Seems like everyone complains about airline food and restrooms. Well, apparently the only thing worse than airline food and toilets is no food and overflowing toilets.

People tend to bond together in times of trauma and a group of American Airlines passengers has done just that following their experience trapped inside a jet for nearly nine hours in December.  The Coalition for Airline Passenger's Bill of Rights has been launched at strandedpassengers.blogspot.com

We have to say the group's mission is a bit wordy but we can't find anything to object to: "We are commited to solutions for promoting airline passenger policies that forward first and foremost the safety of all passengers while not imposing unrealistic economic burdens that adversely affect airline profitability or create exhorbitant ticket price increases".

We'll be watching to see how the bill of rights progresses. If you're interested in reading the proposed bill of rights, head on over to the stranded passengers' new site.

Posted by Nicholas at 4:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This week a family of three was removed from an AirTran flight when their little girl of three would not remain in her seat and continued to misbehave and ignore crew instructions. After delaying the flight 15 minutes,  the airline decided to have the family removed from the flight. No doubt, the remaining 112 passengers rose from their seats and applauded, or did they? When it comes to kids on planes there are definitely two camps of thought.

The following Q&A, resulted in some of my most heated email responses. Bring up children on planes and prepare to defend yourself. Who knows perhaps there's a movie in the making. If you loved Snakes on Planes, just wait util you see Kids on Planes!

Q: How do you handle it when flying first class and a parent is carrying along their noisy, crying child who kicks the back of your seat, and makes your flight miserable while the parents do nothing?

Unfortunately, seems like there is never enough room in the overheads to put them there.
—MV

A. Dear MV,
It's a good thing I only use readers' initials or you wouldn't be safe from any parent on any plane on any route served by any U.S carrier.

In your defense, it's understandable to feel exasperated by unruly children at extremely high altitudes (or at Olive Garden for that matter). It's equally frustrating when the accompanying parent is oblivious to the fact that Amber is using your Mont Blanc pen as a pretend lipstick liner.

On the other hand, after having traveled with my niece and nephew as toddlers, I gained a whole new respect for parents traveling with children. By the time we landed, my suit looked like a drop cloth and well, let me just say someone needs to invent a better diaper.

My sister toted along enough stuff for a two-week stay in the Andes. Later, I learned you need it all. I also discovered cabin pressure really does play havoc on a kid's inner ear.

Am I waffling? Not really, I just think long durations in close quarters call for an added dose of patience and consideration for and from all parties. When you think about it, flying is the equivalent of sequestering 150 strangers in your house with the doors locked and movement restricted as you wait for a uniformed authority to instruct you on exit strategies. Quite frankly, I'm surprised flying is as civil as it is.

MV, your options are really limited if you don't want to make the 6 o'clock news or be restrained by air marshals. You can begin with a polite hello and engage the would-be albeit adorable menace and responsible parent when the first salvo of bad behavior is released, and kindly ask them to please not kick your seatback. While you don't need to exchange addresses for holiday cards, sugar can get you farther than vinegar.

Most kids (and parents) are not sociopaths, so when they find out they're disturbing you, they'll likely refrain. Of course - some won't - and in that case you're in for a bumpy ride unless other seating is available.

Anyone who has traveled with children knows it's a feat that requires super-human powers from mere mortals. Should you need some traveling tips for mastering minors in motion, I've found flyingwithkids.com to be a most informative guide.

I must confess that once I did find a short-lived way to stifle a child's interest in my every in-flight move by suggesting that the flight attendants needed help serving drinks. Needless to say, I never got that ginger ale.

Posted by Tom at 1:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

 

I've always been fascinated by the Golden Age of Travel, when planes and passengers demanded your attention and the skies were nothing less than an exciting and accessible new frontier. 

Fast forward through the last three decades or the Brown Bag Age of Travel as i like to call it. Not much to report.

That is until now, I spy a glimmer of hope as Boeing revealed its latest 747 interior. Yes, we have some 'ah' factor here. It's not the glamour of Bogey and Bacall, but it's a direction that speaks to the way we thought travel should look in the twenty-first century. 

 "Ground Control to Major Tom..."

Posted by Tom at 3:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Q: In the past when returning from India with spices and cooked sausages, they were thrown out by U.S. Customs. Where can I get an itemized list of permitted items?
— Chris G.

A. Chris, as a man who knows two things to be true: cake is really just a vehicle for the icing and travel is an excuse to eat out, I feel your hunger pain.

My memories of travel are usually based on menus, markets and food vendors. Sure I can focus on a business meeting, just as long as I know there's lunch between PowerPoint presentations and the promise of local cuisine later in the day.

Bringing home a few culinary souvenirs seems innocent enough, but the curious canines of U.S. Customs care little of the delectability of your smuggled treats; it all smells like contraband to the beagle brigade.

Of course, you can eat it on the plane or dispense samples before landing.

Once I had no choice but to throw an impromptu mixer between coach and business class when I learned my parcel of pates and cheeses would become fodder for the Customs garbage can. (Secretly, I wonder if the Customs break room resembles the food court at Harrods.) My new friends and I landed with indigestion, but we gave up nary a gram of France's finest snack food to the waste bin.

U.S. Customs and the U.S. Department of Agriculture take illegal entry of foreign fruits, vegetables and animals into the U.S. quite seriously, and have raised fines to eye-watering levels. For travelers entering the United States who do not declare agricultural products, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) can now charge up to $50,000 in fines, though $1,000 seems to be the standard for first time offenders.

Here are some links to the information you requested:

U.S. Customs Prohibited and Restricted Items

Know Before You Go

Department of Agriculture: On Bringing Food, Plant, and Animal Products Into the United States (Pamphlet still in use)

While were on it, you may wish to learn about duty-free exemptions.

Feigning ignorance rarely works, especially when your tax dollars have been spent so brilliantly on online education.

Posted by Tom at 1:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

When Good Airlines Do Bad Things*
or
Airlines Behaving Badly *
or
I'll Give You Something to Complain About*
 

So the airline representative responded to your complaint with all the verve, empathy, and interest of a Madame Tussaud wax figure. 
 

Still needing an outlet to vent, you turn to anyone who will listen. Not surprisingly, you become the pariah of the cocktail party circuit—guests disperse, fearful you’ll recount your most recent airline trip and subsequent mishaps. No one dare ask you, “How was your trip?”
 

It’s time someone listened to your whining airline complaints with purpose and intent; and that someone is Uncle Sam.
 

The pen (make that email) is mightier than the whimper. For airline-related issues such as cancelled or delayed flights, on-time baggage delivery, and ticket refunds, comments can be directed to the Department of Transportation (DOT) Aviation Consumer Protection Division.
 

Each month the DOT publishes statistics based on consumer feedback and airline performance, ranking airlines from best to worst—a list the airlines are beginning to take seriously.
 

View the Air Travel Consumer Report by year for specific airline rankings.

 

*Sometimes there are just too many good heading options and I feel the need to not waste a one. I tend to believe more really is more.

Posted by Tom at 2:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

 

OK, so we're getting used to bizarre pronouncements from the TSA regarding their latest security rulings. We thought nothing could shake us out of our jaded posture until we saw the latest rulings on monkeys. Yes, monkeys.

Sure enough, if you're planning to head through security with your helper monkey, prepare to have your monkey touched. You heard it here first. So, for those of you traveling with your monkeys, be prepared for the following screening procedures before heading out:

• When a monkey is being transported in a carrier, the monkey must be removed from the carrier by the handler prior to screening,
• The monkey must be controlled by the handler throughout the screening process.
• The monkey handler should carry the monkey through the WTMD while the monkey remains on a leash.
• When the handler and monkey go through the WTMD and the WTMD alarms, both the handler and the monkey must undergo additional screening.
• Since monkeys may likely draw attention, the handler will be escorted to the physical inspection area where a table is available for the monkey to sit on.  Only the handler will touch or interact with the monkey.
• TSOs have been trained to not touch the monkey during the screening process.
• TSOs will conduct a visual inspection on the monkey and will coach the handler on how to hold the monkey during the visual inspection.
• The inspection process may require that the handler take off the monkey’s diaper as part of the visual inspection.  

Posted by Nicholas at 9:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Perhaps the worst job I ever had (replete with nametag and an ill-fitting polyester uniform) was my stint in an airline's lost and found department or as the airline like to encourage passengers, the Baggage Service Center.

I could have been Brad Pitt handing out twenties and it wouldn't have helped. There's not enough lipstick available to put on the pig called lost luggage. Add to that my uncanny knack of attracting customers with anger management issues and I knew I was on the fast track to Dante's inner circle.

We really did care about reuniting passengers with their luggage, and in most cases we were successful. While most airlines average five to 10 lost baggage claims per 1,000 passengers, it does not mitigate the fact that someone is attending a business meeting in yesterday's clothes or making a wedding toast in their jammies.

Here are my tips to help ensure that you and your luggage never part ways.

Check in on time: you may make it to the gate, but your bag usually has a more circuitous path to complete.

• Nametag on your luggage: include name, address, and phone, both inside the bag and out.
• Make your luggage unique. Everyone seems to own the same black nylon suitcase. Add a decal, affix a pompom, doodle a doodle on the case. You'd be surprised how many people pick up the wrong bag.
• Eliminate loose straps: baggage travels miles on automated systems that are yearning to stop anything that is not designed to go with the flow.
• Remove all old checked baggage and bar-coded tags.
• Reconsider en route flight changes if you wish to travel with your luggage.
• Verify the final destination on your checked baggage tag and stub.
• Don't over pack your luggage.
• Keep valuables and medication in your carry-on luggage.
• Try not to book connecting flights with tight minimum connecting times. You may be able to run to the gate, but your suitcase is at the mercy of the transfer cart.

You may wonder what happens to unclaimed luggage. After at least 90 days of intensive tracking by the airlines, anything declared unclaimed is fair game to be resold to a third party such as the Unclaimed Baggage Center in Alabama.

Over one million items pass through this store annually, including clothing (sweat suits as far as the eye can see), cameras, electronics, sporting goods, jewelry, books (more John Grisham than can fill a courtroom) and of course, luggage.
 
Curiously, prices don't seem to reflect one glaring consideration; the merchandise is used. (Hey, I recognize that pair of wingtips!)

 

 

Posted by Tom at 12:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Business Traveler magazine announced the winners of the 2006 Readers' Choice Best in Business Travel Survey. The survey randomly samples the Business Traveler subscriber base, allowing the readers to recognize the companies who have made their business travel more enjoyable.

Here are some of the results:

-Best overall airline in the world: Singapore Airlines
-Best airline for North American travel: Continental Airlines
-Best airline for international travel: Singapore Airlines
-Best business class in the world: Virgin Atlantic Airways
-Best first class in the world: Emirates
-Best premium economy class in the world: United Airlines
-Best airport in North America: Denver International Airport
-Best hotel chain in the world: Marriott International
-Best luxury hotel chain for business travel: Four Seasons Hotels

 Which traveler providers are your favorites?

Posted by Tom at 11:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Posted by Tom at 9:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)