Jaunted

Tags: Drug Travel / Drugs / MIA / Crime / → All Tags

A Drug Bust Of Bootleg Little Blue Pills Is Keeping Men Down

Drugs and airplanes hanging out together is nothing new, after all we’ve seen a lot of smuggling rings busted over the last year. Just recently officials caught up with a group that thought cocaine should get a first class seat aboard American Airlines. Well US Customs and Border Protection made another discovery, but this time the drug was a little more uplifting than the usual white powder or wacky tobacky.

Last week officials at the Miami International Airport seized over 20,000 counterfeit Viagra pills. That’s like fifty pounds of bootleg medication. It was a shipment from India that looked a little sketchy, and once they cracked it open they knew the pills were not on their way to your local Walgreens.

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Tags: Airport Lounges / Delta / MIA / → All Tags

Miami International Gets a Suitably Trendy New Delta Sky Club

Gearing up for a Miami to Mumbai direct and not looking forward to spending 19 hours cramped in your seat, even if it is business class? At least you'll be in for a treat if you're flying Delta, since they've just opened a new and improved Sky Club at Miami International designed to fuse both the Delta and Northwest brands and flyers into one slick space.

The 7,500-square foot space seats only 156 visitors, so don't expect there to be a mad rush on the last bear claw at the continental breakfast spread.

In addition to the sweet perk of free WiFi access, the Club also boasts a "full-service bar with café seating, comfortable general seating areas, a quiet room and even a shower suite." We even spotted a conference room up in that video; we'll be the ones playing hangman on the dry erase board.

Related Stories:
· Delta Sky Club: Miami Unveiled [Delta Airlines Blog]
· Lounging At The Airport: Delta Sky Club [Jaunted]
· Airport Lounges Coverage [Jaunted]

Tags: Airport News / Key West / Key West Travel / MIA / EYW / → All Tags

'If You Build It, They Will Come' To Key West Airport

Attention, snowbirds: starting this week, you can kiss the airline terminal of your youth goodbye at Key West Airport. Citing the tourist traffic and second-home owners in the area, Key West has built a newer, spiffier terminal to replace the 1957 original building, although that too will eventually be remodeled and combined to double the size of the airport.

According to the press release, the 30,000-square-foot new terminal which opened yesterday now features a large restaurant with windows to watch the flights arrive and depart over the water, and all the concessions, baggage and security areas needed to support a healthy flow of passengers through Key West. It is also very possible that this large of an improvement will convince visitors and locals to go through their home airport instead of adding the commute up to Miami International.

Expect the entire fresh terminal (including the renovated 1957 but) to be completed rather soon in June, prime time for early summer vacations but safely shy of the bulk of hurricane season.

Related Stories
· New Terminal Opens at Key West Airport [Palm Beach Post]
· Airport News Coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Andy Newman/Florida Keys News Bureau]

Tags: Zagat Guides / Midwest Airlines / Virgin America / Continental / JFK / LGA / LAX / MIA / PHL / DEN / TPA / → All Tags

Zagat Airline Survey: The Winners and The Losers

TPA: Great airport=no lines...

We admittedly have a bit of a Zagat obsession right now, but we can't overlook the latest survey from the folks at the Burgundy Bible. A look at US airlines, it was compiled in conjunction with the Today show and relied on the opinions of 7,498 flyers and travel pros.

We probably don't need to tell you the big-picture findings:

Overall, our survey results reveal continuing frustration with the state of domestic air travel... Delays and cancellations were cited as the top airline irritants, follwed by cramped seats/crowding and poor service.

But there were some high points. Virgin America ranked as a "premium" airline (rather than an "economy" one, despite low fares) and performed miles ahead of other carriers in comfort, service and food. VA topped second-place Continental in all three categories. On the budget side of things, Midwest Airlines was the clear favorite. (Could it be simply because of the free cookies on every flight?)

Airports also got the critical eye, with Tampa and Denver earning the best scores from travelers. Two of New York's much-maligned time vortexes (JFK and LGA) earned spots at the bottom of the list, along with Miami, LAX and Philadelphia.

Related Stories:
· Full Survey Results [Zagat.com]
· Virgin America coverage [Jaunted]
· Midwest Airlines coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Tampa International Airport]

Tags: Virgin America / New Routes / MIA / → All Tags

More Rampant Speculation: Will Virgin America Announce Miami Service?

The future for Virgin America is staying murky, despite our best efforts to tease out the next destinations for the airline. This time, we got Miami International Airport spokesman Greg Chin's take on whether the upstart would fly into South Florida anytime soon:

We don't comment publicly about potential new carriers, because it can have a negative effect on the negotiation process with airlines.

Ah-hah, we thought! That means Virgin is considering the airport, right? Maybe:

We can't tell you what Virgin is considering because we are not Virgin.

Greg suggested we contact Virgin Atlantic, but that won't do us much good, since the US carrier operates independently from the Virgin Group. (Though Branson's company does control a 25% interest in the American airline.)

Instead, we scoured the yellow pages, and called up the number in Miami listed for Virgin America. No dice; seems to be a fax machine of some sort. Jaunted member herz says the airline is hiring in Miami, but Virgin's yet to confirm that for us.

Related Stories:
· Virgin America: Seattle Service? Not So Much [Jaunted]
· Rampant Speculation: What's Next for Virgin America [Jaunted]
· Virgin America coverage [Jaunted]