Lives saved from missed connection on flight to Buffalo

by Jamie Rhein on

Imagine this scenario. You’re feeling aggravated because your flight has been delayed. Because of this delay, you’ve missed your connection on another flight. The hours have ticked by while you’re wondering when you might get to your destination.

Then you find out that the plane you would have been on if your flight had not been delayed had crashed into a house and everyone on board had died.

That’s the case of three people who would have been on Flight 3407 that crashed near Buffalo, New York if their flight out of New Orleans had not been delayed for five hours. The three–Dave Beckeny, Paul Dwaragowski and a business associate, were heading to Buffalo but missed the Newark connection. As one of them said, knowing what could have happened if they had been on time is “weird.”

Yesterday when Tom, and then I wrote about the crash, we didn’t know about these three until Heather sent this Nutty News post my way. Again, here is a reminder that so much about arriving or not arriving at destinations seems random. Still most of us get where we’re heading — never knowing what might have happened if we had walked out of the house ten minutes earlier or headed home sooner than expected. Regardless of whether a flight is delayed or leaves on time, enjoy where you are. That moment is yours.

Budget Travel: StudentUniverse.com

by Alison Brick on

Do students know how good they have it? Discounted travel, I mean. They even have their own discount student travel agencies that book travel that’s cheaper and tailored to their needs, which anybody older than 26 years-old couldn’t cash in on.

When I was a student, I tapped into STA Travel, which is still going strong with those spring, summer, and winter break deals. But it’s only recently that I’ve heard of the other student discounter on the block: StudentUniverse.com.

They’re an online travel agency out of Waltham, Massachusetts that gives students the resources to research and buy discounted travel products (hotels, flights, rail, cars, hostels) online. They get the extra-good deals because they have special agreements with 30 airlines, including many of the big players like American, Air France-KLM SA, United, Deutsche Lufthansa AG, and British Airways PLC.

Which do you like better: STA or StudentUniverse?
At a glance, STA and StudentUniverse are similar–both target the same demographic of 18-25 year-old students (as well as teachers), focus on student travel periods, and work with most major carriers and offer hotels, travel packages, destination guides, etc.

You can book with either company to get the perks of a student ticket:
• Book closer to the departure date
• Buy one-way tickets at half the cost of a round-trip ticket
• Stay up to one year (whereas other round-trip tickets are restricted to 30 days)
• Get reduced fees for refunds and changes, in comparison to non-student tickets

All of these things are ideal for students who need the flexibility when they don’t know the exact dates of exams or returning home from a summer abroad.

But each company stands out for different reasons.

STA:
• Offers in-person consultation at more than 100 offices across the US. Students may enjoy researching online, but find that it’s comforting and encouraging to talk with someone in person.

StudentUniverse:
• Doesn’t require an International Student Identity Card (ISIC), and instead verifies student status through its own proprietary web technology
• Offers flexible date search, which allows you to simultaneously search three days before and after your preferred dates
• Gives you the chance to offset your carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions with renewable energy credits (REC) through ECO2llege Class service for less than $10 per round-trip flight

But when it comes down to it, it’s all about price, right? I compared prices for myself: testing out StudentUniverse and STA (along with Orbitz, Cheaptickets, and Kayak) on routes within the US, and between the US and the Pacific, Europe, Asia, and Central America.

What I found surprised me. I figured that StudentUniverse and STA would be neck and neck, with the flights on the other websites coming in as more expensive. But Kayak and STA ended up tied as the strongest. It made sense that StudentUniverse’s prices improved compared with the others when I tried to book closer to the departure date (four weeks in advance, rather than seven weeks), but Kayak and STA still proved to be the cheapest.

The exception was the US-Europe route and several of the one-way tickets, where StudentUniverse was the best. At four weeks out on a round-trip Chicago-Paris flight, StudentUniverse was $508, STA was $556, Orbitz was $574, Cheaptickets was $574, and Kayak was $563. For a one-way Chicago-Paris flight, StudentUniverse was $231, STA was $264, Orbitz was $468, Cheaptickets was $468, and Kayak was $279.

Lesson learned: I’d recommend that students take the time to search several websites, and consider StudentUniverse for its strengths–one-way tickets and US-Europe flights.

If you’re in the middle of booking your spring break trips through StudentUniverse, let us know your experience. While you’re on the website, you might want to sign up for the chance to win $100 every day in their Spring Break Oh-Nine Giveaway.

You can also stay connected with StudentUniverse on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Plane crashes and traffic accidents

by Jamie Rhein on

The first thing I read this morning was the news about the plane crash of Flight 3047, a stark contrast to the landing of Flight 1549 into the Hudson. Perhaps, this is why Chesley B. “Sully” Sullenberger III has down played his role as a hero. One different step and the outcome could have been the terrible version. The version that makes someone’s heart stop for a second and think, “There but for the grace of God go I.”

Tom wrote about Beverly Eckert’s death in Flight 3047’s crash which adds more drama to an already over the top story. When I read the news story, I flashed to all the times I’ve heard planes when visiting my aunt who lives in Florence, Kentucky right under the flight pattern of the Greater Cincinnati Airport. At certain times of the day, if you’re in the backyard, you have to pause a conversation because the noise is so loud. My in laws who live near Hopkins International Airport in Cleveland have a bit of the same problem, but not quite as bad.

If you think about all the planes that fly low over buildings every day, making smooth landings or taking off with ease, it’s astounding. The principles of physics and our abilities to ward off disasters mostly work like clockwork. Still, when one reads about an accident such as Flight 3047, all the safe flights seem diminished somehow.

We wonder if we’ll be lucky enough to have a Chesley B. “Sully” Sullenberger III piloting the plane, or someone else, even if the someone else was just at the wrong place at the wrong time, just like a traffic accident where the road was unexpectedly slick and a car slid through an intersection to plow into oncoming traffic. Car crashes, much more common, barely last in our thoughts past the few minutes we saw them, unless we recount the tale when we arrive at our destination.

Plane crashes have a way of sticking with us. Maybe that’s why there’s a higher anxiety when people fly. Heavy people, whiny children, crowded overhead bins, no snacks, a delay–all add to feelings that something awful could happen. It’s easier to transfer our feelings of a lack of control to the people who are sitting next to us than wondering what might come next. I’m just musing here. But, it’s a thought. Still it is safer to fly–and most car accidents happen closer to home. Like everyone else, I’m wondering what could have possibly happened to cause such a tragedy.

9/11 widow dies in Buffalo plane crash

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Beverly Eckert, widow of 9/11 victim Sean Rooney, perished on Continental Airlines Flight 3407 last night. She was on her way to Buffalo to celebrate what would have been her husband’s 58th birthday. While in town, she had also planned to participate in the presentation of a scholarship award at Canisius High School. She had created the scholarship in honor of her late husband.

The crash of Continental Flight 3407 occurred at around 10:20 PM, when the plane hit a home in Clarence Center, NY. It resulted in 44 on-board fatalities: all 40 passengers and all four crew members. A person on the ground was killed, as well. Twelve local residents were evacuated, and firefighters were quick to respond, as the crash site was close to the local fire station.

The crash has been described as feeling like “a mini-earthquake” and “a large explosion.”

[Via CNN, photo via thebuffalobean]

Southwest Airlines spices up a 7-3-7 with a bit of 34-24-35

by Scott Carmichael on

Southwest Airlines just unveiled their newest flying PR stunt in the sky. One of their 737’s has been decorated with a sexy photo of Israeli model Bar Refaeli.

This 23 year old (who by the way is taken, she’s dating Leonardo DiCaprio) appears on the cover of this months Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition.

Of course, the whole thing is really ironic, since it was Southwest Airlines that attempted to kick a passenger off one of their flights because she was dressed too sexy (she changed into something less provocative and was allowed to stay). Either they changed their minds about what exactly is “too sexy”, or they simply forgot about that little incident.

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(Top photo from: Blogsouthwest.com)