Travel Blog: News and Briefs
FAA Safety Audit Triggers Investigations of Four Airlines
by Michael Yessis | 04.03.08 | 9:38 AM ET
Ever since Southwest grounded more than 40 planes last month, the safety practices of the entire U.S. airline industry have come under scrutiny. Flights have been delayed and canceled, as planes across the country have been pulled in for inspection. Yesterday, a federal audit revealed that four unnamed major U.S. airlines are under investigation for not complying with federal safety directives.
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Yahoo! BuzzMayflower Hotel Gift Shop Cashing in on Spitzer Scandal
by Michael Yessis | 04.03.08 | 8:23 AM ET
Coffee mugs are selling out. Mayflower mints are going by the case. And “[t]here has been a rush on the Mayflower’s luxuriously soft white terry-cloth bathrobes,” writes Ylan Q. Mui in the Washington Post. The price tag on those robes: $69.99. Ouch.
United Grounds Dozens of Planes, Cancels Flights
by Jim Benning | 04.02.08 | 1:50 PM ET
Bad day to be flying United. The airline is busy inspecting its fleet of Boeing 777s, which, according to Bloomberg, “make up about 11 percent of United’s 460-plane fleet.”
Hard Rock Park and the Led Zeppelin Roller Coaster
by Jim Benning | 04.02.08 | 1:10 PM ET
It’s been nearly a year since we noted the coming Myrtle Beach Hard Rock amusement park, and particularly its centerpiece roller coaster honoring Led Zeppelin. If he were dead, I wrote back then, Jimmy Page would be rolling over in his grave. Well, Jimmy Page is still with us, and the truth is, he not only picked out the song that plays on the ride, “Whole Lotta Love,” but he’s billed as being instrumental in the ride’s creation. (All that while also apparently gathering quite a collection of Pre-Raphaelite art.)
Travel Headline of the Day: ‘Kanye West Launches Travel Website’
by Jim Benning | 04.02.08 | 10:17 AM ET
Some celebrities have clothing lines, some dabble in perfume. Why not travel?
20,000 Bags Delayed at Heathrow’s New Terminal 5
by Michael Yessis | 04.01.08 | 12:17 PM ET
Unfortunately, it’s not another April Fool’s Day joke. Since opening March 27, Terminal 5 at London’s Heathrow Airport has been a disaster. One of the major issues: The $8.5 billion automated luggage system failed to work as promised.
R.I.P. Herb Peterson
by Eva Holland | 04.01.08 | 12:13 PM ET
Herb Peterson, the inventor of the Egg McMuffin, died last week in Santa Barbara. He was 89. Peterson created the signature McDonald’s breakfast item in 1972, apparently inspired by his favorite, eggs Benedict. Road-trippers everywhere owe him a huge debt of thanks for cooking up that hot, fast, greasy meal to go, a classic choice for fueling the start of one long drive or celebrating the end of another.
Ciao, Aloha
by Jim Benning | 03.31.08 | 1:51 PM ET
Aloha Airlines, which only recently filed for bankruptcy, has announced it will end passenger service tonight after 61 years in operation.
Travel Headline of the Day: ‘Airline Sought Actors For Flights’
by Michael Yessis | 03.31.08 | 12:19 PM ET
R.I.P. Dith Pran
by Jim Benning | 03.31.08 | 11:07 AM ET
The New York Times photographer whose story was immortalized in the movie “The Killing Fields” died Sunday. Remarked the Times’ executive editor: “To all of us who have worked as foreign reporters in frightening places, Pran reminds us of a special category of journalistic heroism—the local partner, the stringer, the interpreter, the driver, the fixer, who knows the ropes, who makes your work possible, who often becomes your friend, who may save your life, who shares little of the glory, and who risks so much more than you do.”
Related on World Hum:
* Welcome to Khmer Rouge Land!
World Hum’s Most Read: March 22-28
by World Hum | 03.28.08 | 4:37 PM ET
Our five most popular features and blog posts this week:
1) How to: Use a Squat Toilet
2) Talking Trash in Taiwan
3) Tourists Should be ‘Beat Up,’ Says Bali Bombing Conspirator
4) Pilot’s Gun Fires on US Airways Flight
5) Out of the Wild? Alaskan Town Considers Removing McCandless Bus
Bali photo by Jim Benning.
‘¡Ask a Mexican!’ Columnist Says ‘Adios’*
by Michael Yessis | 03.28.08 | 1:23 PM ET
Gustavo Arellano has retired his informative and, in some quarters, controversial ‘¡Ask a Mexican!’ column in the OC Weekly. “It’s no longer necessary to explain Mexicans to Americans because Mexicans are Americans,” he writes in his farewell note.
Update: April 2, 10:27 ET: Not so fast. Looks like Arellano was just playing an April Fool’s Day joke—five days early. I bit, and so did everyone else, Arellano says, except his best friend and one blogger.
‘Open Skies’ Takes Effect This Weekend
by Michael Yessis | 03.28.08 | 10:37 AM ET
Open Skies is an agreement that removes limits on flights between the United States and the European Union. In the words of USA Today’s Dan Reed, “Every U.S. airline gains the right to fly to any destination in Europe without requesting government authorization—and every European carrier has the right to serve any U.S. city it wishes to serve.”
Passenger: TSA Forced me to Remove my Nipple Ring With Pliers
by Michael Yessis | 03.28.08 | 10:19 AM ET
Mandi Hamlin says Transportation Security Administration agents in Lubbock, Texas, would not let her fly with her nipple piercings in place. According to the AP, TSA agents declined Hamlin’s request for a female agent to look at her piercings and confirm they were benign. They instead asked her to remove the piercings if she wanted to fly.
Japan’s Yoshoku Menu: Hambagoo, Ketchup-Flavored Rice and Stir-Fried ‘Napolitan’ Spaghetti
by Joanna Kakissis | 03.27.08 | 4:01 PM ET
Yoshoku means “Western food” in Japanese, and it’s been a staple of the country’s cuisine for decades. Chefs have taken hamburgers, spaghetti and other dishes, and “reshaped” them for Japanese palates. Most foreigners, though, have never heard of yoshoku, writes Norimitsu Onishi in The International Herald Tribune.
