OTR in the News
September 20 2006
In case you care, the OTR got a nice mention in the LA Times over the weekend…
Archive for September, 2006
British Businessman Flies with 2-Year Old Daughter’s Passport
September 20 2006
No, you can’t bring water on the plane but a grown man can successfully fly to Amsterdam with the passport of a 2-year old girl. A British businessman mistakenly took his daughter’s passport with him on a recent trip to the Netherlands and managed to get through 2 passport checks at London’s Luton airport and board the plane. In fact, he brought up the error to passport control in Amsterdam. The airline he flew, EasyJet, will likely face a fine.
Yet More Delays for the A380?
September 20 2006
A French newspaper is reporting that Airbus will announce this week that it will further delay deliveries of the A380 superjumbo. It is likely that the manufacturer will only deliver 4 of the 25 planned airplanes in its first year (Singapore and Emirates would receive 2 each). Someday soon there’ll be a book about how the A380 program went awry.
To Sell More Blankets, One Airline Cranks Up the Air Conditioning
September 19 2006
Travel Weekly has a pretty good article about how low cost airlines are using sales of ancillary items (food, entertainment, mortgages, etc) to boost their bottom line. An interesting note from the piece: one Asian low cost carrier (Air Asia?) cranks up the air conditioning in its cabins when sales of in-flight blankets aren’t good enough. I sorta have to respect that…
Another Cheap $999 Business Class Fare to London
September 19 2006
Since Delta’s $999 round trip business class fare from New York to London expired last week, it’s time for another airline to come in and fill the void: MAXjet is now offering the same fare from both New York and Washington to London on its all-business-class 767s. Its seats are like a comfortable domestic business class, not the lie-flat-and-cashmere-blanket business class, but for $999, it’s a great deal. Book by October 1 and fly between November 1 and February 28.
6 Nights in London, Including Air for $499
September 18 2006
Go-Today has a fantastic deal on a trip to London: $499 gets you a flight on American Airlines from New York (Boston is only $20 extra), 6 nights hotel and daily breakfast. Hell, in London 6 days of breakfast could cost you $499. Book by September 25 and travel January 3 to February 22.
Flights to the Azores for $298
September 15 2006
(Thanks Frommers…)
Looking for an out-of-the-way vacation?
Azores.com is offering a $298 round trip fare from Boston to Sao Miguel in the Azores far off the coast of Portugal. Fares are good November 1-December 12 or January 8 through March 31st. No, it’s not prime season. But for $298, who cares?
More Nonsense on the Security Front
September 15 2006
Salon’s Ask the Pilot column takes another look at the thwarted London terrorism situation and finds that the news of the possible attacks was way, way overblown. The column quotes and article from the New York times which suggests that no attacks were imminent:
"Questions about the immediacy and difficulty of the suspected bombing
plot cast doubt on the accuracy of some of the public statements made
at the time," the article concludes. That’s a convoluted way of saying
the plotters were likely months from pulling off the massive,
synchronized attack we’ve been told was only days away. "The reactions
of Britain and the United States," the story continues, "… were
driven less by information about a specific, imminent attack than fear
that other, unknown terrorists might strike." As for the scope of the
attack, British investigators described the widely parroted report that
up to 10 U.S. airliners had been targeted as "speculative" and
"exaggerated."
Smith, who writes the column, has said that he can’t believe the lack of outrage about the way this whole incident has been handled. I’m outraged, and you should be, too. Just now the US is considering scanning all cargo on passenger planes. If you didn’t know, the US only requires random screening of cargo being loaded on passenger planes. Yes, you read that correctly. Your toothpaste is a threat, but a giant box of unopened cargo is not. That’s what it’s come to. It’s a joke, and it’s time we do something about it — and you can, come Election Day in November.
(and that’s one to grow on…)
$788 Round Trip Cheap Airfare to New Zealand, Tahiti Stopover Included
September 14 2006
(Via Travelzoo:)
Air Tahiti Nui is offering an amazing deal on flights to Auckland, New Zealand: $788 gets you a round trip flight from JFK to Auckland AND a free stopover in Tahiti. It’s only $888 for the same deal to Sydney. Book by September 26 and fly by December 8. And rumor has it that load factors on the JFK-Tahiti nonstops are minimal, which means you may even get a whole row to yourself. How can you beat that?
Go Skiing in Innsbruck, Austria, for $598, Air & Hotel Included
September 14 2006
A tour operator called Ski Europe is offering an amazing deal on a trip to Innsbruck, Austria this fall. $598 gets you a flight from New York and 4 nights lodging in the ski town. They’ll even throw in breakfast. How can you beat that?
