December 19 2007
The Buffalo Bills’ chartered Delta 767 got stuck (not particularly interesting photo in link) in the mud at Cleveland Airport on Sunday after their 8-0 loss. The pilot was turning from the runway to the taxiway, went too wide, and ended up in the mud.
Oddly enough, this is the second time this has happened to a professional sports team in a month — in November the Detroit Red Wings got stuck in the mud trying to leave St. Louis.
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December 18 2007
So, there will likely be some changes over here at the OTR. I was laid off from my day job yesterday (not a bad thing), so I’m going to have considerably more time on my hands to devote to this and to Tripmela.com, my Indian travel deals website. The rest of this week will be normal, I’ll take Christmas week off, and then come the new year I’ll be posting a lot more stuff here. Until I get a job, in which case OTR will get the shaft again.
If you’re looking for any marketing help, I’m available 
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December 17 2007
OTR reader Chris posted a comment to my "Planeguage" post last week that I thought was so good I would post it here (and if you hate it, feel free to harass him, not me). He’s compiled some thoughts on etiquette while flying that were particularly apropos during this busy traveling season. Thanks, Chris…
I’m a frequent business traveller & have seen a lot over the
years. Here’s a travel etiquette document that I’ve written and updated
over the years with input from friends.
In the Airport
1. Wait for people to get off the train/bus before attempting to board.
2. Do not stand directly in front of the train/bus door when waiting for people to get off.
3. When waiting to board the plane, do not go near the gate until
your row is called. There is no excuse to have to wade through a herd
of people to get to the gate.
4. Look where you are walking.
5. If you are not walking on the moving sidewalks & escalators,
stand on the right and allow room for people to get by you. This
includes keeping your baggage out of the way.
6. There would be room for more people at the baggage claim conveyor
if everyone would stand back a few steps and only stand directly next
to the conveyor when picking up their luggage. There’s really no need
to pack two rows of people directly beside the conveyor.
7. Be ready at the security check point. Do not make people wait
behind you while you search for your boarding pass or ID. Be quick when
removing your coat, shoes, pocket contents, laptop, film, etc. You can
put a lot of items from your pockets in your carry-on or coat pockets
before arriving at the inspection point.
8. Don’t cut in front of someone in the security screening line then
set off the alarm because you didn’t empty out your pockets. Don’t cut
in front of anyone period.
On the Plane
1. If wearing a backpack, remove it when boarding to avoid hitting
someone in the head. Be careful with any carry on to avoid hitting
those already seated. Watch your rear end also. No one wants it in
his/her face.
2. Do not take up an entire overhead. If you carry on two items, put
one under the seat in front of you. If your “carry-on” takes up the
entire overhead, check it.
3. If you can’t carry it, it’s not a carry-on. Check it.
4. Remove any items that you might want during the flight from your
carry-on before placing it in the overhead to avoid getting up and
blocking traffic later.
5. Be quick about placing your carry-on in the overhead. Do not block traffic.
6. There is no need to stand up when departing the plane until the
rows in front of you are clear. The person sitting next to you does not
want your rear end in his/her face. Do you really deplane faster if you
stand hunched-over waiting for the rows in front of you to clear?
7. Be careful about leaning your seat back in coach. The person
sitting behind you probably does not want your seat in his/her lap.
There’s not a lot of room on planes these days.
8. Ringing the flight attendant call button during takeoff and landing will not get you anywhere.
9. Do not kick, push, or bump the seat in front of you. Don’t rest your feet on the seat in front of you.
10. Do not bounce the tray table whether it is attached to the seat in front of you or to your own seat.
11. Do not stuff all your belongings into the seat pocket in front
of you. The person in the seat in front of you can feel this in his/her
back.
12. Control your children.
13. Wear headphones when using your computer, MP3 player, DVD player, game…
14. Most people want to sleep on red-eyes. Try to be a little quieter than normal if you’re not sleeping.
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December 14 2007
Passengers arriving at Johannesburg’s airport earlier this week were warmly greeted by a large electronic sign that read, "F— You." Except it didn’t have the dashes. Officials say they aren’t sure who tampered with the signage, but it’s a good sign that it was not done on purpose.
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December 14 2007
You’ll certainly see this elsewhere, but Lufthansa has purchased a 19% stake in JetBlue for $300 million. Depending on whom you believe, the Lufthansa either made the investment because it saw a good deal with the weak dollar and JetBlue at a low point, or because JetBlue has major debt obligations and won’t have the cash to pay them and continue growing their operations. The investment is purely financial and will not result in code shares (at least not yet).
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December 13 2007
A man drank a litre of vodka in a security line at Germany’s Nuremburg Airport on Tuesday rather than dispose of the liquid (1 litre > 3 ounces). A doctor was called and discovered, crazy enough, that he had alcohol poisoning. While this is crazy, of course, I admire that the guy wouldn’t let them take his vodka without a fight. Well done.
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December 13 2007
(Thanks to View from the Wing)
Taking a page from universally-beloved Ticketmaster, US Airways has added a $5 fee for bookings made on its own website. It’s essentially a fare increase couched as a service fee, which is nonsense, and I hope the FTC cracks down on this. If you’re going to book on US Airways, consider using Priceline (of all things), which does not charge a service fee (if you haven’t used Priceline in a while, they primarily do regular bookings now, not the old name-your-price thing).
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December 12 2007
Thanks to reader Nate for the notice (I believe no one else has reported this):
easyJet is considering launching an option called easyJet Plus where, in exchange for an annual fee, you can board first and have a dedicated check-in. The plan will likely cost between 60 and 80 pounds a year. They also believe that providing a dedicated check-in for the business flyers who would choose this plan would cause them to check more bags (which generates more revenue). Any means of gaining business travelers and generating ancillary income is a good thing — Southwest is trying the same thing here. The interesting twist is offering it as an annual membership. I’m certain frequent travelers on Southwest would pay $120 a year to board first, wouldn’t they?
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December 11 2007
Delta has posted a series of short (30 seconds or so) animated videos titled Planeguage that show some of the customer etiquette issues we all face when we fly (being stuck in the middle seat, the person who opens the window during a movie, badly behaved kids, etc…) They’re actually pretty amusing and well animated. This is the first time I’ve seen an airline actually show what a flight is like (versus the typical commercial where it’s absolute heaven, even in the middle seat). It’s an extremely clever piece of marketing that actually made me happy that I’m flying them tomorrow. Extremely well done…
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December 11 2007
After a loooooong stint, OTR favorite Icelandair is leaving Baltimore because of high costs and low yields. The airline will continue service from New York, Boston, Orlando and Minneapolis. (I know, not a huge deal if you don’t care about Icelandair, but there it is…)
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Buffalo Bills’ Plane Stuck in Mud at Cleveland