Contest: Steven Slater and Toktumi want your crazy flight stories

by Tom Johansmeyer on


Who would have thought that Steven Slater could actually get another job? The disgraced former flight attendant has even picked up a gig in the travel industry, though he obviously isn’t pushing the beverage cart any more. Rather, the man who may have had close to two decades of flight attendant experience, depending on which of his claims you believe, has landed his first job as a spokesman.

Slater is the public face of Toktumi’s mobile communication app Line2. If you’re on a wifi-equipped plane, you can use Line2 to text while in flight. So, why Slater? Well, Toktumi’s latest contest involves in-flight insanity, so he as a natural fit. And, let’s be realistic – it’s not like he has much else to do. To enter the Mile High Text Club Contest, and see if you have a story that tops Slater’s, text your tale to 222-222-2222. Your contributions will appear on http://www.milehightextclub.com starting today. The deadline is December 3, 2010.

The winners will be decided by a panel of judges, one of which will be Slater. If you can win over the flight attendant who cracked under pressure, you may walk home with the grand prize: a weekend holiday shopping trip for two in New York City. Seven iPod Touch devices are available as second prizes, with 13 third-place winners receiving gift cards for six months of free Line2 service.

%Gallery-99568%”In order to spread the word that Line2 allows airline passengers to text from the sky, we hired one of the most famous guys in the airline business today, Steven Slater,” explains Peter Sisson, Founder and CEO of Toktumi. “After talking with Steven, I realized that despite his dramatic approach – which he regrets – he was making a statement about the need to return civility and common courtesy to flying.” It’s an interesting way to make that statement, I guess, given that Slater was far worse than the passengers he encounters. Sisson adds, “He’s a perfect judge for a contest concerning the current state of air travel.” He was a flight attendant for 20 years, and both his parents had long careers in the airline business.

Line2 has a laudable goal for the “Mile High Text Club” contest: the company wants to make in-flight texting the norm, to keep people from yelling into their phones … and ostensibly from creating another Steven Slater moment.

“Line2’s SMS texting is really useful while in flight,” Sisson says. “You can let people know about delays, make plans for the evening, or just pass the time texting with your friends and family while you fly.”

And, you can let them know when a grumpy flight attendant loses his mind, grabs two cold ones and pops the slide.

100 controversial whole body imaging photos revealed

by Scott Carmichael on

Gadget blog Gizmodo.com has obtained access to 100 images captured by a whole body imaging machine that was installed at a Florida courthouse. We covered the incident back in August, but a Freedom of Information Act request has finally produced the actual photos.

When these machines were installed, we were all told that none of them would actually store photos. As images started leaking out, it became obvious that these claims were of course false. In the video clip created by Gizmodo, you see people occupying the scanner, along with his or her body scan.

There is some good news – as the images clearly show that they don’t reveal all that much. People hoping to see clear images of genitalia will be quite disappointed.

Still, it is quite alarming that the images were stored in the first place – though we do need to point out that this particular scanner was not operated by the TSA – it is a millimeter wave scanner, operated by the U.S. Marshals service. Even though the technology and operation is slightly different from the airport machines, the resulting images are very similar.

Of course it also means that despite all the reassurances, the machines are capable of storing photos, and I am confident that it is just a matter of time till an airport is involved in a similar privacy incident.

What do you think? Do these photos make you more or less afraid to use the whole body scanning machines?

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[Image from Gizmodo.com]
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Forbes Travel Guide announces annual four- and five-star hotel, spa, restaurant winners

by Melanie Nayer on

The star-rating for hotels, spas, and restaurants is similar to the Academy Awards for Hollywood. If Oscar is the type prize, a five-star rating for a hotel can be called “Oscar.” Luxury properties waited with bated breath for today’s announcement from Forbes Travel Guide: the list of Four-Star and Five-Star award winners for the 2011 Forbes Travel Guide.

The list, unveiled today, announced two hotels, two restaurants, and two spas winning a coveted fifth star. The list has defined the industry’s highest standards of excellence in hospitality for more than 50 years.

The five-star winner restaurants are both in New York City (Daniel and Eleven Madison Park); the two new five-star hotels include Island Shangri-La Hotel in Hong Kong, and Falling Rock at Nemacolin Woodlands Resort, in Farmington, Pennsylvania; and the two new five-star spas are The Spa at The Grand Del Mar, in San Diego, and The Spa at Mandarin Oriental, in Las Vegas.

Forbes Travel Guide’s ratings are based on objective evaluations of more than 500 attributes. This year’s additions bring the total number of Forbes Five-Star hotels to 54. Among the 54 Five-Star hotels, six are in New York City, the most of any city in the U.S. There are five Five-Star hotels in Hong Kong, and two in Macau, where ratings were established for the first time in 2009. Forbes Travel Guide expects to further expand its rating system to include properties in additional international destinations in 2011.

The complete list of Forbes Travel Guide Star award winners can be found here.

Walt Disney World reduces time spent waiting in line with Tangled Meet and Greet

by Leigh Caldwell on

The construction on Walt Disney World’s Fantasyland expansion is well underway, and apparently so is the testing for some Disney innovations expected to be seen when the new attractions open in 2013.

This spring, Walt Disney World tested a new way to wait for a ride on the Rock n’ Roller Coaster without lines.

Now a meet and greet with the characters from the new movie “Tangled” appears to be a further experiment in delivering an experience to go with kids’ souvenir photos and autographs.

Instead of just waiting in a line to see Rapunzel and Flynn Rider, Walt Disney World has set aside an area called Fairytale Garden for the new characters’ appearances. About 10-15 minutes before the characters are due to come out (the “set time” in Disney parlance), children are welcomed into the Fairytale Garden and given a coloring activity to do while they wait.

(The parents are not so lucky; they are expected to line up to hold a place for their child.)

When Rapunzel and Flynn Rider make their entrance, they come down to the coloring table to dance with the children before starting to take photos and sign autographs.

Music from the movie’s soundtrack plays while they join hands and dance around the table.

Of course, when the dancing is done, the kids go join their parents in – you guessed it – a line.But I suppose the whole thing adds up to more “quality time” with the characters and an opportunity to make a memory (“I danced with Rapunzel!”), rather than just a picture (“I waited in line for 30 minutes to take this picture with Rapunzel!”).

Here’s a video look at the festivities:

The plans for Fantasyland include similar experience-based meet and greets. Park guests will be able to watch Cinderella transform from servant clothing to her ball gown, and boys will be trained to be part of her royal guard. And Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) will be having a birthday, and children will be asked to make birthday cards and help her fairy godmothers prepare for the party.

Gulfstream’s $500 million expansion of Savannah, GA headquarters to create 1,000 jobs

by Darren Murph on

According to many pundits, the so-called recession that gripped the world in 2009 is far from “over,” but we’ve been noticing steady signs of recovery in the travel industry over the course of 2010. While consumers and businesspeople alike are still pinching pennies and thinking twice as hard about where their funds are going, more and more bodies are moving about, particularly by plane. Gulfstream, which maintains a headquarters in Savannah, Georgia, seems more convinced than ever that we’re on the rebound, and it’s announcing today a huge investment that’ll better position it “to meet future demand for business-jet aircraft and support services.”

The spend? $500 million over the next seven years, and that’ll buy significant expansion of its Savannah plant as well as around 1,000 full-time Gulfstream Aerospace jobs (a hike of about 15 percent from its current level of 5,500 employees). According to Savannah Now, those positions will include production specialists, engineers, and support technicians. Needless to say, quite a few folks in the Peach State are celebrating the news, with Gov. Sonny Perdue being one of many on hand today for the announcement. Moreover, the expansion will result in new facilities at the northwest quadrant of the Savannah / Hilton Head International Airport.

Gulfstream suggests that the investment will also help it meet a growing demand for large-cabin aircraft, with large chunks of the cash used to build production plants for G650 (“Like a G6!”) and G250 jets, as well as maintenance capacity for all of the models that the company manufactures. Unsurprisingly, we’re hearing that the bulk of that demand is coming from international clients (Asia Pacific, specifically), but the company seems bound and determined to keep its roots in the south.

We know Gulfstream doesn’t speak for the entire aviation industry, but it’s definitely good to see a major player like this making such a tremendous investment in the future of air travel. Here’s hoping it’s just the beginning of a beautiful turnaround.

[Via Twitter (@mksteele)]