Tag: Travel News

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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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Guy Crosses US-Canada Border with an iPad in Place of a Passport

January 4, 2012 at 10:22 AM | by | Comment (1)

Whoa whoa whoa. We're not even a week into the new year and already stories of stupid travel happenings are hitting the news. The latest? Oh, just that some guy from Montreal managed to cross over the US border by producing not his physical passport, but a scan of his passport displayed on his iPad.

Look, we love iPads as much as (maybe more so?) the next tech-happy traveler, but we draw the line at two things: using the iPad as your main camera and using it as your primary form of ID. Martin Reisch violated the latter when he and his friends drove into Vermont and the border patrol okay-ed him.

Here's what went down, according to the CBC:

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Olympic Athletes to Get a 'Fast Pass' Lane at LHR for London 2012

January 3, 2012 at 2:39 PM | by | Comments (0)

There are 206 days to go until the 2012 Olympics in London, so trust that our U.K.-based sources will be bringing you all the latest as we continue ground coverage leading up to the Games: the touristy swarms clogging up Westminster and the Southbank, the Cultural Olympiad, the general excuse for even more drunken revelry than usual, the works.

To kick off 2012, a word to the wise among summer travelers set to pass through Heathrow around the Games: you might have to face even more unbearable lines at airport immigration owing to a VIP passport lane being established strictly for athletes. The U.K. Border Agency will be taking and checking biometric data (translation: fingerprints) from visiting athletes, with lanes at immigration dedicated solely to the task of checking said data.

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No More $9 Airfare Ads After New Rules Take Effect This Month

January 3, 2012 at 10:24 AM | by | Comment (1)

January is a good month for consumers looking to buy some airfare, as in just a few weeks some new rules kick in about how tickets and flights are priced and promoted.

Starting on January 26, the way you buy flights is going to change just a little bit, but don’t worry as it’s an easy change and it makes things better. Airlines will now have to disclose the true final amount of your ticket, and that means revealing all fees, taxes, and other little tidbits that mess up your travel budget. So moving forward you’ll know how much the total airfare will set you back before you get to the spot where you enter your credit card information.

These rules and regulations should also effect airline advertisements and promotions, as they’re supposed to now promote only the actual full fares—inclusive of taxes, fees, and this and that. We’re thinking that could really bum out carriers like Spirit Airlines, but it’s good to know what you’re getting yourself into right up front.

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There's a New Volcano to Worry About, and This Time It's in the USA

January 3, 2012 at 9:37 AM | by | Comments (0)

As you know we’re still in the first week of the new year, but there’s already a brand new volcano—complete with ash-cloud potential—getting ready to wreak havoc on air travel. Unlike the volcanoes over in Europe or down in South America, this one’s a little closer to home, and it’s a heck of a lot easier to pronounce.

Mount Cleveland—just rolls off the tongue—is located within the Aleutian Islands off the coast of Alaska, and scientists believe that it’s getting ready to celebrate 2012 by starting to shake, rattle, and roll. Just over a week ago there was a little volcano hiccup that sent a whole bunch of ash and other particulate into the skies, but things quickly dissipated and flights weren’t really affected. The concern still remains, as the tippy top of the volcano is right in the way of one of the main commercial flight paths between North America and Asia.

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Hawaii Now One Major Step Closer to Becoming Gay Wedding Hot Spot of 2012

January 2, 2012 at 12:05 PM | by | Comments (0)

Happy New Year! Also, happy year that more same-sex couples will achieve equal (or at least equal-er) rights. Just yesterday, January 1, two more US states switched to legally recognizing and performing civil unions. These are Delaware and Hawaii. For the moment, let's focus on the latter.

Hawaii is the only US state west of the Mississippi River to allow same-sex civil unions. None have gone so far as marriage (the California Prop 8 debacle came closest) and what this means for gay couples is that their union—not just the honeymoon—can also happen in the Aloha State.

According to The Baltimore Sun/KTLA, the turning of the calendar immediately coincided with the law going in effect:

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The Craziest Travel Story of 2011 Is...

December 30, 2011 at 9:46 AM | by | Comments (0)

It's that time of the year again, the time when the year just plain ends. Alas, we can't just let 2011 go that easily, especially since travelers spent it both up in the air and up in arms over a crazy range of topics, encompassing everything from nudie scans to tarmac delays. Needless to say, we're ready for 2012, but first we're taking a brief look back at the best of 2011 with the Jaunted Travel Awards,—or as we fondly refer to them—The Jauntys.

Each year there are plenty of wacky travel stories that just make us shake our head, so it was hard to pick just one weird event as deserving of this year’s Jaunty for craziest travel story.

Stealing like five-digits worth of first class swag was pretty funny, and who wasn’t slightly alarmed when the entire East Coast started shaking? We looked long and hard through the 2011 Jaunted archives, but one event stood high above the rest...

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Thief Steals $13,000 of Air France First Class Swag, Gets Caught on Tiny Island

December 19, 2011 at 3:25 PM | by | Comments (0)

The French, suffice it to say, are not a nation renowned for their devotion to industry. Retirement ages are low, work weeks are short, and benefits are plentiful. The stereotype is that French workers will erect barricades in the streets for a month before they agree to increase the retirement age by a day.

And that, boys and girls, is how stereotypes can sometimes be misleading. It turns out that some Frenchmen are very industrious indeed. Take for example the main character in this simply insane story. A French thief managed to steal $13,000 worth of goods—"airline napkins, glasses, plates, blankets"—from the first class cabins of Air France flights. He was at it for a full three years apparently. Just imagine all the hard work and dedication that took.

When he was finally caught it was red-handed with a carry-on full of trinkets from the Air France flight, which landed in the tiny Indian Ocean island of Réunion.

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The Grand Canyon's on the Edge of Banning Plastic Water Bottles

December 19, 2011 at 9:44 AM | by | Comment (1)

You better revise your list and ask Santa for one of those stainless steel water bottles, as there’s one place your plastic bottle is no longer welcome.

Initially the head honcho over at the National Park Service wasn’t totally cool with banning plastic bottles at the parks across the land, but now it sounds like things might move forward at places including the Grand Canyon. Parks considering getting ready of plastic need to do a few things first, however, including making a checklist to report how much waste they’ll eliminate, as well as the effect on businesses and other groups that benefit from selling stuff at the park.

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