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British Airways Treats Passenger Like Pervert, Passenger Sues

Here’s a pretty odd airline rule of which we weren’t aware. Apparently unaccompanied minors and kids in different rows from their parents are not allowed to sit next to men on British Airways. We understand that many people—not just men—are kind of gross and weird, but this just seems a little excessive. One man isn’t too happy with the policy, and he’s decided to sue British Airways over it.

Mirko Fischer is claiming that the airline is making an assumption that all men are potential sex offenders and that innocent travelers are at the risk of being embarrassed and humiliated. He isn’t too thrilled about the British Airways policy that requires flight attendants to check out the seating situation to ensure that male strangers aren’t sitting next to any kiddos.

The offended passenger was asked to move his seat when flying with his pregnant wife, and when he refused, he was told the airplane was staying put until he moved. Eventually he selected a different seat, but had this to say about the whole situation:

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Tags: Museum Travel / Science Travel / Kids Travel / Travel With Children / Queens / → All Tags

An Alternative to Manhattan's Big Museums: The Hall of Science in Queens

People crowd places like New York City's American Museum of Natural History to give the kids some scientific edu-tainment. But if you're looking to change it up, check out the underrated New York Hall of Science in Queens.

Although its name sounds kinda boring, NYSCI is New York City's only hands-on science and technology center with more than 450 hands-on exhibits that explore biology, chemistry and physics.

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How To Have A Baby On An Airplane...Almost

Most parents traveling with children know how it works when you board an airplane: you strap the kids in for take-off and once the announcement comes that we've reached cruising altitude, it's time for either a Cheerios snack or crying for the rest of the flight. But things aren't so simple when that child is still inside of you, and you're traveling during pregnancy. As if there weren't a bajillion other things to worry about, the safety of your unborn child should be taken into consideration even with the minorest of things—walking up and down the aisle and how you buckle up, for example.

Hopefully you aren't flying within days of your due date, with the possibility of an in-flight arrival like what recently happened when babies were born on both Southwest and Air Asia. It's simply a coincidence that both are low cost carriers!

Since holiday travel usually brings out the families of all sorts, we'd like to share a few tips for traveling with a baby on board...

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Baby Born On Southwest Airlines Flight Prompts Emergency Landing

Talk about being a young member of the mile high club...a baby was born this morning onboard a Southwest Airlines plane flying at 30,000 feet, en route to Salt Lake City from Chicago.

"Is there a doctor on board?" Luckily, a doctor was located on the flight, and with the assistance of a medical crew on the radio, they helped to deliver a healthy baby boy. Southwest flight 441 then made an emergency landing at Denver International Airport, where the mom, dad, and new baby were transported to a hospital. 9News.com talked with a passenger onboard the plane:

'They announced on the PA and asked if anyone had any blankets,' Morse said. 'About 15 minutes later they got on the PA and announced we had a new passenger, a baby boy.' 'They immediately turned the plane around mid-flight and we landed here in Denver. They got them out, the dad, mom and baby and took them off to the hospital,' Morse explained. 'All the Southwest staff did an excellent job, really calm. Everything was great. Everything seemed really healthy,' he added.

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Tags: Travel With Children / Airline News / Allegiant Air / → All Tags

Allegiant Air Bounces Mom and Unruly Kids Off Flight

If there's a faster way to generate angry comments than travel etiquette-related "airline penalizes individual to protect other passengers" posts, we certainly haven't heard of it. And while we don't expect this story to generate the kind of heat we get on our discussions of overweight seatmates, there is something a little disquieting about the cheering that goes on when unruly children get thrown off flights.

Don't get us wrong. Had we been in the cabin when Allegiant Air removed this mom, her screaming toddler, and her kicking 4 year old—we probably would have felt relieved and satisfied. Misbehaved kids are a capital-T Thing on long flights. We've got a whole Travel With Children category. We just don't know what the alternative is.

On one hand you want to say something like "other people also paid for the flight, and they're entitled to a decent amount of comfort and quiet." On the other hand you've got "well do you just expect every parent of every toddler to not travel any more?" There's definitely an argument that most travelers in most circumstances should just put on their noise-canceling headphones and deal.

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'Project Explorer' Asks For The Definition Of A 'Global Citizen'

Whether it was because of a family road trip or National Geographic, most of us were inspired to become travelers at an early age. Now, the non-profit Project Explorer is bringing that inspiration to the classroom and exposing kids of all ages to different places around the planet. Their website, ProjectExplorer.org, provides free virtual field trips that include information about everything from the history to the culture and cuisines of far off locations around the globe. Their current trips include Jordan, Shakespearean England, South Africa, and a visit to Malaysia is also in the works.

To further their mission, Project Explorer is asking leaders, visionaries, public figures, children and the general public to answer one question: What does being a good global citizen mean to you? You can share your answer by becoming a member of Good Global Citizen. Well you are there, you can also watch inspiring videos by others who have already answered Project Explorer's call including Andrew Zimmern, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Russell Simmons, Allison Janney, Ziggy Marley, Dulé Hill, Paul Rudd and Mario Batali.

Check out their website for more information about how you can get involved or donate to Project Explorer.

Related Stories:
· Project Explorer [Official Site]
· Travel the World Virtually with ProjectExplorer.org [Wandering Educators]
· Volunteer Travel Coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Good Global Citizen]

Tags: Airline Fees / Airlines / Holiday Travel / Travel With Children / → All Tags

How To Send The Kids Elsewhere For The Holidays: Airline Fees For Solo Kid Flyers

Somehow you actually got out of your family obligations this holiday season; however, you still need to get rid of the kiddies before you’re truly free to head out to Caribbean. That’s why we did a little homework for you. Unfortunately, you have to still do the hard part and ask Grandma if she’d mind watching the kids during their entire Christmas break. Even if you get the go ahead from the relatives, be prepared to pony up some cash, because sending the kids on a solo mission isn’t cheap.

· Delta
Delta has a lot of rules when it comes to sending little Timmy out on his own for the first time. Kids must be between 5 and 14 years old, but if they are younger than 7 they can only fly on nonstop flights—otherwise they’d definitely miss their connections. If your kid is between fifteen and seventeen, and you want to embarrass them, Delta will kindly look after them too. There’s a bunch of other rules and regulations here. Bottom line, it’s going to cost you $100 each way to get your kid out of your hair. However, they’ll only charge you one fee if you have one or more kids from the same immediate family traveling—Octomom is already on the line.

There's plenty more fees and rules after the jump.

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Tags: Airplane News / Airline News / Air Asia / Air Asia X / LCCs / Budget Travel / Travel With Children / → All Tags

Baby Born On Air Asia Plane Gets Free Flights For Life

In our next life, we'd like to return as a baby born aboard an Air Asia flight. Talk about lucky—a pregnant woman on a flight between Penang and Kuching on Borneo went into surprise labor while in the air, prompting the plane to try for an emergency landing in Kuala Lumpur, but the baby popped out before they could get on the ground.

After the successful delivery, the mother and child were transported to a KL hospital, where they were visited by the higher-ups at Air Asia, who presented them with the rights to free flights for life. Assuming that Air Asia will be around until the kid hits retirement in something like sixty years, he could really make a name for himself traveling around Asia—or beyond, since Air Asia now also flies to both London and is busily signing paperwork to come to both Paris and Los Angeles. Boy oh boy are we jealous of this little boy. The question now is...did he kinda join the mile high club just being born up there?

Related Stories:
· Lifetime free flights for baby born on plane [AFP]
· Talking With Air Asia's CEO Tony Fernandes About US Plans [Jaunted]
· Air Asia coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: jetalone]