It’s a Nice Day for an Airport Wedding

by Justin Glow on

I’ve heard of couples getting married in all sorts of ridiculous places like hot air balloons, under water, at a church — but this one takes the cake: Lovebirds traveling through Amsterdam Schiphol Airport can now tie the knot in the departure terminal right before heading off on a honeymoon.

It’s called Schipholweddings, and if their website had an English version I would be more than happy to tell you all about it! For now, I’ll just give you a link to their website and — unless you speak Dutch — you can look at the pretty pictures and imagine all the bad gift ideas for a couple getting married in an airport.

Interior of Boeing’s New 747-8 Intercontinental Airplane

by Dave Luna on

Last Thursday, Boeing introduced the look of their new Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental airplane to the public. The company built a two-story, full-scale model of the plane’s interior at their Customer Experience Center in Renton, Washington. The cabin is shown here with the overhead dramatically reflecting off of a concierge table.

This is the Door 2 entryway with Boeing’s “sweeping staircase” to the second level. Boeing adds that this space will “facilitate improved passenger flow during boarding and deplaning.” I don’t know about that. I get a feeling that it’s going to take longer to board/deplane since a lot of first-time fliers will probably just stand around staring at the cool decor.

Right now, the plane looks like something out of Star Trek: The Next Generation, but we all know it’s going to end up looking like every other trash-filled, luggage-scuffed plane after a few hops between the States and Europe.

One-Stop Shop for Flight Information

by Neil Woodburn on

Statistics can be very boring–unless they happen to directly impact your travel plans to Denver.

FlightStats.com is a wonderful little site that provides statistics on pretty much anything to do with airline travel. It is a one-stop shop for information about airport parking, flight delays, security wait times, flight status, travel warnings, on-time score cards, flight performance between cities and a handful of other goodies such as information about frequent flyerprograms, passenger forums, and current hot airfare deals.

Out of curiosity, I looked up a United flight I’m taking to Chicago next week and learned that it is on time only 72% of the time and that the average delay is 28 minutes. The data was compiled November-December of 2006 so it should reflect winter delays–although winter has been slow to hit this season. We’ll see what happens next week when Chicago is expected to have snow flurries and a high of 36 degrees Fahrenheit.

Pick-Me-Up Eye Drops Lessen Jet Lag

by Neil Woodburn on

I’ve stopped flying with my contacts in because my eyes are simply too dry by the end of the flight and feel miserable. Dry eyes, I’ve noticed, contribute to my jet lag and I have therefore started flying with my glasses instead.

Although I haven’t tried it, apparently there is a very popular eye drop in Japan designed specifically to remedy such a condition. Namida Rohto i.Q. Moischarge Eyedrops have a touch of menthol in them that make your eyes water and sting before overwhelming them with a “cool sensation” that is supposed to be an incredible pick-me-up according to Douglas Krone, CEO of Dynamism, in a recent Business 2.0 interview.

Unfortunately, the American version has less menthol than the one on the Japanese market and is therefore not as powerful. Nonetheless, I’m curious. Has anyone tried these miracle drops and would like to comment?

Runaway Boy Makes It From Seattle To Texas

by Erik Olsen on

File this one under ODD and seemingly impossible in this post-9/11 era. An 80-pound, 4-foot-9 fourth-grader snuck (or sweet-talked) his way onto two separate Southwest Airlines flights on Monday, getting himself from Seattle to Phoenix and then to San Antonio.

Semaj Booker told security he was trying to reach his grandfather in Dallas, and got on these flights. But it gets even weirder. He then — and we’re talking about a 9 year old kid — apparently led police on a high-speed chase in a stolen car on Sunday. The Transportation Safety Administration is stil working out the details with Southwest, but it seems little Semaj (aka “Sneaky Semmy”) was issued a boarding pass at Sea-Tac after giving information matching an existing reservation to boarding staff and then telling them that his mother was already in the boarding area. Then, authorities say, the kid eluded police at speeds of 80-90 mph until he took an exit and the engine blew.

Wha? I can’t wait to see this one on Jon Stewart.