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Tags: Bad Pilots / Northwest / Delta / Bad Landings / Airplane Hell / → All Tags

Were The Northwest Pilots Just Perplexed By The New Facebook?

Note: These are not real pilots. Or are they?

By now, we've all heard about the Northwest Plane That Flew Too Far. But we haven't quite heard the full story on what caused these two fools pilots to stop paying attention during the landing. Until today.

Initially, the pilots said they were distracted by a "heated discussion over airline policy and lost track of their location." But it turns out that the pilots were not even handling the right controls.

The FAA has recently suspended the pilots--First Officer Richard Cole and Captain Timothy Cheney--because they copped to being on their laptops during the crucial moment. They still maintain they were discussing new crew schedules. But yes, their laptops. Laptops in the cockpit. Pilots diddling about on their computers while they were supposed to be landing a plane. Why not pull out your Blackberry and start playing Brickbreaker, for crissakes?

Not surprisingly, there will probably be a crackdown of laptops use by pilots in the future. Peter Greenberg even surmised that this sort of tomfoolery in the cockpit could lead to a flat-out ban of electronics for pilots.

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Tags: Baseball Travel / Baseball / Sports / Minnesota Travel / → All Tags

We're Already Looking Forward To 2010 And Target Field

The Major League Baseball season is almost half over, and fans are already flocking to St. Louis to take in this year’s All-Star Game at Busch Stadium. Since we’ll be following the pennant races before long, we thought it was only natural to start looking forward to the 2010 season. That’s because outdoor baseball will return to Minnesota for the first time since 1981, as the Metrodome closes and Target Field opens.

Last month, the final beam was put in place on the Minnesota Twins’ new home, and the project is on schedule and under budget. Now if it can stay that way, we’ll be in cheap seats in the Budweiser Roof Deck in no time.

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Tags: Know The Law / Travel Bans / Smelly Travel / Minnesota Travel / Advertising / → All Tags

Say It, Don't Spray It: Axe Body Spray Not Welcome in Minneapolis

Heading to Minneapolis anytime soon? Leave your Axe body spray at home; it's not like the flight attendants have fallen into your lap yet, anyways. You see, Minnesota isn't too happy that Axe's hyper-sexual advertising campaigns have been working so well, causing kids to drench themselves in the potent scents and offend sensitive nostrils.

Apparently the overuse of Axe is so widespread in the City of Minneapolis School District, that they've called for a ban on the stuff.

You'd think that with all this hubbub, flying into Minneapolis airspace would involve descending through a fog layer of aerosol Axe spray, but instead it's simply a case of teachers trying to encourage teenage boys to shower more often. Says StyleList: "One concern prompting suburbia to sound the alarms is the idea that Axe Body Spray is somehow enabling teens to adopt poor hygiene habits."

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Tags: New Routes / Southwest Airlines / MSP / Jetblue / → All Tags

It's Southwest Versus Northwest On Twin Cities Route

Just as Jetblue announced that they'll be dropping their "desert run" between Las Vegas and Salt Lake City on April 30, which is coincidentally the #1 city in America for downloading online porn, Southwest has turned our frown upside down with a new route from Minneapolis/St. Paul.

Infiltrating Northwest's Twin Cities hub is a major coup for Southwest, who will be flying from MSP to Chicago's Midway Airport and taking no prisoners along the way. Today marks the first day of the service, and we've been following the @SouthwestAir Twitter through the morning as the the first passengers receive free backrubs and Southwest CEO Gary Kelley makes the rounds.

Competition is very fierce in the under-served Midwest routes, especially when it comes to secondary airports like Midway. According to USA Today's Today in the Sky blog, "airfares between the Twin Cities and Chicago, which had been as low as $100 round-trip, started to rise as soon as AirTran exited." Add to this Southwest's notoriously low fares, and we could be witnessing the sown seeds of a Northwest and Southwest fare war. Hopefully this means we will soon reap $100 flights once again.

Related Stories
· Southwest Enters Minneapolis/St. Paul "fortress hub" [Today In the Sky]
· New Routes Coverage [Jaunted]

[Southwest at MSP check-in photo via Southwest's Twitter]

Tags: Travel Weather / Delta / Northwest / MSP / Flight Delays / Change Fees / → All Tags

Delta Waiving Change Fees for The Minneapolis-Bound

Heading to the Twin Cities tonight? Don't forget your mukluks: Minneapolis-St. Paul is expecting six-plus inches of snow today, with the storm starting this morning. And freezing rain and sleet for the side dishes!

Delta in its capacity as new owner of Northwest's major business at MSP is waiving all change fees if you had planned to fly in today. We recommend not being re-routed through Chicago (dense fog advisory!) or the Dakotas (same storm), but anywhere else should be fine. And hey, Delta, way to be proactive.

Related Stories:
· Valentine's Day Winter Storm Creating Travel Mess [Jaunted]
· Winter Storm Shutters Las Vegas Airport [Jaunted]
· Flight Delays coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: smohundro]

Tags: Missed Connections / Minneapolis Travel / Minnesota Travel / Republican Party / John McCain / Possible-Presidents-Map / → All Tags

Most Missed In Minneapolis: Get This Grand Old Party Started

Now that we know who will join McCain at the big convention, it's time to party all the time with the Republicans in Minnesota.

The SaintPaulitan has released a map of bars that will be temporarily throwing open their doors till 4AM in honor of conventioneers, but do you really want to meet some guy or gal crying into their beer because they hearted Huckabee?

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Tags: Golf / Golf Travel / Museums / Art / Public Art / Summer Travel / → All Tags

Mini Golf Travel: Artsy but Fun in Minneapolis

The Walker Art Center now has two mini-golf courses, and we couldn't come up with a better description than the curators did:

In the mockumentary film "This Is Spinal Tap," bassist Derek Smalls suggests that the difference between miniature golf and regular golf is the size of the ball. While the ball remains the same, virtually everything else about mini golf grows--at least on the course of Walker on the Green: Artist-Designed Mini Golf.

For $8 you can play through one of the seven-hole courses, which were designed by local artists. What should you expect? You'll find a pachinko-style hole, a "Water Hazard" hole, pictured, that employs empty bottles as obstacles and even the "Big Kahuna," a sort of frozen-in-place wave. The fun continues until September 7.

Related Stories:
· Walker on the Green: Artist-Designed Mini Golf [Jaunted]
· Highbrow Mini Golf and Public Art [PSFK]
· Golf coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Aaron Landry]

Tags: MSP / Minneapolis Airport / → All Tags

Senator Larry Craig Finds A New Use For Carry On Luggage at MSP

Looks like Idaho Senator Larry Craig is being pushed to the brink of resignation. This week the Senator said he regretted his guilty plea in an alleged lewd airport restroom incident at the Minneapolis Airport back in June -- he was bagged in a sting.

According to the police report released this week, the incident in question began with Craig peering into the undercover officer's stall several times through the crack in the door.

Then, the Senator, reportedly, entered the stall next to the undercover officer and blocked the view from the front of the stall with his luggage.

When he was seated, Mr. Craig tapped his right foot in a signal used by people wishing to engage in lewd conduct, the report said.

After the officer moved his own foot up and down, the report said, Mr. Craig moved his right foot so that it touched the side of the officer's left foot under the stall divider. Mr. Craig also reportedly swiped his left hand under the stall three times before the officer held his police identification down by the floor so Mr. Craig could see it.

It is important to note that after his arrest, the Senator denied any sexual intent. It is also important to note that there is Fox News store at MSP International. And it should be noted that WiFi is free at MSP, sort of, which is convenient for these type of travel missed connections stories, though it seems this connection was made.

Related Stories:
· Idaho Senator Says He Regrets Guilty Plea in Restroom Incident [New York Times]
· Minneapolis Travel Coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: sarae]

Tags: Transporation / Travel Safety / → All Tags

Minneapolis Bridge Collapse Video

Security camera video showed the Minnesota's Interstate 35W bridge's center section collapsing into the Mississippi river in less than four seconds. The northern end of the span goes first and the southern end follows.

Officials said at least 62 people were injured in the Wednesday evening disaster. Twenty to thirty people are still missing and searchers are currently combing the area. Gary Babineau was driving his truck across the bridge when it fell:

I could see the whole bridge as it was going down and as I was falling, and it just gave a rumble real quick, and it all just gave way, and it just fell completely all the way to the ground.

A 2001 study conducted by the Minnesota Department of Transportation found "several fatigue problems" in the bridges structure. About 100,000 cars a day travel over the bridge and the collapse occurred during rush hour yesterday.

Related Stories:
· Bridge Collapse [CNN]

Tags: Missed Connections / → All Tags

Most Missed in Minneapolis

Birds head north for the summer, and when Midwestern kids take their first road trips they go to the Twin Cities to see next year's Fall Out Boy play the clubs and crash with that friend-of-a-friend at St. Olaf's. But you don't have to be a newly-minted driver  to enjoy these spots from Twin Cities Craigslist.

Seward Cafe -- Loquacious vegetarians love this breakfast and lunch joint with to-die-for vegan muffins. 2129 East Franklin Ave.

Caffetto -- Come to pet the cats, stay for the baked goods and "sci-fi heartthrobs." 708 W 22nd St.

Hubert's Bar and Restaurant -- Don't come to this sports bar named for the Minnesota senator with the matching initials unless you're a Twins fan. 601 Chicago Ave.

[Photo: massdistraction]

Tags: Movies / → All Tags

To Do in Minneapolis: Urban Exploration

The authorities see them as a threat, and others just see them as mischievous thrill-seekers. In reality, urban explorers are simply a loosely knit group of ordinary people wishing to document and understand our deteriorating and forgotten urban history. Documentary filmmaker Melody Gilbert (A Life without Pain, Whole) first heard about this subculture through a story about six urban explorers in St. Paul who were arrested as suspected terrorists. Traveling from Minneapolis to Miami to Glasgow to Paris, Gilbert reveals an extraordinary underground world of individuals bonded by their innate sense of curiosity and adventure. "Urban Explorers is not a typical social justice documentary that sets out to change the world. In the end, I hope this film helps people see the world in which they live a little differently than they did before" (Melody Gilbert). 2006, U.S., video, 85 minutes.

Melody Gilbert's film Urban Explorers, which...explores the...exploration activities...of city spelunkers, premieres in Minneapolis next week as part of the Women with Vision Film Festival. If you've ever traveled somewhere and wondered what sits beneath the beaten path--in abandoned buildings, subway tracks, and elsewhere--you'll want to catch Gilbert's documentary about those who not only wonder about, but seek out, the hidden spooky treasures of the city.

@ the Walker Art Center Cinema, March 16 at 9:30 p.m. / March 17 at 4 p.m., $8.

Related Stories:
· Urban Explorers [Official Site]
· Urban Explorers - information and showtimes [Walker Art Center]
· Women with Vision '07 [Official Site]

Tags: Underrated Travel / → All Tags

The Replacements

It's Weekly Feature time! Each week, Jaunted will choose a destination we feel is somehow underrated. Readers who would like to nominate locations, if only to get us to stop mocking Detroit and Philadelphia, should send their suggestions to tips@jaunted.com.

This week's entry is a little counterintuitive, since it just got a rather nice write-up in the New York Times Travel section, but bear with us. We pick Minneapolis. Minneapolis is underrated because of the tone of much of the travel writing about it. It's usually something like, "It's cold, but we promise you'll like it. They have an excellent art museum!" ad infinitum.

When travel mags doth protest too much, tourists get suspicious. And then they don't go. Obviously, cold-weather cities are a hard sell for much of the year. So let Minneapolis be one of those cities like Brussels, where people who go, understand, and that's that.

Plus, Minneapolis has a statue of Mary Tyler Moore downtown. Just think of it as a Midwestern Vilnius.

[Image via woodcreeper/Flickr]

Related Stories:
·   In The Frozen North, An Increasingly Cool City [New York Times]