Cheney and Air Force 2: Bird Woes

by Jamie Rhein on

Where have I been? I wonder if The Daily Show with Jon Stewart heard about this. It would be a pretty good tale to tell on Comedy Central. Last Friday, April 13, Air Force Two with Dick Cheney on board creamed a bird outside Chicago. Bam! Pulverized! The bird was blown to smithereens! What’s with that guy and birds? Turns out, taking out birds during air travel is common. Take offs and landings are the largest culprits. Cheney’s plane was heading to O’Hare International Airport. Generally, if a plane hits a bird it’s not that bad—for the plane. The multiple engines help prevent a crisis—for the passengers.

What are the numbers? According to “Death by Bird” on a Web site devoted to military strategies, military planes in the U.S. cause the demise of about 5,000 birds a year. Commercial and private airlines knock-off 140 to 150 percent more. I have no idea where these numbers are from, but it sounds plausible. There’s a PDF file from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services that reports cars kill 60 million birds a year in the U.S. and private and commercial aircraft kill far fewer. Even a million seems startling. Where do all the dead birds end up? I would think there’d at least be more stray feathers floating around from all the in-flight collisions.

Free Geekery: Travel with a Quirky Edge

by Jamie Rhein on

There are 19 museums, most of them free, in Beaumont, Texas. Who knew? I didn’t until I read 20 (Inexpensive) Nerd Getaways at Free Geekery, a website that devotes time to cheap travel and unusual jaunts. This article covers a vacation assortment with creative, quirky and brainy sounding angles–even cruise ship travel. Insight Cruises, dubbed Geek Cruises, offer relatively inexpensive technology conferences on cruise ships. While you head to Alaska or Hawaii, for example, you can browse the Internet, learn about the latest technology wonders, and mix and mingle with techno wizards in between browsing the buffet table or whatever else one does on a cruise.

One vacation that caught my attention was #10. Engineer Your Way into Paradise. This is a driving option, although, I thought it was train related from the title. The tour takes you along US 550, “The Million Dollar Highway,” through some of the mountain passes of Colorado. I’ve been on this road and the sections mentioned are the kind that make you clutch the wheel if you’re driving. The payoff is GORGEOUS scenery-the kind that compels you turn in your seat-if you’re not driving so that you can hold onto the vistas a bit longer.

The other 17 trips are such a mix of themes that each has its own unique flavor and worth a taste. Hopefully, more travel tidbits will be coming our way. The website also has other handy travel related articles like how to get the most out of airline miles and gas mileage.

Celebrity Travel Cut-Ups: Paula Abdul

by Adrienne Wilson on

As if news that a celebrity has once again demanded services and privileges above and beyond that of the ordinary person or passenger comes as a surprise to anyone I bring you the latest in celebrity travel temper-tantrums: Paula Abdul. The stunt that Ms. Abdul tried to pull with Southwest airlines is little of a shocker to me as I’ve dealt with the American Idol judge/diva on a couple of occasions myself. In any case it is said that she recently tried to use her celebrity status to cut in front of all the other passengers at the gate in San Jose for a flight headed to Burbank. EURweb noted Southwest’s boarding policy best, but for those who have not flown with the low-cost budget airlines it’s basically a first-come first serve basis.

Paula apparently bypassed the long line of customers waiting to board, headed to the ticket agent and demanded special treatment. The funny part about it all if what was witnessed and reported by one passenger is true, someone supposedly told Ms. Paula, “You’re no Sanjaya! You have to board like everyone else.” Hearing that makes me wonder if the young boyish Sanjaya had shown up with his pony-hawk and tried breezing to the front of the line, if that same passenger would have let him cut? Hmm… It also makes me stop to think why Paula didn’t get a first-class ticket with some other carrier and whether I would have let the star scoot ahead? Then I wonder who is worthy of stepping two spots in front of me? Sadly, no one seems to come to mind.

What celebrity would you let cut in front of you?

Best Airlines for 2007? OAG Honors British Airways, JetBlue, and Continental.

by Willy Volk on

The OAG is a global travel and transport information company providing data management to airlines and travelers alike. In order to recognize the best in the field, each year OAG holds the Airline of the Year Awards, in which their “world-wide customer base of business travelers” casts ballots. This year marked the 25th Anniversary of the awards, which is dubbed the “Oscars of the airline industry.” I don’t think Ellen DeGeneres hosted.

According to that “world-wide customer base,” the 2007 OAG Airline of the Year was British Airways (which also won Best Airline Based in Western Europe). Other notable awards included:

Interestingly, no Russian-based airlines went home with any trophies. If you’re curious, the regional “Best Airline” winners were:

* Best Airline Based in Central/South America & Caribbean: Aeromexico

* Best Airline Based in Asia: Singapore Airlines

* Best Airline Based in Australasia/Pacific: Qantas

* Best Airline Based in Central/Eastern Europe: CSA Czech Airlines

* Best Airline Based in Africa: South African Airways

* Best Airline Based in the Middle East & Indian Sub-Continent: Emirates

* Best Economy/Coach Class: Korean Air

* Best Airport: Seoul Incheon International

Most Dangerous Country for Flying

by Neil Woodburn on

It’s a very sad day for Mother Russia when a recently released statistic has the country performing worse than Africa.

And yet, when the International Air Transport Association analyzed their data for 2006 they discovered that Russia has overtaken Africa as the most dangerous place to fly.

According to a recent Reuters report, the industry average for “serious accidents” was 0.65 incidents per million flights in 2006. Africa used to hold the dubious honor of 9.2 incidents per million flights the prior year. 2006 was good to Africa, however, and the continent improved their safety record to 4.31.

Russia, on the other hand, clawed their way to the bottom of the heap with a horrifying 8.6 accident rate. To be fair, Russia has been grouped in with other Commonwealth of Independent States that used to be part of the USSR. I’m sure that countries like Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan certainly didn’t help Russia’s average.

2006 was the first year in the last five I didn’t fly within Russia. Now I can say I am very happy for having not done so.