Air France Flight 447 was lost in the ocean between Brazil and France this week.

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?

The first story is either very very cool or very very creepy… probably both. Just don’t react when the security screen whispers ‘Jihad’ in your ear.

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

The first story is a sad one but one that people need to hear. Please, please, please pay attention to the seat belt signs when you fly.

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

Vauxhall Bus Station
Originally uploaded by shad_41

I understand the need for security but sometimes the line between safety and silly is pretty fine. A tourist had their photos deleted for taking a picture that I was able to find hundreds of on the web.

Police delete London tourists’ photos ‘to prevent terrorism’

Austrian tourist who photographed bus and Tube stations says ‘nasty incident’ has put him off returning to London.

Like most visitors to London, Klaus Matzka and his teenage son Loris took several photographs of some of the city’s sights, including the famous red double-decker buses. More unusually perhaps, they also took pictures of the Vauxhall bus station, which Matzka regards as “modern sculpture”.

But the tourists have said they had to return home to Vienna without their holiday pictures after two policemen forced them to delete the photographs from their cameras in the name of preventing terrorism.

Oops, missed it by that much…

Four Corners misses mark by 2.5 miles

Tourists who want to put a hand or foot in each of four states at the Four Corners area are apparently off the mark — by about 2.5 miles.

According to readings by the National Geodetic Survey, the Four Corners marker showing the intersection of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah is about 2.5 miles west of where it should be.

The first I heard of the new change fees that some airlines are charging was when a co-worker was trying to change flights on Hawaiian Air and got hit with a couple hundred dollars of change fees. Airlines seem to be making these changes quietly.

United Airlines secretly raises ticket change fees

In this instance, United raised their fee from 100$ up to 150$ to make any changes to your ticket. And they didn’t even tell anybody when they did it last Friday night. News is just slowly seeping out now.

Often times, airlines will make these changes to affect the bottom tier of passengers, exempting many of the first class and elite customers. But not in this case. This is a unilateral 50$ increase in fees across the board, so even if you’re super a super special elite passenger you still get screwed. Cool huh?

Another additional fee that United announced is OK with me. Some people are too big to fit in airline seats. That is not the fault of the airline (OK, United does have less legroom than anyone else) and they should not have to foot the bill for an extra seat for a larger passenger. Also the person seating next to them bought an entire seat and should get that. (This on the week that scientists say being overweight contributes to global warming - Scientists: Obesity Causes Global Warming).

Very obese fliers on United may have to buy 2nd seat

United Airlines is requiring extremely obese passengers who can’t fit in their seats to pay for a second seat when there is no other way to accommodate their girth.
United said Wednesday that it will charge obese, coach-class passengers for a second coach seat or for upgrading to a larger seat in business or first class, if necessary. The policy applies to United and United Express flights. United published its new policy on its website under “Passengers requiring extra space.”

“We had 700 complaints about this last year,” said Robin Urbanski, a United (UAUA) spokeswoman. “Now our employees have a formal policy they can refer to.”

Whether it was a suicide or someone just going crazy we may not know but please make sure your seat belt stays fastened until the pilot has parked the aircraft.

Man leaps out of plane to his death over Arctic

A man aboard a small passenger plane fought to push open the aircraft’s door at 23,000 feet over northern Canada and leaped to his death, forcing the pilot to make an emergency landing with the door ajar, police said Thursday.

Other articles that caught my eye:

• Travel [Almost] Free
• Gunman holds crew on passenger jet in Jamaica
• Note: Your Fellow Airplane Passenger Is Not a Urinal
• Cruise passenger falls overboard in Bahamas
• Hijacked train released in India

It has been a bad week for planes and pilots as this first story shows:

Plane takes off without pilot at vintage airshow

A runaway aircraft took off on its own when the pilot could not get into the cockpit on time after swinging the front propellor. The classic biplane ran in circles on the ground at speeds of up to 60mph before taking off and flying on its own for 200m. It then crashed into trees at the edge of Goodwood airfield on Sunday.

As bad as that story was, it is not nearly as bad as a plane landing without the pilot… alive.

Passenger lands plane in Florida after pilot dies

Doug White and his family had just enjoyed a smooth takeoff and were ascending through the clouds when the pilot guiding their twin-engine plane tilted his head back and made a guttural sound.

The pilot, Joe Cabuk, was unconscious. And though White had his pilot’s license, he had never flown a plane as large as this.

Perhaps planes should be put to better use… like using them as hotels.

Costa Rican Airplane Hotel Takes Flight

If you have fantasies of living like the Swiss Family Robinson or even the characters in Lost, this rainforest resort near Quepos, Costa Rica may be just the ticket. Situated on the edge of the Manuel Antonio National Park, the Costa Verde Resort features an incredible hotel suite set inside a 1965 Boeing 727 airplane. In its former life the airplane transported globetrotters on South Africa Air and Avianca Airlines, and it now serves as a two bedroom suite perched on the edge of the rainforest overlooking the beach and ocean.

Where will you find the most forgiving people in the world? Perhaps in Uruguay.

What’s going on in…Uruguay?

The people of Uruguay tend to be extremely tranquilo – they drink mate and aren’t generally worried about the exact time of day. At the same time, Uruguayos tend to be politically active, especially this year, as they will vote in November for their new president and on various bills.

One of these bills calls for annulling the law called “La Ley de Caducidad (The Law of Expiration).” This is a law passed in 1986 after the 12-year military dictatorship ended (1973-1985). It gives impunity to the dictatorship’s military officials for their human rights violations, among other crimes. No, you did not read this incorrectly.

As we mentioned in Travel to Zimbabwe - Amateur Traveler Episode 158, Zimbabwe has been living with incredible runaway inflation of its currency. Finally this week Zimbabwe gave in to the inevitable.

Zimbabwe dumps own currency

In a move not entirely unexpected, the Zimbabwean government and the Central Bank of Zimbabwe decided over the Easter weekend to throw their own worthless currency out of the window, replacing it with foreign currency use for at least a year and possibly much longer to allow the country to recover from hitting rock bottom.

Record inflation, despite several currency “reforms,” which over the years slashed dozens of zeros off the local “Zimbabwe dollar,” runs at more than 230 million percent, a figure previously not seen anywhere else in the global economy.

Other articles that caught my eye:

• Welcome to the National Travel Writing Month
• Top 10 travel technology trends for 2009
• Winging It: Facing the ‘new normal’ - The travel industry fears revenue is down to levels that may be typical for years.