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Super Bowl Travel / Sports Travel / Football Travel / Sports / Dallas Travel / → All Tags

Can't Get Into a Super Bowl Party? Just Check Out the NFL Experience

If you don’t have Super Bowl tickets at this point you might as well accept that you’ll be watching the game on TV. However, if you made it to the Dallas area—or just live there—there’s still plenty of other stuff to do before heading to Hooters to watch this year’s big game.

Every year the Super Bowl becomes a bigger and bigger entertainment event, and this year is no exception. The NFL brings way more than just the Packers and Steelers into town, and for 2011 the NFL Experience makes its return for its 19th edition of bringing fans and football together adjacent to all the Super Bowl hoopla.

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Travel Tips / DFW / Airports / Airport News / Layovers / Flight Delays / Five Things to Do on Your Layover / Lists / → All Tags

Five Things to Do on Your Layover at: Dallas-Fort Worth Airport

We’ve all had layovers that were a little longer than initially expected. Mechanical delays, weather emergencies, and all kinds of other issues make that tight 45-minute connection turn into something extraordinary. We can’t get promise your flight will depart on time, but we can offer some time killers at the airport.

Five picks for spending a few extra hours within the terminals of DFW Airport:

· Hit The Club:
For the extended layover it might just be worth it to plop down a few bucks to gain access to the airport’s very own club. The Club at DFW doesn’t require a pricey annual membership or elite frequent flier credentials, because as long as you’re willing to pay the entry fee you’re welcomed like a VIP.

Just $35 will get you access to the lounge, and you’ll be living the comfy life of a white collar corporate drone. Expect a lot of the usual airline lounge offerings here, including free drinks—both soft and hard—as well as snacks, newspapers, televisions, WiFi, and computers. There are even some shower facilities if you’re hanging out before or after a long-haul transatlantic flight. There’s even a separate smoking section within the lounge, which might be worth the price of admission if you’re dying for a smoke.

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Jaunted Contests / Travel Contests / Texas Travel / Party Travel / Richard Branson / Virgin America / Dallas Travel / → All Tags

Attention Texans: Win Party Passes and RT Tickets from Virgin America

THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED. THANK YOU.

Attention residents of the Lone Star state, but more specifically those of you in DALLAS: On December 1, the airline of mood lighting, cocktails and in-flight WiFi is landing at DFW for the first time. That's right, Virgin America is coming, with routes from LA and SF, and they're throwing a huge party at the Opera House, with Richard Branson, a performance by LMFAO and a "smoking" secret legendary musician.

But wait, there's more: We're giving away two VIP tickets to the party and two tickets for main cabin roundtrip flights on Virgin America! The flights can be used anytime through 2011 with a 21-day advance purchase and the exception of a few blackout dates. Therefore we need a winner from the Dallas area, who can make it to the party on December 1.

Texas might have been having a bad sports year, losing the World Series and watching the Cowboys bumble around the football field, but it is all coming back around with this give-away.

Here's how to win...

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Jaunted Reporting Live / Southwest Airlines / Airline News / FlyingWithFish / AirTran / DAL / Seating / Travel Tips / Gary Kelly / → All Tags

Southwest CEO Gary Kelly's Tips for Beating the Cattle Call for the Best Seats on the Plane

Southwest seats as you've never seen them before

Southwest Airlines Media Day: when SWA gathers journalists at its Dallas Love Field HQ to give a sort of "State of the Union" of the airline. It's also a great time for journalists to get an inside look at how the airline operates, and that's what I, Steven Frischling of Flying With Fish, will be bringing to you, direct from Dallas, over the next couple days.

Next: Southwest's CEO Gary Kelly personally shares some tips.

As with nearly any corporate "Media Day," journalists are invited to interview executives, and so I decided to ask Gary Kelly, Southwest's CEO, about his tips for getting the best seats on the plane, especially since they're famous for the "cattle call" and open seating.

So, here we go…

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Jaunted Reporting Live / Southwest Airlines / Airline News / FlyingWithFish / AirTran / DAL / WiFi / In-Flight WiFi / Row 44 / → All Tags

Southwest Will Charge Passengers Only $5 for In-Flight WiFi

Southwest Airlines Media Day: when SWA gathers journalists at its Dallas Love Field HQ to give a sort of "State of the Union" of the airline. It's also a great time for journalists to get an inside look at how the airline operates, and that's what I, Steven Frischling of Flying With Fish, will be bringing to you, direct from Dallas, over the next few days.

Next: Southwest announces the future of their in-flight WiFi.

WiFi in the sky...who doesn't love WiFi in the sky? Apparently Southwest Airlines does, in fact, love WiFi and wants to make connectivity more accessible to passengers with a simplified pricing scheme, one that is attractive to those on a one-hour flight and a downright bargain for those on longer, transcontinental flights.

Southwest's new in-flight WiFi pricing plan is $5, no other catch. It's $5 for your iPhone or your laptop and it's $5 whether you're flying a short way from Houston to Dallas or a long way, such as Providence to Las Vegas. This pricing brings Southwest Airlines' low cost brand personality to another passenger offering, and it's sure to cause quite a stir among other airlines already offering or planning to offer in-flight WiFi (ah hem, attn: Gogo).

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Jaunted Reporting Live / Southwest Airlines / Airline News / FlyingWithFish / AirTran / DAL / ATL / Airport News / → All Tags

Atlanta as Southwest Airlines' Biggest City? It's Going to Happen.

Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly speaking with a dispatcher in the Operations Center

Southwest Airlines Media Day: when SWA gathers journalists at its Dallas Love Field HQ to give a sort of "State of the Union" of the airline. It's also a great time for journalists to get an inside look at how the airline operates, and that's what I, Steven Frischling of Flying With Fish, will be bringing to you, direct from Dallas, over the next few days.

First: Southwest's plans for bursting onto the scene in Atlanta.

Early in the day at Southwest Airlines Media Day, the airline tackled the issue of their acquisition of AirTran as Bob Jordan, Jeff Lamb, and Mike Van De Ven fielded questions from press. While the standard canned responses were expected, instead I received a surprisingly direct reply to my inquiry into how they would make the move into Atlanta.

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New Routes / Virgin America / Airline News / LCCs / Richard Branson / → All Tags

Virgin America Announces Flights to Dallas Beginning in December

Now that Virgin America has forty more Airbus planes on order, the new route news is coming hot and fast. Although Chicago still remains that thing in a dream that's just within reach but just out of it, other cities will happily welcome Virgin's red tails in the time being.

Today, at a business travel conference in Houston, Sir Richard Branson dropped the bomb that Virgin America's next destination will be Dallas, Texas. This is the airline's twelfth destination, and they'll start flying to the Lonestar State sooner rather than later, possibly even earlier than their already-announced Cancun and Cabo San Lucas routes. Twice-daily flights from LAX to DFW begin December 1, 2010 and SFO to LAX begins December 6, 2010.

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Celebs Who Twitter / Samantha Ronson / Twitter / United / Airport Delays / → All Tags

United Having Rough SM Year: First a Broken Guitar, Then a Stranded DJ

Ok, we're using the word "celebrity" loosely here when talking about Samantha Ronson but the DJ is often in the headlines thanks to her famous-for-being-a-wreck girlfriend, Lindsay Lohan. Still, despite what some folks think, Samantha is a rather in-demand DJ, always jetting off here and there to spin at some party, club or private event.

Last week, her work took her to Dallas where she played a party at the W Dallas. It should have been a quickie in and out but thanks to airport delays, her United flight got grounded. And apparently, even dating Lindsay Lohan will not get you special treatment when rescheduling your flight. Samantha tweeted:

yeah it really sucks- they told me they could get me there tomorrow- hmmm- f*ck you very much UNITED.

She then went on to tweet that she prefers American over United and that she learned her lesson a long time ago about checking musical instruments as an Italian airline once lost her guitar. Oh, if only she made a clever YouTube video about it she could have been reimbursed!

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Literary Travel / President Bush / Presidential Libraries / → All Tags

W's Presidential Library To Feature Gun Once Owned by Saddam Hussein

Former President George W. Bush was never known as a man of letters. Even Karl Rove was hard pressed to lie about his reading competitions with W, who was memorably captured reading the picture book The Pet Goat on the morning of 9/11. As the George W. Bush Presidential Library takes shape at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, it shouldn't be a surprise that artifacts, not books, will take center stage.

The prize of the $200 million library, according to the Guardian, is a 9mm Glock once owned by Saddam Hussein, who had it in his possession when he was captured by U.S. forces in Tikrit. (Clearly, he was planning to attack the US with this gun.) The library will contain 25 special exhibits related to the Bush presidency within a design by Robert A. M. Stern, responsible for designing 15 Central Park West, Madonna's building, in New York.

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