TheState.com: Travel - Wire
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- Airborne Internet might bring turbulence
Seat 17D is yapping endlessly on an Internet phone call. Seat 16F is flaming Seat 16D with expletive-laden chats. Seat 16E is too busy surfing porn sites to care. Seat 17C just wants to sleep.Welcome to the promise of the Internet at 33,000 feet - and the questions of etiquette, openness and free speech that airlines and service providers will have to grapple with as they bring Internet access to the skies in the coming months."This gets into a ticklish area," said Vint Cerf, one of the Internet's chief inventors and generally a critic of network restrictions. "Airlines have to be sensitive to the fact that customers are (seated) close together and may be able to see each other's PC screens. More to the point, young people are often aboard the plane."Technology providers and airlines are already making decisions. Some will block services like Internet phone calls altogether while others will put limits and install filters on content. And traffic management tools that are frowned upon on terra firma could be commonplace in the air.Panasonic Avionics Corp., a Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. unit testing airborne services on Australia's Qantas Airways Ltd., is designing its high-speed Internet services to block sites on "an objectionable list," including porn and violence, said David Bruner, executive director for corporate sales and marketing. - Power outage hits Grand Rapids airport
A nearly 14-hour power outage caused some flight delays Monday for holiday travelers at Gerald R. Ford International Airport, which was left without heat in the passenger terminal.The Grand Rapids airport lost primary power to its passenger terminal building about 8:45 p.m. Sunday and the outage continued Monday, airport spokesman Bruce Schedlbauer said. The airport used backup power until primary power was restored about 10:30 a.m. Monday.Schedlbauer said CMS Energy Corp. subsidiary Consumers Energy, which provides power for the airport, determined that the outage was caused by a problem with a piece of the utility's equipment on airport property.Some flights were diverted from the airport Sunday, but flights took off and landed Monday. Schedlbauer said he didn't have details about how many flights had been delayed or canceled.During the outage, the air field, control tower and communications, navigation and security systems all had power, Schedlbauer said. But there was limited lighting in the terminal, and there was no heat in the building. - Airline MAXjet files for bankruptcy
MAXjet Airways ceased operations on Monday - leaving jets on tarmacs and stranding passengers on Christmas Eve - as the all-business class airline said it would file for bankruptcy protection.MAXjet cited soaring fuel prices and the deteriorating credit market for what it called a "drastic measure." But analysts said the company's failure may raise questions about the viability of all-business class airlines.The company also announced the immediate resignations of its non-executive chairman, Ken Woolley, and directors Paul Kehoe and Roger Flynn.MAXjet launched in 2005 and offered "all-premium" flights between Stansted, New York, Las Vegas and Los Angeles. But analysts said it couldn't compete with deeper-pocketed AMR Corp.'s American Airlines business class."High fuel prices were a contributing factor, but American's inauguration in October of (service between New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport and London's Stansted Airport) ... was the coup de grace," said Robert Mann, an airline consultant in Port Washington, N.Y. - In-flight Net providers: lessons learned
Airlines and service providers seeking to deliver high-speed Internet services to passengers say they've learned from Boeing Co.'s 2006 decision to pull the plug on its ambitions to outfit its planes with a similar service.Analysts say Boeing's failed Connexion online service was costly to install and operate, resulting in large expenditures before getting a single paying customer. An industrywide downturn triggered by the 2001 terrorist attacks made the system an even tougher sell to struggling airlines.Among other things, JetBlue Airways Corp., AMR Corp.'s American Airlines and Virgin America are today turning to air-to-ground connections to avoid Boeing's expensive satellite fees."We wanted to attack every one of the things that were inhibitors in that first-generation system," said Jack Blumenstein, chief executive of Aircell LLC, which is providing service for American and Virgin.JetBlue's LiveTV subsidiary paid the Federal Communications Commission $7 million for wireless spectrum that one test JetBlue aircraft has been using since Dec. 11 to communicate with about 100 cell towers spread across the continental United States. - Holiday travelers delayed in Chicago, NY
Dense fog and a low cloud ceiling forced airlines to cancel more than 200 flights at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport on Friday at the start of the busy holiday travel season.Travelers also encountered weather-related delays at airports in the New York City area.Flights in and out of O'Hare, the nation's second-busiest airport, were delayed by up to two hours, airport spokesman Gregg Cunningham said.Chicago's Midway International Airport reported delays of up to 45 minutes, but did not report any cancelations.The National Weather Service issued a dense fog advisory for northern Illinois Friday morning, and meteorologists said the low visibility would likely continue through Saturday morning. - Riding high? Amtrak sees ridership rise
The Illinois cornfields whizzing past Mark Hardacre's view from the Amtrak cafe car had nothing on the memorable splendor the Australian had already taken in on his trans-America adventure - the Pacific Ocean so vast and blue off California's coast. The emerald green of the Northwest forests. The majesty of the snowcapped Rockies.But the cheery man from New South Wales was breathless about seeing a couple of things he'd not seen in his three previous Amtrak treks across this nation's rails over the past two decades - Americans seeming to outnumber tourists, and far fewer empty seats."It's good to see the Americans starting to use their trains, because if they don't use them they'll lose them," Hardacre, 53, said recently as Amtrak click-clacked its way from St. Louis to Chicago, just one leg of his monthlong sightseeing trip with his wife, Janice.To Amtrak, it's proof that despite vexing challenges, it's on the right track.The money-losing service, which relies heavily on government funding, says it is riding higher, illustrated by the hundreds of thousands of additional riders flocking to expanded routes in Illinois and California. Amtrak is chugging toward its fifth-straight record year for ridership nationwide, helped by high gasoline prices and congested highways and airports that seem to have encouraged people to keep their vehicles parked. - Free cruises, fluffy robes among rewards of cruise line credit cards
While splurging on gifts this holiday season for friends and family, you also could be stockpiling points for fluffy robes and even free cruises.Though the airlines might have gotten there first, cruise lines have followed suit with their own branded credit cards and hefty bonuses for signing the dotted line and making onboard purchases.Norwegian Cruise Line, among others, introduced its program in the mid-1990s and, today, offers discounts on cruises that can range as high as $3,000 for points earned.With Princess Cruises' Rewards Visa Signature card, you can earn up to 10,000 bonus points after the first qualifying transaction, including 5,000 points for signing up and up to 5,000 more points for balance transfers within the first 30 days. If you're a frequent passenger with the line and a member of Princess Captain's Circle, you're also eligible for an additional 5,000 bonus points when you use the card to book a cruise by Jan. 31, 2008.You also receive two points for every dollar spent on Princess purchases, whether for cruise fares or onboard expenditures, and one point for each dollar on all other purchases. Rewards start at just 2,000 points, and include a variety of choices, including a free cruise valued at $3,000 if you amass 150,000 points. - Nordic trails offer a variety of terrain from McCall to Sun Valley
The Nordic trails winding throughout Little Bear Basin in the rolling mountains northwest of McCall were silent, except for the carving of skis against the snow and occasional laughter.Nordic skiing is a way to head out in the silence of winter and enjoy a trek in the forest at your own pace.Little Bear Basin and several of southwest Idaho's other Nordic ski areas offer an array of trails suited for racers clad in colorful garb or for a mom towing her child in a sled."Oh, my gosh, we love it," said Meg Lojek of McCall, "There's a variety - you can ski hard or take it easy."Lojek was out with the kids on the trail, towing Jack McManus, 2, in the sled and shepherding Sophia McManus, 4, who was on skis.