air travel (82)

Business Travelers Want to Ban Kids From Planes

Not so long ago we stumbled upon an online chat where the subject was banning children from flying, or at least banishing them from flying in business class.

So we were not completely surprised at the USA Today Travel article that said 74% of UK-based business class travelers get annoyed at children on flights, and that airlines should provide children-free flights,  or at least flights for those over 18 years old.

The survey of 1,000 business-class
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Flight delays are frustrating and time consuming. They send stranded passengers on a mad cycle of phone calls, emails, texts, Facebook messages, overpriced bottled water, lots of Starbucks and Auntie Annie's salty pretzels.

But there is also something beautiful that comes out of a flight delay – people bond and form friendships – almost cult like – they unite, commiserate and share deep thoughts about the weather.
Before you know it you are telling all sorts of “Gate Strangers” where you are from
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Getting Around Costa Rica by Air

Costa Rica’s amazing natural attractions make it an incomparable vacation destination. You’re in paradise here in the tropics with lush rainforest, active volcanoes, spectacular mountain ranges and valleys, and endless beaches on both Pacific and Caribbean coasts.

AIR-02.gif?width=359Domestic flights are the perfect option for travelers who want to visit as many places in Costa Rica as possible in a short amount of time. Plus, you get a beautiful aerial view of the landscape. Costa Rica is a rugged country of peaks

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Now No Need to Fly With People You Don't Like

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It's an axiom among those of us who fly: You never know whom you'll be sitting next to.

Could be a fascinating character from some terrific movie, your next love or, more likely, someone you really, badly want to get away from.

New Media Travel reported on the idea of "Social Seating Solutions" (Never Sit Next to Boring People Again), so the idea of selecting one's seat mate  has been around for a while. But the enabling tool hasn't been very successfully developed or employed. And there was al

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I think I have remembered all the planes I have flown on since I started traveling in the 1960′s. That was tough. I started traveling as a child in the Midwest, then to South America, and then, well all over.


Douglass

DC3 North central


The first plane I remember flying on was  a North Central Airlines DC- 3 My father worked for North Central so we flew non-rev, meaning free. We called these planes puddle jumpers.

There are still small operators with DC-3s in revenue service and as cargo aircraft. The common sayi

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Treat Passengers of Size with Dignity

Last week, Vilma Soltesz died after she was denied her seat on a flight because of her weight. Soltesz was planning to fly home to receive treatment for diabetes and renal disease, but she passed away in Hungary before she could get home. Her husband has filed a lawsuit, but the two airlines named in the suit (Delta and KLM) are claiming that they could not physically accommodate Soltesz.

Though the details of Soltesz's ordeal remain in dispute, her story—and the experiences of countless other fl

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Aerofóbicos Distinguidos (y Confesos)

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por Jorge Mira

Hay una larga lista de personas famosas con fobia a volar.
 Quizás el más destacado de todos ellos sea Gabriel García Márquez, quien hace ya tiempo escribió un cómico artículo sobre el asunto titulado “Seamos machos: hablemos del miedo al avión”, en el que nos dejaba algunas perlas como éstas:


“Yo lo padezco como nadie, a mucha honra, y además con una gratitud inmensa, porque gracias a él he podido darle la vuelta al mundo en 82 horas, a bordo de toda clase de aviones, y por lo m

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Wi-Fi, Yes; Talking to Co-Passengers, No

9008743901?profile=originalAnd, yes,  we told you so.

In a New Media Travel article we discussed the low-to-no threat that cell phones pose to navigation, and why some many other airlines like Emirates are permitting cell phone use in flight. US-based airlines don't.

But we also said most passengers don't actually want to talk in the air. Nor do they want to talk to their co-passengers.

Apparently saying "I love you," at 35,000 feet isn't a great a temptation for 38% of us who fly.

It seems we'd rather enjoy the quiet

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From NMT Images
Transportation Security Administration Bans Print/Toner Cartridges. Waste of Time?

In its latest commendable but misguided attempt to to stop terrorists, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) just announced that toner and ink cartridges of more than 16 ounces will be banned from all US-bound passenger aircraft in carry-ons and checked bags.

USA Today Travel reports that the move is a reaction to the “thwarted terrorist plot” last week when explosive devices were found on
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Budget Holiday Tips

So you are searching for cheap holiday accommodations to chill out this summer, right? Well, great. And now what’s next? Exactly, it is finding the best possible holiday deals. Holiday packages are not necessarily to be expensive always. Here we will give you the hints to find the best holiday accommodations without breaking your bank balance. Summer is the season where most of the people tend to migrate from their hometowns to chiller places to escape from the harmful rays of hot sun.


Often holi

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Are You the Perfect Passenger?

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According to a recent article posted on the economist.com, the perfect airline passengers are single European men, in their 30s traveling for pleasure. 

Once he’s got his airline tickets, it seems the single European man is content to go about his travels, with minimal interaction with airline staff. 

Is that what it takes to be a perfect passenger?

For those we aren't "perfect passengers," listen up to what your problem may be. 

The majority of the complaints listed in the survey on Skyscanner soun

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Frequent Flyers Should Not Board First

This year, United dropped its practice of allowing families to board planes before other travelers. The legacy carrier joined the ranks of American and US Airways, which don't officially offer pre-boarding or early boarding of any kind for families. But a handful of other airlines still do, including Delta (the last legacy airline supporting family-friendly boarding), JetBlue, and Southwest.

The industry's approach to boarding is mixed, as is, ostensibly, popular opinion.  In a recent poll of mor

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Guide to Booking Cheap Airline Tickets

The capacity to reserve airline tickets has evolved immensely through the history of air travel from a lengthier manual operation to an electronic operation with minimal intervention needed. Though this might
seem like a drawback to employees it has opened the doors for internal
movement inside the airline business and greater efficiency with the
reservation system leading to in real-time showing of flight information
that helps both the airline and the passengers.

Since the advances in technology al

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Tips For Booking Your Holiday Travel

If there were ever any hard and fast rules for booking airfare, they seem to have “flown” out the window. Airfares change constantly, even by the minute. It can be frustrating trying to get that best rate, but these tips can help you pay less.

1. Book early. The sooner you can decide on your holiday travel plans, the better. If you wait too long, you run the risk of less availability and higher rates. The Air Transport Association reports Thanksgiving, and the winter holidays of Christmas, Hanukk
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Why Does Airline Food Taste so Awful?

(Listen to the 1-minute Travel Audio PostCard)

Is it actually the food the airlines serve (when they do) that tastes so bad, or is it the flying experience make the food taste so awful?

Wired Magazine reported that a handful of brave volunteers made “the ultimate sacrifice for science” and ate airline food. Voluntarily.

Apparently a lab was set up that perfectly simulated the intense dryness, stale air and ear-irritating low pressure of airline cabins.

Germ

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Excerpt from Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet (svd.se).

 

FAKE PILOT SCAM. Did you think a pilot’s license and training are at least some kind of a guarantee for a safe journey?

Think again.

Nobody could guess the dark secret of Swedish pilot Thomas Salme: He had no pilot’s license. But for thirteen years, he navigated the skies as an airline pilot, much like the character in the 2002 Hollywood blockbuster movie Catch Me If You Can about Frank Abagnale Jr who presented himself as a pilot go gain

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Long flights can be rather unpleasant for us Corporate Road Warriors.

Sure you plan to catch up on your sleep and read that book you never finished but there are so many distractions like people talking loudly. It’s always one or two people on the whole plane (first class or economy – there is always one in the crowd) who start up these conversations with anyone who will listen. All you have to do is look their way and once they catch your eye – you’re done.

They like to talk about how many busine

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Iberia launches "IBHelp", revolutionising customer service via mobile devices

  • Original and innovative new in-house technology connects more than 100 iPads and PDAs to check-in kiosks, the new Quick Service Points and other devices that can issue the documents customers may need
  • IBHelp enables Iberia staff to deal with any incident or customer request at any point from check-in to boarding, making connections, retrieving luggage, etc.
  • The initiative is part of Iberia’s Ágora scheme to make its T4 hu
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From From Kaleel

Guns ‘n Airports: What is Georgia Thinking?

Last month Georgia lawmakers decided it would allow guns to be carried in those parts of the the state’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, not expressly controlled by the Federal government.
The airport is one of the worlds busiest.

While Georgia Governor Sonny Perdu has not yet signed the bill into law, the legislation allows the carrying of firearms in the airport lobby, ticket counter and baggage claim areas, places not under s
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Who doesn’t love an airline lounge when you have time on your hands and you need space from the swarms of people flocking around those tiny connected chairs in an airless waiting area of a gate?


Corporate road warriors - Let us Unite and pay tribute to the holy "lounge."

Those relaxing open spaces with giant TVs, cocktails (virgin and otherwise) and that great “hotel lobby” smell.

Sidebar - reading - optional - Hotel Lobby Smell Defined: You know when you stay in a really nice hotel and you wa

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