July 2007

Qantas Airlines’ new A380 jets, which debut next year, will not only be state-of-the-art flying machines. They will also come with inflight wireless internet access, with power sockets available in every seat. In addition, the cabins will come equipped with wide-screen monitors with hundreds of movies and tv shows on demand. Qantas also plan to upgrade this service to its existing planes.

Qantas has yet to release whether this service will be provided free of charge, or what the surfing speed of the wi-fi will be. I’m hoping for at least 10 Mb/s. Addtionally, for those who don’t have wi-fi laptops, the seatbacks will also come equipped with a regular networking cable, and the seatback entertainment will come equipped with minor surfing capabilities for email checking.

Yes. And they don’t seem to plan on changing the policy any time soon. I sometimes forget the exactly restrictions, worry that my bottles are not the right size, and then try to sneak them through security in my sweatshirt when they are in fact too big.

However, if you are not interested in the thrill of trying to sneak a 4oz container through security, I recommend the travelon 1-Quart Zip-Top Bag with Plastic Bottles. For only six dollars, you can pack exactly the amount allotted by the TSA, in exactly the manner they have specified. Then you can breeze through security without worry.

The last time I flew, my laptop’s lithium ion battery was on it’s last legs, getting only about 30 minutes when fully charged. So rather than downloading a few episodes of 24 and enjoying my trip, I just closed my eyes and slept (sort of).

However, if it’d been a little more knowledgable, I might have selected a seat in advance that happened to have a power jack. For example, if you fly on one of Continental’s Boeing 767, you will have access to a power jack in rows 16-23. On their 777’s, however, you find row 16 powerless. Next time you have a long flight it’s worth checking out if you will have power or not. If it’s real long, it might even before worth arranging your flight around.

As the number of delays and cancellations increase, it’s important to know what you are entitled to, should this happen to you. The rules are different for almost every airline, and there are no federal laws or rules for how the airlines are required to compensate you. However, each airline has a set of rules they have promised to abide by, called Rule 240.

These rules, however, are often not fully understood by the airline representative working the counter, who will most likely offer you nothing (at least that’s what happened the last time my flight was delayed two hours because of a flight staff shortage). However, if you print your airline’s rules before you leave (or look them up on your iPhone at the airport) they will have no choice but to give you fair compensation.

This has been a rather poor summer in terms of cancellation and delays. If you are flying soon, and the thought of a cancelled flight or some time on the tarmac makes your skin crawl, this might help: rankings and results for the major airlines’ delays and cancellations.

The best of the pack: Southwest, with only 0.1% of their flights cancelled and over three quarters of their flights on-time. The worst? Northwest Airlines, with over 50 times as many cancellations. The next best after Southwest, Contentinal, has 1.0% of their flights cancelled. Something to remember next time you fly the friendly skis.

I tend to pack lightly. My parents, on the other hand, tend to push the weight limit on baggage. Aside from the annoyance of carrying all that around, it can be quite frustrating to get dinged for being a few pounds over the weight limit. Fees for breaking the limit can range from 25 to 75 dollars. Even if you are only slightly over, it’s not as though you can unpack a few things on the spot.

If you are on overpacker, I recommend getting a handle scale. You attach it to the handle of your luggage, and when you pull up, it gives you the weight. Quick, easy, and cheap. It might save you some cash and hassle if you tend to bring the kitchen sink with you.

The recent release of the i-Phone has overshadowed the release of pretty much any other electronics. This is unfortunate because the new BlackBerry 8830 is a must-have for international business travelers.

Launched by Telus, the new BlackBerry offers great band coverage for wi-fi internet. awesome security, and a QWERTY keyboard. The coolest feature is the built-in, voice-activated GPS which provides turn-by-turn driving instructions. Perfect for business trips.

OnAir, an inflight entertainment provider owned by Airbus, is planning on offering a new service to allow the use of cellphones, BlackBerrys, and other wireless devices on European flights. OnAir plans on providing this service for carriers such as Air France, BMI, Emirates, Qantas, and Ryanair. There are currently over 30 countries cleared for inflight cellphone use, but the US public strongly dislikes the idea, by over a 2 to 1 margin, so it appears cellphone use will remain available only overseas. Sorry Teresa, but that counts for I-Phone’s too.

JetBlue hopes to unveil onboard Internet access by the end of the year. The service will be provided by LiveTv, which currently provides inflight entertainment to JetBlue and other airlines. JetBlue plans on offering internet access for free, as well as free text messaging, but no cellphone use. Southwest is also exploring inflight internet, but plans on making this a paid serivce.

The handy review site blogonbooks just posted about a new book that I’m eager to get my hands on. It’s titled The Traveler’s Web and it focuses on the vast array of Web resources for travelers. The folks at extremesearcher.com have posted all the links detailed in the book, so you can click through to many of the resources immediately.

I’ve written about several posts recently about planes spending an obscene amount of time on the tarmac, occasionally without AC or with overflowing sewage. But how often does something like this actually happen?

According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, 0.0005 percent of flights, or 36 out of 7.2 million, experienced tarmac delays of over five hours last year. Not too bad; about the same chance as being struck by lightning. Looks like the airlines are actually doing astonishingly well.

Except that the statistics are grossly inaccurate. It turns out that there are several loopholes to reporting delays. For example, if a flight is diverted to or from another airport, it is reported as “diverted” not delayed. If the flight ends up being cancelled, it is reported as “cancelled”, not delayed. And there are a few more. Representative Jean Schmidt estimates that when this loophole is closed, the actual number could go up tenfold. Even then however, a 0.005 percent chance isn’t that bad. I just wish they would give us more peanuts.

Last week, 50 passengers on Comair Flight 5637 from JFK airport spent four hours on the tarmac. That wasn’t the worst part however. The air conditioning wasn’t working, and the plane grew hot to the point where it came to be a health risk.

David Ollila, a passenger aboard the flight, taped the situation, including a confrontation with the pilots, and a 4-month old baby being fanned by her mother as she grew increasingly uncomfortable. Ollila stated that airline employees need to be able to make intelligent decisions given individual situations, particularly when people’s (and infants’) health are at risk.