Filed under: Airlines, Transportation, Airports, Budget Travel

You can also earn elite status by flying a certain number of segments. In another example, if you’ve frequent business between Minneapolis, MN and Saint Louis, MO, each flight on United Airlines earns you two segments: MSP-ORD and ORD-STL. After taking that flight a few weeks in a row, you’ll begin to accumulate some serious segments. Usually these tiers are at multiples of 25 segments, but you’ll have to check with your favorite carrier for specifics.

As a result, if you look at your miles or segments balance near the end of the year and you’ve earned nearly enough miles or so along the way, it may be worth it for you to schlep around and earn another 5k to bump you up to the next tier. Usually, your status lasts through at least the next calendar year; the platinum status that I’ve earned on NWA lasts until February of 2009.

Why not just take the money I spent on a mileage run to book the ticket that I would use miles to book later? Well, for a couple of reasons. To start with, one of the few areas in which miles are advantageous to use is in the short term. Ticket prices usually drastically rise in the last two weeks prior to booking. Award tickets, however, usually don’t. So one can book a last second ticket out for the weekend on Thursday and still pay the 25k award fee.

Another reason is because the benefits go beyond simply miles. Elite status, first class upgrades, bump vouchers and airline debauch await anyone willing to go on a mileage run. Part of the whole beauty of mileage running is the logistical bonanza that comes with any booking. It’s part of the fun.

Continue reading to Should I book a mileage run?>>

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Filed under: Airlines, Transportation, Airports, News

I’m not sure if I would let my five year old daughter on a plane all by herself, but if I was forced to, I would make sure that the airline was keeping a sharp eye on the tot for the entire flight. That’s what a couple in Canada assumed when they purchased a special “Unaccompanied Minor” ticket on Westjet for their daughter.

Instead, the CBC reports that child was all but ignored. Instead, the friendly stranger sitting in the adjacent seat took it up on himself to take care of her, playing games on the plane and eventually escorting her out of security. Apparently they waited around for a Westjet representative to escort the girl out and after nobody came he took it upon himself.

The good thing about the whole debacle is that the stranger was just a normal nice person walking a little girl off an airplane. It’s a good thing that this guy was around and some nutcase didn’t pick her up at the airport.

Now the parents are furious that the airline didn’t do anything to take better care of their child. In the true (North) American fashion, they plan to sue.

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Filed under: Australia, Airlines, Transportation, Airports, News

Yikes. Apparently someone misread the “oxygen” cart in Melbourne and Qantas technicians have been filling oxygen tanks with nitrogen. You know, the oxygen tanks that supply the air to your masks in an emergency? Those oxygen tanks.

I’m reminded of that first scene Mission Impossible II where Sean Ambrose knocks out the entire plane with special gas and they fly it into a mountain side as they parachute to safety below.

What’s worse is that they’re not sure how many planes this error was affected by. While it might be simple to track down Qantas flights that were incorrectly loaded, their maintenance teams are also contracted out to other carriers that fly through Melbourne.

Nothing like adding to insult to injury in an emergency. “In addition to the plane spiraling out of control towards the Pacific Ocean, we’ve filled the oxygen tanks with nitrogen! Ha!”

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Filed under: Airlines, Transportation

Earlier this week, Northwest hosted a fashion show in their Detroit World Gateway to show off the new uniforms they’re unrolling. I asked any Gadlingers passing through to snap a couple of pics and in one way or another (thanks Dan), some came through.

In the interest of self preservation as a member of the media and Northwest Airlines‘ frequent flyer program, I’ll refrain from commenting on the uniforms, but I’m interested to see what Gadlingers and AOL readers think of the change.

If you look at some of the other photos in the set, you’ll see a timeline of flight attendant uniforms through NWA’s history; it’s interesting to look at some of the older uniforms and see how they changed over time.

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Filed under: Blogs, Stories, Transportation

We’ve written posts about dastardly roads before. (Martha’s, Justin’s , Willy’s, Mine) Many are windy, narrow ones that snake around mountains. One of my worst stretches of road, I’ve decided is I-75 between Lexington, Kentucky and Cincinnati, Ohio. I drove along a several mile unlit portion of the highway after dark, not once but twice (!)this past weekend.

A relative of mine died earlier in the week, and with the funeral south of Hazard, I corralled my daughter into this impromptu road trip. With a full day of things that needed to be done on Saturday, we left Columbus at 5:30 PM for a night at my aunt and uncle’s house in Lexington, Kentucky in order to make it to the Sunday funeral. No problems until we reached south of Florence. Northern Kentucky is fairly populated with many exits. There is a sense that people are tucked in their homes not too far away–plus the road is straight and simple to follow. Then, about the I-71, I-75 split with I-71 heading to Louisville and I-75 continuing to Lexington, the scenery changed and I began to wonder where every one went. It didn’t help that it was pouring rain, and the road, from what I could see of it, started to have curves. Each curve seemed to come up at the last second before I needed to turn the wheel to not go careening off into a field or forest. I don’t know which; I couldn’t see.

Without many vehicles out on a Saturday night, there weren’t any tail lights to use as markers to locate where I was heading. I kept thinking that certainly Kentucky couldn’t be that broke of a state that there weren’t enough funds to do a better job showing the edge of the road. Guard rails were also few and far between. The numerous deer crossing signs reminded me to be on the alert for Bambi or his mother. I kept thinking about the news articles I’ve read lately about the number of automobiles that hit deer this time of year.

When we finally reached my aunt’s and uncle’s home, after I unclenched my fingers from the steering wheel, I was so happy to drink that glass of wine they offered me, that I had two. The funeral was worth the trip, but when I reached that stretch of road going the opposite direction back to Columbus, in the dark and pouring rain–with some fog mixed in, I envisioned a glass of wine waiting for me at the other end.

If Kentucky, or any other place with unlit roads wants to help drivers feel a bit more relaxed after dark, there is a solution. At Intelligent Traveler there is a story about Astucia SolarLite road studs in Great Britain that are solar powered panels that light up at night. From the picture they look a bit like bicycle reflector lights. It seems to me that on major highways in particular, having some method to light the roads is worth the expense.

The pic of the deer with a red blinking light was taken by Kate Shepard and posted on Flickr. She lives in Austin, Texas where someone was putting Rudolf noses on signs. It kind of fits the season, and the post, so there you’ve it.

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Filed under: Airlines, Transportation

Despite the current setbacks and delays logged by Boeing on production of their new 787 Dreamliner, the fastest selling commercial airplane of all time, corporate sources are still holding to their (revised) Q4 ‘08 delivery date. Production of the first three prototypes is well underway, the first (closest) for their “first flight” demonstration and the second two for static and fatigue testing.

You might recall the unveiling of the 787 earlier this year, which was a massive PR and photo event (get your CEO’s picture taken in front of the Dreamliner today!). Why can’t they fly that bird, you ask? Well, Boeing cut a few corners stitching that prototype together in time for the event. Now they’re going back, closing the gaps and getting the entire beast put together correctly for actual operation.

Their PR people tell me that the first flight is supposed to take place some time at the end of the first quarter next year. Hopefully the suppliers stay on schedule so that this actually happens.

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Filed under: Airlines, Transportation, News

Air traffic in New York is at its worst level in history. As demand for low cost seats continues to rise, airlines are trying to cram more and more flights into the already tight schedules that the airports require. Even with perfect weather, countless flights are delayed each day; as I mentioned earlier, over 75 percent of delays originate from the New York area airports.

The problem has gotten so out of hand that the Bush administration is attempting to curb traffic with new restrictions and guidelines. Just yesterday an advisory committee met to propose changes to the airport system, from imposing extra “high traffic” taxes to reducing the number of flights that transit during “peak” times of the day. There was a great synopsis on NPR Wednesday morning if you’re interested.

But reform is steeped in bureaucratic red tape, influenced by the commercial airline lobby, air traffic restrictions, landing slots and antiquated equipment. And while the politicians and special interest groups battle over who gets the largest piece of pie, the crisis continues.

Just this week, an Eva airlines cargo plane pulling out of an aborted landing barely missed an inbound American Eagle flight at JFK. Last week in Newark, the New York Post reports that “two planes at Newark Airport came within 300 feet of colliding.”

My fear is that we’ll only learn our lesson after a horrible mistake is made.

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