Ryanair in Hot Water (Again)

by Josh Lew on

Low cost carrier Ryanair can’t get any love these days. Europe’s original budget airline has gotten tons of press lately. Unfortunately, most of it has been bad. Of course, maybe there are people out there who want to fly an airline with surly flight attendants, lots of noise, and trashy ad campaigns. It could be kind of an adventure.

But when things go to court, the fun and games must cease. BAA (British Airports Authority) is suing Ryanair for unpaid airport fees accrued when the company refused to pay higher landing fees at Stansted Airport.

To Ryanair’s credit, at least they followed up their talk with action. They have been complaining about the higher fees and they haven’t paid them. When the airline’s outspoken chief, Michael O’ Leary, used expletives to describe BAA’s execs, the press ate it up. However, his (winning) personality might not fly in court.

Is this the beginning of the downward spiral for Ryanair? Abrasive behavior will only get you so far. It might be time for O’ Leary and his posse to start making some friends lest they end up with nowhere to land their planes.

Source

Sick of High Airfares? Bus It

by Josh Lew on

“Greyhound” is considered a curse word in some travel circles. With its share of horror stories, America’s most famous bus line has earned a bit of a bad reputation.

I mean, imagine being stuck in a plane for two hours next to a crying baby or someone who thinks you want to hear their life story. Then imagine similar circumstances on a bus where the travel time is multiplied by ten. Bus travel is not for everybody.

Fortunately, Greyhound and others are offering things that are for everybody: cheap fares and free WiFi. Greyhound has launched a budget service called Boltbus. Its competitor, Coach USA, has also put its budget brand, Megabus, on the roadways.

These buses only offer curbside pick-up, a model begun by so-called Chinatown bus companies. This cuts down on costs associated with maintaining a terminal.

Most of the action is on the East Coast where a battle royale is beginning. Boltbus has been offering $1 fares between some cities and Chinatown carriers and Megabus are primed to respond. The result is that it’s cheap to travel up and down the Atlantic Coast by bus. And it’s a hell of a lot easier to put up with crying babies or talkative passengers when you paying such low fares. Maybe you could spend some of your newly saved dough on a good pair of headphones so you can tune everything out.

Celeb spotting in…. Ann Arbor?

by Grant Martin on

Desperate to restart it’s economy, Michigan has been floundering around for the past few years trying to find something to replace the dying automotive and pharmaceutical industries that made the state what it was. The politicians’ solution? Siphon off parts of the film industry and plant it in Michigan — a variety of landscapes, bus loads of workers and inexpensive goods await any producer willing to set up camp in The Great Lakes State.

As an added incentive, Michigan is offering substantial rebates to any filmmaker ready to invest in the local economy, so much that the residents are virtually paying the expenses for the entire shoot. With a deal that they essentially can’t refuse, Hollywood studios are flocking to the shores of Lake Michigan, sand dunes of Traverse City and quaint streets of Ann Arbor to shoot films, surprising residents with closed streets, car chases and celebrities wandering through their bars and restaurants.

Just last month I ran into actor Jonathan B. Wright on a flight to New York, who is in the process of filming Youth in Revolt with Ray Liotta and Michael Cera (think Superbad) in downtown Ann Arbor. he told me that over forty films were scheduled to shoot in Michigan this summer. Drew Barrymore apparently just bought a house near the city while Madonna is currently runnning around at the Traverse City Film Fest.

So next time you want to head out on a celebrity spotting mission, scrap your plans for Mulholland drive and Santa Monica. Book a ticket to Detroit instead and hit the bars in Royal Oak and Ann Arbor friday and saturday nights — you’re sure to run into someone famous in no time.

Hotels (try to) give new meaning to women-friendly floors

by Abha Malpani on

Years ago, hotels would have women-only floors targeted at women traveling alone as a way of increasing their female clientele by promising safety through exclusivity by gender. Of course, that was thrown into obsolescence after being considered sexist and discriminatory.

However, hospitality marketing gurus have managed to swirl around the “women-only” floor idea into one of “women-friendly” floors. Some rooms on such floors have special items for women (a Victoria’s Secret bathrobe, a blow dryer, vanity mirrors), and yoga stuff for women who want to work out, but, to avoid the sexist tag, the floors and facilities are not exclusive to women.

Hmmm…so what makes them special? Some facial creams and nail-polish that the other rooms don’t have?

In other words, hotels are out of ideas to market their services, so they take an old idea, tweak it to sound like a new one when it’s really not an idea at all. Then they sell it as a novel service for a niche audience and get some press.

Hotels such as the Crowne Plaza, the Hilton, and the Hampton Inn have been successful with this marketing gimmick, that too outside the Middle East — so who am I to criticize it. Time will tell how much female customers succumb to this marketing ploy.

An ending note for hotels: your customers are smarter than you realize.

One too many: Drunk flight attendant causes six hour flight delay

by Anna Brones on

I’ve heard of drunk passengers causing problems on flights — an acquaintance of mine recently wasn’t even allowed to board a plane because he had a little too much fun at the airport bar — but I’ve never heard of a flight attendant throwing back a few too many. Until now.

On Sunday a BMI holiday flight of 140 passengers, set to fly from Aberdeen, Scotland to Faro, Portugal, was delayed for six hours while the crew tried to find a replacement for a 24 year old flight attendant who had shown up to work intoxicated. The flight was scheduled to depart at 9am but was delayed when the attendant’s fellow crew members were concerned about her state and called the police. The police arrived at the scene and after a a failed breathalyzer test, arrested the woman.

Drunk flight attendant jokes just seem too easy. I mean, just imagine what the pre-takeoff security demonstration would have been like; those airplane seat belts are complicated enough when you’re sober. But still, it seems that maybe the woman had just a little too much fun the night before, and instead of a hungover day serving snacks, now she has to deal with the police. Bad luck.

Other stories of debauch in the skies