Climate activists arrested at Heathrow

by Anna Brones on

With all the talk of biofuels and climate change in the airline industry, environmental activists have taken to airports as their protesting grounds. Last week in Sweden activists dressed up as polar bears at a Stockholm airport. This week the site of protesting is Heathrow Airport, where today four Greenpeace activists, who climbed on top of an airplane, were arrested.

Part of a larger group that was gathering in Westminster to oppose plans to expand Heathrow, the Greenpeace protesters hung a banner that said “Climate Emergency – No Third Runway” on a British Airways Airbus A320.

Although the environmental group saw their actions as necessary, the BAA, the British airport company, called the act “unlawful and irresponsible.” I wonder if they’ll ever be allowed to fly British Airways again.

Negative Ghost Rider, the pattern is full

by Grant Martin on

For any of you aspiring commercial pilots out there, a word of advice: buzzing the tower is not cool. You are not Tom Cruise, and that jumbo jet is not an F-14.

So found out Captain Ian Wilkinson after his employer fired him for making a low pass at Paine Field out in Washington.

Check out the video of the event that triggered the controversy. Not very flashy by airshow standards, but from a “COMMERCIAL PASSENGER SAFETY” standpoint I can see the concern.

Thanks to our friends at Gizmodo and Metlife for the info.

Myth or magic bullet? 4 secrets about Rule 240

by Justin Glow on

If you’ve ever considered evoking Rule 240, you need to read Christopher Elliott’s explanation of the legitimacy behind an airline’s “responsibility when a flight is delayed or canceled.”

Some people say the rule is a myth, and mentioning it to a gate agent will only garner rolled eyes and strange looks. Other claim that actually it does exist. Elliott comes to the rescue and sets everyone straight.

“Clearly, there is a Rule 240. But it’s hardly an all-powerful provision that can be invoked by every stranded passenger. Somewhere between myth and a magic bullet lies the truth about Rule 240.”

He goes on to offer up four “lesser-known facts about Rule 240 that have been overlooked,” including:

  1. Every airline has a rule ‘240’ – but not every airline calls it Rule 240
  2. Rule 240 is just one part of a contract that you really ought to read
  3. Rule 240 is subject to change without notice
  4. A better name for Rule 240 is “Customers Last”

If you travel a lot and have ever thought about using Rule 240, hop over to Elliott’s blog and get the real scoop.

Experts question biofuel use while Virgin fuels flight with coconut-oil

by Abha Malpani on

I’ve always had an intellectual crush on Richard Branson. He is one of the most fearless high-achievers I can think of today and never fails to surprise. So, when I read that his new idea that involved operating one of Virgin’s Boeing 747’s on jet-fuel (80%) and the oil from 150,000 coconuts was a preliminary success, I was, yet again, bamboozled.

The 40-minute flight from London to Amsterdam demonstrated the successful use of biofuels for the first time on a commercial flight and could possibly lead to a revolution in environmentally friendly aviation.

Many airline companies in association with the CAAFI have been working on using alternative fuels for their planes: synthetic jet-fuel, fuel derived from coal, gas-to-liquid (GTL) fuel. Earlier this month a 3-hour test flight by Airbus 380 was successful using GTL, the plane didn’t realize the difference and it was marked as the first step towards developing biofuel (biomass-to-liquid).

Although this would not be used (yet) for commercial flights, Branson’s bold attempt to jump the boat and get straight to experimenting with biofuel has, of course, caused an uproar among environmental groups: using coconut-oil on a large scale has many detrimental effects in the countries it comes from, encourages deforestation, etc.Branson’s next step is to nurture algae — a sustainable next-generation oil — to perhaps achieve the same on a larger scale. This idea, of course, has also been attacked along with mounting evidence that biofuels in fact do not reduce carbon emissions, and that algae may produce more carbon dioxide rather than not.

Initially, alternative fuels that will eventually lead to use of sustainable biofuels was the answer to responsible air and road travel; now, thanks to new evidence, another study on the environmental and economic impact of biofuels has been demanded for.

What’s admirable about Branson is that he doesn’t waste time or banter, he just comes up with a valid solution that no one has thought of, or thought of but not had the guts to give it a try. Everyone else just seems to keep coming up with studies and theories, and studies and theories. And after all these studies and theories(!), why are we going around in pointless circles?

Gadling’s favorite booking engines

by Grant Martin on

Running a travel website and all, you might say that we here at Gadling have broken all of the travel booking engines in and tested them to their limits. I’ve seen Orbitz, Sidestep, Mobissimo and Kayak born and grow into giants, watched as the grass roots, moccasin-wearing efforts turned into corporate, power-tie monoliths.

Throughout our years of booking, favorites have emerged. It used to be that I would go through several different search engines when I was looking for a ticket to compare multiple prices, vacillating between one and the next and the next. But now I, and most Gadlingers alike share a common engine.

The clearcut winner for Gadling’s favorite airline booking engine?

Kayak.

Kayak is a new breed of search engines called a metacrawler, a tool that searches multiple engines as well as private websites for the lowest published fare. But in addition to the ability to do this, Kayak has a clear, efficient engine that fluidly searches across a wide variety of parameters– all without overwhelming you with ads or useless chaff.

Keep it real, Kayak.