Standing Room Tickets On Airplanes?

A Chinese airline is thinking about selling standing room on its jets, complete with a restraining belt, the Associated Press reports. Shhh. Nobody tell Ryanair.

Postcard From The Past

My friend John found a bunch of postcards among some family belongings, all from a trip taken in 1922. This one is of the pyramids at Giza:

Yemenia Crash Is Probably Not About Airbus

The observation that another Airbus has crashed is about as relevant as the observation that another Toyota has crashed. The manufacturer of the aircraft is likely to be among the less salient details.

Read the rest of this entry »

Air New Zealand Spices Up Safety Video

A new safety video just rolled out on Air New Zealand features employees wearing nothing but body paint and shoes.

The video is shot so that the painted-on uniforms don’t reveal much more than the ordinary uniforms would. But the whole thing is a hoot, if only because the employees in the video look as if they’re about to crack up laughing:

The New York Times reveals that one of the employees is Air New Zealand CEO Rob Fyfe. After Googling him, I have to conclude he’s the pilot in the video.

Have Airfares Finally Bottomed Out?

It has become my custom to tell you, gentle readers, that airfares have hit an absolute rock bottom and cannot possibly drop any more, just before they do. (Please note the increased courtliness of my writing style; I have been reading Don Quixote.)

Just last month I went to Honolulu on a $401 round-trip fare from Bradley that I was convinced would never be matched. And last week I bought a $256 round-trip fare to Honolulu from Newark.

Read the rest of this entry »

Why Not Rental Cats?

Me with freelance cats, Istanbul.

I am not overly fond of my house, which saves me the trouble of being homesick when I travel. But I surely do miss my cat.

It can be argued, indeed it has been argued by my husband, that my cat has as many deficiencies as the house. This may be true, but the cat has some fine qualities to balance things out, most notably a sweet disposition and an excellent purr.

Anyway, I find feline company quite soothing, and I would like, when I travel, the opportunity to rent a cat.

Read the rest of this entry »

More Setbacks For Boeing 787

Boeing 787

Qantas has canceled orders for 15 Boeing 787s, most definitely not because it thinks the wings will fall off, Bloomberg reports.

The problem is the economy, not recent tests that showed the need for reinforcements where the 787′s wings connect to the fuselage, according to Qantas. The design change to the wing attachment is causing further delays to test flights of the 787, which are already two years behind schedule. (Fortune has an excellent explanation of the design issue here.)

The delays to the 787, the so-called dreamliner, are disappointing for Boeing and for airline passengers. The revolutionary new design of the aircraft includes plenty of measures to improve passenger comfort, including better pressurization, larger windows and quieter engines.

I’d like to ride on one, and I’m confident it will be safe. I just wish it would get here faster.

Car Rental Rates Way Up

I wasn’t imagining it. Car rental rates are way up, The New York Times’ Practical Traveler reports.

Weekly airport rental rates for a compact car were up 73 percent this May over the previous May and 65 percent in mid-June from a year earlier.

The reason is basic supply and demand. Although demand for car rentals is down — by roughly 15 percent, according to [the president of the Abrams Consulting Group, Neil] Abrams — rental agencies have cut their fleets by even more, essentially creating their own shortage and jacking up prices.

Last month I complained about high rental car rates and several people wrote to tell me about the great deals they got. Now I don’t feel quite as stupid, although I’m clearly not as smart as my readers.

The Times column has some advice on getting lower rates.

Breast Implant Bursts During Flight

A woman on an Aeroflot flight from Moscow to Los Angeles collapsed when her breast implant ruptured toward the end of the 14-hour flight on June 13, the Aviation Herald reports:

Doctors diagnosed, that a silicone implant had burst due to pressure differential shortly before Los Angeles. Doctors said, that the implant was already damaged before the flight.

Stories of collagen-treated lips exploding and inflatable bras bursting go back decades, but the Aviation Herald does not traffic in urban legends. It’s a very reliable source.

Newark To Honolulu, Round Trip, $256. No Kidding

Honolulu, from Diamond Head

I thought I was pretty smart for picking up a $401 round-trip fare from Bradley to Honolulu for a trip I took last month. Not so much because just a few minutes ago, I booked two round trips from Newark to Honolulu for $256 each.

That includes all the taxes and fees, I kid you not.

Availability is good on these incredible fares into 2010, although they’re generally not available on Saturdays and around holidays. I suspect they won’t be sold for long, though, so if you’re going to buy, do it quickly.

I found out about the fares, available only from United and only from Newark, from the wonderful Beat of Hawaii blog. It also mentioned $276 round-trip from Atlanta.

And if you’ve never been to Hawaii, do  yourself a favor and go. It’s paradise.