Use a Squat Toilet
5) Ask Rolf: As a Woman, Can I Really Travel Without Much Fear for my Safety?
R.I.P. Ballooning Brazilian Priest
by Michael Yessis | 08.01.08 | 11:31 AM ET
Father Adelir Antonio de Carli was found off the Brazilian coast this week. The priest had taken flight in April via hundreds of helium-filled balloons to “help raise money for a chapel for truckers in his highway parish,” Reuters reports.
Related on World Hum:
* Lawn Chair Ballooning: Serene or Idiotic?
A380 Makes Landmark U.S. Flight Today, But ‘White Tails’ Could Still Ensue
by Jim Benning | 08.01.08 | 11:09 AM ET
An Emirates A380 is scheduled to touch down at JFK this afternoon, marking the behemoth A380’s first commercial journey to the U.S. But that doesn’t mean all is well in the airline manufacturing industry. And that leads us to our travel lexicon lesson of the day, courtesy of the New York Times. “The spreading downturn causes some analysts to wonder if aircraft makers will be left with ‘white tails’—industry slang for planes that are built without customers to accept them, leaving their tails unpainted.” It’s like the airplane equivalent of an unpainted Easter egg. That’s just wrong.
Related on World Hum:
* The Airbus A380: ‘The Mother Load’
Photo by frielp via Flickr, (Creative Commons).
Disclosed: Travelers’ Laptops Can be Confiscated at U.S. Borders Without Reason
by Michael Yessis | 08.01.08 | 11:07 AM ET
The Washington Post plays the chilling story on its front page, noting that U.S. “federal agents may take a traveler’s laptop or other electronic device to an off-site location for an unspecified period of time without any suspicion of wrongdoing.”
Are You a ‘Travel Wanker’?
by Michael Yessis | 08.01.08 | 9:59 AM ET
Ben Groundwater explains what makes a travel wanker and what you should do about it if you are one.
Is Passenger Security Really Worth the Cost?
by Elyse Franko | 08.01.08 | 9:43 AM ET
Not if the federal air marshal program is involved, say the guys at the Freakonomics blog.
Saying Goodbye Again to the Audio Cassette (and Road Trip Mix Tapes)
by Eva Holland | 07.31.08 | 2:35 PM ET
Wait a minute. We kissed cassette tapes goodbye years ago, didn’t we? The New York Times reports that the once-mighty tape received the final nail in its coffin this week—never mind that most people thought that particular coffin was long since buried—when a major New York publisher released its last audio book in cassette format. Audio books had been the last bastion of the cassette, perhaps in part because the majority of American cars on the road still have built-in tape decks—though obviously, that number declines every year.
