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.

FlightsFromHell.com: Wallow in the misery of others

by Justin Glow on

I’ll be honest: I’m a little surprised we haven’t covered this here on Gadling, but I’ve searched the archives to no avail. (Please, dear readers, correct me if I’m wrong!)

FlightsFromHell.com is just like the URL sounds: a depository of unsavory airborne experiences shared by people like us. It’s simple. You, as a reader, can peruse the collection of unfortunate stories, conveniently pigeonholed into categories like Reclining Seats, Luggage and Delays, and Weird People. Let’s jump into that last category and see what we can find! (If you’re eating, stop reading.)

“Then – a man, about late 60’s/early 70’s, sits in the seat one row in front and across the aisle from me. He situates himself, waits until we take off, and proceeds to take off his shoes….first the right, then the left….followed by, of course, his socks – first the right then the left…..he then begins to PICK at the dead, scaly skin on his feet. I’m not kidding – he used his finger nails to scrape, scrape and pull the dead skin from his heels, his toes, the arch of his foot.”

As a writer, and experiencer of horrible things on planes, you can submit your own stories. Do you have any bad experiences worth sharing? Give us the100-word version here, in the comments, and save the novel for FlightsFromHell.com.

[Via Grow-a-Brain]

Forget Rocket Man. With a wing suit, people may fly (and make safe landings) by spring

by Jamie Rhein on

Sky diving appeals more to me than scuba diving. I have a huge fear of drowning, but as a kid, I scaled trees higher than anyone in our neighborhood. If I were to sky dive, I’d insist on a parachute. However, a parachute might be for sissies one day if the wing suit works.

Jeb Corliss has been busy trying his wing suit out. So far, he’s had to use a parachute to keep from spatting to the ground, but with improvements, he may get the physics right and be able to land properly without parachute help.

You see, the wing suit turns someone into a flying squirrel of sorts, allowing a person to glide to the ground. That’s the idea. So far, people who glide wearing these suits eventually open parachutes to slow their earthbound progress and make for a successful landing where they end up alive at the end of the ride. This wing suit flying business has a worldwide following. There are several other people who are designing suits, but Jeb Corliss is the one who is hot on the trail of financial backing.

He certainly has a thing for jumping off high places. He’s jumped off the Golden Gate Bridge and the Eiffel Tower, for example. If anyone can fly in a suit, it’s probably him. Still, I don’t think I’d watch him try, even though he has his plan all worked out–more or less. If he does succeed, there is a pretty tall tree in our backyard. . .

[For the in depth story, check out this New York Times article by Matt Higgins. It’s where I got my info and has more details about how this suit works. ] The suit in the photo is the Rocket Man version.

Gadling’s guide to getting better seats

by Grant Martin on

Face it. Riding in airplanes sucks. Even if you’ve got the best seat in the fleet you’re still trapped in a stuffy aluminum tube at 30,000 feet among a herd of diseased, seat-crowding, distraught, unruly passengers and you’re still going to be uncomfortable. And if you’re really unlucky, you’ll be in the back of the plane next to the bathroom with one guy sleeping on your shoulder and one another talking your ear off.

Fear not, Gadlingers, there are ways to prevent pure misery in the skies, and I’m not talking about a bottle of Tylenol PM and 750mL of wine with dinner. A little homework and research beforehand and you’ll well-reduce your chances of airborne distress. At the very least you can have a little control over your seat on the plane and won’t get the death sentence “see gate agent” message when you reach the airport and try to check in.

We’ve broken down the process into a few basic steps. Since you’re online reading this article right now we’ll assume you know how to use the internet, so we’ll show you a great web tool that you can use to help in your research. We’ll also assume that you’re flying on a legacy carrier and not from jankyair.ru; most seat booking tips go straight out the window when you start dealing with budget airlines.

NEXT:

Seat maps explained
Web tools and seat selection
Restrictions and openings

10 tips for smarter flying


Are you aviophobic?

by Abha Malpani on

“You know the only reason we are told to wear seatbelts on a plane, is so that if the plane crashes, they can identify you later from your seat number.”

Yes, my friend has aviophobia — or the fear of flying — and enjoys freaking people out with random snippets like this.

It’s not hard to be paranoid hearing something like that before you get onto a plane; or think the worst when you experience turbulence over an extended period of time.

The two main fears of flying are 1) the plane will crash/explode/get hijacked; 2) to lose of self-control on a flight e.g. panic-attack or claustrophobia.

If you do have symptoms of aviophobia, it might make you feel better that you are far from alone. Approximately every 1 in 8 people are afraid of flying (a high percentage of which are high-powered executives), and approximately 6-million flights are not taken annually because of the same. This explains why the number of courses and programs you can take to overcome this fear is on the increase.

Should you have aviophobia, Flights Without Fear, Fearless Flights and Anxieties are some good places to start your research into getting help. Happy flying!