So, while Foursquare was churning out all those shiny new international city badges, they were also thinking about good ol' America, and the fact that there are plenty of towns with awesome venues that would benefit from the exposure and tourism that comes with a special badge. A contest pitted individual Foursquare user-created lists against each other, and the winners were named today.

These winners, and therefore the next cities to have their own Foursquare badges, are: Baltimore, MD; Richmond, VA; Des Moines, IA; Oklahoma City, OK; and Stamford, CT.

Some pretty random choices in there, but they must pack a punch considering other cities in the running were Philadelphia, Minneapolis, Portland and Nashville. Personally we're all about a Detroit badge, but it seems we'll be waiting a little longer.

Now, How to get the city badges:]]> JetSetCD 2012-02-08T14:56:04-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2012/2/7/51253/46945

It seems so long ago that American airports began introducing full-body scanners for passengers to be randomly selected before passing into the secure gate area. What also seems from long ago is the issue of privacy the machines posed with the revealing images. Well, after our outright concern, abhorrence, acceptance, and return to the concern, another continent joins the scanner controversy: Australia.

Down Under follows the US and Europe, and will adopt the same "gingerbread man person" technology, which displays an outline of a gender-less person only highlighting areas of risk. Parliament also promises that all images are discarded after each passenger. We have heard this all before.]]> jetflyboy 2012-02-07T09:16:52-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2012/2/6/135646/4398

Hey, remember when journalists started weirdly declaring that everything was fine with the airline industry? And then travelers took that to mean that good times were here again while the government swooped in with expensive new regulations? And then remember how American Airlines went bankrupt and then Spanair shut down and then Hungary's Malev shut down? Good times.

There's not much to say about this latest casualty of the global economic crunch. Hungary really, really wanted to keep Malev operating, with the government declaring the airline to be a "priority objective." But they just couldn't make the carrier viable—specifically, they couldn't convince suppliers that the government would be able to pay them for services—and thus ended the Malev's 66 years of almost continuous service. Sad.]]> Omri 2012-02-06T13:56:46-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2012/2/6/63529/40810

The week of your trip to Paris has finally arrived, and you’re fully packed and ready to go. There’s just one problem that might screw up your plans, as there might be a little bit of a transportation strike.

French unions are calling for a travel strike beginning today, but don’t worry, the country is still going to be open for business. It just might take a little more patience if you’re getting there by plane. The plan is a four-day strike across all sectors of the country’s aviation services, so that means back-up plans and deep breaths area required if you’re flying through or to spots like Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport. ]]> kjb 2012-02-06T08:57:35-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2012/2/3/95639/48384

Alright. What's the one thing you've been waiting forever for from JetBlue? Duh, in-flight WiFi...besides that. Yes, a freaking iPhone app!

Well, late last night while thoughts of Terra Blue Chips and direct flights to Santo Domingo danced through your heads, the airline's very first iPhone app quietly snuck out into the iTunes app store. It's free of course, and blue and orange, but is it any good?

To keep our opinions short and sweet, yes—it's sooooo good. Like, spread-the-word good. Even if you've never flown JetBlue and don't have any upcoming flights booked, we'd say get the thing for its well-designed flight search and booking (wanderlust fodder right there) and cute little extras, like the ability to use your iPhone photos to create funky postcards, shared straight from the app.]]> JetSetCD 2012-02-03T11:11:17-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2012/2/2/65154/21298

The next time you’re stuck in the terminal—or on the tarmac—with nowhere to go, there’s now officially someone to blame for your delay and disturbance. It’s actually not a person but more of a place, as it’s New York City that’s likely the spot causing all of the trouble.

The New York Times looked into the causes behind a lot of these airport and airplane inconveniences, and they found that the city’s busy air traffic and multiple airports are the places to blame. There’s been different flight plans from the FAA and even less planes overall thanks to the dip in the economy, but that still hasn’t helped the congestion up in the skies above the greater metropolitan area. Apparently the city’s three major airports—along with the airport in Philadelphia—accounted for around 12 percent of all the country’s domestic flights, but those few flights created like half of all delays. ]]> kjb 2012-02-02T09:08:24-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2012/1/30/132149/045

The San Francisco Chronicle wants you to know that everything is alright with the airline industry. U.S.-based airlines are turning profits, and US Airways' President even says there's zero evidence of "macroeconomic weakness" to be found.

That will be news to Spanair,, which collapsed so fast on Friday that it left 20,000 travelers stranded with no return flights home (the good press they got from giving passengers Christmas presents failed to stem the tide of millions and millions in losses). Spanair's shuttering follows the closing of Spain's Air Comet, whose flight attendants subsequently had to do nude photo shoots just to draw attention to the €7 million in unpaid wages they were owed.]]> Omri 2012-01-30T15:05:01-05:00 Search Jaunted string http://www.jaunted.com/search/