The Air New Zealand Pink Party Plane is back for 2009!

by Scott Carmichael on

Air New Zealand is once again flying their pink party plane for the 2009 Sydney Mardi Gras. We’ve covered the party plane before, but it is clearly a success, as they keep bringing it back for more fun!

Tickets for the flight start at $978, and include the flight from San Francisco to Auckland, and a 3 1/2 hour party flight from Auckland to Sydney.

The party flight includes cocktails, canapes, entertainment and a little “beauty rest”. Before departure the airline gets the party started with a glamor gate event.

If $978 is a little out of reach, why not try your luck in the Air New Zealand party flight sweepstakes, which includes the flight for two, and three nights in a Sydney hotel!

If you want an idea just how insane this flight is – check out this Youtube clip of the 2008 party plane. The Pink Party Plane booking site is here.

Other tales from the skies
Amazing and insane stories from a real-life flight attendant and co-pilot

Irishman Runs Seven Marathons on Seven Continents, in Six Days

by Kraig Becker on

Irish endurance runner Richard Donovan completed an impressive series of runs a few days back when he completed his seventh marathon in just six days. Even more impressive than that however, is that each of those marathons was run on a different continent.

The World Marathon Challenge got underway on January 31st when Donvan ran a marathon in Antarctica, covering the 26.2 miles n 4 hours, 39 minutes, 29 seconds in temperatures hovering around 0º Fahrenheit. Upon completing that race, he immediately hopped on a plane and flew to Cape Town, for his second run on the same day. From there, it was on to Dubai, where the temperatures soared dramatically, but Richard completed his third marathon in two days on the 1st of February.

The next destination was London, where the city was experiencing its worst snowfall in years, but Donvan pushed through, and logged his 26.2 miles, at three in the morning no less, before jetting off to Toronto, for yet another marathon. He completed the South American leg of his challenge by running a marathon in Santiago, Chile. The last of his runs took place in Sydney, Australia on Thursday, February 5th.

All told, Richard completed his journey in just 5 days, 10 hours, and 8 minutes, collecting 26,719 frequent flyer miles in the process. According to this story from the Independent, his only opportunities to eat and rest were aboard the airplanes he was flyng on, which caused him to battle sleep deprivation and jet lag the entire was as well.

What were Richard’s motivations for undertaking the World Marathon Challenge? To raise awareness of the ongoing crisis in Darfur, and to raise funds for the Irish charity GOAL.

Jetstar charges passengers by the pound

by Tom Johansmeyer on

The debate has gone on for years. Larger people have had to deal with shrinking plane seats. We all complain, with the svelte arguing that the not-so-trim should have to purchase an extra seat. I have to be honest, here. I believe that you should pay for what you consume. If you take two seats pay for them. Apparently, low-cost Australian airline Jetstar agrees, with much more zeal than I would have ever imagined.

For some, airfare must be purchased by the pound … and I’m not talking about the British currency.

Samantha Scafe, a 350 pound transgender passenger on Jetstar, was forced to pay for a second seat “for other people’s comfort” after twice being assured that this would not be necessary. Jetstar later apologized for the debacle, saying that it doesn’t provide overweight customers with “two-for-one deals.”

Obviously, she’s filing a lawsuit over this.

Now, let’s give Jetstar credit for follow-through. Not only do they offend a passenger, but the two seats they gave her had a slight problem: they were separated by the aisle. If she occupied them, she’d have had the flight attendants all over her for not getting out of the way of the drink cart!

These women should’ve been charged for their “crimes”!


[Via news.com.au, Blackbook]

That island dream job in Australia? Osama bin Laden wants it along with 9000 others

by Jamie Rhein on

When the dream job to work as a caretaker of the Great Barrier Reef islands in Queensland, Australia was announced, more than 9,000 people applied–including Osama bin Laden. At least from the video posted in the article in The Sydney Morning Herald, it looks like Osama bin Laden applied.

Full, scraggly beard? Check. White robe with matching hat? Check. A certain droning quality to the voice? Check. The video, though, as real as it seems, is dubbed.

The guy saying that he is versed in “sandy areas” and is experienced in “large scale event coordination” is not really bin Laden. Instead, the application was sent in as a joke. The dubbed voice also claims to have interests in the arts, crafts and renovating. The people collecting the applications did toss this one out. There are loads of legitimate contenders, however.

At this point, people from 162 countries have applied. If you’re one of them, your competition is fierce. As Scott stated in Gadling’s original post that announced this job, the application period closes on February 22. Eleven candidates will be chosen to be flown to Hamilton Island for an interview.

To see the video, go to the article and scroll down. Supposedly, the video is posted on YouTube, but I couldn’t find it. The video reminded me of the video spoofs that David Letterman does on bin Laden from time to time.

Australian man nabbed at customs for smuggling live pigeons in his pants

by Jeffrey White on

Folks, file this one among the stranger tales of customs violations you’re likely to hear.

Australian customs officers recently stopped a 23-year-old man from Melbourne who was attempting to smuggle two live pigeons from Dubai into the country by strapping them to his legs.

Customs officers were already suspicious of the man’s bags — which they found to contain two bird eggs and several undeclared eggplants, according to reports — and when they pulled him aside they found that he was wearing special tights under his pants that concealed a live pigeon down each leg.

One wonders whether at a critical moment the helpless little things didn’t let out a last-ditch oorhh! to earn their deliverance.

What’s going to happen to this guy? A spokesperson for Australian Customs told local media that he is likely to face various smuggling and quarantine violations, which carry fines exceeding $100,000 and which could land him in jail for as many as 10 years — to say nothing of the fact that he is now officially pigeonholed as a complete moron.