When you get off your plane and need a place to sleep in Stockholm you can now sleep… on a plane.

Stuck at the Airport? Sleep in the Cockpit

Most travelers dread the idea of staying overnight in an airplane. But soon people arriving in Stockholm, Sweden, will be able to get a good night’s sleep in the cockpit of a jumbo jet.

A hostel slated to start taking reservations in December will give backpackers a chance to pay for a night in a refurbished 1976 Boeing 747-200 at the Stockholm-Arlanda Airport in Sweden.

ProfessionalTravelGuide.com has created a list of some of the world’s largest, like the world’s largest burger.

World’s Largest 2008

America has always had a reputation for excess. From budget deficits to SUVs and all-you-can-eat buffets; if you can make it larger, that’s how we want it.

Thankfully for super-sizers everywhere, the spirit behind that reputation has not been lost on Denny’s Beer Barrel Pub in Pennsylvania. Hungry? Order ahead for their 100-lb/45-kg burger. Of course, there’s always the 6-lb/3-kg or 3-lb/1.3-kg version if you’re a wimp.

Best airline, airport for business travelers?

Portland International Airport and Virgin America are favorites among business fliers, according to the results of Conde Nast Traveler’s most recent poll of road warriors — published in the magazine’s October issue.

US House of Representatives Passes “Travel Promotion Act of 2008″

The “Travel Promotion Act,” H.R. 3232, introduced by Representatives William Delahunt (D-MA) and Roy Blunt (R-MO) and co-sponsored by 243 additional members of the House of Representatives, establishes a public-private partnership to promote the United States as a premier international travel destination and communicate US security and entry policies. The bill specifies that travel promotion would be paid for - at no cost to US taxpayers - by private sector contributions and a modest fee on foreign travelers who do not pay $131 for a visa to enter the United States. Nearly every developed nation in the world spends millions of dollars to attract visitors.

As of this afternoon a video on YouTube that is the latest safety video has been viewed 350,000 times. Huh? A safety video? Isn’t this what most people avoid watching on the airplane? Delta has even blogged about the making of the video and the press it has garnered.

Joe Dion from Fly With Me interviewed the star of the video on his most recent podcast.

Delta Airlines’ latest safety video has been getting a lot of hits on Youtube, and “Deltalina” is the reason. I talk with Chris Babb, the creator of the video, and with Katherine “Kat” Lee, the flight attendant who is featured in the video. Kat has gotten the nickname “Deltalina” because she looks like Angelina Jolie.

Airbus and Shell Oil announced a test flight was completed recently with one of the four engines operating on an alternate fuel.

The alternative fuel used on the test flight was gas to liquid (GTL), which looks like kerosene, but is clear coloured. It is a natural gas, which has been cleaned and has undergone the Fischer-Tropsch process - the conversion of synthesis gas to liquid fuel.

The goal of these experiments is to find both cheaper and “greener” fuels. While they announced the test was a success, no mention was made of how much cheaper or how much greener the fuel is than conventional jet fuel. Airlines and by extension airplane manufacturers are getting increasing pressure from the public to reduce their carbon emissions and lower ticket prices driven up in part by the rise in fuel costs.

There have been a number of stories about the new Boeing 797 aircraft.

Boeing is preparing a 1000 passenger jet that could reshape the Air travel industry for the next 100 years.The radical Blended Wing design has been developed by Boeing in cooperation with the NASA Langley Research Centre.The mammoth plane will have a wing span of 265 feet compared to the 747’s 211 feet, and is designed to fit within the newly created terminals used for the 555 seat Airbus A380, which is 262 feet wide.The new 797 is in direct response to the Airbus A380 which has racked up 159 orders, but has not yet flown any passengers.Boeing decide to kill its 747X stretched super jumbo in 2003 after little interest was shown by airline companies, but has continued to develop the ultimate Airbus crusher 797 for years at its Phantom Works
research facility in Long Beach, Calif.

It is a very cool looking aircraft. Sadly, according to Boeing’s Blog it’s just not true.

Yes, too good to be true, indeed, Walter. Someone was having a bit of fun with PhotoShop perhaps. Boeing is not planning to build a 1,000 passenger commercial airplane dubbed the “797,” based on the blended wing body (BWB) concept or any other futuristic concept. It’s certainly not in our commercial market forecast, which goes out for 20 years. We think the commercial airplane market favors point-to-point routes, and we’re developing the 787 as the perfect match to help meet that demand.

According to safetravel.dot.gov:

Effective January 1, 2008, the following rules apply to the spare lithium batteries you carry with you in case the battery in a device runs low:

• Spare batteries are the batteries you carry separately from the devices they power. When batteries are installed in a device, they are not considered spare batteries.
• You may not pack a spare lithium battery in your checked baggage
• You may bring spare lithium batteries with you in carry-on baggage – see our spare battery tips and how-to sections to find out how to pack spare batteries safely!
• Even though we recommend carrying your devices with you in carry-on baggage as well, if you must bring one in checked baggage, you may check it with the batteries installed.

The following quantity limits apply to both your spare and installed batteries. The limits are expressed in grams of “equivalent lithium content.” 8 grams of equivalent lithium content is approximately 100 watt-hours. 25 grams is approximately 300 watt-hours:

• Under the new rules, you can bring batteries with up to 8-gram equivalent lithium content. All lithium ion batteries in cell phones are below 8 gram equivalent lithium content. Nearly all laptop computers also are below this quantity threshold.
• You can also bring up to two spare batteries with an aggregate equivalent lithium content of up to 25 grams, in addition to any batteries that fall below the 8-gram threshold. Examples of two types of lithium ion batteries with equivalent lithium content over 8 grams but below 25 are shown below.
• For a lithium metal battery, whether installed in a device or carried as a spare, the limit on lithium content is 2 grams of lithium metal per battery.
• Almost all consumer-type lithium metal batteries are below 2 grams of lithium metal. But if you are unsure, contact the manufacturer!

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