Archive for January, 2006
January 13 2006
A 22-year-old Lithuanian tourist ran out of cash in Cancun without a ticket home. So she did what anyone in that situation would do, she went to the airport and decided to strip for money (I apologize that the story is in Spanish, but I can’t find any English-language version of this—see the comments section below for the translation.). Fortunately (or unfortunately) she was stopped before she really got into it, and was taken into custody by police. Turns out, and you’re going to be shocked by this, she was under the influence of drugs at the time.
No word on whether she eventually made it home…
How was the story not picked up by the press? There must be a conspiracy…
When buying clothing from a brand you have already sized in person then shopping online may be a good way for you to save money on womens clothing, and even if you decide not to do any online shopping you could at least compare prices.
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January 12 2006
(Thanks to the View from the Wing blog for the heads up on this):
Randy Petersen, InsideFlyer’s frequent flyer guru, reports on some crazy stats about Delta SkyMiles:
The largest current mileage balance is 21,846,145 miles. Someone has 21 million miles. Really.
In 2005, someone flew 61 transoceanic segments.
In 2005, someone flew 519,676 miles.
And the youngest elite member is 2 months old.
There ya go. If you thought you flew a lot, you got nothing.
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January 12 2006
SAS, the Scandanavian airline, will offer four channels of live television on its long-haul flights beginning January 23. This service is offered through its on-board wireless broadband service, which is available on every long haul flight. $26.95 will get you wireless broadband and the four channels of TV (which show up on your computer) for the duration of the flight. My wife flew them recently and used the in-flight broadband and said it was a great way to pass the time when she wasn’t sleeping. Which is what she’ll do when she’s in any moving vehicle for more than 8 seconds. (You probably didn’t need to know that, but in case she and I ever get divorced and you end up marrying her, you should know that about her.)
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January 11 2006
All first-class carrier Eos Airlines, which flies between New York in London in a 48-seat Boeing 757, announced its new loyalty program yesterday. It’s pretty simple: a round trip ticket gets you $150 toward a bunch of items, including airline tickets on any airline, Thomas Pink shirts, spa treatments and Bose sound systems. It’s similar (I guess) to American Express Membership Rewards, though Eos’ program allows for unrestricted use of the rewards on other airlines. After flying Eos for the first time, you’ll get bonus points worth $800. Not too shabby.
Eos is also offering a $3,500 round trip fare if you book 42 days out. Remember that service is comparable to first class (not business class) on other airlines, so this fare is a steal. By "steal" I mean it’s aabout $3,100 more than I would pay for a ticket to London. But some people (and, primarily, some people’s companies) will pay for the nicer seats.
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January 11 2006
United Airlines is offering $398 round trip fares from most cities in the US to Osaka, Japan. Tickets must be purchased by January 24th. This is a great fare, but the only drawback is that you have to stay at least 6 nights (this isn’t a drawback if you were planning on staying 6 nights).
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January 10 2006
To combat increasing pressures from lowfare carriers, British Airways has announced that it will eliminate business class service on all short-haul routes out of the UK (except some from Heathrow and Gatwick) and has reduced fares to as low as GBP25 for flights within Europe. British Airways will also begin charging for food on these routes, which I find sad for some reason as (at one time) BA was considered the gold standard for service.
The crazy part is that BA is eliminating all frills and charging GBP25, while Ryanair is flying the same routes with the same lack of frills for at little as GBP .01. Without the frills, why bother flying BA? (that was rhetorical—lots of people hate the lowcost carriers and can’t be bothered with their cattle call mentality. BA also has a strong frequent flyer program(me) that no frills carriers can’t match).
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January 10 2006
Nigeria’s government is taking its first steps to clean up its aviation industry’s miserable safety record. Following two plane crashes in seven weeks in which more than 200 people were killed, the notoriously corrupt government has said enough is enough. Or at least it has decided to make a visible change to its international airport in Lagos. The government will clear a large swatch of thick forest and ponds that surrounds the airport, in anticipation of a safety audit of Nigeria’s aviation infrastructure being done later this year. The area around the airport, according to Nigeria’s aviation administration, "is a vast forest where activities such as palm wine tapping, bushmeat hunting, quarry and other activities thrive." (bushmeat hunting?)
Nigeria’s air travel has grown rapidly–doubling over the past six years–with little-to-no increase in infrastructure spending. Money that was earmarked for infrastructure, according to the aviation office, was spent on "various supplies such as fitness kits, jogging kits… furniture, uniforms, and liquid soap." (jogging kits?)
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January 09 2006
(Thanks to the guys at SEO Speedwagon for this heads up):
The FBI arrested a man when his Frontier Airlines flight arrived in San Jose because passengers had observed him writing in a notebook that had the words "Suicide Bomber" on the front of it. Oh, and he was supposedly "acting suspiciously," whatever that means. After some discussion, it turns out that Suicide Bomber was the name either of the guy’s band or of a song he was writing. He was then released. Please, if you’re going to write lyrics on an airplane, do not make them about suicide bombing. Oh, and the band Suicidal Tendencies should probably never fly again.
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January 09 2006
If I told you that there was a new show on cable called Flight Attendant School, you would probably think that it’s a new series on Cinemax After Dark. At least I hoped it was. Alas, it is not.
The Travel Channel is launching a new reality show called Flight Attendant School beginning this Thursday. The program will follow a class of flight attendant hopefuls for Frontier Airlines as they try to pass through their training course.
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January 09 2006
Passengers booked on Independence Air flights learned quickly that US law forces carriers to take these customers on their flights for $50 on a standby basis. Never wanting to pass up an opportunity to wrestle every dollar from people, some legacy carriers have been offering to sell people confirmed seats for $100.
Southwest Airlines, on the other hand, has taken exactly the opposite tactic (as they so often do). They are taking Independence Air passengers for free. This is why customers love Southwest.
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22 Year Old Strips for Ticket Home at Cancun Airport
