Unaccompanied minor told to drink coffee by Northwest Airlines employee – gets sick

by Scott Carmichael on

We’ll file this one under “lawsuit in the making”. When Payton Parkerson was on her way to see her mother, she was flying as an unaccompanied minor – something she’d done several times before. This trip would turn out to be quite different.

During a layover in Detroit, she mentioned to the Northwest Airlines employee accompanying her that she was tired. Instead of providing a listening ear or a friendly smile, the employee told her to go and get herself a cup of coffee.

Now, millions of people grab a cup of joe at the Airport Starbucks every day, but Payton is 8. That’s right – this 8 year old who was being assisted by Northwest Airlines (their service costs $100) was told to go get some coffee, and pay for it herself.

Of course, with that much caffeine in her system, Payton got sick, and threw up twice on her flight. Thankfully a pediatrician was on board, and was able to take care of the poor kid.

Northwest Airlines issued the following statement: “We are continuing our investigation as the story you have provided us doesn’t match our records”.

No idea what that means, but as with all stories, there may be a different side to this one.

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A scent of place

by Catherine Bodry on

Smells have an uncanny way of transporting me back to some far-away place, often without my even realizing what’s happening. For an entire year, every time I jogged past a nearby house I was smacked with memories of Ireland, where I lived for six months. Finally, after nearly making myself crazy trying to figure out what the smell was, I realized that they were burning coal. It was the scent of coal smoke that reminded me so much of Ireland, though I can’t recall ever noticing it when I lived there.

And when I arrived in Bangkok for work last fall, I couldn’t stop smiling because all the smells I had forgotten about were slamming me. The city mixes a chunky scent stew of frying oil, curry, exhaust, urine, incense, and wet cement. I love it – it’s Thailand to me.and I love Thailand. In reverse, when there I’d walk into an air-conditioned Starbucks, with its somewhat sanitized coffee aroma, and feel like I was back in the States.

I usually never noticed these scents when I was constantly surrounded by them. But their sudden appearance out of context (or upon revisiting a place) will jolt my memory completely unexpectedly.

What smells do you associate with a specific place?

China mall opens fake Starbucks, McDonald’s and Pizza Hut

by Jeremy Kressmann on

In addition to being a complex, beautiful and rapidly changing country, we’ve all heard that China is a copyright lawyer’s worst nightmare. A place rife with pirated DVD’s, software and all manner of luxury clothing and handbag knockoffs. It seems that pirated goods have become such a lucrative industry that the country is now dedicating an entire mall to the concept.

According to recent news reports, a mall in Nanjing, China is set to open with all manner of “copycat” stores, sporting awnings with none-too-subtle reinterpretations of well-known Western brands. If you’re looking for your morning pick-me-up, go no further than “Bucksstar” coffee, the place for all your $5 latte needs in Nanjing. When you get hungry, mall visitors can patronize the local “OMC McDnoald’s” or even grab some “Pizza Huh.” Perhaps the pizza chain name is in reference to the quality of the ingredients?

When I first stumbled upon this article, I actually did a half-spit take. Could this be legit, I thought? Yet in a country with a rapidly emerging consumer class and growing lust for fancy French wine and gated communities, it starts to make more sense. For many individuals, owning and consuming brands legitimizes their place in the world, announcing their ascension to the modern global economy. The creators of this mall in Nanjing seem to have come to a similar conclusion – even a knockoff of the real thing, no matter how awkward and blatant to Western eyes, is better than no brands at all.

[Via Buzzfeed]

Galley Gossip: Gifts for the flight attendant (and frequent flier)

by Heather Poole on

Here it is, what you’ve been waiting for, my 2008 list of holiday gifts for that special flight attendant (or frequent flier) in your life…

1. STARBUCKS GIFT CARD – Because there’s a Starbucks in every city – and every airport. Most travelers I know can’t start the day without a good cup of coffee. Note I said good. The coffee on the airplane is not good, and you know it, so don’t act surprised when I pour you a cup. It doesn’t matter which airline you fly or whether the flight attendant double bagged it or not (double bagging is the act of leaving an extra coffee packet in the bottom of the pot), it’s just not good and that’s not the way to start your day. Last year my mother bought me a $100 gift card and I’m still using it, and I’m always glad to have it on those early morning and late night departures.

2. HAND LOTION – Do you find yourself washing those hands with soap and water in the airplane lavatory quite often? That explains why your beautiful hands have aged 20 years in the last few hours. Moisturization is key at 35,000 feet. I don’t know a flight attendant who doesn’t carry a fruity smelling antibacterial hand lotion. Me, I prefer anything with Shea butter.

3. BUBBLE BATH – When you spend your days cramped inside a germ infested flying petri dish, and your nights showering in nasty ankle deep water at your hotel, there’s nothing better than a nice hot bubble bath at home to wash it all away. My bubble bath of choice is Milk Bath, by Fresh. Add the matching soap and lotion, as well as a candle, and you’ve got yourself one happy flight attendant. Remember, when your flight attendant is happy you’re happy.

4. AIRLINE CRAP – Most of the travelers I know have some sort of airline collection hidden somewhere. I’ve written about my own personal airline museum, so you already know about the bottle of wine that makes a perfect flight attendant gift. But anything airline related will do this holiday season. I’ve got my eye on a cute bag tag from Ann Taintor, as well as a bag handle wrap in red that reads NOT YOURS, designed by binhog.com. I’ll just add the tag and the wrap to the REMOVE BEFORE FLIGHT thingie that my husband brought home from a motorcycle convention last weekend, a thingie that has already been attached to my bag.

5. SOMETHING TO READ –You know you’re going to need a distraction during flight, especially if you get stuck seated next to a crying baby, or even worse, an adult baby who wants to cry about everything that’s wrong with your flight. Or what if your flight is delayed due to a mechanical or bad weather this holiday season? It happens. It’s that time of year! So please come prepared for the worst. That means you need to bring books and magazines, and a lot of them, and when the flight is over please don’t forget to leave behind the good ones in the seatback pocket in front of you. The Old Patagonian Express, by Paul Theroux is an old favorite of mine. It’s about traveling by train, not plane, which is something you might want consider next time you travel. One of the items on my book wish list is a set of books, the Louis Vuitton City Guides, which is the perfect gift for the traveler who has it all.

6. MASSAGE – A must for the one who spends too much time cramped inside confined spaces. Whenever the husband returns from an International flight, I always book a massage for him as soon as possible. There’s nothing worse than a cranky traveler bringing all that crankiness home with him. As for me, I actually own a Homedics foot massager. It works great. I love it so much the husband finds it disturbing.

7. IPOD – Though The Shuffle is nice, the one that can play movies is even nicer. Leave that DVD player at home and forget about lugging that ginormous laptop. Don’t you know less is more, especially when you have to cram everything into that one carry-on bag, the bag that now weighs 50 pounds, the bag you’ll be dragging from city to city.

8. LAPTOP NOTEBOOK- Now that we have internet onboard some of our flights, a laptop will make the hours pass faster. Oh I know you already have a laptop, that ginormous one I mentioned above, but what you need is one of those new teeny tiny machines like the Acer notebook. I just bought one for $350 at Walmart. It makes the perfect gift for those who want to keep in touch with loved ones while on the road. Plus being able to do those trip trades on a layover without having to take the crew van back to the airport an hour earlier doesn’t hurt. I mean what flight attendant can’t use an extra hour of sleep in the morning?

9. NICE WATCH – Flight attendants have to wear a watch because people are constantly asking, “How much longer?” And because some of you may actually have a heart attack onboard, we need to time how long we’ve been doing those chest compressions. (Please don’t make us do the chest compressions!) One of my favorite watches is the IWC pilot’s watch. Yes, I do own one, even though I’m a flight attendant, not a pilot. While it may be a little big and look ridiculous wrapped around my wrist (and goes off at security), I love it and that’s why I wear it. Need to know the time, ask me!

10. A HOME COOKED MEAL – Because let’s face it, when you spend your days and nights on airplanes and in hotels, there’s nothing better than the comforts of home.

Three freebie treats on Election Day

by Jamie Rhein on

After you head to the polls to vote on Tuesday, stop in a Krispe Kreme donut place, a Starbucks or a Ben and Jerry’s ice-cream for a free thanks for voting treat.

As blogger Beth Pinsker wrote on WalletPop, Krispe Kreme doesn’t care who you voted for, but that you voted. If you show up wearing your “I Voted” sticker you’ll get a special star-shaped donut with red, white and blue sprinkles. Some Krispe Kreme places may be handing out the traditional round donut, but with the patriotic sprinkles. This offer is only good on Tuesday, and only one donut per customer.

Starbucks is offering a thank you for voting cup of coffee. I found that out when I was looking up the John McCain/Sarah Palin, aka, Tina Fey video from Saturday Night Live. Here’s a link to the Starbucks ad that is using the election as a way to get people to make the world a better place. I guess coffee helps. It helps me. To get your free tall size cup, go to a Starbucks on the 4th and say you voted.

Ben and Jerry’s is giving out free scoops of ice-cream from 5 to 8 p.m. on the 4th. The free scoops, one scoop per customer are to celebrate democracy. From what I can tell, you don’t need to have voted.

Starbucks is offering a thank you for voting cup of coffee. I found that out when I was looking up the John McCain/Sarah Palin, aka, Tina Fey video from Saturday Night Live.

Here’s a link to the Starbucks ad that is using the election as a way to entice people to make the world a better place. I guess coffee helps. It helps me. To get your free tall size cup, go to a Starbucks on the 4th and say you voted.

On the 4th, Ben and Jerry’s is giving out free scoops of ice-cream from 5 to 8 p.m. The free scoops, one scoop per customer, are to celebrate democracy. From what I can tell, you don’t need to have voted in order to get a treat. Although, I’d vote just in case.