Bangkok’s New Airport

by Erik Olsen on

Worldhum alerts us to some rather interesting news out of Thailand. Even though the coup there has disrupted the political climate a bit, the Thais were nonetheless able to open a new airport. And not just any airport, but the largest airport in Southeast Asia…no small feat, that.

I’ve traveled to Thailand a number of time over the years and I can tell you with assurance that the old Bangkok airport was heinous. I have a picture of it on my own Website here. The new airport (pictured here) appears to be a gleaming modernist structure resembling rolling waves…no wait, a centipede…or, um, a snake that just ate a bunch of ping pong balls…aw, heck, I don’t know. But I DO know that the country was in need of a new airport and it’s nice to see they got one.

The new Suvarnabhumi Airport was built on an area known as “Cobra Swamp,” a positive omen if ever there was one, and it officially opened its doors Thursday, more than four decades after the project originated (hey, better late than never). As Worldhum points out, the International Herald Tribune, has a piece saying that the airport can handle some 45 million passengers a year, and will “surpass Hong Kong as a regional air hub.” Maybe, but I doubt it.

SFO Scanning Passports

by Erik Olsen on

I flew into Oakland yesterday and was momentarily bummed I hadn’t flown into SFO. SFO gets me into the city quicker and it also, well, avoids Oakland. SFO also tends to be faster if you have a rental car because at Oakland you have to take a damn shuttle to get the thing and to drop it off. OK, ok, I’m boring you. Why am I going on about these airports? I bring up SFO because things may have just got a bit more efficient there…at least for those carrying passports. According to the Department of Homeland Security, the nation’s first so-called e-passport scanners were installed at San Francisco International Airport as part of the DHS’s effort to put these machines in a total of 33 airports. The new scanner are apparently to help expedite the arrivals of those from 27 countries whose citizens don’t need visas to visit the U.S. They also are intended to ensure no one can tamper with a passport or use a lost or stolen passport fraudulently, which is a fine idea. Anyway, we’ll keep tabs on how this all works out. As you may remember, we’ve been advocates of the whole electronic passport thing for a while.

Italian Musician Bites Ear of Alitalia Airline Worker

by Adrienne Wilson on

Alright, go on ahead and file this one under: World Gone Mad.

These are the kind of news pieces you read and say to yourself “what on Earth was this person thinking?” Wait, they weren’t thinking. Apparently, Italian musician, Raffaele Artesi, who could not board his flight to Naples due to overbooking, assaulted an airline worker by almost biting his ear off. As any educated traveler might guess this did not allow the musician to board the plane in Turin. Instead he was arrested and charged with assaulting the airline worker, Davide Ruzza. It was said that Ruzza’s ear lobe was left hanging and that after 16 years of working for the airline he would change jobs. Poor guy doesn’t want to risk his ears, nose, or life for that matter over an overbooking.

In addition to Artesi’s beyond childish behavior with victim Ruzza another worker was said to have been slapped and punched by other band members.

via Sydney Morning Herald

Relaxed Flying Restrictions

by Erik Olsen on

Seems like the great portable gel scare may be over. Sort of. The FAA is relaxing restrictions on what type of liquid/gel/ointment you can carry aboard the plane, in that you must limit the size of the container to 3 ounces or less and you must keep the wee bottles only in clear zip-top plastic bags. So that’s not so hard, right? Probably the best news, however, is that travelers will also be able to buy drinks or other liquids inside airport security checkpoints and carry them on board. This is huge for me, as I had to guzzle a can of Red Bull the other day right AFTER drinking a cup of coffee because I couldn’t carry it on board and I didn’t want the $3 to go to waste.

Honda to Fly

by Neil Woodburn on

The day of the flying car is still far in the future but the day of a car manufacturer producing airplanes is here now.

Honda Motors has just announced that they have designed a small, private business jet which they hope to bring to market in the United States sometime in the next five years.

Although the HondaJet will be priced quite a bit higher than their automobiles, roughly $3-4 million, the plane will share the same reputation for trustworthiness and innovation. Indeed, the jet has a revolutionary design which places the engine above the wings, creating much more cabin space for passengers. It will seat up to 7 people and fly 480 miles per hour – much faster than other competitors in the marketplace.

So, trade in that Accord and start saving up your money now; if things go as planned, you’ll soon have the coolest Honda on your block.