Hong Kong Airlines staff are taking kung fu lessons, the Guardian reports. The cabin crew is learning Wing Chun kung fu in order to deal with obnoxious passengers. According to the airline, a female cabin crew member has already used her new-found combat skills to deal with an unruly passenger, who an airline spokesman described only as “a fat guy”.
So, when did we hit the road last year? There are some times of year that are more hectic than others, and we all know to avoid airports when we can. Yet, there are some weeks that bring crowded terminals even when we wouldn’t expect it. We all know the insanity of flying the day before Thanksgiving, but there are other time that can be brutal, as well.
Looking back on 2010, Orbitz has taken a look at the toughest air travel weeks of the year. Some of the results may surprise you.
1. Christmas week: this isn’t all that surprising, as we all want to be with friends and family at this time of year. The busiest week of the year to hit the road in 2010 was December 19 – 25.
2. The first week of August: it’s the last chance to go on vacation before settling into the reality that school is right around the corner. This week (August 1 – 7), you get that last taste of freedom – well, your kids do – before it’s back to helping out with the homework.3. The fourth week of June: as August is the last chance, June 20 – 26 is the first chance to get the kids on a plane after school has ended for the year. If you hit the road at this time, needless to say, you won’t be alone.
4. The third week of June: let’s face it – some schools let out earlier than others! June 13 – 19, therefore, is another popular week.
5. Spring break: the third week of March (March 14 – 20) is a popular vacation break for colleges and some high schools. Time to lick tequila off a hottie’s tight stomach … enjoy!
Thousands of travelers in Europe still don’t know if they’ll be home for Christmas as airports struggle to deal with a huge backlog of flights. Unusually heavy snowfall in Northern Europe led to cancellations in several countries. London’s Heathrow airport was hardest hit. BBC reports that the UK Army offered to help, but Heathrow refused.
The world’s busiest airport is only running at 30 percent capacity until at least 6a.m. Thursday, and extension of 24 hours beyond the original announcement. Since Heathrow is a hub for so many airlines, this is affecting many other airports.
A friend of mine here in Madrid had two flights to the UK canceled before she finally got on a plane that took her home. She was one of the lucky ones. Five thousand people had to camp out at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, most of whom were headed to London.
So if you’re flying to, from, or within Europe, make sure to check your flight before heading to the airport.
We’re all fed up with just about every aspect of air travel. The seats are cramped, the employees are rude and the TSA is trying to feel us up. We’re told that fares are cheaper than ever, but nobody seems to care about the high rates of unemployment and under-employment that have come to characterize our economy … meaning that these “cheap tickets” have a proportionately higher impact than appearance would dictate.
Meanwhile, the extra fees being tacked on haven’t been a big hit with most consumers, leading to an additional dose of animosity this holiday travel season. Well, one air carrier is fighting back. Dale Moss, CEO of OpenSkies, seems to be pretty fed up with the situation. In response to a report by the Consumer Travel Alliance, he took the time on the OpenSkies blog to remind his customers that his airline doesn’t charge extra fees for anything.
So, what got Moss all charged up? The Consumer Travel Alliance did some digging into the issue of hidden airline fees and found some disturbing (and downright bizarre) data:
1. Turkey equivalents: appalled at how much your Thanksgiving bird cost you this year? Well, Americans will buy the equivalent of 12.6 million of these gobblers when paying the extra fees associated with air travel during the holiday.
2. The big number: in case you aren’t tuned in to turkey economics, that adds up to $167 million in additional fees paid by consumers.
3. The small number: it’s based on the average cost of a 12-pound turkey this year: $13.25.
4. The profundity: the airlines could use this extra cash to buy a 12-pound turkey for every household in California.
5. The affected: according to the Air Transport Association, 24 million Americans will take to the skies during the 12-day Thanksgiving holiday travel season.
“Feathers are flying over hidden airline fees, because Americans are justifiably angry that they can’t see the true costs of air travel, nor compare the price of different flights against one another,” said Charles Leocha, director of the Consumer Travel Alliance. “Airlines expect consumers to dig through thousands of words of gobble-gobbledygook to find even the most basic fees. We say stuff that. It’s time to talk turkey and show consumers what their tickets will cost with all the fixings included.”
The holiday season is often the time of year a lot of people take to the skies that are not frequent fliers. And if you combine this with the recent bad news about air safety, you can’t blame people for asking themselves: is it safe to fly this holiday season?
So, the artists at The Friendly Planet Blog have collected some data, and turned it into a brilliant infographic. With numbers collected from the National Transportation Safety Board and the Air Transport Association, the infographic shows what most of us already know – air travel is safer than ever.
The numbers don’t lie – on over ten million flights in the U.S. last year, only 50 people died in a flight accident. You have a much greater chance of dying in the car on the way to the airport than you will when you are on board your flight.
In the coming weeks, we’ll have some great survival tips on how to get through the hectic holiday travel season, and after the jump you’ll find the full version of the graphic with lots more statistics to prove just how safe air travel is.
Click on the image for the full size version. Thanks to blog.friendlyplanet.com for providing the infographic!
