Runaway dog runs away on airport runway

by Mike Barish on

I’ve had flights delayed by weather. I’ve had flights delayed by mechanical issues. I’ve had flights delayed because the hitch connecting the tow vehicle to my plane snapped! But I’ve never had a flight delayed because a runaway dog was loose on the tarmac. Well, that’s exactly what happened at Boston’s Logan Airport this past weekend.

It seems that Choochy the poodle (like Joe the Plumber but less political and more interested in smelling other dogs’ behinds) escaped from her kennel and remained rogue on the runways, taxiways and other nooks and crannies of Logan for 17 hours. Various flights were delayed while police, firefighters and airport personnel tried to corral Choochy.

Thankfully, the story has a happy ending. Choochy was lured to safety with food, treated for only minor injuries and returned to her family. And for the passengers on those delayed flights? Well, a half-hour delay is practically on-time these days. And for me? Well, I got to use that crazy photo of a poodle that I found. So, thanks, Choochy. Feel free to escape again soon.

Germany to ban full body scanner outright

by Jeffrey White on

Yesterday I posted on the European Parliament’s rejection of full body scanners at European airports.

Lawmakers couched their rejection in calls for more studies to be conducted on the health and privacy implications of using these scanners. Yet even though these scanners are opposed throughout much of Europe, the feeling overhear is that the European Union will eventually go along with the technology — I’m guessing once these scanners become the norm in the US.

But Germany is going one step further: Yesterday the country’s interior ministry said that no matter what the EU may eventually decided vis a vis the scanners, they will never appear in German airports.

Interior Minister Gabriele Hermani told the Associated Press, “We won’t join in with this nonsense.”

Can Germany go its own way, even if it is against an EU directive? Hard to say. The way the EU is set up gives an awful lot of power for individual countries to make and carry out their own laws and regulations (one reason why a lot of people think the concept of the EU is a sham). But Brussels does have some power in enforcing bloc-wide regulations in industries such as air travel.

One thing is for sure: Look for German lawmakers to be a key opposition force whenever these scanners whenever there is another vote on these scanner.

My take on JFK’s new JetBlue T5 terminal

by Jerry Guo on

I just flew JetBlue yesterday from their new “T5” terminal in New York’s JFK airport to Pittsburgh. If you missed my live tweeting (boy that’s a weird verb on paper), check it out here.

If you’re rushed on time, basically my conclusion was that this terminal is a great improvement–it’s the “space age”, consumer-friendly type of decor and approach that JetBlue has become known for. However, there are a few hiccups here and there, for instance, in having only 5 of the 20 security lines open (and this was on a Friday afternoon, one of the busiest times of the week). The lines in general were long for everything–security, the food court, all except the checkin counters because JetBlue was clever enough to put in a bajillion automated checkin machines.

One of the biggest features that the company is trying to play up, and that I agree with, is the utter selection and hipness of the food. No grimy MacDonald’s here; the burger joint I went to even had a wine selection, which was a first for me. However, the actual burger was quite dry and obviously grilled hours earlier. Plus it was something like $8 for a 7 oz “medium”. Ouch.
But don’t worry, this terminal has plenty of stuff to distract you from the pricey food. There’s just lots of little amenities that add up to a big deal. For instance, the counter you see on the left (where you can plug in your electronics or pay for Internet usage on their machines) are all over the terminal. There’s also free wireless that’s blazing fast, even though I saw hundreds of passengers on their laptops and I’m assuming busy clicking reload on JetBlue’s “live-blogging” efforts.

Then there’s just the sheer availability of seating. You won’t have to fight for a seat by the gate anymore, as the terminal is arranged in such a way that it’s a short 2-min walk to any particular gate from the central food court area. And the brilliance of this arrangement can be seen in the almost library-like atmosphere here, with plenty of super-clean tables in all sorts of manners (and plenty of seats left … have I mentioned the spaciness!?)

Overall, the place is very airy and quite reminiscent of Norman Foster’s new Terminal 3 at Beijing International Airport. Except it won’t take you 30 minutes to walk from one side to the other (not an exaggeration at all). So kudos to the architects for creating a dual sense of intimacy and space here. The only downside is the walk to the Air Train will in comparison seem like a death march. It took a whole 4-5 minutes for me. Yikes!

So the next time you fly out of JFK, try to score a seat on JetBlue. Just come a few minutes earlier to get a grip on the extra-long security lines and if you’re hungry for food / all sorts of alcoholic options. But I did overhear one JetBlue rep say that the wait should decrease in the weeks to come.

Woman snagged at airport for packing banana plants in her underwear

by Jamie Rhein on

I suppose if you’re flying domestically in the U.S. and had three banana plants in your underwear while going through a security check, particularly if you’re female, you’d attract attention. But, after discovering you were packing banana plants and not a pistol, you might be allowed to walk on your merry way.

Although, just how well one could walk is another issue. Seriously, if you had three banana plants in your underwear, could you walk?

In the airport in Sydney, Australia, according to this story published in the Sydney Morning Herald, if you have even one banana plant in your underwear, you’d be in a whole mess of trouble. A whole world of trouble. More trouble than you probably ever imagined.

You’d be in trouble even if the plant was not in your underwear but tucked under your arm like a rolled up newspaper–Or if you were wearing it like a hat.

It’s illegal to bring banana plants into Australia no matter how you are carrying them. Banana plants carry nasty ailments that sound as if they could be sexually transmitted diseases.

“Better not, I have black sigatoka disease,” one might say. Or how about “fusarium wilt?”– or “moko disease?”

The woman apprehended by customs officials at the airport in Australia was trying to smuggle the plants in from Samoa. Although she doesn’t have any funky sounding diseases, she could be looking at 10 years in jail and a $66,000 Australian dollar fine for threating Australia’s banana industry.

Gadling Twitters Jetblue’s T5

by Grant Martin on

With all of this buzz that we’ve been hearing about the new Terminal 5 that JetBlue opened up in JFK this week, we just had to get down there and take a look.

So we sent one of our east coasters, Jerry Guo, out to check out the digs. He’ll be twittering his experience on Gadling’s feed where you can tune in, follow along, and salivate as Jerry checks out the sweet food court, marvels at the tall celings and hobknobs among the culture in the airport bars.

And ladies, ladies, please put your 8 x 10″ black and white glossies away. Mr. Guo will be busy absorbing his surroundings in a spongelike manner as soon as he sets foot in the building, so he won’t be able to sign any autographs for you. If you’d like your picture taken with Jerry, we’ll have a cardboard cutout of him at SXSW next year and you can snap a photo next to that.

Otherwise, you can stay tuned to the Gadling Twitter feed to keep up to snuff on Jerry’s thoughts of T5. He should be there around noon.