How Many Movies Have You Watched On One Flight?

by Kelly Amabile on

I’m not exactly embarrassed to admit this, but I’m not sure if it is something to be proud of either?! On a recent 13-hour Qantas flight from Melbourne to Los Angeles, I managed to watch five movies in a row, and could have probably snuck in a sixth if my eyes were not so weary. And for some reason, I feel compelled to admit that I engaged in this obscene in-flight marathon film fest. I’m actually quite curious to know about the movie-watching habits of other long-haul fliers out there.

Who else will ‘fess up?

I had only planned on watching one movie, and then figured I’d pop some Sudafed Nighttime pills to knock me out. But the drugs never kicked in after my own private screening of No Reservations. Or maybe deep in my psyche I knew that I just HAD to watch Blades of Glory before bedtime. After that, I blame it on the seat — I just couldn’t get comfortable. Or was it that burning desire to watch License to Wed and Evan Almightly?! By the time I got to Borat I had really surpassed my (or any normal sleep-deprived human’s) film-viewing limit and should have certainly been fast asleep…but once you start watching that movie, you just can’t stop. My cranium hurt and my eyes were surely bugging out of the sockets by then, but I had to know if Borat would ever get his dream date with Pamela!

So who else has been hooked by their in-flight entertainment system? Please tell me that I am not the only who has denied herself sleep on a plane in order to catch up on all the romantic comedies and mockumentaries she’d been missing? I had brought a good book with me on the plane, as well as my laptop, so I could organize the photos from my trip. Instead, the in-flight entertainment system got me good, proving to be a much stronger drug than the decongestant I thought would have brought me at least a few good hours of sleep.

Skybus to Cut Flights and Add More

by Jamie Rhein on

Rats! Be still my heart. I just heard that Skybus is canceling its Columbus to Bellingham flights starting in the spring.

I wrote that line last Thursday after I heard it on one of my local news stations, but I couldn’t get a confirmation if this was indeed fact. Skybus wasn’t talking on their website and whatever I did find, was a vague might. Today, it’s official. My husband even called me downstairs with the news. “No more flights to Bellingham,” he said, pointing to the headlines on the front page of the paper. I, of course, went into my, “Oh, I knew that,” mode.

What a disappointment. Besides Bellingham’s flights ceasing in March, so is the San Diego route and one of the LA flights. Triple darn. My husband was getting ready to book a cheap flight to San Diego to see his cousin. I do have to say, that if you plan ahead, you can get a flight to Seattle for almost as cheap as our Bellingham flight was this summer. By the time we were finished paying for luggage, two beverages and priority boarding, I think we were up to $360 a piece. I’d rather pay a little more for the service and not have to be at the airport with a child before the crack of dawn.

Skybus has a new round of $10 tickets through May on all their locations, but we can’t make up our minds where we want to go or when. It’s too hard making decisions so early in the morning and by the time the caffiene has kicked in, it’ll be too late for us, but if you’re awake, go for it. There are more flights to Ft. Meyers, Florida and Greensboro, North Carolina now, and you can fly directly from Portsmouth, New Hampshire without going through Columbus on a few of the flights.

Are Airport Terminals Actually Becoming Somewhat Enjoyable?!?!?

by Neil Woodburn on

As the amount of time spent by passengers waiting in airports increases–up to 108 minutes on average–airports are starting to do something about it. No, they aren’t working harder to decrease the wait time, but they are trying to make it more tolerable. In fact, some are actually making it enjoyable.

Making money off of bored, restless passengers was once the sole domain of duty frees and expensive eateries. But now, an increasing number of attractive alternatives are popping up in airports across the globe. In fact, some retailers and concessionaires are fighting over each other for what is increasingly becoming prime real estate according to journalist Peter Pae’s LA Times piece, Flight delayed again — that feels good.

Plan things right, and your three hour layover could include wine tasting, pedicures, massages, haircuts, manicures, surfing the web, renting DVD players and a movie, and even sleeping in mini pod hotels. Or, of course, you can just wander through duty free shopping for things you don’t really need.

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RFID for Luggage: Coming To An Airport Near You?

by Martha Edwards on

Most people have a story of an airline losing their luggage. For me, it was en route to Thailand, and I was forced to spend a couple of days wearing my travelling companion’s clothing — too bad she’s about half my size. Luckily, I was prepared and brought a toothbrush, deodorant, some soap and most importantly, an clean pair of underwear with me in my carry-on.

A newish technology is being integrated into a number of airports, and is already in operation at Las Vegas’ McCarran International Airport, as well as the Hong Kong International Airport. It’s called RFID — radio frequency identification — and it is embedded into luggage tags.

RFID works much more effectively than the current tracking device, bar codes. And while with bar codes, baggage handlers have to manually search for a bag, RFID allows them to track down the bag’s exact location. So far at McCarran, the technology has 99% accuracy in it’s read rate — the 1% being tags that are unreadable because they’ve slip under the bag handle. It’s relatively cheap too — $0.15 per tag, compared to $1.80 in 1997.

Expect to see this technology at Airports in Paris, Amsterdam, Milan and San Francisco, among others.

Stop in Taipei, Save $100

by Catherine Bodry on

Good deals abound for the traveler willing to take a Taipei pit stop. Not only will the usual $100 landing fee surcharge be lifted, but if you stay two nights you can get a $79/night deal at participating hotels. The “I Land Paradise” promotion (which applies to any Asia-bound China Airlines or EVA Airways flight departing from a U.S. airport) starts Oct. 1 and runs until June 30.

The main problem with the promotion is that there are no direct flights from Taipei to China’s mainland except during the Lunar New Year. So if you’re on your way to China and want to take advantage of the deal, you’ll need to go through Hong Kong and then catch a flight to the mainland. I’ve stopped in Taipei several times en route to Southeast Asia, but I’ve never left the airport. The lifted surcharge could certainly convince me to lengthen my stay.

Attractions include the Shilin Night Market (see The Kozy Shack’s photo) and the National Palace Museum. For more stuff to see and do, check out AOL’s Taipei site.