Time For Europe, Or At Least Canada

Lower oil prices are pushing airfares down, and are helping to strengthen the U.S. dollar. Meanwhile, falling demand is creating travel bargains across the spectrum, from hotels to package tours to cruises.

All this is making Europe mighty attractive. Combine the advantages of a weaker euro with weak demand for plane seats and hotel rooms, and you get a wide range of bargains. Add the usual off-season discounts, particularly between Thanksgiving and Christmas, and it gets even cheaper.

If Europe is too far and still too expensive for you, Canada provides an alternative. The Canadian dollar has dropped from parity to about 80 cents to the U.S. dollar, creating a currency exchange bonanza within driving distance for many of us.

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After The Attacks In Mumbai

Travelers wondering about the situation on the ground in Mumbai would do well to read the International Herald Tribune’s Globespotter’s blog. Kavitha Rao describes the situation after the terror attacks, with details about security, hotels, restaurants and transportation.

Obese Airline Passengers Get Break In Canada

Passengers who need more than one airline seat because of obesity or a disability won’t have to pay for the additional seat in Canada.

The Canadian Supreme Court has rejected an appeal of the rule by the airlines, so Air Canada and WestJet will have to change their policies.

The obesity provision is certainly the most contentious aspect of the case. 

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Is Your Luggage Really Overweight?

New York City’s Department of Consumer Affairs went out to LaGuardia and JFK airports and found more than 100 airline scales that overreported the weight of luggage, the New York Daily News reports. I wish they’d head over to my doctor’s office …

Hawaii Slow To Cash In On Obama

The city of Chicago is working feverishly to pull in tourist dollars after Illinois’ junior senator, Barack Obama, was elected president of the United States.

Experience Presidential Chicago, urges the Web site of the Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau. Tours and guides are popping up all over the Windy City.

But wait. Didn’t Obama grow up in Hawaii? What’s up there?

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Low-Fare Trash, Unite!

Are you a valued, elite, premiere airline customer or low-fare trash? Yeah, me too! And proud of it.

I ask because I’ve noticed an uptick lately in the contempt level for us folks in the back of the plane. Sometimes it’s subtle, as when United Airlines refers to its “most-valued guests,” raising the inescapable notion that the rest of us are “least-valued.” Sometimes it’s more obvious, as when an analyst mentions “low-fare trash” or cabin crew call their passengers “chavs.”

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Slow Security Lanes Open At Bradley

Of course, the TSA isn’t calling them slow lanes. They’re “family lanes.” And now Bradley has them, too.

Either way, it’s a good idea.

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Flight Attendant Steps In For Pilot

Air Canada flight attendants removed a disoriented and belligerent co-pilot from the cockpit before one of them stepped up, sat down and helped the captain land the 767, according to a report just released by the Irish Air Accident Investigation Unit.

The flight, from Toronto to London, made an emergency landing at Shannon after the co-pilot was removed from the cockpit and restrained by the crew.

The incident occurred in January. Initial news stories didn’t mention the flight attendant and reported that the captain landed the plane alone. None of the crew was named in the Irish report.

Qantas: Australian For ‘Oops?’

Two Qantas 747s being towed at a maintenance facility in Australia collided today, damaging both. (This sort of thing is also known, apparently, as a “prang.”)

One of the 747s was under repair because an oxygen canister exploded and blew a whacking big hole in the fuselage at 30,000 feet over the South China Sea in July. So it’s back to the hangar for a little touch-up on that baby.

I feel kind of bad bringing this up because Qantas has an excellent safety record, overall. But it’s hard to avoid noticing the recent run of unfortunate incidents, including the explosion and a strange, unexplained nosedive that injured 30 people last month.

Of course, this latest incident could have been worse. Commented one reader on the Herald Sun boards: “I’d rather they collide on the ground than 38,000ft in the air.”

That New Hotel Smell

Just stayed in a Boston hotel that’s less than a year old, and I realized there won’t be much of that for a while. New hotel projects aren’t exactly thick on the ground right now.