Hey, a quick idea for those thinking about heading to lovely South Africa.
South African Airways has two-for-one tickets for travelers and their companions to get to both Johannesburg and Cape Town. Purchase an economy ticket from Dulles to Johannesburg or Cape Town for $1,350 (plus up to $250 in taxes) and your co-flier pays only the taxes on the second ticket. Depart Jan. 15-Feb. 15, stay at least seven days and return by March 14. You’ll need to book by February. 1.
The AP ran a piece revealing that the U.S. government has been secretly profiling international and domestic airline passengers for at least four years. In a small notice buried in the Federal Register (where the arcane minutia of government is published), the “Automated Targeting System” was announced last month (a companion to “Secure Flight,” the 2-plus-year-old domestic data-mining system).
It sounds like Total Information Awareness is alive and well.
Passengers are scored, based upon data about their motor vehicle records (often sold by states to all comers), past one-way travel, seating and meal preferences, method of payment, travel destination and origin, residence, phone numbers, e-mail addresses, frequent flyer information, and other data. The data will be kept on file for at least 40 years, under current plans.
You can’t find out or challenge your own score or data, but the government is happy to share the info with foreign governments (to prevent people from entering the country) and even private entities (to prevent people from getting hired, licensed or security-cleared for jobs). Privacy advocates are concerned.
Apparently, at least 45 people a day are refused entry based upon the scoring. It’s a pity they wouldn’t know why, and couldn’t correct any error.
It is time for another one of my random travel contest discoveries found out there on the web. I was lured to the new and very visually pleasing Dominica tourism site from an advertisement found on Nat Geo and further stumbled upon this great opportunity to win a trip to what they call, “The Nature Island.” If you have not heard, American Airlines/American Eagle has added flights to Dominica, so the winner should expect to be shipped into paradise on American, but not without answering a few simple questions. Now for the all Carib guru’s out there the contest quiz might be easy breezy like a summer wind drifting through the lush green leaves of the palm, but those just wanting a little Atlantic Ocean fun and sun with only a small amount of knowledge on Dominica will probably need to surf around the site for the answers. Questions include: What is the capital of Dominica? How many waterfalls can be found there and which type of whales frequent the waters? There are 10 questions in all, the contest is open until March 31, 2007 and winners are notified by April 30, 2007. So if your gut feeling is telling you you’ll be relaxing on the beach with a cocktail in hand this summer this could be your ticket in. Be sure to read the official contest rules.
Thanks to our healthy friends and sister site, That’s Fit, I just stumbled upon this awesome article out of the Seattle Times focusing on the nutritional value of those in-flight snack packs. You would think with cheese, crackers, peanuts and an occasional cookie one wouldn’t shoot their entire diet to hell, but beware!!! (Cue horror music.) If you thought the danger was in flying you were wrong – it’s in the honey roasted nuts! The story in the Seattle Times notes both Delta and U.S. Airways have the lowest health score, for more reasons than high in calories. The system is based on factors like how helpful the airline was in providing information, the cost of the snack pack (if any) and the exercise equivalent to burning off the calories found in each pack. Let’s take the Delta snack pack for example since it ranks the absolute worst. According to their info you’d have to walk 197 minutes to burn off the 766 calories found in Delta’s bag of treats. That’s a lot of walking for so little food.
On the upside, those flying with United need not worry so much as a frequent Delta or U.S. Airways flyer. United Airlines ranks tops. The snack packs offered on board are vegetarian friendly and trans-fat-free. Although the cost is $5, they have the largest selection of snack choices. Surprisingly, you’ll need to do a good amount of walking to burn off the calories found in an United pack (up to 231 minutes for munching on a Smartpack), but at least you’ll know that your balancing it all out.
I highly recommend reading this one if you’re trying to keep track of your diet every step and flight on the way to your holiday destination and beyond.
James Wysong seems to constantly be searching for more ways to make a more comfortable situation when cruising 35,000 feet in the air. Last year he posted a list of 12 tips for a better flight, but he’s back again this year with 25 tips! After polling the masses he came up with a list of general travel advice like wearing comfy clothing and making notes of important info like where you parked the car. Other parts of the list include some very uncommon methods to helping stay happy while in flight. For example, one suggestion to handling the whiny, non-stop, crying baby or bratty kid situation is to hand them a sick bag and some crayons (because everyone knows to pack crayons) and tell them to make a puppet. Not too sure how to feel about that one. I don’t have children, but I don’t know if I’d want some stranger handing them items to make a puppet. I wonder how often that works.
Another person suggested bringing your favorite hot sauce with you to help make a culinary delight out of boring in-flight food and airport food. Now that one was obviously written before the whole liquid ban because hot sauce isn’t going to fly – not with you and not in America at least. Under mental health they follow the do unto others type of rule by stating: ‘Be the person you would most like to fly with.’ And in humor they suggest the ladies with battery operated massage devices take the batteries out before the screening process or it could end up very embarrassing. Hmm…
via MSNBC