6 reasons to love EasyJet

• Good fares - Let’s face it, EasyJet has good fares. Even when you factor in some unusual fees EasyJet is an airline whose fares are easy to love.
• Bag weight limit – While I can’t say I was wild about the weight limit of 20 kilos per person , I did appreciate that in a party of 3 people they did not care if all 3 bags were under 20 kilos as long as the total was less than 60 kilos.
• Carry-on weight unlimited - The official policy of EasyJet is that they don’t care how much your bag weighs (within reason). My son once packed too many books in his carry-on bag on a flight on Air New Zealand. We were told his bag was over weight and he could not bring it on the plane. When we asked what we could do they suggested he take out a few books and carry them. What exactly did that accomplish?
• Airport Transfer / Oyster Card -  You can buy an airport transfer / oyster card on the plane. I understand that they sell things on the plane to make money, but at least selling you a way to get into town is useful.
• Snacks - EasyJet had a large variety of snacks that we could purchase. What you thought they would feed us?.
  
• Self Check-in - The self check in kiosks made the check in process simple. You have to go to the desk only if you need to drop off luggage.

6 reasons to hate EasyJet

• One carry-on – EasyJet has a one carry on policy instead of one carry-on and a personal item like most airlines. This meant we checked our bags when we normally wouldn’t
  
• One carry-on not consistently enforced – We made sure to check our carry-on bag since we knew people who had been prevented from bringing their 2nd piece of luggage on the plane, but that did not seem to be enforced on our flight and plenty of people were flaunting that rule. Whatever your rule is enforce it consistently.
  
• Constant selling… and nagging - EasyJet makes money from selling you things on the plane. They do this by constantly badgering you on the flight to buy something. More annoying to my wife was the announcement how to use the overhead bins that played every minute or so from the moment we boarded.
• Even a soda costs – Even a soft drink costs on EasyJet. They have already announced that they are considering switching to pay toilets on the other famously cheap European airline RyanAir. Don’t be surprised if in the future the safety drill offers to sell you a seat belt on EasyJet.
• Self Check-in – It is a good thing that the self check-in worked for us because that is the only check-in option.
• Boarding – Many people complain that Southwest Airlines boarding process is too regimented: stand here, board now, etc. I will never make that complaint again. Both discount airlines use open seating but if Southwest was regimented EasyJet was more like a rugby scrum. I lost my wife and daughter in the crowd but it was every man for himself.

Will I fly EasyJet again? Sure. The prices are good. But next time I am sneaking in my own soda.

Excuse me? You want to charge me for what?

Top nine outrageous airline fees and extreme flying charges

Drivers at Luton Airport — a venue north of London, England, favored by discount airlines — must now pay to drop off travelers. That’s right, the airport is charging motorists roughly $1.50 just to pull up to the curb and let grandma out to catch her flight.

She says it was self defense. To be safe, don’t sexually harass Greek women. To be really safe, don’t sexually harass women.

British tourist set on fire by Greek woman

Marina Fanouraki, a Greek woman, will appear in court today after being charged with assault for setting fire to a British tourist in Crete after he allegedly pulled down his trousers in front of her. The incident occured in the holiday resort of Malia in which the 26-year-old woman allegedly poured a highly-flammable liquid over the man and set fire to it with a lighter.

You have read of people in the bible who rent their garments? That’s just what people can do in Australia.

Clothes for rent – the new vacation trend

Travellers will be able to hire clothes for their holiday instead of lugging heavy baggage to the airport in a new service to be launched in Australia next year.

This one reads like scene out of Tom Cruise’s movie Top Gun.

Pilot sacked over 777-300ER fly-by

After taking delivery of the new jet, the Cathay Pacific pilot made a low-level pass, with wheels up, just above the Paine Field runway before the big jet headed off to Hong Kong –with Cathay Pacific Chairman Chris Pratt and other VIPs among the more than 60 people on board. The stunt, which apparently had not been approved by the airline, got the pilot fired and the copilot suspended, it was reported Monday.

New York City is cracking down on people who perch where cafes perk.

No More Perks: Coffee Shops Pull the Plug on Laptop Users

Amid the economic downturn, there are fewer places in New York to plug in computers. As idle workers fill coffee-shop tables — nursing a single cup, if that, and surfing the Web for hours — and as shop owners struggle to stay in business, a decade-old love affair between coffee shops and laptop-wielding customers is fading. In some places, customers just get cold looks, but in a growing number of small coffee shops, firm restrictions on laptop use have been imposed and electric outlets have been locked.

Time is running out on my prediction that the ban on travel to Cuba will be lifted in 2009, so I appreciate the help.

Violator of Cuba travel ban seeks to force court action

A Southland woman is among 270 citizens who openly made the illegal journey in the last two weeks. ‘My experience of traveling to Cuba has been life-changing,’ she says. Erika Crenshaw returned to Los Angeles this week from a 10-day trip to Cuba with a message for authorities charged with enforcing a ban on travel to the communist-ruled island: Come and get me.

Its a dog’s life for sure. Clearly this woman did not see the story about the creation of the pet airline.

Woman books entire business-class section so she can fly with dog

A woman booked the entire business-class section on a Paris-to-Tel Aviv flight so she could travel with her dog, UPI reports. UPI writes that the woman, identified only as “Rivka,” apparently “could not bear the thought”of having her eight-year-old boxer travel in the cargo hold of her flight. “He is my baby, and I asked El Al to rent out the business section and paid $32,000 to ensure my dog, Or (light in Hebrew), would be able to sit next to me for the entire flight,” UPI quotes Rivka as saying to a TV station.

Oh yeah, this will work…

Fans urged to drink whisky to ward off swine flu

Russian soccer fans have been told to drink whisky on their trip to Wales for next month’s World Cup qualifier to ward off the H1N1 swine flu virus, the head of the country’s supporter association (VOB) said Monday.

Other posts that I liked this week:

• Seeing best tourist attractions for free
• New strategies for fear of flying
• Ben Southall as island caretaker: Hit or miss?
• Global cruise business grows, but U.S. departures down

Major Oops Could Cost Airline Big Money

An embarrassing incident at an American Airlines maintenance base in Fort Worth left a plane badly damaged, after the landing gear retracted, sending the nose of the jumbo jet crashing to the ground.

“Well Martha, they did promise we would see whales on this cruise”.

Cruise ship impales fin whale, docks in Vancouver

A fin whale has been impaled and killed on a Princess cruise ship that docked in Vancouver Saturday morning.

The whale, about 20 metres long, was wrapped around the bow of the Sapphire Princess Saturday in full view of tourists at the Canada Place tourist hub, many snapping pictures of the disturbing sight.

“I know it’s somewhere around here… Lookout!!”

‘Blundering’ private pilot gets lost, flies in path of 747 landing at JFK

A private pilot at the helm of a small aircraft apparently came close to causing a disaster in the skies near New York on Saturday. That’s when he flew his small craft in front of a Boeing 747 jumbo jet — and possibly other commercial aircraft — trying to land at JFK Airport, according to the New York Post. The 69-year-pilot, a retired Navy pilot living in the Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C., apparently made the error Saturday afternoon when he got lost and could not find his way to Republic Airport, which is farther out on Long Island than JFK. During the episode, a Boeing 747 operated by Taiwan’s Eva Air had to abort its landing to avoid the private plane, the Post reports.

And just to show that the whales don’t have any hard feelings…

Beluga whale carries struggling diver to surface

A DROWNING diver has a beluga whale to thank for helping to save her life after her legs were paralysed by cramps.

I have accidently tried to open the wrong hotel room, or even been directed to the wrong hotel room so this story strikes me as so many kinds of wrong:

Man shot, killed while trying to enter wrong motel room

Seattle sound engineer Tom Pfaeffle, 49, was shot to death last Friday night at a motel in eastern Washington as he was trying to put his room key into the door of the wrong room, according to the Seattle Times.

And the creepiest story of the week is this one:

How private are we in hotel rooms? Female sportscaster filmed naked through hotel door peephole

It’s a horrible situation for Erin Andrews (see her lawyers’ statement at Game On), who probably was on a routine business trip and didn’t think twice about disrobing in her supposedly private hotel room. The surreptitious filming, however, goes beyond Andrew’s unfortunate situation.

There is no evidence that she was texting and driving (see below) or doing anything else stupid, but you do have to be more careful when the local wildlife can eat you.

Tourist drives her car into croc-infested East Alligator River

A tourist drove her car into a croc-infested river on the fringe of Kakadu National Park after confusing a boat ramp for a road crossing. Her four-wheel-drive became submerged in the East Alligator River, about 300 kilometres east of Darwin, last Thursday.

Chris, a lovely chart but no big surprise here. When a baby screams behind you in a plane it is very annoying but you still accomplish what you set out to do which is travel. In a movie theatre however…

Surprise! Screaming babies on planes isn’t your top annoyance, says survey

What could be worse that screaming babies on a plane? Screaming babies in a movie theater, according to a new survey by Baby Orajel teething pain medicine.

Read a little deeper into this story. The number one complaint about French travelers is that they speak French rather than English and don’t learn the local language. I suspect the tables have turned from when French was (quite literally) the lingua franca of travel.

French travelers ranked as world’s worst

French tourists are the worst in the world, coming across as bad at foreign languages, tight-fisted and arrogant, according to a survey of 4,500 hotel owners across the world.

I will let the next story pass without comment…

Delta’s big attendents unable to wear new uniform; union protests

Delta is not offering its new red-dress uniforms to its biggest flight attendants. That has the union that represented attendants at Northwest – now a subsidiary of Delta – crying foul, The Associated Press reports. The Atlanta Journal Constitution says Delta’s “uniform policy … keeps flight attendants larger than size 18 from wearing Delta’s eye-catching signature red dress.” The airline offers the red-dress uniform only through size 18. However, the St. Paul Pioneer Press notes that, “in navy blue, the Delta Air Lines female flight attendants’ uniform dresses go up to size 28.”

Other interesting stories:

• Bumped from your flight? You’ve got rights
• Truck-driving text messagers 23 times more likely to get into an accident
• Report: Armed bandits raid Amazon River cruise ship carrying Americans

Paying Money to Murder: Russian Luxury Yachts Offer Pirate Hunting Cruises

In a brilliant–if deeply disturbing–stroke of entrepreneurial genius, Russian luxury yachts have begun to advertise adventure cruises where passengers pony up almost $6,000 USD per day to cruise from Djibouti to Mombasa in search of pirates.

The yachts trawl at a deliberately slow speed, hoping to attract pirates. If attacked, the cruise passengers are ready to respond with heavy machinery: machine guns and grenade and rocket launchers. And if they want to tack on an extra $8.00 a day, passengers can hoist their very own AK-47. Ammo, though, costs an extra $11.50.

And the best thing about getting services from ex-cons is that it will only cost you a pack of cigarettes. (OK I made that part up).

City’s ex-cons to help Naples tourist

Tourists in Naples are being welcomed by ex-convicts who help them cross the streets in the hair-raising traffic, offer information and even escort them through the city’s more dangerous alleyways under a initiative by the Campania region.

Wearing yellow jackets, caps and ID cards, around 70 former prisoners have been posted at points around the city including the port and the station.

Score one for the math nerds (yes I was one as a kid). Researchers think they know how to resync your body clock.

A Mathematics Cure For Jet Lag

Plagued by jet lag? If we can send a rocket to the moon why can’t we figure out how to fly to different time zones and still be fresh? Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the University of Michigan say they have developed a software program that prescribes a light exposure regimen for avoiding jet lag.

Sometimes truth is just much funnier than fiction.

New airline Pet Airways’ only passengers to be four-legged

Soon, pet owners who live in a handful of large U.S. cities will have the ability to do that. Pet Airways plans to begin service on July 14 as the USA’s first pets-only carrier — no human passengers allowed. The introductory fare: $149 each way. For that, pets will be flown in individual crates in lighted and pressurized plane cabins, with a human attendant checking them every 15 minutes. They’ll board, just like people, from their own airport lounges and get overnight lodging accommodations on long-haul flights. Their owners can track their whereabouts at all times online. They can even earn “pet points” as frequent fliers.

The only thing clear about the Clear program is that it is clearly over.

Clear Registered Travel Program Shuts Down

Clear, the biggest private-sector “registered traveler” program in the nation, shut down suddenly last night, and a quarter of a million customers are waiting to find out whether their cards will ever get them out of security-line hell again. (It’s not looking too good right now.) The biggest mystery is not why it failed, but why it hung on as long as it did given the open hostility to the venture displayed by both the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and the airlines.

I am not sure if being associated with the criminal justice system is the legacy that Jackson wanted but…

Tourists flock to see 1,500 Philippine inmates perform Jackson tribute

More than 1,500 Philippine inmates at a maximum security prison on Saturday performed a Michael Jackson tribute for the public with a dance routine that has become a global Internet hit.

Hundreds of spectators arrived at the jail to see the convicts, including murderers and drug-traffickers, put on the show two days after the music icon collapsed and died.

Other stories that I thought were interesting:

• Royal Caribbean plans 11-night Arctic Circle cruise from Copenhagen
• First hybrid RV to hit the road this summer
• 2009 Airline In-Flight Entertainment Status Update

Air New Zealand is trying a unique approach to get people to watch that safety video. In a video titled “Bare essentials of safety from Air New Zealand” they have Air New Zealand staff wearing only body paint and shot from strategic angles or behind props. The video thanks the crew for “going all out”. It will be interesting to see how other airlines will respond.

The Comfy Chair

There is no question that a 1st class airline seat has more space for anyone who say… has legs. It is a treat to be able to cross my legs or to lean back and get some sleep after getting on a flight at 6AM. The seat is also wide with extra space between you and your seat mate. First class travelers, on American Airlines at least, still get blankets.

Power to the People

As someone who always travels with a laptop it is a joy to get a power outlet (you need a DC adapter) at the seat so that on a long flight I could catch up on email, edit an episode of the Amateur Traveler, etc. With most airports making it way too difficult to find a power outlet I am usually low on power by the time I even get on the plane.

Coffee, Tea or…

It is strangely civilized to be offered a juice or a glass of water while we wait for the riff-raff in the back to settle in. Getting a meal on a plane is a wonderful throwback. Having to choose between the red and white wine they were pouring was a terrific dilemma. Fresh baked cookies was a treat. The biggest difference seems to be that with a lot fewer people in first class the flight attendants seem a lot less rushed.

So… will I be purchasing first class tickets only from now on? Not likely. While I can certainly enjoy the experience of traveling with the mucky mucks, I can’t imagine deciding that those benefits are worth doubling the ticket price.

Man Overboard: Carnival Inspiration

According to reports, Larry Miller, 46, fell overboard from the cruise ship as it was returning to the Port of Tampa at 4 a.m. this morning. Fortunately for Miller, the crew of a pilot boat spotted him in the shipping channel near the Sunshine Skyway shortly before 7 a.m.

A spokesperson for Carnival Cruise Lines told Bay News 9 that, “Miller fell overboard when he climbed on a railing to get a better view of a boat as it passed by. He slipped, then fell overboard.”

Planes land safely everyday without making the news. What does make the news is when this happens after the pilot has died.

Pilot dies flying plane to the US

Nearly 250 airline passengers landed safely at their destination after the captain of the plane died mid-flight.

Losing your luggage is not uncommon these days with the airline industry. Losing your children should be.

2 girls put on wrong Continental Express flights

Continental Airlines said Tuesday it has taken steps to ensure that proper procedures are followed after two unaccompanied girls were placed on wrong Continental Express flights over the weekend.

An 8-year-old College Station girl erroneously ended up in Fayetteville, Ark., and a 10-year-old Massachusetts girl was mistakenly sent to Newark, N.J., after boarding planes operated by ExpressJet, which is under contract with Continental.

How much do you love your job and your employer. Do you love it enough to work there for free? If not, let’s hope you don’t work for British Airlines.

BA staff may be working for free

According to Bloomberg, British Airways recently asked its 40,000 employees to consider laboring for nothing for up to one month. “Colleagues are being urged to help the airline’s cash-saving drive by signing up for unpaid leave or unpaid work,” read an article in BA News, the carrier’s in-house newspaper. Chief executive Willie Walsh, who has pledged to forgo his $100,000 monthly salary in July, said the airline was caught in a “fight for survival”.

Other stories that caught my eye:

• Woman who missed Flight 447 is killed in car crash
• WHO declares swine flu pandemic
• Pilots and control towers, some real life exchanges

Nuclear sub to join hunt for jet

A French nuclear submarine is being sent to help find an Air France plane which disappeared over the Atlantic. French Defence Minister Herve Morin said the submarine had sonar equipment that could help locate the airliner’s flight data recorders.

If you can’t think about going on vacation without fluffy (spot?) then SouthWest wants to get your business. They have a new policy to allow cats and dogs on flights.

Southwest Allows Pets

Q: What types of pets are allowed?
A: Southwest Airlines will only accept small cats and dogs in carriers that can be stowed under the Customer’s seat.

Q: How much will the Pet Fare be?
A: The Pet Fare will be $75 each way per pet carrier.

It is one thing to survive icebergs and shipwrecks, but old age gets us all eventually.

R.I.P. Millvina Dean, Titanic Survivor

The last survivor of the Titanic’s sinking has died at 97. Dean was just two months old when she was placed in one of the ship’s lifeboats with her mother and brother; she once said of her celebrity status: “Until the wreckage of the Titanic was found in 1985, nobody was interested in me. Who expects to become famous at that age?”

In addition to caps flying after graduation valedictorians may also be flying this year… if they live near Monterey.

Monterey County valedictorians fly free on Eureka

“High Honors” Flight seeing Tours allow class of 2009 high school Valedictorians to fly free on June 14 on half hour tours offered at 10 and 10:30 a.m. and the offer also allows all class of 2009 graduates to take a 1-hour flight seeing tour, for $99 when accompanied by a family member flying using a $375/person promotional fare; up to two additional family members may also fly with the graduate at the same limited-time $375/person rate.

So far I am not impressed so far with Microsoft’s Bing.

Microsoft Rolls Out Bing Travel

Microsoft on Thursday formally launched the travel section of its new Bing search engine.

In addition to search results, queries to Bing Travel yield direct links to tools that users can employ to book flights, hotel rooms, and other travel products. For instance, a search for “San Diego hotels” delivers property availability and pricing information.

When SouthWest’s unions returned the offer to management, do you think they got the rapping flight attendant to do it?

Southwest pilots reject new contract

Pilots at Southwest Airlines Co. have voted down a new contract that would have given them raises in the midst of a slump in the airline industry.

The vote was close, with less than 51% voting down the contract.

Other articles that caught my eye:

• How eight major U.S. carriers stack up in comfort for coach passengers
• Ten Signs of a Budget Traveler
• Top 10 Reasons to Take a Career Break…and Travel
• How to Travel Full-time Without Spending a Fortune
• Best card for foreign exchange?

EU tests brain scanning to catch terrorists

The EU has been testing new ways to catch terrorists, and a method of brain scanning could be the way to weed them out.

Developed via the Humabio (Human Monitoring and Authentication using Biodynamic Indicators and Behaviourial Analysis) projects based in Greece, the scans would search for distinctive brain patterns as people pass through checks.

Oops. When I screw up at work usually the air force does not get involved.

Plane’s hijacking alarm flub forces jet escort

Authorities say a cockpit hijacking alarm was mistakenly tripped on an American Airlines flight carrying more than 150 people, forcing fighter jets to escort the plane onto the tarmac.

Oops. Remember that awesome opening minute of the pilot for the TV show LOST when someone learned that you don’t stand in front of a jet engine. A baggage handler at LAX must have missed that episode.

Baggage container sucked into Boeing 747 engine at LAX

A metal baggage container was sucked into an engine of a Boeing 747 as it was leaving a terminal gate Monday at Los Angeles International Airport, authorities said. No one was injured.

In a move that show might show some desire to get people to travel more, American Airlines is offering its frequent flyers more flexibility.

AAdvantage One-Way Flex Awards

Introducing AAdvantage One-Way Flex Awards – a whole new approach to frequent flyer travel – PLUS an enhanced award booking tool on AA.com.

We’ve enhanced award travel by making MileSAAver® and AAnytime® awards One-Way Flex Awards – a brand new way to use your AAdvantage miles.

Use your miles in a variety of award combinations to book a one-way trip, a round trip, or a multi-city trip. New One-Way Flex Awards are offered at a one-way mileage rate – exactly half of the round-trip rate.

Could you get paid to travel for free? Maybe.

Travel Grants Can Be the Secret to Free Travel

Are you a new travel writer looking for travel writing jobs? Would you like free travel? There is a way that few writers know about to help them get the funds they need – funds that could take you to a destination that you’ve always wanted to write about. The same way that many high-school graduates get funding for college, and many start up business get funding to help them open the doors and put up the shingle – it’s grants! Yep, good old-fashioned grants.

Airlines, which granted need the money, made hundreds of millions of dollars on baggage fees last year. Surprise, here is a new one.

United Matches US Airways’ Baggage Fee Hike

United will now charge an extra $5 for bags checked at the airport, meaning passengers will have to pony up $20 for the first bag and $30 for the second unless they check their bags online. The rule is effective May 14 for travel before June 10. If you book your ticket prior to May 14, you will not have to pay the new fee.

Other stories that are worth a mention:

• 7 Ways to Annoy a Flight Attendant
• Six Tips for Introverted Travelers
• 10 Things I Wish I’d Known Before Studying Abroad

Pay attention to that seat belt sign

A Texas woman is paralyzed after getting up to use the lavatory, ignoring the fasten seat belt sign, as her Continental Airlines flight approached McAllen Airport in turbulent weather. Naturally, her family is suing Continental.

Who would have guessed that telling someone else on the lane you have a bomb would get you in trouble? Everyone. Everyone except one idiot at the Denver airport.

Stupid is as stupid does

A man accused of telling an off-duty Northwest Airlines pilot that he had explosives in his carry-on bag was sentenced to four years probation for making false threats.

Federal investigators said the Northwest Airlines plane was backing away from a gate at Denver International Airport last year when 56-year-old Mark Randall Rayborn grabbed his bag and told the pilot seated next to him that he had five pounds of explosives that security screeners had missed.

Well this story could certainly change my travel plans for where I will go hiking in the nude. Or, it would… if that seemed at all like a good idea.

Swiss heartland voters ban nude hiking in Alps

Voters in the heart of the Swiss Alps on Sunday passed legislation banning naked hiking after dozens of mostly German nudists started rambling through their picturesque region.

By a show of hands citizens of the tiny canton (state) of Appenzell Inner Rhodes voted overwhelmingly at their traditional open-air annual assembly to impose a 200 Swiss franc ($176) fine on violators.

This story from the UK Telegraph is further evidence that there is no minimum intelligence needed to travel.

20 ridiculous complaints made by holidaymakers

my favorite complaint:

A woman threatened to call police after claiming that she’d been locked in by staff. When in fact, she had mistaken the “do not disturb” sign on the back of the door as a warning to remain in the room.

Since this week’s episode of the Amateur Traveler is about Travel to Yellowstone National Park, I was interested to see Fodor’s list of what parks you should take your kids to see.

10 National Parks Every Kid Should See

• Arches National Park
• Denali National Park
• Grand Canyon, Arizona
• Glacier National Park
• Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park
• Yosemite National Park
• Yellowstone National Park
• Redwoods National and State Parks
• Everglades National Park

Other stories that caught my eye:

• Revenge at sea: 5 ways passengers are getting even with cruise lines
• ‘Furious’ Obama orders review of NY plane flyover
• America’s 11 most endangered historic places announced