Heinz opens London Gatwick airport relaxation lounge

by Scott Carmichael on

Heinz (yes, the Heinz behind the famous Ketchup) just opened a “welcome home lounge” at London Gatwick Airport. According to Heinz, passengers returning home love settling in a relaxing homely atmosphere stocked with Heinz products.

In a way they are right – as a kid growing up in the UK, Heinz Baked Beans were to me what Mac and Cheese is to American kids. But to be honest, after a long vacation, sitting down for some baked beans at the airport probably isn’t too high on the list of “things to do”.

Still, you have to compliment them on their creativity. Amazingly, Heinz wants to take things to the next level by introducing an assortment of products to the arrivals shops at the airport – because obviously, nothing says “welcome home” more than shopping for beans and pork sausages at the airport.

(Image from thisiscow / Flickr.com / Creative Commons via Fox News)

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European flights grounded due to Icelandic volcano

by Sean McLachlan on

The massive eruption of a volcano in Iceland may be turning into a local tourist attraction, but it’s seriously hurting the travel industry. Ash from the volcano is heading for the skies over the UK and Scandinavia and has caused most flights in the UK to be grounded.

The thick, gritty ash can damage engines, causing them to jam, so all airports in Scotland are closed, as are numerous airports in England, including Heathrow. Ireland’s airports are also reporting widespread delays and cancellations.

Other airports in Northern Europe are also closing or experiencing heavy cancellations, including in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Finland.

Twice in the 1980s airplanes flying through clouds of volcanic ash had their engines seize up. Both times the pilots were able to steer away from the clouds and restart the engines, but needless to say aviation officials don’t want to risk another incident.

Since the volcano is still churning out so much ash that it can be seen from space, as this NASA image shows, it is unclear how long the delays will last. If you are flying to, from, or around Europe over the next few days, call your airline for the latest updates. We’ll keep you posted here at Gadling too.

Customs arrests man for flying with postage stamps

by Sean McLachlan on

Customs officers are generally our friends. They keep people from boarding the plane with stolen antiquities or live reptiles, but occasionally innocent people get caught in their net.

Stamp collector Markand Dave of India seems to be one of those people.

Mr. Dave tried to board a flight from Sardar Patel International Airport, Ahmedabad, to Frankfurt, Germany, on his way to attend a stamp collecting exhibition in London. In his luggage he had a collection of rare, early Indian stamps. While Mr. Dave is a well-known philatelist and had an invitation to participate in the exhibition, he had forgotten to ask permission from the government to take the stamps out of India and ran afoul of the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, which considers rare stamps to be antiquities. He’s due to appear in court on charges of antiquities smuggling.

Mr. Dave is probably not an antiquities smuggler, but as a leading philatelist he should have known better. Collectors should understand the laws that cover their collections and fill out the proper paperwork before they travel.

Besides, he should be thankful he didn’t have his rare stamps stolen by a baggage thief.
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Indonesian 737 skids off runway, breaks in half

by Grant Martin on

An Indonesian 737 operated by Merpati Nusantara Airlines skidded off of a runway in the eastern Paupa province early yesterday, coming to rest over a canal and subsequently breaking in two right through the fuselage.

Initial reports indicate that the incident was weather related and had nothing to do with the aircraft or its operator.

Miraculously, nobody was killed during the incident although scores were injured. The crash does, however, bring the safety records for many Indonesian carriers back into the limelight, many of which have been recently scrutinized for being below international standard. MSNBC has footage from the crash site below:


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Annual “DOTTY” awards honor traveling fools

by Laurel Miller on

Those crazy kids at the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) have released the winners of their annual DOTTY awards. Since 2008, the government travel industry watchdog has exhibited a most uncharacteristic sense of humor for a federal agency. Honorees are those travelers who have displayed the most moronic behavior. This year, the awards were issued just as DOT put new regulations into effect to provide increased security for travelers. Unfortunately, they can’t provide increased IQ, as well.

msnbc.com contributor Rob Lovitt breaks it down, pot cookie overdose, bomb scare ploy, monkey-disguised-as-pregnancy, tighty-whitey amphibian smuggling, and all.