Keep track of Thanksgiving holiday airport ruckus with Travelocity

by Grant Martin on

The busiest travel day of the year is almost upon us — have you got your chain mail travel pants and your 3oz 4Loko shots ready yet?

There’s no doubt that the Wednesday before Thanksgiving is the craziest day of the year to travel, and with this year’s new security screenings in place and a higher volume of air travelers predicted over last year, airports are going to be experiencing record-setting tumult.

For many of us who are dreading the miserable trek from the ticket counter through security and onto the plane, this year Travelocity is again placing spotters inside of the 12 largest airports in the nation to monitor crowds, security and whatever else manifests during two days of crazy airport mayhem.

This year, the online travel agent is coordinating the entire effort over Twitter. You can find and subscribe to your airport’s feed by looking it up over at the Window Seat Blog and then follow along over the course of the day as the drama unfolds.

Another nice advantage of using Twitter for the feeds is that you can actually interact with the spotters. At Chicago‘s O’Hare, for example, I can ask my spotter Jel to mosey on over to the Garrett’s popcorn booth in terminal 3 to check on the lines and volumes. Or you can just try to track your spotter down and mess with them.

Either way, make sure you spend extra time getting to the airport and doing your dilligence for your Thanksgiving travel this year. All of this airport research will turn moot if you end up missing your flight.

Suspected bomb on airplane was a “dummy”

by Sean McLachlan on

Yesterday’s potential bomb on an Air Berlin flight from Namibia to Germany turns out to have been an American-made “dummy” used by security officials for training, BBC reports.

The “bomb” consists of a detonator, wires, and a ticking clock and is put in a suitcase and through the system to measure the efficiency of an airport’s security. The device did not contain explosives and was detected before being put on the plane, so score one for Namibian airport security. But here’s the catch–there was no security test going on. So either it was put on by accident (unlikely) or someone decided to create a scare. Local police are investigating and with tourism being such a big money maker in Namibia, whoever was responsible faces some serious consequences. I wonder what the inside of a Namibian jail looks like?

The first wind we had of this new development came from Gadling reader Sabrina, who read about it on German news. Vielen Dank, Sabrina!

Virgin America and Stand Up to Cancer kick off new Dallas service

by Melanie Nayer on

Richard Branson is widely known for many things, among them his endless charitable contributions. So, it’s no surprise that when Branson’s Virgin America wants to make a statement, they enlist the help of one of the top charity groups in the nation.

In an effort to generate awareness for its new Dallas-Fort Worth flights, Virgin America is teaming up with Stand Up to Cancer (SU2C) to encourage “do-gooders” in the Dallas market to stand up for a good cause. The “Stand Up Dallas-Fort Worth” digital campaign urges flyers to tap their network of friends and family to raise awareness and funds for collaborative cancer research.

With every unique donation of at least $5, entrants will score a 20 percent flight discount with Virgin America. In addition, the top do-gooders – those who tap the largest network of donors – will score an invitation to the airline’s Lone Star Launch Party. The party, hosted by Branson, will feature some “smoking” secret musical performances at The Winspear Opera House on December 1, 2010.The airline launches daily nonstop flights between Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) and Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) starting December 1, 2010, and between DFW and San Francisco International Airport (SFO) starting December 6, 2010. DFW-LAX and DFW-SFO fares start from $119, restrictions, taxes and fees applying.***

Remember: In this case, size doesn’t matter — through the Stand Up Dallas-Fort Worth campaign, the larger the network of donors tapped (not necessarily the size of the donations) – the bigger the rewards.

The campaign runs through November 26, 2010. For more information or to donate, click here.

Breaking news: Suspected bomb found on German airline

by Sean McLachlan on

A flight from Namibia to Germany was delayed earlier today after a suspected bomb was found in a suitcase. The package included a detonator, batteries, and a clock, the BBC reports. Details are unclear at this moment and it is not known if the device was an actual bomb or simply meant to intimidate.

The suspected bomb was found before it was loaded onto an Air Berlin flight from Windhoek to Munich. The flight was delayed for several hours as all passengers and luggage were checked. It has now safely completed its journey.

Germany has recently upped its security because of intelligence that an attack was imminent.

An interesting detail in this case was that the suitcase had no destination sticker, suggesting that it did not go through normal check-in procedures.

[Photo courtesy user Arcturus via Wikimedia Commons]