Don’t let that liquid contraband go to waste

by Aaron Hotfelder on

A couple years ago, I had a few hours to kill in Prague’s Ruzyn?? Airport and I wanted to pick up a souvenir for a friend back home. After looking around a bit, I decided on a bottle of Becherovka, a delicious alcoholic drink of the Czech Republic that tastes, in my opinion, like gingerbread and Christmas. It is wonderful, and I would have savored every sip of it had it not been confiscated by security in Miami’s Airport. I had quite foolishly forgotten about the U.S. prohibition on liquids, and when the woman working security found the bottle in my bag, it was no one’s fault but my own.

She picked up the bottle, handed it to me, and told me it couldn’t pass through. Since it was too late to check the bottle, I was left with no choice– I’d have to steal a drink of it right then and there. Turning away from the woman, I surreptitiously twisted off the cap and stole a quick gulp. Mmmmm. Without (I think) anyone noticing, I then replaced the cap, and pitched the bottle into a nearby trash can. Talk about making the best of a bad situation.

Read Gadling’s coverage of another man determined not to let alcohol go to waste here.

Stranded travelers riot at Argentine airport

by Justin Glow on

In most airports I’ve traveled through, when confronted with flight delays or rude ticket agents, passengers quietly express their concern with the situation. Sure, there are a usually few outcasts who raise their voice or stomp their feet to show their frustration. Some of us even shake our fists in the air, bravely vowing to blog to the world, Mr. Johanson, just how rude you are, and how ugly your vest.

But in Argentina, they riot

After learning of numerous flight cancellations, frustrated travelers at Ministro Pistarini International Airport (also known as Ezeiza Airport) near Buenos Aires turned their anger towards the ticket counter, “tossing computers in the air and shoving security guards,” according to an AP article. “Local television broadcasts showed passengers overrunning ticketing counters, throwing computers and wrestling with airport personnel, even as a spokesman for the airline attempted to explain the cause of delays.”

The delays were said to be caused by a labor dispute involving pilots and baggage handlers. Incidentally, these are the same baggage handlers who have been frequently accused by a local news station of stealing electronics out of luggage, according to Wikipedia. The unions, naturally, blamed the delays on overbooked flights.

Thanks to Snakes on a Plane, Fluffy, the world’s largest snake in a zoo, is staying put

by Jamie Rhein on

Crating up and sending home Fluffy, the largest snake in captivity, as far as anyone knows, proved to be too much effort –and that’s a good thing for the Columbus Zoo. Besides that, the movie Snakes on a Plane has created a we don’t like to put snakes on a plane mentality by shipping companies. The snake was on loan from the guy who raised it. Can you imagine feeding a python from birth to be one whopping snake that people don’t want to take anywhere?

Bob Clark, the former owner, sold the snake to the zoo for $35,000 after a plan to get Fluffy back to his abode in Oklahoma City didn’t work out. Clark originally didn’t want to part with the snake forever. The company who got the snake to the Columbus Zoo early last year and was to get it back home in November has gone out of business and there weren’t any takers when it came to finding a replacement company.

Besides that, the zoo keepers looked at the size of the snake and sighed every time they thought about crating Fluffy up. Not only is he monstrous–imagine 300 pounds, 24-feet long and “girth the size of a watermelon”, he’s been a real boost the the zoo. Fluffy’s presence draws people to the zoo and folks have been pestering the zoo to keep Fluffy anyway. One of my trips to the zoo this past year was to see Fluffy and I’ve mentioned the world’s largest snake as part of the draw. Who needs the world’s tallest building when you have the world’s largest snake in captivity?

Now that the zoo is keeping Fluffy, that will save some redecorating costs. The exhibit can stay as is and not be refigured for some other critter. When I first saw the exhibit, I thought it was permanent. When I heard Fluffy was just on loan, it felt sad to think of the python’s departure.

I bet the folks at the Columbus International Airport are happy as well. On one of the concourse walls there is a life-size photograph of Fluffy, all stretched out advertising the zoo. It’s a great photograph and fits perfectly where it is. [via Columbus Dispatch]

Your driver’s license may not work for airport security check. Get ready for REAL ID

by Jamie Rhein on

If you thought getting an American passport renewed this last year was a pain, be glad you have one if you do. You’ll be covered for getting past airport security if new regulations from Homeland Security go into effect this spring. The rules were just “unveiled.” If you only have your regular state issued run-of-the-mill driver’s license, it may be just too bad for you if your state doesn’t have a plan to comply to the REAL ID program. In this case, there may problems for that non-compliant state’s residents for passing through an airline security check this May. Or, the government may be bluffing.

In the continuing quest to foil terrorists, the idea is that states need to incorporate the REAL ID program into their mix of valid identification requirements. The REAL ID is a drivers’ license that is obtained through a process designed to ensure that we are who we say we are and not terrorists.

Hmm, when I look at my drivers license, there I am. Maybe there could be a statement under our pictures on our REAL IDs that say, “I promise that the person in the photograph is really really really me and I promise I am not a terrorist in disguise.”

As far as I can tell, if you were born before December 1, 1964, you have until 2017 to get a REAL ID. But, if you were born after this, you only have six years. The thing is, not all states are interested in this program so they may not apply for the waiver and therefore, you may have problems getting the REAL ID when the time comes. If you can’t get a REAL ID you could get a passport, or you could get a special federal border pass. I don’t think these federal border passes exist, but they could be used to go across the border to Mexico, for example.

The reason for this brouhaha and proposed $3.9 billion cost is that the terrorists involved in September 11, had an impressive array of fake ids and fake documents between them. There were 350 aliases. An off-shoot of this is that identity theft might be harder–or it could be easier.

Just to reiterate, people don’t have to get the REAL ID this year. THE PLAN IS IN THE WORKS, but from what I understand, states have to have a plan. Ohio, for example, has plans to start the stricter screening for a license in 2010. The regulations look a lot like the old regulations, but perhaps there are some extra layers I’m missing.

The photograph, by the way is of fake ids on a wall of Wet Willies in Savannah, Georgia. Thanks, Germany Jay for the pic. Maybe the government does have a point? I wonder if perhaps there is a name branding problem. What if the ids were called Elite IDs? Or Turbo IDs? Premier IDs? Platinum IDs? Something that doesn’t have a name that implies that the ids states are already passing out are fake. When I hear REAL IDS, it just sounds bogus to me. Maybe it’s just me.

For info about the states that have a beef right now with the government over this plan, read the AP article. It also gives more details.

Tornadoes, planes, and grumpy fliers — oh my!

by Justin Glow on

Jerry’s post on weird weather around the world, and my observation and subsequent “whining” (as a few readers put it) about Allegiant Air’s lack of online check-in reminded me of one of the strangest airport experiences I’ve had in recent past.

Some of our U.S. readers might have heard about the nasty stretch of weather that made its way through the Midwest last week. The epicenter of the situation, it seems, was in Springfield, Missouri, where I currently live. More specifically, it happened within a few miles of the Springfield-Branson National Airport (SGF) last Monday, January 7th — the evening I was due to fly to Vegas for CES. More than a dozen tornadoes broke out that evening, and the entire airport was forced to evacuate not once, but twice, sending passengers fleeing into vacant hallways in the center of the concourse. (Pictured above; Click to enlarge.) What’s worse, people past the security checkpoint (myself, naturally) were forced to take cover on the other side of security, which meant I had to go through the checkpoint twice that night — regardless of the fact that the supervisors in air traffic control “didn’t see a need for evacuation.” Best to lean on the side of safety, sure, but the most annoying thing (aside from fellow passenger directly blaming the situation on global warming. ZOMG!) happened after the employees corralled the passengers into the hallways: they joined the rest of the staff outside, under the awning, tornado sirens blaring, for a smoke break. That’s annoying. Surprisingly, I still made my flight (though four hours late), and we took to the skies, white-knuckled, with bolts of electricity hugging the sides of the plane.
The entire situation reinforced my argument that Allegiant Air needs to offer online check-in. If they did, I wouldn’t have had to show up two hours early, during one of the most severe tornado outbreaks in recent history, only to take cover twice, and sit around the airport for an extra four hours just so I could make sure the seat I already paid for wouldn’t be given to someone else. Had I been able to check-in online, I would have been able to ride out the storm at home, checking in with the airport on a regular basis to see if it was safe to show up, or if my flight was still scheduled.

I know, whine whine whine — it’s all I do

It’s my only complaint with Allegiant, however. Their planes are clean and updated, the seat pitch was some of the best I’ve experienced, and the staff was helpful and kind. Allow me to check-in online like the rest of the airlines, and I’ve got nothing to whine about.