Another “it was fun while it lasted” post.
Just about a year ago, Virgin America made a splashy entry at John Wayne Airport (SNA) in Orange County, California (beautiful girls! beautiful Branson!), and now – it’s pulling out.
No real reason was given. According to the press release, “Despite our relatively strong performance at SNA, given our new fleet plan and network prospects, we’ve made the decision to focus on the immediate long-haul opportunities…”
One of those new opportunities is Orlando – Virgin America will begin flights there in August. And to kick it off, they have some really good deals, which we go into in more detail on over at FareCompare’s Deals Blog.
But, back in Orange County, there’s some disappointment:
“Well that sucks. I really enjoyed my flight to SF last August. I felt like I was in at a strip club with their purple mood lighting.” — comment in Orange County Register, 3-18-10
Thought you might enjoy seeing this teeny-tiny hotel room from the designers at Dream and Fly (based in Barcelona and Lisbon). The room comes with a small bathroom, and it does look comfortable.
Here’s their description:
“Dream and Fly is a micro-hotel concept by hours. It is made up of small independent bubbles that allow for great versatility in the areas in which they are installed. Ideal for areas with large concentrations of people like airports, sea ports, events, vacation and holiday resorts where mobility is necessary.”
I saw this first on Yanko Design, where one of the commenters said, “I would pay for a nap and some silence in an airport.” Hear, hear.
If you’re flying in or out of the Northeast today, check out FlightStats or your airline before heading out.
We are seeing “excessive” delays in Boston (excessive = worst), but there are also significant delays at JFK, Newark, Philadelphia, Manchester, New Hampshire and to a lesser extent in Cleveland.
That area of the country got hit hard over the weekend with lashing rainstorms (some with hurricane-strength winds) and there were a lot of power outages – so – just be careful, okay?
I know that the Transportation Security Administration – especially the TSA’s blog – gets plenty of comments from people who are outraged that airport security doesn’t do more “profiling”. Here is one of those comments:
“The reason why the blue-eyed great-grandmother from Minneapolis is given a hard time while four young Middle-Eastern men sail through, is not because of her knitting needles (“She might knift an Afghan!” *rimshot*). It’s because the government is terrified of ‘racial profiling’.” –comment left on TSA Blog, 5-2-09
So what are the two words referred to in the title of this post? Jihad Jane.
As numerous news organizations pointed out this week, the woman who allegedly called herself “Jihad Jane” – and who is due in federal court next week to be arraigned on terrorism-related charges – is a middle-aged, blue-eyed blond from the suburbs.
We already told you that the graduate student who slipped past security in January for one last kiss with his departing girlfriend at Newark Airport has pleaded guilty and been fined – but what about the security guard who left his post that allowed that to happen?
He is being disciplined, according to the AP – but not fired. He was placed on administrative leave, and we hear he returns to work this weekend.
No word on whether he was paid or not during his leave. As for the grad student, it’ll take more than a guilty plea to kill his romance.
See? This is what happens when they keep making us take off our shoes:
Security workers at Palm Beach International Airport in Florida “are complaining of odor” – yes, the stench left behind on the carpets from those who remove their shoes for security.
Actually the smelly feet complaints revolve around two separate security checkpoints.
Anyway, airport management is busy “formulating a plan” on this matter; here, you can use my plan: A.) Go to carpet store, and B.) Buy new carpet.
The frugal among us may be wondering why they don’t just clean the carpets, but – the problem is that the security check-points open at 4:30am, and may not close until 1:00am or so (if flights are late), so there’s not a lot of time for shampooing and drying.
An insightful story on CNN by Daniel Fahl, who is described as a “captain for a major U.S. airline” – he writes about the expected delays at JFK that I blogged about last week.
“Just like freeways get backed up during rush hour and the holidays,” says Capt. Fahl, “so do the runways and airborne highways that aircraft navigate.”
He added that, with JFK’s main runway out of action for the next few months, the delays will be magnifed – especially because Kennedy is a prime departure/destination airport for the big planes traveling long-haul routes. The can present special problems due to “wake turbulence”:
“Wake turbulence, similar to the wake a boat creates, poses a safety threat to trailing aircraft. Because of this, there is a longer delay between departing and arriving aircraft when one of these large, or as we say “heavy,” aircraft enters the picture. With only three runways available, this adds to the headache of keeping traffic flowing.” – Daniel Fahl for CNN, 3-11-10
If you’ll be heading to JFK this Spring, watch for delays – especially if you’ll be traveling during “rush hour”.
A graduate student at Rutgers pleaded guilty to “defiant trespass” yesterday, which is to say, he’s the guy who caused chaos at busy Newark Liberty Airport in January when he slipped through security to give his girlfriend one last kiss before she headed home to California.
Romeo, also known as Haisong Jang, 28 was ordered to pay a $500 fine and court costs and will have to complete 100 hours of community service.
The man will also have this on his record for five years, after which (if there are no more kissing episodes), he can get it erased.
So – did this kill the romance? Not at all. The kissing couple remain a devoted pair, though presumably they are now low-keying the PDA’s*.
*Blog-speak for “public displays of affection”
