Next time you race to catch a train… try and make sure you get INSIDE the train.

Tourist Chad Vance clung to Ghan train for two hours

A YOUNG American tourist has survived a terrifying train ride in which he clung to the outside of the legendary Ghan in the freezing dark as it hit speeds up to 110km/h in the South Australian Outback.

Chad Vance, 19, frantically pursued The Ghan after missing it in Port Augusta, managing to climb on and squeeze himself into a tiny stairwell as the train raced for almost 200km through the night.

Ever since SARS, China has take quarantines seriously as the mayor of New Orleans learned this week.

New Orleans mayor quarantined in China for possible flu exposure

The mayor of New Orleans, Louisiana, has been quarantined in China after possible exposure to the H1N1 virus, his office said Sunday.

Mayor Ray Nagin, who traveled to China on an economic development trip, flew on a plane that carried a passenger being treated for symptoms suspected to be from the virus, commonly known as the swine flu virus, the mayor’s office said in a statement.

Want to take your 9mm pistol with you when you move? No problem, just get your roommate who works for the airline to help you sneak it on. Great idea… right?

FBI: Airline worker helped roommate get gun on jet

The FBI charged a US Airways employee with helping his roommate get a concealed, semiautomatic handgun onto a plane departing Philadelphia early Thursday.

Customer service agent Roshid Milledge switched black carry-on bags with passenger Damien Young at the gate so Young could board the 7 am flight to Phoenix with the unloaded 9 mm weapon, the FBI said in an affidavit.

Expect this study to spark a debate over how you should travel if you want to save the planet.

Train can be worse for climate than plane

True or false: taking the commuter train across Boston results in lower greenhouse gas emissions than travelling the same distance in a jumbo jet. Perhaps surprisingly, the answer is false.

A new study compares the “full life-cycle” emissions generated by 11 different modes of transportation in the US. Unlike previous studies on transport emissions, Mikhail Chester and Arpad Horvath of the University of California, Berkeley, looked beyond what is emitted by different types of car, train, bus or plane while their engines are running and includes emissions from building and maintaining the vehicles and their infrastructure, as well as generating the fuel to run them. (Table 1 on page 3 has a complete list of components that were considered).

But the bad news for the airlines:

World’s airlines set to lose $9 billion

The world’s airline will lose $9 billion this year on top of $10.4 billion lost in 2008, IATA has warned.

The airline body’s director general and CEO Giovanni Bisignani cautioned that a return of rising fuel prices was putting recovery from global recession at risk.

Airlines post 79% on-time rate in Apri

But some things have actually improved… of course it is easier to be on time when fewer passengers are getting on the plane.

U.S. airlines’ on-time performance improved in April compared to the previous month and the same month last year, according to a monthly federal report released Tuesday.

The 19 largest carriers recorded an overall on-time arrival rate of 79.1%, better than both the 77.7% of April 2008 and March 2009’s 78.4%, according the Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics. A flight is considered on time if it arrives within 15 minutes of schedule.

Some other blog posts that I liked:

• Seven Ways to Immerse Yourself in Spanish at Home
• 9 of the Weirdest World Heritage Sites
• Traveler’s 101 - The Complete Travel Tip Post

Gas Prices Cause Airline to Remove Life Vests

Air Canada’s regional carrier Jazz is removing life vests from all its planes to save weight and fuel.

Jazz spokeswoman Manon Stuart said Thursday Transport Canada regulations allow airlines to use floatation devices instead of life vests provided the planes remain within 50 miles (80 kilometers) of shore.

50 miles? Just how far do they think I can swim?

IATA: Airlines will lose US$5.2 billion in 2008

The Air Transport Association (IATA) has said it is predicting that airlines will lose US$5.2 billion in 2008, due to slowing demand and high oil prices. Fuel is expected to rise to 36 percent of operating costs, up from 13 percent in 2002.

Why airline reregulation is no longer taboo

I spotted a surprising article that I spotted this week on airline de-regulation. de-regulation has general been held as a good thing that led to increased competition, lower fares and more flights. But some have started to question the downsides of this landmark change in 1978.

One observer with a unique perspective is Robert Crandall, the former chairman of American Airlines and a recognized industry leader — for better or worse — during his tenure in the business. In a speech before the Wings Club in New York City in June, Crandall noted the following: “The consequences (of deregulation) have been very adverse. Our airlines, once world leaders, are now laggards in every category, including fleet age, service quality and international reputation. Fewer and fewer flights are on time. Airport congestion has become a staple of late-night comedy shows. An even higher percentage of bags are lost or misplaced. Last-minute seats are harder and harder to find. Passenger complaints have skyrocketed. Airline service, by any standard, has become unacceptable.”

Australia issues travel advisory warns of high risks for travelers to US

In a fresh travel advisory issued on Sunday, the Australian government’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has warmed of “high risks” of terror attacks on domestic and international flights in and to the United States.

Sure, but what about those of us who are already here?

Delta, JetBlue and NYC airports highlight list of chronically delayed flights

Delta subsidiary Comair flew the eight most chronically delayed flights in July, including three that arrived late every time they flew. Overall, 19 of the nation’s 30 most-chronically delayed flights flew under the Delta logo, though all of the offending flights were operated by Delta’s regional affilaites and not by Delta itself. The worst performer was Comair Flight 5292 from Minneapolis/St. Paul to New York JFK, which arrived late all 31 times it flew in July, the latest month for which data is available from the Department of Transportation (page 14). The average delay for Flight 5292: 134 minutes. That flight also arrived late every time it flew in June, as well, arriving behind schedule by an average of 123 minutes during that month.

Is that really fair? Do you know how hard it is for people in Minnesota to say goodbyes?

Chill out, comfortably, at these ‘ice lounges’

Minus5 Las Vegas (as in minus 5 degrees Celsius) in the Mandalay Bay casino/resort complex, which may open by the end of the month, is similar to chill-out establishments in Stockholm (the Absolut Icebar) and other minus5s in Australia and New Zealand. Patrons, who pay $30 to enter the 1,200-square-foot lounge in Vegas, will be loaned parkas and gloves, sit on ice chairs and sip a drink (one included in the entry fee) in frozen glasses.

JetBlue flight diverted after fight breaks out

A JetBlue flight from Boston, Massachusetts, to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, was diverted Saturday when a fight broke out after someone was smoking in the bathroom, federal officials said. A JetBlue plane was held in North Carolina for two hours while passengers were interviewed. One passenger aboard JetBlue Flight 455 was taken into custody at Raleigh-Durham International Airport in North Carolina after the plane landed about 5:45 p.m.

A Villa for One Euro?

You read that right. In the picturesque hilltop town of Salemi in western Sicily, the mayor is selling old stone villas in the historic town center for one euro (approximately $1.41) apiece. The catch? These villas were damaged in the 1968 earthquake, and have stood unoccupied and deteriorating for the past 40 years. Sound appealing? Once you buy the villa, you must restore it in two years in a way that respects its original character and in accordance with the architectural standards established by the town council; you must also hire local builders, architects, decorators, and plumbers to do the work, reports Times Online, “since the aim of the scheme is to help the local economy.”

TravelMole reports that :

An AAP report says that a strike by more than 1,500 Qantas engineers will remain in the wings until the new year, with the airline today offering an olive branch to the technicians’ union.

More than 1,700 aircraft engineers will walk off the job on January 9 in protest against growing casualisation of the workforce and erosion of working conditions.

Almost 90 per cent of members from the Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association (ALAEA) voted for the action following the breakdown of enterprise negotiations with the airline.

As someone who wears blue jeans to work in a Silicon Valley company “casualization” sounds like a good thing, but in Australia casualization means something else entirely:

What is casualisation?

Casualisation has two main meanings. It is often used loosely in the international
literature to refer to the spread of bad conditions of work such as employment
insecurity, irregular hours, intermittent employment, low wages and an absence of
standard employment benefits (eg Basso, 2003). In Australia, it has a slightly
narrower but more solid meaning. Because our labour markets contain a prominent
form of employment that has been given a label of �casual�, casualisation in the
Australian literature usually refers to a process whereby more and more of the
workforce is employed in these �casual� jobs.