British Airways CEO Willie Walsh is going around telling people (like Financial Times journalists) that he thinks a merger with Aussie airline Qantas could still happen. They talked about it last year but dismissed it as a bad idea, but now British Airways is considering nicer ways to ask.

Basically, Qantas is a successful airline on its own, even though their old CEO thought merging a good idea. So British Airways is now saying they could merge in the same way as they did with Spanish airline Iberia, which would still give Qantas a fair bit of autonomy.]]> amandak 2009-11-23T10:39:33-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/11/23/125/82595

We all know about the rare instances of airline passenger misconduct that make it to the headlines, like the case of the naked, angry flyer or the fighting Lohan, but every day little instances of pure gross occur unnoticed or just unreported.

Perhaps you've spotted someone getting a little too frisky beneath their $5 on-board purchase blanket or going about some hygienic business, but chances are you haven't seen all Top Ten Gross Things People Do On Airplanes:

10. Browse dating websites over the in-flight WiFi
We know that having in-flight WiFi is new and great and magical, but it's best to keep your private profile and your preferences for "18/F/Asian" private. Even if it's something as innocuous as passing the time on HotorNot.com, just remember that you're not the only one who can see your computer screen, and we bet everyone else that can is secretly laughing at you. ]]> JetSetCD 2009-11-23T09:48:52-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/11/23/8398/5162

Remember when some pilots were recently screwing around on their laptops instead of paying attention to the whole flying-the-plane thing? It would have been nice to hear portions of their conversations in the cockpit—just to see what was actually going on. Well a new bill might allow airlines to listen to portions of cockpit communications.

The current union contracts kind of prohibit eavesdropping on what the pilots are chatting about while they are doing their job. However, this new bill would allow the airlines to use recorded data to discipline or fire pilots if they weren’t doing what they were supposed to be doing. As it stands now, the recordings only become available if there’s an accident or other serious situation, but if the bill goes anywhere, listening in to evaluate pilot performance could become law. ]]> kjb 2009-11-23T09:24:32-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/11/23/81518/224

Just the other day we were talking about Air Canada and complaining about their decision to start charging for better seats in coach, but today we have a little bit of better news. We knew the airline was working behind the scenes to equip some of their planes with in-flight WiFi, and the first stage of the installation has been completed.

In time for the holiday season, the airline is testing out the wireless Internet magic over a ten week period—just to see how things go at first. They’re the first Canadian airline to provide the service, and passengers will be busy surfing on routes from Montreal and Toronto to Los Angeles. Gogo will be providing the service, but at first, the wireless will only be available when the planes are actually flying over the United States. ]]> kjb 2009-11-23T09:04:32-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/11/23/25641/759

Click Here for Amazing Race 15 Map

Chasing Racers is back, with a brand-new Amazing Race 15 mashup. This map will update the morning after every new episode. Send along tips, rumors, gossip, locations and spoilers to our map editors; become a member and comment on the stories below and add to the Jaunted-Flickr photo pool to get in on the fray.

Remember to zoom in, out and around on the map—with so much happening in each episode, it's easy to miss a map point.

In the last episode of The Amazing Race, the competition started getting fierce. The Globetrotters and the hot guys fought over a taxi and as they neared the pit stop, Flight Time and Dan fell on a muddy boardwalk and each one pointed fingers at the other for playing dirty. The beautiful blonds also foiled the Americas by promising to have their cabbie send them taxi, which they didn't do. Despite all of the underhandedness, it was Pinky and the Brain who were eliminated, mostly because Pinky had no idea what a candelabra was.

Four teams remain. What other lowdown tricks will the racers do to make it to the final three? Will they go too far to win?

Find out after the jump.]]> Jennifer Kester 2009-11-23T08:48:12-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/11/21/151918/25

Blue Highways by William Least Heat-Moon is probably my favorite travel book of all time, so I was pleased to see it resurface in the news last week, more than 30 years after its publication. CNN.com has an enjoyable interview with the author and a slide show of photographs from the route he took on his classic journey of discovery. For those who aren't familiar, in 1978, William Least Heat-Moon lost his teaching job and his wife left him, so he decided to outfit his van and start driving across the country, avoiding interstates and sticking to the lesser-traveled roads that were colored blue on the old Rand McNally maps. His three month tour produced a terrific book, and one that reveals many great insights into traveling and life in general. ]]> Victor Ozols 2009-11-21T15:19:18-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/11/21/14758/866

President Obama is most closely associated with the city of Chicago, but he spent five years in New York as a student and community organizer, and a local actor has created a walking tour that shines a light on what he calls Obama's "lost years" here. The AP introduces us to Jeremiah Miller, whose two-hour "Obama's New York" tour takes visitors to some of the places the 44th president spent time during his 1981-1985 stint in the city. ]]> Victor Ozols 2009-11-21T14:07:58-05:00 Search Jaunted string http://www.jaunted.com/search/