Jaunted

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Northwest Airlines Lives On at the Airport Gift Shop

It’s been quite some time since Delta gobbled up Northwest Airlines. The combined airline was quick to repaint planes into Delta colors, change signs at airports around the world, and everything else that needs to be done in an airline merger. However, Delta must have forgotten to consult airport gift shops, because just the other day we spotted a little bit of Northwest Airlines at Kansas City International Airport.

We were busy reading magazines and not paying for them when we decided to peruse all the overpriced toys and airline collectibles. Lo and behold, we were excited to discover what has to be one of the last Northwest Airlines things available for sale in the entire world. Alright, we might be exaggerating, but when have you found a complete Northwest Airlines play set available at the CNBC Store for just $19.99?

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eBay Buyers are Going Crazy for Old Northwest Airlines Memorabilia

Remember Northwest Airlines? Of course you do, as they haven’t been gone too long. Although to some it must seem like they’ve been gone forever, as plenty of old Northwest Airlines stuff is starting to draw quite the crowd from airline collectors.

Delta's museum is looking for some donations of old airline memorabilia, and of course it would be great if you wanted to give away some stuff for free. However, if you’re hoping to raise some funds for your next trip on the new Northwest—we’re talking about Delta—then you might as well turn to eBay. There’s all kinds of junk up for sale on the auction website, and the red-and-gray NWA bits are starting to fetch a pretty penny.

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Delta Finally Decides to Fly the 787; Too Bad It Won't Be 'Til 2020

We’ve got some good news and bad news for fans of Northwest Airlines. The good news is that the 787s that the airline ordered years ago before getting in bed with Delta are still eventually going be part of the combined airline. However, the bad news is that you’ll be waiting to fly aboard one of the newest jets in the sky, as Delta has deferred its deliveries of the planes until like 2020.

Originally Northwest was supposed to get the new Boeing birds between 2008 and 2010, but after close to a million delays, these deliveries were already pushed well into the future. At some point it appeared that Delta was looking to get these planes out of their online shopping cart, but now it looks like they’ve entered the credit card information—they’re just picking the slowest shipping possible.

Delta might be delaying the deliveries just to buy some time, or they could be considering what the future may bring for updated Dreamliners. Brett Snyder over the Cranky Flier blog thinks they’re procrastinating in order to score one of the first spots in line when the yet-to-be announced 787-10 goes on sale:

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Five Defunct Airlines and Their Best Vintage Sales

We’re always on the lookout for the next airfare sale, but sometimes it's nice to remember the good old, cheaper days. You won’t be able to use any of our latest finds to help you get anywhere, but hopefully it will be a nice stroll down memory lane. Here’s five of our picks for defunct airlines and their vintage sales.

· Trans World Airlines:
The airline better known as TWA was swallowed up by American Airlines in 2001, but before their disappearance they were trying to get butts in the seats to raise some cash. Back in April of 2000 they wanted passengers to beat the winter blues by taking advantage of cheaper fares to the US, Canada, Caribbean, and Europe. For those looking for a classier escape, St. Louis to Paris was $698 roundtrip. New Yorkers could head to Seattle or Los Angeles for just $298, but for $498 we’d rather take a trip to Honolulu. Just remember that all travel must be completed by September 15, 2000.

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An Update On The Northwest Airlines Pilots Who Flew Too Far

It seems like just yesterday that a couple of pilots flew a Northwest Airlines plane a little too far while they were distracted. We probably won’t ever know what they were actually doing, but with the punishment that was handed down, they won’t be doing it again anytime soon—kinda.

The pilots who missed the Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport by that much have decided not to put up a fight about losing their licenses. However, they could eventually get back behind the controls. In an agreement with the FAA they can both reapply for their licenses this August, but there’s no guarantee that their paperwork will get the official government stamps. They even worked out some language into their agreement that makes it seem like they didn’t do anything wrong.

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We Bid A Fond Farewell To Northwest Airlines

We knew this day was coming for a long time, but it’s finally time to say goodbye to Northwest Airlines. They’ve been slowly moving their stuff into Delta’s house, but now the move is pretty much done. They’ve even submitted their change of address card; as of this week if you try to hit up their website, you’ll be redirected over to Delta faster than you can say Detroit Metro Airport.

Most of the technical airline stuff has even been changed over. Flight numbers have all been rolled into Delta’s system, and all trips will be booked through the Atlanta-based airline’s reservations systems. Delta said they’ve got some extra employees ready to help out with the likely confusion and mess that all these growing pains are likely to cause. Hopefully the former Northwest pilots will know where they are going with the new Delta flight numbers—they did have a little bit of an issue late last year.

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TSA Takes A Chill Pill, Lets Pilots Make Call On In-Flight Security

Last night, after a full three days of enhanced security measures and new rules, the TSA relaxed slightly and announced that they'll leave it up to the pilots to decide "whether to allow passengers to keep items in their laps or require them to be seated during portions of the flight." Hopefully this means that we'll still be able to get up and re-stow our items, use the bathroom, and keep our pillows during that final hour, but the heightened airport security and personal bag checks are still very much in place.

Keep in mind that domestic flights are not affected by these rules, unless the pilot is super cautious and decides that blankets are the enemy. All of these new security measures, resulting from the failed terrorist attempt on Christmas Day onboard Northwest Flight 253, are for USA-bound international flights, with a huge emphasis on flights leaving London and Amsterdam.

So although the worst of the new rules have been pulled back and left to pilot discretion, you'll still be contending with limited carry-on allowances, 3-1-1 liquid rules, the occasional pat-down, baggage searches, and the possibility of having the LiveMap channel disabled. Perhaps in another week, the knee-jerk reaction of the TSA will relax even more.

Related Stories:
· 'Keep Your Hands Where We Can See Them,' Demands New TSA Flight Rules [Jaunted]
· TSA updates US airline in-flight security rules [Reuters]
· Travel Security [Jaunted]

[Photo: caribb]

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The New Pillow-Hating TSA Rules: A Response

After a few days of "because shut up, that's why" updates from TSA, they've finally released their new security directives. For us this is kind of a good news/bad news thing. The bad news is that the regulations treat normal passengers like criminals, do nothing to increase security, wring the last drop of bearability from air travel, and threaten to bankrupt the American airline industry by deterring tourists and grinding airports to a halt. But on the plus side we finally have a theory about what's wrong with TSA.

Our security officials seem unable to separate the essentials in a situation from the incidentals. They look at Flight 253 and they see a blur of unrelated but very shiny colors: "suspect attempted detonation during the last hour," "suspect wore a blanket on his lap," "suspect focused on the plane's location." So they ban passengers from moving around in the last hour, ban passengers from wearing blankets also during the last hour, and ban passengers from knowing where the plane is. They're defending us tomorrow from yesterday's attacks.

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'Keep Your Hands Where We Can See Them,' Demands New TSA Flight Rules

Has this been the worst holiday travel weekend or what? Hopefully most Christmas flyers made it home last night safe and sound, but for those who fly today or later on this week, the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) has a few new rules to keep you on your toes at the security checkpoint.

In what is being called a "knee-jerk reaction" to the attempted terrorist act onboard Northwest Flight 253 on Christmas Day, the TSA introduced new rules. And, at the request of American authorities, international airports are stepping up their screenings for USA-bound flights. How long these new rules will last is unknown, but we're hoping the more ridiculous ones will fizzle soon.

So are electronics allowed on flights anymore, how many carry-ons can you have, and what's the deal with airplane pillows? Find out, after the jump.

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What Exactly Happened on Northwest Flight 253?

The usually uneventful stream of news over the long Christmas holiday took a sharp turn this year with one security breach after another. Just when we had heard enough about the crazy lady who knocked down the Pope during mass at the Vatican, BreakingNews tweeted this at 2:30pm on Christmas Day:

Passenger on flight from Detroit to Amsterdam reportedly sets off firecrackers, then subdued. Minor injuries. -- CNN

First we thought okay, this is some extremely stupid person taking the traditional applause-at-landing a bit too far, but then the real news began to roll in, marking it as a terrorist attempt with explosive materials and possible al Qaeda links. And yet nothing concrete was known; many rumors were thrown around and still are, but we've attempted to sort them out and present the factual events that happened on December 25th, 2009, on Northwest/Delta Flight 253.

See the truth, after the jump.

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Hijacking Was Feared In The Case Of The Northwest Plane That Flew Too Far

Have you ever been so engaged in a heated discussion while driving that you completely drive past your destination without noticing, although you've got the GPS on? It's hard to imagine, but that's exactly what two Northwest Airlines pilots are claiming happened to them on Wednesday, when they overshot their destination of Minneapolis by 150 miles, claiming they were distracted by their "heated discussion over airline policy and lost track of their location."

No one was hurt, and the plane eventually did turn back around and safely land in Minneapolis, although behind schedule and with some majorly freaked out air traffic controllers. You see, after the airport tower couldn't get contact with the pilots for over an hour, and then when they did they received vague answers, the controllers feared that the flight had been hijacked. Fighter jets in the area were scrambled and ready to fly, but weren't deployed once the NWA pilots finally got their heads on straight and completed maneuvers to prove that they were indeed in control of their own plane.

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Confusion Alert! Northwest Changing Flight Numbers This Weekend

The sometimes schizophrenic, sometimes awkward, and sometimes plain silly consequences of the Delta / Northwest merger continue over the next two weekends, with plans to summarily change Northwest's flight numbers and match them to Delta's. Both airlines promise that customers will shortly be informed of the changes via email, which is kind of like the time the federal government promised Katrina victims "hold on - we'll be right there!" It might be true in theory, but in practice it's going to confusing and dismal for everyone.

Well, except for us. Since we're not flying Northwest this weekend, for us it's mostly just entertainment:

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