blog

Christopher Elliott reports on several blogs, including inFlightHQ, that cover the business travel beat and claims that their influence is growing. We agree with Christopher and appreciate the mention! The article also mentions the Blog Business Summit, our business blog, and

* [Pat and Meg](http://www.patandmeg.com/)
* [Alex Halavais](http://www.alex.halavais.net/)
* [Jenidallas day-to-day](http://www.jenidallas.typepad.com/)
* [FlyerTalk](http://www.flyertalk.com/)
* [Professor Trammell](http://www.kaye.trammell.com/blog)
* [View from the Wing](http://blogs.flyertalk.com/blogs/viewwing)
* [Road Warrior Tips](http://www.roadwarriortips.com/)

The Old New Thing posts on [favorite airline-related blogs](http://blogs.msdn.com/oldnewthing/archive/2005/12/12/502720.aspx) and includes links to [Flight Attendant Betty](http://betty.libsyn.com/) and [FlightAware](http://flightaware.com/). I plugged inFlightHQ in the comments on the post, maybe we’ll become a fav.

[Flight Level 210](http://virtualskies.arc.nasa.gov/communication/tutorial/tutorial6.html), is an airline term, refererring to a plane’s altitude.

From [Yahoo Picks](http://picks.yahoo.com/picks/) comes [Restoom Ratings](http://www.restroomratings.com/), a site for public restroom reviews. The worst-ever bathroom experience I’ve had was in Dallas. The best was SFO. For my wife, it was the [Frankfurt Airport](http://www.frankfurt-airport.de/) and the self-cleaning toilets in the [Lufthansa Lounge](http://www.fodors.com/forums/threadselect.jsp?fid=126&tid=34697272). She was kind enough to [record a video](/media/auto_toilet.mov) of the Auto Toilet and I scored it to music for your pleasure (QuickTime 1.8M).

A favorite time of the year, the [SAS Christmas Calendar](http://world.campaign.scandinavian.net/us/), each day until Christmas there’s a European city on sale! Today is Oslo for $299, tomorrow it could be flights to Copenhagen or Stockholm, which are equipped with [Connexion By Boeing](http://www.connexionbyboeing.com/index.cfm?p=cbb.serviceavailable&l=en.US&ec=).

The NYTimes reports on the popularity of travel blogs, which keep travelers in touch, offer tips, advice, and photos. The popularity of travel blogs, just like any blog, is that they’re so easy to do. Considering in-flight productivity and connectivity, a business traveler can also blog their trip reports live, instead of trying to remember the details once they’re back in the office. I blog much of my travels for that reason, to keep a record of what I was doing and communicate about the trip with my office mates and colleagues.

All of us at InflightHQ and the Blog Business Summit wish you a very happy - and dyspepsia free - Thanksgiving.

[Erin](http://incisive.nu/) sent me [a link](http://www.livejournal.com/users/xopherg/60842.html) to what’s turning into a [meme](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meme) about the movie [Snakes on a Planes](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0417148/). Click through to the [interview with Samuel Jackson](http://www.defamer.com/hollywood/samuel-l-jackson/dudesnakes-on-a-plane-117687.php) who stars in the movie, to the theme song, slogan and more. As Samuel Jackson said, “Snakes on a Plane, man!”

Dude! Snakes on a Plane!

Next time you’re bored on a flight, or stuck in an airport, Snakes on a Plane should give you a good laugh.

[Brick Meets Byte](http://www.brickmeetsbyte.com/) reviews [inFlightHQ](http://www.brickmeetsbyte.com/index.php/weblog/het_gesponsorde_weblog_van_boeing/) and we tried to translate it, but came up with, “the web-unwieldy is made web fish-waggons which gesponsort becomes . . . ,” which made no sense at all. Regardless of being lost in translation, it looks like a good review.

If you’d like to learn, “everything you need to know to get blogging now,” attend the Business Blogging 101 Seminar later this month, on October 29th. I’ll speak about blog design. Joining me will be Steve Broback, Molly E. Holzschlag, Robert Scoble, and Buzz Bruggeman. The cost is $195.00 and you can register now.

A survey in London found that Londoners have little to no idea what blogging or podcasting is.

Our research not only shows that there is no buzz about blogging and podcasting outside of our media industry bubble, but also that people have no understanding of what the words mean,” Carter said. “It’s a real wake-up call.

The wake-up call is to remember that bloggers do talk to themselves too much. If you’d like to learn more about blogging, what it is, and what it can do for business, check the Blogging 101 Seminar. Stateside, blogs are much better known, but still not as much as we’d think, especially when it comes to business.

Hello and thanks for visiting inFlightHQ. We built the blog, have been working hard on it, and are pleased that it’s been published and announced. This blog is for being productive at 30K ft when flying on business or vacation. We’ll post on tools, tips, and techniques and also trip reports from our travels.

inFlightHQ is sponsored by Connexion by Boeing. Earlier this year, Connexion by Boeing flew bloggers and media aboard Connexion One for a demo flight of their in-flight Internet access service. The event was called Blogging the Stratosphere and was an enormous success. After the event, Terrance Scott, a spokesman for Connexion by Boeing said, “blogs are, an important new way to communicate with the public.” One of the best ways to understand blogging is to start blogging and that’s how this blog was started.

Tell us what you’d like to read about, what you think, and how you stay productive when flying.

Here is great from Loic Le Meur’s blog on his experience with using the Connexion by Boeing broadband internet connection. Skypeing at a higher level……indeed!

Using Apple’s iChat software and an iSight camera, Apple product manager Kurt Knight describes how leveraging the Connexion Web access service on the Lufthansa flight to San Francisco from Munich enabled the world’s (first?) videoconference.

“The video quality was great and scaled well all the way up to full screen,” says Knight. “I think we made history as the first people to have an in-air video conference, not counting Air Force One or other ultra-expensive solutions. Very, very cool.”

The article continues "Although the wireless Internet connection involved sending data from an Airbus traveling at 500 mph through a satellite receiver in a 20,000-mile earth orbit, conferencing with Zelenka was as easy as clicking his video status button."

For those of us who are counting on the inflight ‘cuisine’ to provide some nourishment or sustenance might want to check out this site. AirlineMeals.net claims to be "the world’s first and leading site about nothing but airline food". It provides a forum for any traveler to send a picture and description of their meal.

As of today, they have been sent 11,691 images from 446 carriers. They also offer catering and inflight comfort/amenities news provided from travelers and news sources.

I’ll have to say, I found it helpful when I was recently planning a trip from SEA to Peking when I could not find any reliable information about the inflight meals provided onboard. The site might be especially helpful if you are traveling on a smaller airline, charter airlines (such as Martinair), one that has recently started service and especially foreign carriers.

I made the mistake of not asking at check in if my return flight from Frankfurt to Portland had Internet service.  I assumed it did based on Lufthansa’s site information , attempted to get on line, was able to get a weak connection and struggled with it for a while before asking the flight attendant for help.  The weak connection was the network within the plane and it turned out that the plane had not yet been configured for Internet connection.   This will be a mute point within a few months when all of Lufthansa’s fleet will be configured for internet. Before then it’s best to check before the flight in case you are planning on working online.

Additionally, the seats in business class that are described as ‘full flat’ onboard are not quite that.  The seat does convert to a horizontal position, but the foot position is much lower than the head position.  I understand the business class seats are much better than in the past, and had I checked online prior to the flight I would have found them them better represented on the Lufthansa site than the inflight brochure.

On this trip I had six flights on Lufthansa, including long haul and intra Europe.  I found the service from the flight attendants on every flight to be excellent, the flights were ontime and the baggage handling process efficient. 

I was able to connect and am currently online on a Lufthansa flight from Portland to Frankfurt.  I was able to connect with little trouble.  Lufthansa offers a free portal with news and instructions when you first log on.  If you are having any connection problems you can refer to the printed instruction booklets in your seat pocket.  Inside is a step by step guide should you need to reconfigure your browser.  I didn’t need to ask the flight attendant for help, but he did check in on me to make sure I was connected and seemed prepared to point me in the right direction should I need help.  The business section is split, so I can’t see all 36 seats or the 8 in first class, but the section I am in has 24 seats, and just 2 of us are on the network right now. 

Here are speed results from a ping report:

Minimum = 651ms, Maximum = 732ms, Average = 694ms

Lufthansa just refitted the business and first cabins on our airbus 340-A with seats that fully recline.  Mine was not working when we boarded, but there is a  manual override and a circuit that can be reset - that did the trick.  I’m looking forward to sleeping horizontal for a few hours and will enjoy a movie, or try out the playstation-like games.. for research sake. 

The snow crab starter has arrived - signing off for now.

According to the CNN article: New heights for in-flight Internet,  "No executive wants to arrive at their hotel room after a long-haul flight and have 100 e-mails waiting for them — one of the reasons why German carrier Lufthansa took the lead and installed in-flight Internet access last May."

The momentum seems to be building. Since the Lufthansa installation of Boeing’s Connexion service, Japan Airlines, All Nippon Airlines and Scandinavian Airlines have installed in-flight Internet, while Singapore Airlines, China Airlines, Korean Air and Asiana Airlines have announced their intent to install the Connexion system on long-range aircraft.

This desire by the airlines to "differentiate themselves" will hopefully lead to business travelers "expecting" Internet access on major long-haul business routes. Claims the article.

According to a Wall Street Journal Article (subscription required) titled "Ready for Takeoff? New online travel sites aim to offer what their predecessors couldn’t: one-stop shopping" The new sites emerging that aggregate content from multiple travel (and more importantly, the cheaper Airline sites) appear to make it easy to find truly less expensive fares. I just ran a search for an upcoming trip on Expedia and on an aggregator site Kayak. Kayak informed me that the Alaska Airline site offered the same indentical trip for 34% less than Expedia’s best price. I suspect I will now head to Kayak first for my future travel inquiries…

Bloggers have been posting, while in-flight, using Connexions’ service. Check all the posts

• Up in the Air
• Blog’n Sky High
• JAL - Wireless - Tokyo to London
• 36000 ft
• Mr. Watson, come here
• Video Mail Demo
• Video Conference Above Greenland

Besides all the love from the bloggers, Apple users are having a great time with Connexions as well. Glenn’s post, Up in the Air, covers how easy it was on his mac.