Travel Blog: News and Briefs
American Cancels 570 More Flights Today
by Michael Yessis | 04.11.08 | 8:37 AM ET
That brings the number of travelers affected by the carrier’s troubles this week to more than 250,000. In a Senate subcommittee hearing yesterday, Sen. Jay Rockefeller called the rash of groundings “an embarrassment to the nation.” If you’re still wondering why this is all happening, USA Today has a quick Q&A rundown.
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Yahoo! BuzzWhere in the World Are You, Carl Hoffman?
by World Hum | 04.10.08 | 6:07 PM ET
The subject of our latest nearly up-to-the-minute interview with a traveler somewhere in the world: writer Carl Hoffman, a contributing editor to Wired and National Geographic Traveler. His response landed in our inbox minutes ago.
Where in the world are you?
O’Hare Named a Piece of U.S. Infrastructure That Must be Fixed
by Michael Yessis | 04.10.08 | 11:39 AM ET
Photo by Sir Mildred Pierce, via Flickr (Creative Commons)
Popular Mechanics picked Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport as one of the 10 pieces of infrastructure in the United States that needs to be fixed now, citing near misses on runways, an ineffective new radar system and the country’s worst record of on-time departures in the first half of 2007.
American Cancels Another 900 Flights Thursday
by Jim Benning | 04.10.08 | 10:39 AM ET
The airline’s MD-80 inspection saga continues, bringing the total number of flight cancellations since Tuesday to 2,400. According to USA Today, “That means a quarter-million people have been inconvenienced this week.” The airline says Friday could bring more cancellations.
Stop the Presses: Tunisian-Born Chef Makes Rome’s Best Carbonara
by Joanna Kakissis | 04.09.08 | 1:50 PM ET
Nabil Hadj Hassen, who arrived in Italy at 17 and went on to train with some of the country’s top chefs, won the heart of highly regarded reviewer Gambero Rosso with his dish of pasta, eggs, pecorino cheese and guanciale (cured pig cheek) at the restaurant Antico Forno Roscioli. But The New York Times recently explored how his triumphant carbonara also flagged a question looming over Italy’s revered cuisine: Is the food still Italian if the chef is not?
American Airlines Cancels Hundreds of Flights*
by Jim Benning | 04.09.08 | 9:57 AM ET
If you’re flying American today, check to ensure your flight is still scheduled. The airline canceled nearly 500 flights Tuesday, affecting tens of thousands of travelers, and additional cancellations are expected into Thursday. The reason: inspections of MD-80s to comply with FAA orders. According to The Wall Street Journal, American’s 300 MD-80s “are used primarily on routes out of American’s hubs in Dallas and Chicago.”
* Update, 10:26 a.m. ET: Yikes, the airline has cancelled a whopping 850 flights today. That’s huge.
* Update: 3:20 p.m. ET: Word now is that more than 1,000 American flights have been cancelled today. Que feo.
Related on World Hum:
* FAA Safety Audit Triggers Investigations of Four Airlines
Martin Luther King Jr. and the Shadow of the Lorraine Motel
by Eva Holland | 04.08.08 | 1:09 PM ET
Traveling through the South last month, I seemed to come across Martin Luther King Jr.‘s name almost everywhere I went—from the display at the old Stax Records site explaining the impact of his assassination on the collaboration between white and black soul artists, to the homeless man in Atlanta who advised me that an unspecified “they” would surely kill Barack Obama “just like Dr. King.” The King assassination cast a long shadow, and not just because the 40th anniversary of his death was looming. (It was Friday.)
EU Approves Cell Phone Use on Planes
by Michael Yessis | 04.07.08 | 6:06 PM ET
Nooooooo! I was hoping this day would never come. Alas, I lose. And so does everyone else who’s going to end up “sitting next to a chatterbox at 30,000 feet” en route from London to Rome. The silver lining: The United States will maintain its ban on cell phone use on planes, and has no plans to change its mind.
Jazz Great Brubeck Honored as Traveling Diplomat
by Julia Ross | 04.07.08 | 3:25 PM ET
Jazz musician Dave Brubeck, best known for his classic “Take Five,” is in Washington, D.C., this week to receive a State Department Benjamin Franklin Award for “civilian service to international cooperation.” It turns out, according to a fascinating Washington Post story, that Brubeck is one of the country’s longest serving public diplomats, a role he first embraced in 1958 on a nine-country musical tour that included Poland, East Germany, Iran and Iraq.
Absolut on How to Lose Customers with Historical Maps
by Jim Benning | 04.07.08 | 12:46 PM ET
What were they thinking? The Absolut vodka company was running ads in Mexico featuring an 1830s map showing the southwestern U.S. as part of Mexico and featuring the line, “In an Absolut World.” It’s part of a campaign depicting “ideal scenarios,” according to the AP. It’s a clever ad, and I’m sure it played well in Mexico. But, shockingly, it came to the attention of some humorless U.S. citizens. Cue the calls for boycotts, the angry letters and Absolut’s apology.
Skybus Goes Bust
by Jim Benning | 04.07.08 | 11:21 AM ET
Um, just guessing here, but perhaps the Columbus, Ohio-based low-cost carrier should have charged at least a little more than 10 bucks a seat. A bargain is great and all, but travelers understand that you gotta pay the bills.
World Hum’s Most Read: March 29-April 4
by World Hum | 04.04.08 | 4:29 PM ET
Our five most popular features and blog posts this week:
1) How to: Use a Squat Toilet
2) Rick Steves, Drug Policy Provocateur
3) Out of the Wild? Alaskan Town Considers Removing McCandless Bus
4) Black Gold and the Golden Rule
5) How To: Cross the Street in Rome (pictured)
Photo by stanrandom via Flickr, Creative Commons).
House Hearing Reveals ‘Startling Disclosures’ About Airline Safety
by Michael Yessis | 04.04.08 | 3:37 PM ET
The scary news out of yesterday’s House hearing: The “problems at Southwest were far more widespread than has previously been reported,” writes USA Today’s Alan Levin. Federal inspectors who tried to report safety issues, he reports, were “repeatedly thwarted by senior government officials from reporting critical problems that compromised the safety of passengers.”
Slow Travel Rewards the Traveler (and the Environment)
by Joanna Kakissis | 04.04.08 | 12:49 PM ET
That’s what Ed Gillespie discovered during his 381-day journey around the world. The London native traveled by ship, bicycle and camel through Europe, Mongolia, Japan, Australia, French Polynesia, Mexico and Central America. He’s now working on a “slow travel” manifesto that asks travelers to embrace the experience rather than focus on guidebook-recommended landmarks.
Naomi Campbell Creates Stir at Heathrow, Sky Harbor Airports
by Jim Benning | 04.03.08 | 4:07 PM ET
The supermodel was removed from a British Airways flight at Heathrow Airport in London today on suspicion of assaulting a police officer. Judging by the nearly blank stares of my fellow travelers watching news of the incident here at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport, she might as well be from Mars.
