Fake pilots try to smuggle cocaine through airport

by Sean McLachlan on

Spanish police have arrested two men who tried to smuggle cocaine through Madrid’s Barajas airport while dressed as pilots.

The two men boarded a flight from Bolivia and then changed into pilot uniforms. So far, so good, but once they landed in Madrid they joined the queue with the rest of the passengers. This struck the airport police as a wee bit suspicious. When asked for ID, they produced IDs from a different airline than the one they arrived on. Strike two. The cops then questioned the real crew of the plane and found out these folks were, in fact, passengers. Strike three. The daring duo then had their bags searched and were found to be in possession of 55 kilos (121 lbs) of Bolivian marching powder.

This video (in Spanish) shows just how good their disguises were. It is unclear at this point whether the uniforms are brilliant fakes or real ones they acquired somehow. Too bad for them they hadn’t thought out the rest of their plan as carefully. Perhaps they read how Gadling caught the cops at Barajas “allegedly” playing solitaire and figured it was an easy target.

10 annoying things you might not realize you’re doing on the airplane

by Annie Scott on

There is a pleasant contingent of people out there who honestly try to be nice as well as cordial to strangers. If that sounds like you, have a look through this list. You may be offending when you fly and not even realize it. If, on the other hand, you read this list and are totally faux-pas free, you’re probably doing all right. Let us know how you fare below — and if you do really poorly, why not take a look back at The 10 Commandments of Airplane Etiquette? It’s a good place to start.

10 annoying things you might not realize you’re doing on the airplane

1. Reclining your seat during a meal.

You are moving someone’s food. While they are trying to eat it. That’s mean.

2. Leaving your window shade open.
If you’re like me, and out like a light (fast asleep) as soon as the aircraft leaves the gate, be sure that if you’re in the window seat, you’ve pulled down your shade. People need that added darkness to see their screens and/or to sleep. If you’re out cold when the movie starts, and your window is still open and letting the daylight blaze in, you have failed in your window seat duties.3. Eating messily, especially if it’s your own food.

I know it’s not grade school, and you can bring your own snacks even if you didn’t bring enough to share, but you may be making a terrible faux pas anyway. If you’re not eating during the meal service, it’s very likely that you forgot napkins, and are making a mess either of your row or on your tray table. As anyone who’s ever flown in economy knows, those tray tables don’t always get cleaned (well) between every flight. The stickiness stays. Seriously, choose your airplane snacks wisely, and bring wet wipes for you and the tray table.

4. Putting trash in the seat pouch.
That little magazine pouch in front of you is not for trash. Even if your mother told you it was, it’s not. Hold your trash calmly or leave it on your table until a flight attendant comes by for garbage. When you use the pouch for garbage, it is the equivalent of making a mess and hiding it.

5. Attempting major grooming in the restroom.

Not only does it take a good long time to shave, pluck your eyebrows, brush your teeth or whatever you’re doing, but it inevitably makes a mess. That’s not your fault — the plane is moving — but making the decision to do it while nice people wait in line IS. Then, they get into the restroom, which you may or may not have made an effort to clean up after your activities. Please try to remember that though it’s true, someone else will eventually clean it, it’s not like a hotel room. People you don’t know have to use that same space.

6. Bare feet.
Come on, really? Nobody wants to see your nersty toes.

7. Standing in the aisle to rummage through luggage in the overhead during boarding.
I know it “only takes a couple seconds,” and you “just have to get your phone” or whatever, but it’s not okay. Everyone needs to get onto the plane. If you have to rummage through something, pull it into your row and do it out of the way.

8. Talking too much.
You’ve just got to assume that nobody cares. If that seems cold to you, you’re looking for warmth in the wrong place. Keep in mind that your seat mate is a captive audience, and forcing them to listen to you may be borderline criminal, depending on their disposition.

9. Audio imposing.
Do you ever wonder if everyone around you can hear your iPod via your earbuds? Then ask a friend, because you don’t want to be “that person.” Additionally, turn the sound off on whatever games, computers and other devices you’re using.

10. Wearing a scent.
Even if you think you smell awesome, the person next to you is not likely to appreciate your bubblegum-scented body lotion, sexy cologne or even Chanel No. 5. Take a good shower and leave it at that. If you don’t have time to shower, and you happen to be a stinky person, everyone will smell it regardless of any additional scents. Don’t use them.

Just Febreeze yourself. (kidding)

An open letter to a traveler living a hundred years from now

by Aaron Hotfelder on

Dear traveler,

You may not realize it, but a lot has changed in the travel world since my fellow Gadling bloggers and I were roaming the globe back in 2010. If you’ll indulge me for just a moment, my dear traveler from the future, I’d like to share with you a look at how things used to be…

First of all, it won’t surprise you that air travel was much different way back in 2010. The airlines were starting to charge us extra for all sorts of things that used to be free – headphones, meals, checked luggage, carry-on luggage, using the bathroom – which inspired many an indignant blog post. (In the previous sentence, you’ll notice I referred to them as airlines, plural. This was before the Great Airline Merger of 2043 in which every single airline merged into UniAir.)

As for the planes themselves, they were not terribly comfortable – the seating was cramped and the air stale – but they were staffed by people called flight attendants who were usually a pretty helpful and polite bunch. (Okay, some of ’em were a bit surly, but they’re a lot better than the robot maids you have now! No personality!) Back in 2010, we sure complained a lot about air travel, but I think most of us, when we stopped and thought about it, were pretty amazed at the technology that allowed us to travel across the world in less than twelve hours. (Hey, don’t laugh! That was fast for us!)

Some of us preferred hitting the open road to flying the friendly skies. A hundred years ago, we drove cars that ran on gasoline, a liquid refined from oil (a substance you’ve only read about – sorry we didn’t leave you any!). Driving across the United States (which once included Texas!) was one of the greatest ways to see the massive scale and the endless variety of our great country.

When exploring an unknown country or city, many of us would carry books (written works containing several hundred pages bound together) with detailed maps and recommendations on the best hotels and restaurants to visit. Of course, I’ll bet there’s much more detailed and accessible information available for travelers in the year 2110, especially with the recent introduction of the Apple iBrain, but we liked traveling our way. Yes, believe it or not, we actually enjoyed the feeling of getting lost in a new place, of rolling the dice on an unknown restaurant, of using sign language to express ourselves to foreign shopkeepers and taxi drivers.

Which reminds me… If I can offer you one piece of advice for your own travels in 2110, it’s this: Don’t over-plan! I’ll bet you have easy access to reviews of every dive bar and chicken shack in Pyongyang, but our most memorable travel moments usually happened spontaneously. Yours probably will too.

As you can see, a lot has changed in the travel world in the past hundred years – not just how we travel but where we travel. Although space travel is common for you now, it was barely a hundred years ago that even the world’s most beloved ex-boy-band member couldn’t scrape together the funds to make it up to the International Space Station.

But despite all the differences, we have much in common too. As travelers, we share the need to explore, to experience the world’s complexity and diversity and vastness. We feel an undying need to learn the world’s languages, meet its people, sample its cuisine, and hear its music. Though separated by time, we are, essentially, the same. We are travelers.

Best wishes from the distant past,

Aaron

p.s. Have you been promised flying cars your entire lives? So were we. Don’t hold your breath.

European flights resume. . .but for how long?

by Sean McLachlan on

Europe’s latest air travel headache seems to be over for the moment. After a large cloud from Iceland’s volcano Eyjafjallajökull wafted over Portugal, Spain, Italy, France, and Austria, officials have given the all clear. Another arm of the cloud disrupted flights in Scotland and Ireland. Those airports have reopened as well. The last airports to reopen this morning were in Portugal, including the capital Lisbon.

A large portion of the cloud is still hovering over the North Atlantic, forcing transatlantic flights to divert around it and causing delays.

Travelers are advised to check ahead before going to the airport. With Eyjafjallajökull showing increased activity and blowing a cloud of ash up to 20,000 feet into the air, the situation remains uncertain and there will almost certainly be more closures in the days ahead.

Ash cloud continues to close European airports

by Sean McLachlan on

The long arm of Eyjafjallajökull has struck again. After the havoc it caused in April, and a second wave of hassles last week, a stronger ash cloud from this grumpy Icelandic volcano caused numerous airport closures in Spain yesterday.

Today the situation has spread. The cloud that closed nineteen Spanish airports yesterday has drifted east. Italian airports at Milan, Pisa, and Florence had to shut down this morning and there are reports of delays and cancellations at Nice, France. The Iberian peninsula hasn’t been totally cleared either, with airports in the northwest of Spain and Portugal closed through the morning.

Another arm of the cloud has reached back into the UK, closing several Scottish airports this morning.

Even countries not hit by the ash cloud are affected as transatlantic flights have to divert around a long curtain of ash, delaying their arrival.

The situation is changing constantly and travelers are advised to check ahead before flying. In fact, since dear old Eyjafjallajökull doesn’t seem to have any intention of easing up, now might be the time to look into crossing the Atlantic on a freighter.