Tag: Travel News

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Finally! JetBlue Releases Its First iPhone App: The Full Review

February 3, 2012 at 11:11 AM | by | Comments (0)

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.

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It's Official, Just Blame Your Airline Delay Squarely on New York City

February 2, 2012 at 9:08 AM | by | Comments (0)

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.

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Spanair Shuts Down, Airline Industry Poised for Even Worse in 2012

Where: Spain
January 30, 2012 at 3:05 PM | by | Comments (0)

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.

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Spirit Airlines is Way Pissed at Those New Airfare Rules (Because Now They Can't Deceive As Easily)

January 30, 2012 at 12:56 PM | by | Comments (0)

So the time has finally come for airlines to reveal the actual cost of the airfare they’re selling. We talked about the rules and regulations earlier this month, but now the reactions are starting to pour in.

Notice that Delta happily advertises on their booking page that all ticket prices include all taxes—they note “One Price. Period.” However, that’s not the case for the head honchos over at Spirit Airlines, as they’re more than a little cranky with Uncle Sam and all the new airfare pricing mandates, to the end that they're flat-out insulting consumer intelligence. Right, tell us something we don't know about Spirit, you say.

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The Stupidest Rental Car Story You May Hear This Year

January 30, 2012 at 12:31 PM | by | Comments (0)


This is not her car, but still WTF

We often wonder if one week will ever pass in which there’s just not some totally obscure travel story. This week isn’t going to be it, as we’ve already found the winner for a huge "WTF."

A Houston woman was doing her best to navigate her rental car towards a hotel room for the night when she veered off the road and got the car stuck in a drainage pond in Idaho. However, instead of getting out of the car and making her way to safety, she just decided to hunker down and wait for help in the car. For like three days. We’re thinking she must have really liked her rental car, and maybe she scored some kind of sweet upgrade.

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American Airlines Shows Off Upcoming New Seats Via Instagram

January 30, 2012 at 8:45 AM | by | Comments (0)

Last week we told you about the slurry of airlines using this year to refresh their aircraft cabins and service. Not a few days later, American Airlines dropped some major news as well, and they supplemented it with Instagram shots of the goods.

AA will take delivery of their first Boeing 777-300ER late this year and, from photos posted on Instagram last week, the big birds will look pretty flash on the inside. Since the airline is the first US carrier to take delivery of the shiny, new aircraft type, the introduction will surely be huge.

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The Era of the $9 Airfare Sale is OVER

January 26, 2012 at 9:36 AM | by | Comments (0)

In super boring but totally relevant news, today is the day that airlines must advertise their airfares inclusive of taxes and fees. While this means no more "$9" sales from Spirit and truly cheap "Cheeps" on JetBlue, it does usher in an era of not having to click all the way through several screens to find out the real price of a flight. Also, you probably won't be as quickly excited as before.

The official rules behind the move are here, and Virgin America has even gone so far as posting this notice on their site, just in case prospective passengers see the new, full-fare pricing and think "whoa, what the heck?"

So really this is just a note to keep this in mind next time an airline runs a fare sale and the prices display a little higher than we're all used to seeing. In the end, you're not paying more; you're just seeing the total earlier on in the booking process.

[Photo: Spirit]

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So. About That Whole Rand Paul Versus the TSA Thing...

January 24, 2012 at 2:35 PM | by | Comments (0)

First the raw news, such as it is. Yesterday Senator Rand Paul was flying from BNA to DCA and, while walking through a scanner, triggered the alarm. Per TSA regulations he was put in the waiting area—which at BNA is a glass "cubicle"—until an agent could be found to pat him down. Sen. Paul demanded the right to be allowed to walk through the scanner a second time but, again per TSA protocol, he was told he'd have to submit to get patted down. He refused and instead tried to walk out of the cubicle, and eventually had to be escorted out of the airport.

We want to pause here to emphasize the absolutely explicit explanation that Paul gave for his behavior. He says that he thinks TSA should allow people to walk through scanners twice, so he acted as if TSA does allow people to walk through scanners twice. In other words he acted as if the reality he wishes was true was actually true. We're going to blockquote this so you can tell we're not making this up:

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Priceline Kills Off Captain Kir...Err, the Priceline Negotiator

January 23, 2012 at 2:00 PM | by | Comments (0)

We're not as-a-rule opposed to seeing travel advertising mascots getting killed. Last December, when Air New Zealand murdered off their spokespuppet Rico, we even declared ourselves to be fairly pleased. The borderline rapey rat-like character had become insanely grating even (especially?) for a felt puppet. So when the airline announced a viral Whodunit game where players tried to figure out Rico's murderer, we figured that was as good an excuse as any to be rid of him.

But today we weep. For today, Priceline kills off the Priceline Negotiator. The travel industry icon, played by William Shatner, has been the face of the travel bidding and booking company for 14 years. To give you an idea of how big a business and culture story this is, it's being run everywhere from the Wall Street Journal to Perez Hilton. They sound sad too. Not as sad as we are, of course, but it's there if you read between the lines. For his part Shatner describes himself as being "in grief mode."

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Finally, the US Government Puts on Thinking Cap to Fix Tourist Visa Mess

January 20, 2012 at 2:08 PM | by | Comments (0)

We're going to run an idea by you, and see if you agree. The concept seems pretty straightforward to us, but the federal government has been having trouble with it for more than a decade. So maybe we're missing something. Ready? Here's the theory: if you make it harder for tourists to visit the United States, less tourists will visit the United States. What do you think?

We've been complaining about America's "Don't Come Here" approach to tourism for years. Visa restrictions, security regulations, and even new taxes on tourists have combined to decrease the U.S.'s share of the global tourism market from 17% to 11% over the last decade. There were 1.1 million more visas issues in 2001 than there were in 2011, and that happened despite the dollar's plunge against other currencies, which should have boosted tourism.

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Get From Cali To Pat's In 6 Hours: Virgin America Goes To Philly

January 17, 2012 at 12:04 PM | by | Comment (1)

Hollywood screenwriters rejoice. When you are needing an authentic cheesesteak to relieve writer's block you can hop on Virgin America and take one of three daily nonstops to Pat's (or Geno's if you swing that way) starting April 10th.

Furthermore, Virgin America will be offering two daily nonstops from SFO to PHL. So if Niner fans want to make a pilgrimage to the Rocky statue if and when they complete their improbable Super Bowl run, now they can. Here is what the Cusher had to say about the latest VX destination:

When more airlines compete, consumers win – with lower fares and better service. Travelers deserve more options than just the typical legacy airline cattle car, and we hope our unique brand of low fares and inventive service will be a breath of fresh air for Philadelphians.

Here is an interesting line in the release, possibly foreshadowing things to come:

Currently, only legacy carriers serve the West Coast-PHL routes nonstop.  When entering markets that offer little low-fare competition, Virgin America has historically seen fares drop by up to one-third.

Hmm, sounds like a direct assault on US Air and other lagging legacy carriers. We see a possible 2012 scenario where VX launches in CTL (US Air), ATL (Delta), and Houston...all direct to SFO and LAX of course...stay tuned...

In honor of its newest city, Virgin America is also launching a system-wide “The City of Brotherly Love: Just Got Lovelier” fare sale, with PHL-LAX fares from $129 and PHL-SFO fares from $149* (restrictions, taxes and fees applying).  Tickets are available for purchase now at www.virginamerica.com and at 1.877.FLY.VIRGIN.

Btw, if you guessed the right city on Facebook, start planning your trip because you just won yourself 20 percent off a flight!

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TSA's VIPR Teams Now Conducting 'Suspicionless Searches' at Train Stations

January 6, 2012 at 2:22 PM | by | Comments (0)

Since the rest of this post is going to be a mix of straight news and borderline paranoia revolving around the increasing creepiness of TSA VIPR teams, let's start with some balance. Here are the TSA's top 10 good catches of 2011 and here is how they tried to help holiday travelers with medical conditions. Fair's fair. We also want it noted that we decline to create separate posts for each and every negative TSA story that crosses our desk (e.g. this annual holiday nonsense about hostility to pastries or this brutal Vanity Fair article on the uselessness of security theater). That would be obsessive.

Now that that's out of the way, let's proceed with the unpleasantness. Last November we told you about the increased tempo with which TSA has been deploying its so-called VIPR teams, which conduct anti-terror monitoring outside of airports. The program's actual scope is vague and arguably designed to expand, with different government sources and politicians having "differing descriptions of VIPR's exact mission." Critics ranging from mainstream civil liberties groups to batshit crazy conspiracy theorists have specifically picked out VIPR teams—which do their work at highways, ports, bus stations, tunnels, rest areas, etc—for violating the Constitution's Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches.

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