We complained, they listened, legroom is on the way

by Chris Owen on

Airline passengers have complained about a variety of things over the years but some nagging topics rise to the top and just won’t go away, prompting airlines to do something about them. Eventually. Common to surveys of airline passengers and no big news to many frequent flyers, a great percentage of travelers said that limited legroom was one of their biggest gripes about air travel. When asked what airlines should offer to make the in-flight experience better, a high number lobbied for more legroom and requested roomier seats.

Delta Air Lines is in the process of making a $2 billion investment in its product and customer experience. In progress right now, Delta is renovating its Boeing 747-400 aircraft fleet to include full flat-bed seats in the Business Elite cabin and new “slim line” seats offering more personal space and individual in-seat entertainment throughout the Economy cabin.

“Our best customers want a full flat-bed seat with direct aisle access and the new Business Elite configuration our 747s provide,” Glen Hauenstein, Delta executive vice president told Travel News Daily.

Each 747 will have 48 Business Elite full flat-bed seats on the upper and lower deck of the aircraft with direct aisle access for every seat, a 110-volt universal power outlet, USB port and a personal LED reading lamp. Each seat also comes with a 15.4 inch wide screen video monitor with access to more than 1,000 entertainment options including more than 300 films, 88 hours of television programming, HBO and Showtime, 27 video games and more than 5,000 digital music tracks.

“The days of having to step over a sleeping customer in the seat next to you are over,” said Hauenstein. “These upgrades will make the 747 the premier aircraft in our international fleet and customers will immediately notice the improved experience.”

To date, more than one-third of Delta’s wide body international fleet have been upgraded and the airline’s entire wide body international fleet of more than 140 aircraft will be flying with full flat-bed seats in Business Elite by 2014.
Delta’s transition in Economy to a slim line seat provides customers with up to two inches of additional knee clearance. All seats feature a headrest with adjustable wings, height and tilt, USB power and a nine-inch touchscreen featuring personal on-demand entertainment, the same as BusinessElite.

Installing full flat-bed seats on Delta’s widebody international aircraft is a major component of the $2 billion investment Delta is making in its product and customer experience.

Customers also will see Delta’s investment in its more than 50 Delta Sky Clubs throughout the system, power poles at dozens of airports, mobile apps which include features such as baggage tracking and WiFi on more than 800 aircraft.




Flickr photo by Kentaro Iemoto@Tokyo

Welcome to the Hotel Californias

by Dave Seminara on

You can check out anytime you like but you can never leave.“Hotel California,” the 1977 hit single by the Eagles, started out as a demo tape number. No one knew it would one day rank as one of the greatest songs in rock ‘n’ roll history according to Rolling Stone and other publications.

You can hear the song, which is about a traveler who gets trapped in tacky luxury at a hotel-an allegory for the greed and excess of the record industry-any time of year from Indonesia to Iran and beyond. (see hilarious video below) And it has also inspired entrepreneurs the world over to name their hotels after the insidiously catchy tune.

You can live it up at Hotel Californias in Panama, Portugal, England, Spain, Mexico, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Bulgaria, Switzerland, Uruguay, Turkey, Albania, Russia, Japan, Romania, Venezuela, East Timor, Bolivia, Paraguay, Croatia, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Colombia, Brazil, Argentina, The Dominican Republic, near the end of a dark desert highway in Morocco and probably dozens of other places. And there’s plenty of room at Italy’s 18 Hotel Californias, where you’re free to call up the captain and say, “please bring me my wine.”

You can even stay in a Hotel California on the Champs Elysees in Paris- the perfect place to get the Mercedes bends. You would think that the Hotel California in Las Vegas would have mirrors on the ceiling and pink champagne on ice, but according to their site, you’d probably have to settle for stabbing their thick steaks with steely knives. (But you still might not be able to kill the beast)

Reporters covering the war in Afghanistan, most of them prisoners of their own device, stay in a “plywood building” dubbed the Hotel California, and according to those who have stayed there, the place could be heaven or it could be hell.

And of course, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that there are some Hotel Californias that are actually in California, including one near the pier in Santa Monica, where you can definitely smell warm colitas (marijuana) rising up through the air. In fairness to all the Hotel Californias, I should also mention that there are at least ten other hotel names which are probably just as common.

Hotel Sunshine, Golden Hotel, Paradise Hotel, Garden Hotel, Park Hotel, Eden Hotel, Beach Hotel, Buena Vista Hotel, Skyline Hotel, Ambassador Hotel

Which Hotel California would you like to dance in the courtyard at?

Photo of the day – Lisbon’s winter light

by Alex Robertson Textor on

Is Lisbon’s winter light a cure for the blues of the dark season?

It’s right about this time in the Northern Hemisphere that winter starts to feel like an imposition. It’s not getting measurably warmer, and even though it’s been getting lighter for almost two months, it’s not light enough, darn it. Not at all.

This is the time of year when it’s easy to forget that winter’s thin light can also very beautiful. Flickr user t3mujin reminds of this fact with the above Lisbon street scene, snapped in December just before the winter solstice. He nails the beauty of Lisbon’s winter light wonderfully, anchoring the image in the gaze of the lovers casting shadows on the street.

Upload your images of winter light to Flickr’s Gadling Group Pool. We choose our favorites from the pool to be Photos of the Day.

Sustainable or just plain weird? Accor hotels sell their used furniture on eBay

by McLean Robbins on

This week French hotel brand Accor launched

reBorn, an online store through eBay that will sell the hotel giant’s used furniture.

What can you snag? Everything from Luis XVI bedside tables to bronze chandeliers to 1980s wing armchairs, minibar furniture and even safes. About 2,500 items are on the site in total, with prices listed in Euros.

“The reBorn project satisfies a current social trend that gives new value to second-hand items in good condition by creating new circular economy models. Just look at the success of garage sales, second-hand swaps and bargain websites,” Sophie Flak, Accor’s executive vice president for academies and sustainable development told Hotels Magazine.

What do you think? Would you buy used hotel furniture online?

Getting to know the royal history of Norfolk, United Kingdom

by Jessica Festa on

Norfolk is a mainly rural county in the United Kingdom that offers many experiences for visitors, such as historical market towns and villages, nature reserves, wildlife, excellent dining and shopping options, unique heritage sites, and, of course, chances to experience the royal history of the area.

Visit Castle Rising Castle (shown right), which dates back to the 12th century and was owned by various members of royalty, Holkham Hall, which was once occupied by Princess Victoria and holds a quirky story, or Sandringham Estate, which celebrates its 150th year of royal ownership this year.

These are just a few of the royal history experiences that are possible in Norfolk. To get a better idea of the royal history, check out the gallery below.

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