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The Newest Foursquare City Badges: Baltimore, Richmond, Des Moines, Oklahoma City and Stamford

February 8, 2012 at 2:56 PM | by | Comments (0)

So, while Foursquare was churning out all those shiny new international city badges, they were also thinking about good ol' America, and the fact that there are plenty of towns with awesome venues that would benefit from the exposure and tourism that comes with a special badge. A contest pitted individual Foursquare user-created lists against each other, and the winners were named today.

These winners, and therefore the next cities to have their own Foursquare badges, are: Baltimore, MD; Richmond, VA; Des Moines, IA; Oklahoma City, OK; and Stamford, CT.

Some pretty random choices in there, but they must pack a punch considering other cities in the running were Philadelphia, Minneapolis, Portland and Nashville. Personally we're all about a Detroit badge, but it seems we'll be waiting a little longer.

Now, How to get the city badges:

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Bad News for Aussie Airports: No Body Scan, No Fly

Where: Australia
February 7, 2012 at 9:16 AM | by | Comment (1)

It seems so long ago that American airports began introducing full-body scanners for passengers to be randomly selected before passing into the secure gate area. What also seems from long ago is the issue of privacy the machines posed with the revealing images. Well, after our outright concern, abhorrence, acceptance, and return to the concern, another continent joins the scanner controversy: Australia.

Down Under follows the US and Europe, and will adopt the same "gingerbread man person" technology, which displays an outline of a gender-less person only highlighting areas of risk. Parliament also promises that all images are discarded after each passenger. We have heard this all before.

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Hungary's Malev Shuts Down after 66 Years, LCCs Rush In

February 6, 2012 at 1:56 PM | by | Comments (0)

Hey, remember when journalists started weirdly declaring that everything was fine with the airline industry? And then travelers took that to mean that good times were here again while the government swooped in with expensive new regulations? And then remember how American Airlines went bankrupt and then Spanair shut down and then Hungary's Malev shut down? Good times.

There's not much to say about this latest casualty of the global economic crunch. Hungary really, really wanted to keep Malev operating, with the government declaring the airline to be a "priority objective." But they just couldn't make the carrier viable—specifically, they couldn't convince suppliers that the government would be able to pay them for services—and thus ended the Malev's 66 years of almost continuous service. Sad.

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Another Month, Another French Transportation Strike

Where: France
February 6, 2012 at 8:57 AM | by | Comments (0)

The week of your trip to Paris has finally arrived, and you’re fully packed and ready to go. There’s just one problem that might screw up your plans, as there might be a little bit of a transportation strike.

French unions are calling for a travel strike beginning today, but don’t worry, the country is still going to be open for business. It just might take a little more patience if you’re getting there by plane. The plan is a four-day strike across all sectors of the country’s aviation services, so that means back-up plans and deep breaths area required if you’re flying through or to spots like Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport.

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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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