Jaunted - Dallas

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

juliana — 2009-08-04T18:21:29-05:00

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!

Join the travel twitter conversation, follow us here.

Related Stories:
· Twitter stories [Jaunted]

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

egw — 2009-07-08T16:18:30-05:00

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.

Road Trip To The First Twilight Fan Convention In Dallas This Summer

egw — 2009-04-24T09:14:44-05:00

Want to show your neighbors and friends you bleed "Twilight" red? You could plan your vacation around Forks, Washington, the real city where Bella and Edward met for the first time. Or you could set your sights for Dallas, Texas, which this summer will host the first TwiCon July 30-August 2.

The brain child of a Meyerverse podcaster, a vlogger and two PR people, TwiCon will gather the devoted masses at the Sheraton Dallas Hotel for a "Twilight" screening, panels on "The Female Role in 'Twilight'" and "Writing To Get Published" (for your mothballed vampire novel), and a Masque Ball to show off your darkness-inspired finery. Stephenie Meyer has not been confirmed as a guest, but several supporting actors from last year's movie will be there including Kellan Lutz (Emmett Cullen), Billy Burke (Charlie Swan) and Mr. Jennie Garth Peter Facinelli (Dr. Carlisle Cullen).

Why Doesn't Dallas Love Us?

egw — 2009-04-03T15:14:30-05:00

There is something afoot in Dallas. One would think the home of Web-savvy Southwest would be an Internet-friendly kind of place. Yet we weren't able to pick up a wireless signal there, and we heard an announcement for Internet access... in the pre-security business center, hotel-style.

With the airport's official website somewhat less than useful, we turned to T-Mobile, who confirmed there is--or was--a hot spot at Love Field recently. Maybe our netbook took the day off. Can you solve the mystery of the missing hotspot? We'd "love" to pretend this was all a bad dream.

Want to send out some love or hate for an airport? Let us know.

Related Stories:
· Southwest to Prettify Dallas-Love Field [Jaunted]
· Missed Connections in Dallas: They Don't Call It "Breakup Field" [Jaunted]
· Airport WiFi Map [Jaunted]

Southwest Gives Out Free Money In April Fool's Day Un-Joke

egw — 2009-04-01T12:26:30-05:00

Google will write your e-mails for you, Zappos wants you to think vertically and ThinkGeek will sell you a unicorn in a can. Man, do we love April Fool's Day! But Southwest just had to go and be different by doing something that sounded like a prank, but wasn't.

Southwest is all about bringing the funny, but the $10,000 prizes they handed out to 21 employees were real as far as we can tell. The lucky recipients were chosen at random from a stack of in-house commendations, guaranteeing that at some point someone noticed these people doing a great job. Employees found out through "Deal or No Deal"-style suitcase messages, fake boarding passes and causing tears, jaw-dropping and a little jumping.

This was too cool to be mocked. Stay tuned for the Jaunted version of "Pennies from Heaven," in which oh, we're just kidding, sorry.

Related Stories:
· No Foolin' - Pennies from Heaven [BlogSouthwest]
· Last Year: A Sneak Preview of Tomorrow's Foolishness [Jaunted]

[Photo: kimberlyfaye]

Dallas-Ft. Worth Airport Knocks Back a Few Too Many

JetSetCD — 2009-02-20T16:11:08-05:00

While we have yet to experience a flight drunk on too many airport margaritas, for many it is the only way to get them on the plane. There is a point, however, at which in-flight drunkenness switches from being humorous and forgivable to annoying and dangerous, and it looks like Dallas/Ft. Worth Airport takes the cake in terms of frequency of these incidents.

According to a report on MSNBC, police at DFW made 78 arrests lasts year for public intoxication and in some cases pulled people off of planes for it.

Southwest's InFlight Internet: Testing, Testing

egw — 2009-02-10T12:39:57-05:00

UPDATE: Southwest's CEO Gary Kelly tested the in-flight WiFi today and sent out an email to his executive planning committee:

Y'all are my first email from SWA Wifi. It's awesome! Speed is good. Customers obviously luv it.

Even in the air, Keller stays on message.

Could you possible log on onboard in the No Hidden Fee Zone? Southwest Airlines announced today it will begin testing in-flight WiFi in conjunction with tech startup Row 44, with hopes to have 4 planes WiFi enabled by March. But where can we get it, and how much will it cost?

Along with the announcement Southwest posted a short video of digital addicts using Facebook and their iPhones on a test flight of unspecified destination. (You can't make a cell phone call, though.) They even showed off what we assume is Row 44's machinery at work, dubbed "Gadget 13," making this test the first in which we've actually seen the sausage being made, so to speak.

We dinged Row 44 for making a big splash at CES without any examples of its superiority over other in-flight wireless providers like Gogo. Now they're making good and, if the president's interview with the New York Times holds, may actually be undercutting the market with charges of $6 for handheld devices and $8 for laptops.

And while not all of Southwest's fee-conscious passengers will spring for that kind of extra, some will -- or rather, we would.

No routes were named as potentially WiFi ready, but looking into our crystal ball we foresee Internet popping up en route to Vegas, Chicago-Midway and Phoenix, their top three destinations (and two of which are cities included on the test flights today and tomorrow).