Whistler has great skiing in summer, but if you fly there carrying your own skis, you'll likely need to pay at least $50 in fees.
Photo: Randy Lincks, Whistler Blackcomb 

by Wendy Perrin

Every major U.S. airline has just begun, or is about to begin, charging $25 each time you check a second bag. But should that fee--which amounts to $50 round-trip--apply to travelers who bought their tickets before the fee existed? 

A friend who is an expert skier who coaches kids is traveling with a group of 57 to their annual ski racing camp at Whistler in July. For this group--which consists of 3 other coaches, 14 high-school/college-aged counselors, and 40 kids age 9 through 13--luggage is a major factor: The campers each must bring two pairs of skis, plus the coaches and counselors carry another 35 to 40 pairs of next year's skis for testing, plus 400 pounds of gear including racing gates, timing systems, etc.

The group is flying from JFK to Seattle, then bussing up to Whistler. In February when they bought their tickets, Delta's policy was that you could check two 50-pound bags for free (and pay extra for any excess weight). With Delta's recent policy change, however, now each camper will be charged at least $50 round-trip, if not $160 round-trip (since the fee to check a bag weighing between 50 and 70 pounds is $80 each way, and a camper's second bag can easily exceed 50 pounds). The camp is not a commercial venture--nobody is getting paid or making a profit--so the teachers will now get stuck with an enormous extra bill.

Let's hope Silverjet sticks around.
Photo: Silverjet

by Wendy Perrin

I was bummed to read on Tripso.com that Eos, the plush all-business-class airline that flew between New York (JFK) and London (Stansted) and seemed to offer an all-too-rare stress-free experience at JFK, declared bankruptcy and ceased flying over the weekend. It's the second all-business-class airline flying between New York and London to shut down within the past few months; MaxJet, you may recall, declared bankruptcy and folded last December. Silverjet is now the only all-business-class airline flying between New York (EWR) and London (Luton) and seems to offer an all-too-rare stress-free experience at Newark. It has offered Eos passengers access to a limited number of seats on its New York-London route for the same price as their Eos ticket. British Airways is also helping out Eos passengers with reduced fares.

So how safe a bet is it that Silverjet will still be flying a few months from now? The folks at Silverjet say that, while its competitors had to slash prices dramatically in order to compete with the legacy airlines, Silverjet has been able to raise its fares 20 percent since it launched 15 months ago. It also says that its passenger numbers were 23 percent higher in March than in February and that one in four Silverjet passengers are now repeat customers.

Still, with airlines going bankrupt right and left, if you're planning to take advantage of any fare sales offered on Silverjet, be sure to pay with a credit card . . . so you can get your money back, just in case. Good to know that, should Silverjet go belly up, British Airways would most likely step in and help out passengers (of course, B.A. would be a main reason why Silverjet went belly up in the first place).

An article in the Washington Post on Tuesday discussed how the Environmental Protection Agency wants U.S. airlines to upgrade their drinking water. "The EPA and the airlines said there is no documented evidence of anyone becoming sick from airline drinking water," the article pointed out. "Still, regulators say the water has to meet federal mandates."  Some flight attendants have had gastrointestinal problems as a consequence of washing their hands or drinking the water onboard.

I'm curious: Have any of you ever gotten sick from drinking water on a plane (or so you think)? Personally, I'm not so concerned about water on flights within the U.S. It's on those flights between foreign countries--the ones where the tap water in the lavatory is labeled "not potable"--that I've found myself wondering whether the water and ice served by the flight attendants were safe. (I'm not talking about when they pour water from an Evian bottle; I'm talking about when they pour it from a pitcher. And I'm not talking about flying between London and Paris; I'm talking about flying within, say, Africa.)

My tip for when you're concerned that a plane's water may not be safe: When the drinks cart arrives, avoid tea and coffee (since these may be made with tap water that was not quite fully boiled), and opt for a can of carbonated water.

Let your child phone his imaginary friends with the TV remote. :) That's my four-year-old on a flight to Spain, Feb. 2008.

by Wendy Perrin

Yesterday's USA Today reported that "air travel is slower than at any time in the past two decades. . . . Congestion on the ground and in the sky is adding more than an hour to some routes as planes take longer to taxi and fly to their destinations. . . . Airlines are building extra time into their schedules, adding as much as 50% to expected flight times."

All that extra time we get to spend on planes is particularly enjoyable for parents of young children. Since this week the blogosphere has been big on games you can play with your travel companions--over at Vagabondish, Amanda Kendle offered up 5 Games for the Road: How to Pass the Time with Nothing but Your Fellow Travelers for Entertainment, and Debbie over at DeliciousBaby shared her tips for Surviving Flight Delays With Kids by engaging in imaginative play and thinking games for which no toys or electronics are required--I figure I oughta join the club. So here are my top ten tips for child-friendly games you can play on an airplane that take up zero space in your carry-on:

(10) If your child can read, play the "Find the city" game using the airline route map in the magazine in the seat pocket in front of you.

(9) Child can't read yet? Take out the aircraft safety card--it has lots of pictures--and play "Find the red X's," followed by "Find the yellow swim floaties," "Find the giant slide," etc. This is good for learning the alphabet too: "Find the A" (as in Airbus), "Find the B" (as in Boeing), "Find the C" (as in "EmergenCy Exit").

Maybe we need fully reclining, flat-bed seats in gate areas too?
Photo: FightGridlockNow.com

by Wendy Perrin

It's about time. The U.S. Department of Transportaton has finally upped the compensation you get if you're involuntarily bumped from an overbooked flight. I'm not talking about when your flight is canceled. I'm talking about when your flight has been oversold and the airline cannot get enough volunteers to move to a later flight in exchange for a voucher, and so you get booted from the flight.

If the airline puts you on another plane that arrives at your destination more than two hours after your original arrival time--or, if you're flying internationally, more than four hours late--you're now owed the fare you paid up to $800.** If you arrive less than two hours late--or, internationally, less than four--you're owed up to $400. 

This new rule doubles the "denied boarding compensation" caps for involuntary bumping; the previous compensation limits of $200 and $400 dated all the way back to 1978, says the A.P. (I'm too lazy busy to research it myself). This compensation is in addition to the value of the airline ticket, which can be either used for alternate transportation or refunded.

What if you're bumped from a flight and the problems that ensue (e.g., you miss an important business meeting, or your cruise ship sails without you) end up costing you significantly more than $800? You should know that, over the years, bumped travelers have taken the airline to small claims court and won a lot more.

** See clarification by clicking on "Comments" below.

Next frontier: Chapter Elevenland.
Photo: AP Photo/David Zalubowski

Barbara S. Peterson

President Bush today is holding a high-level cabinet briefing on the state of air travel, and that's probably the surest sign that things really have gotten bad. He'll have plenty to chew over: the recent strandings of hundreds of thousands of air travelers as planes were pulled out of service for safety inspections; the prospect of another summer from hell as airport delays rise. But buried in all the coverage of airport mayhem are some troubling trends with longer-range implications. The news this morning also carried reports that Delta and Northwest airlines are on the verge of announcing a mega-merger that would create the world's largest airline, leaping over American, which itself gained the dubious first-place honor when it acquired TWA seven years ago. (When it comes to airlines, bigger isn't better--the much-reviled Soviet flag carrier Aeroflot long held the title.)

American Airlines' new Flagship Lounge for international first-class
passengers at JFK.
Photo: American Airlines

by Wendy Perrin

Superduper frequent flier Gary Leff over at View From the Wing has added a brilliant tip to my last post, the one on the Top Ten Things to Do When You're Stranded at an Airport. His suggestion:

"Buy a refundable international first-class ticket with the carrier offering the best lounge at your home airport (this really only works at international gateways with airlines offering three classes of service). Visit the first-class lounge, raid the buffet, take a shower, in a limited number of places you might even get a massage . . . . Oh, then when you get your travel sorted out, refund the international ticket. Heh."

Another great tip comes from loyal reader and Where's Wendy? contest winner Tracker1312:

If YOUR family were stranded at the airport, what would YOU do?
AP Photo/Ric Francis

by Wendy Perrin

American Airlines canceled 570 more flights today, putting the total number of canceled flights this week at about 3,050 and the total number of displaced AA passengers upwards of 170,000 or so (I've lost count). The groundings are expected to continue through Saturday.

If I were one of those stranded passengers, I'd be buying a one-day pass to the Admirals Club for $50 and waiting out the delay in the club lounge. You can't do that with young children in tow, however. (If you have to ask why not, you're clearly not a parent of preschool boys.) Which brings me to the strandees who are likely having the toughest time of all: The parents trying to keep their young kids occupied, napped, exercised, fed, hydrated, and tantrum-free. After you've worn out every Crayola marker in your carry-on, read every Dora the Explorer book, and sung the Thomas the Tank Engine song 15 times, here are some ideas for killing the hours left:

10. Go on a family scavenger hunt through the terminal in search of: emergency diapers, juice boxes for sale, a newsstand that has not run out of The New York Times, and an empty electrical outlet.

9. Use the cot and blanket supposedly provided by AA to make a fort. (You can build a wall out of leftover McDonald's Happy Meal boxes.)

8. Buy ten packs of Starburst Fruit Chews and use all the colorful little blocks to build towers, castles, and parking garages. 

7. Ride anything that moves: the train between terminals, the escalators, the shuttle bus to the long-term parking lot. As for the baggage carousel . . .

Passengers, stranded by the AA groundings, waited in line at O'Hare yesterday.
AP Photo/Paul Beaty

by Wendy Perrin

How much more can we take?! With today's cancellation of another 900 flights, American Airlines has now canceled about 2,400 flights since Tuesday.

This affects most people flying in the U.S.--not just AA customers--because the displaced passengers are jam-packing flights on other airlines and the cancellations are causing delays and missed connections throughout the country. The groundings are supposed to continue through tomorrow . . . but we may well be in store for more during the coming weeks, says The New York Times, as the FAA expands its scrutiny of the nation's airlines.

So what should you do if you're scheduled to fly when airplanes are being grounded--today, tomorrow, or within the next few weeks?

* Get to the gate on time.
Many flights will be oversold, with many people trying to fly standby and just waiting to snag your seat, should you arrive past the official boarding time for your flight.

* Try not to check luggage.
With all the delays and missed connections, checked luggage is more likely than usual to end up in Omaha or wherever else you're not. Limit yourself to a carry-on (in addition to your pocketbook or laptop case).

* Use a carry-on that is soft-sided and malleable (like a duffel).
With every seat filled and many travelers carrying their stuff onboard rather than checking it, the overhead storage space will be more limited than usual (especially since it's still overcoat season in many parts of the country). So make sure your carry-on can be stuffed beneath the seat in front of you. You don't want to have to gate-check it. If your carry-on is hard-sided and bulky, be sure to board the moment your row is called so you can get to the overhead bin first!

Anybody else have helpful tips to share?

When my kids and I fly American, we choose widebodies (and bring our own TV entertainment).

by Wendy Perrin

Arrrrgghhh! American Airlines has canceled more than 1,000 flights today. That's in addition to the 460 it canceled yesterday. The planes--all of them MD-80s--were grounded so that AA could reinspect the reinspection that apparently didn't go right two weeks ago.

I'm as sympathetic as the next guy to those 100,000 or so inconvenienced passengers who are desperately trying to get on alternate flights, but still, I gotta ask: Why on earth would you pick a loud, aged, gas-guzzling MD-80 in the first place? To quote one commenter on the Airline Biz Blog, it's the "Greyhound Bus of the sky."

Obviously, travelers on certain routes have no choice. But those on many routes do. And whenever you're faced with a choice between an MD-80 and something else--say, something with two aisles, or seatback TV screens, or more legroom--I encourage you to go to sites like SeatGuru, InsideTrip, and AvoidDelays, study the pros and cons of the flights you're choosing among, and make an educated decision. Anybody else know of good online tools for comparing the comfort and hassle factor on different airlines?

Opening day at Heathrow's Terminal 5: Wake me up when it's over.
Photo: The Associated Press

by Stephan Wilkinson

An airline's worst PR nightmare is a crash, of course, but running a close second must be opening an enormous new terminal at your home airport, shifting 100 percent of your line's operation to it, and finding that it doesn't work worth a damn.

At just before 5 a.m. on Thursday, March 27, British Airways began operations at London Heathrow Airport's fancy new Terminal 5, an $8.6 billion, high-tech passenger palace that is Britain's largest enclosed space. It wasn't long before the computerized baggage-handling system failed and flights were taking off without their passengers' luggage. Some incoming passengers waited two hours for their bags, and by five in the afternoon, traffic was so badly snarled that BA was refusing to check in any more luggage, and ultimately some 70 flights were canceled.

And that's not all. 

Stewart International Airport, 60 miles north of New York City, wants to be the world's first carbon-negative airport.
Photo: Wikipedia.org

by Brook Wilkinson

An airport that actually removes greenhouse gases from the environment? Is that really possible? That's the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey's goal for Stewart International Airport, which may one day be the fourth major airport of the New York metropolitan area. But it's as unlikely a goal as it sounds (contrary to what you'll read over at The Daily Green).

I grew up 15 minutes from Stewart, where my father kept a plane for many years. I'm all for a careful, thoughtful expansion of the airport -- including local businesses in the process, maintaining a good deal of the buffer zone around the airport that's currently available to bikers and hikers -- but not with this slap of greenwashing over it.

First of all, the carbon-negative goal is a bit misleading, because it includes only the activities on the ground, not the fuel used in flights to or from the airport. Second, the Port Authority plans to install some energy-efficiency measures in the airport, but much of the greenhouse gas savings will come from carbon offsets -- credits the airport can purchase to allow for trees to be planted or renewable energy projects funded, for instance, while still using fossil fuels to run the airport's daily operations.

By using a catchphrase like "carbon-negative," the Port Authority has hidden the real story: that Stewart will become a testing ground for new emissions-reducing technologies to be developed by students and faculty from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. If you're listening, Richard Branson, I'm sure they'd be happy to spend some of the $3 billion you've pledged to renewable energy research over the next decade.

By Barbara S. Peterson

After the death of a woman aboard an American Airlines flight from Haiti to New York, media coverage stoked the fears all passengers have of getting ill at 35,000 feet. But it's for exactly that reason flight attendants typically spend at least a third of their training time on first aid and other emergency skills. The Federal Aviation Administration is currently investigating how well the American crew and equipment responded to that recent call for help, but meanwhile, it's worth asking what airlines tell their crews to do if you get sick. 

For some answers, I dug out a flight attendant manual for another airline that I'd picked up several years ago when I was researching airlines' flight attendant training schools for an article about how the job had evolved after 9/11. One of the main points of contention in the recent American Airlines case was whether the emergency equipment onboard the plane was in working order. But on the opening page of the "first aid" chapter, under policy, was the following line: "Flight attendants should check all emergency equipment before the initial flight of the day and anytime there is an aircraft change," and such equipment "must be checked to see if it operates properly." In fact, there were supposed to be a dozen POBS, or "portable oxygen bottles," aboard the American flight, so the odds that all would be empty or malfunctioning seem remote.

Virgin Charter's Web site makes bidding easy
(if you have several thousand to spare).

By Barbara S. Peterson

It was only Monday evening, but the hyperactive Richard Branson had already had what for anyone else would be an exhausting week. He had jumped off a Hilton hotel in Mumbai to launch Virgin Mobile in India, hopped on a charter jet from India to New York City, and then raced straight from the airport in a new GM hydrogen fuel cell car to a Manhattan news conference to announce he was purchasing a few of the green vehicles to ferry Virgin Atlantic Upper Class fliers from their homes to the airport. By that night he'd gone on to slap the Virgin brand on yet another product launch--fittingly, a service that will allow travelers to charter private jets just like the one that had gotten him to his news conference on time (or sort of--he was 30 minutes late).

But while Branson seems to announce a new product or company about once a week, the inevitably named Virgin Charter is one of his more intriguing endeavors. While Virgin is a majority owner, the company is actually the brainchild of dot-com veteran Scott Duffy, who has pulled together elements from eBay, Priceline, and Travelocity.

Whenever I hit the airport with my two whirling dervishes -- Doug, 4, and Charlie, 5 -- we spend most of our terminal time on the move, burning off energy in preparation for all those hours of having to sit still on the plane. That's us at Newark, Feb 14, 2008.

by Wendy Perrin

Many thanks to all of you who, before my dreaded overnight flight to Spain with the kids two weeks ago, generously offered your tips for relieving children's ear pain inflight. I'm happy to report that, despite ear infections and head colds, our trip was tears-free.  Sucking lollipops (in combination with antibiotics) did the trick.

On our descent into Madrid, we may have been sleepy and disheveled, but we were free of ear pain. Charlie and I played Uno.

I heard another great tip yesterday -- from Carl Schwartz, director of marketing for Cheapflights, who was in my office sharing war stories about flying with children.  He has three of them -- ages 7, 5, and almost 1 -- and his best earache-prevention tip comes from Cheapflights' Air Travel And Families section:  Ask the flight attendant to soak a couple of paper napkins in very hot water, wring them out, stick them in the bottom of plastic drink cups, and put the cups over your kids' ears. This creates a vacuum, reducing the ear pressure. Who woulda thunk?!

Cheapflights has equally nifty advice for entertaining, exercising, and otherwise occupying kids in airports. Its Kids' Airport Diversion Guide lists child-friendly features of and facilities at 22 U.S. hubs. At Boston's Logan Airport, for instance, there's the Boston Children's Museum's Kidport in Terminal C, and at Chicago's O'Hare there's a Kids On the Fly interactive exhibit, as well as a restored F4F-3 Wildcat, in Terminal 2.

Whenever we fly through Atlanta, we ride the underground train back and forth from concourse to concourse. That's Doug and Charlie the last time we were in Atlanta, August 2007.

The test pilot takes questions after landing the partially biofuel-powered Virgin Atlantic 747 seen behind him.
Photo: Virgin Atlantic

by Brook Wilkinson

Last Sunday, Virgin Atlantic became the world's first airline to fly using biofuel. Sir Richard Branson would like you to think that this is a great leap toward sustainable air travel. However, it's just not that simple.

I applaud Branson's recent commitment to spend $3 billion on environmentally friendly technologies, but Sunday's test flight from London to Amsterdam didn't prove much. Two studies published just a few weeks ago in the journal Science found that most biofuels actually cause MORE greenhouse gas emissions than fossil fuels. Interested? Read on.

Attention, all of you who wait out airport delays at Wi-Fi hot spots such as Starbucks: Don't miss your flight!

by Wendy Perrin

Airline delays in the U.S. in 2007 were the second-worst ever, the U.S. Transportation Department announced yesterday, with flights delayed more than 26 percent of the time. (The worst year was 2000, when domestic flights were late 27.4 percent of the time.) In December flights arrived on time only 64.3 percent of the time.

So, when you're at an airport and the airline announces your flight's delayed, it's a safe bet that it's really, truly going to be delayed, right? Wrong. I just got an email from a loyal reader stuck at Dallas-Fort Worth, having missed her flight to Santa Fe because her "delayed" plane ended up leaving early. After the airline posted that her flight was delayed and she left the gate area to go work on her laptop at a nearby Starbucks Wi-Fi hot spot, the flight took off.

The reader is not just any reader. Mara Solomon of Homebase Abroad is a frequent international traveler and Italian villa rental agent extraordinaire who is on my annual list of the best villa specialists. Since we can all learn a valuable lesson from Mara's experience, I'm going to share what happened to her this morning:

Steve Parsons / The Associated Press

By Barbara S. Peterson

Just what caused a British Airways 777 jet to crash short of the runway at London's Heathrow Airport Thursday is now under investigation and may not be known for some time.  There were only 13 injuries listed  among the 152 passengers and crew, but that's not to discount the terror that was surely experienced by the passengers as the plane suddenly lost power and belly flopped on the grass outside the busy international hub. 

As images of the stricken plane beamed out over the airwaves, the sight of the evacuation chutes streaming from the exit doors revived memories of another crash landing of a widebody jet under similar circumstances.  In August of 2005, Air France Flight 358 ran off the runway at Toronto's international airport, and while the plane burst into flames right after impact, all aboard got off alive--even with some of the exit chutes not working.

Most fliers are unaware of how often planes are evacuated and how important it is to heed those tedious  safety announcements before takeoff.  To help readers get a better idea of what to do, we covered  similar scenarios in our award-winning November 2005 story, The Great Escape.  Give it a read and be sure not to miss the section where survivors of actual evacuations offer their tips.

Now that's a propeller (one of the two slow-turning
six-bladers on an Air New Zealand ATR 72-500).
Photo: ATR

by Stephan Wilkinson

You know what really gripes me? Passengers on a turboprop commuterliner who whine loudly about being stuck on "this little puddlejumper." I was aboard a big, powerful, well-designed Italian ATR 42 a while ago when some jerk boarded and loudly cell-phoned his wife to report that he'd be home in three days since he was on "some damn prop plane." The passengers who overheard him -- hard not to -- all laughed in sympathy.

What am I, chopped liver for having enjoyed piloting airplanes with propellers for 40 years? Please. Propellers work just fine. When you look into the front of a 747 engine as you're debarking and you see that big fanlike thing slowly twisting in the wind, clack-clack-clacking as the blades rattle in their housings, that's basically a propeller: The main difference is that it has lots of blades and is inside a duct, otherwise known as a nacelle.

The best of today's turboprop short-haul airplanes have the horsepower of World War II four-engine heavy bombers and twice their speed and altitude capability. Turboprops have real jet engines -- turboprop as in turbine -- though the power is used to spin enormous propellers rather than turning a fan and blasting hot gases out the exhaust nozzle.

But I'm about to have my revenge.

How about having this view out your window for six weeks next spring?
Photo: Just France in Paris

by Brook Wilkinson

Question from reader Keithrez:

"I recently lost my job and am going to take this opportunity to see and do all I have wanted. Do you have any advice regarding around-the-world business-class tickets and renting apartments for a period of time in other countries?"

Sounds like a great way to turn lemons into lemonade, Keithrez! I've recommended Airtreks for around-the-world tickets in the past, and they're great at business fares as well. Like this one: $4,620, including taxes, for Los Angeles, Taipei, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Colombo, Bangalore, Frankfurt, Rome, New York, Los Angeles. They'll either find a great deal for you based on the specials that are currently available, or you can tell them which cities you want to visit and they'll figure out how to get you there economically and efficiently. If you want to either use or earn frequent flier miles, take a look at the route maps of the airline you're most loyal to before you start planning your trip.

As for the apartment rentals...

Central America's Nature Air is the only airline to offset all of its CO2 emissions.
Photo: Nature Air

by Brook Wilkinson

Every traveler knows that airline flights emit a significant amount of greenhouse gases. Responsible travelers know how to minimize their mile-high carbon footprint. Several groups in attendance at the recent World Travel Market called for a standard system that would measure the carbon emissions of each and every flight -- a veritable eco-label for airline travel. But until such a system is set up, here are two tips you can use to increase the energy efficiency of your flights:

Choose nonstop flights whenever possible. The greatest amount of carbon is emitted during takeoff and landing, so by having only one of each, you'll be choosing a greener option. It may cost you $50 more, but your grandchildren will thank you.

Pack lightly. According to a report by The Carbon Consultancy, if every passenger on a typical flight from England to Spain left 11 pounds of baggage at home, carbon dioxide emissions would be reduced by 44 percent. (Boy, does that make me feel guilty for the five bottles of wine I brought back from Argentina last month!) You can read my blog post on how to pack lightly -- a necessary skill for any travel writer -- here.

The miracle of the wide-angle lens (mirrors help, too) turns a closet with a bunk into a sweet suite.
Photos: Yotel Ltd.

by Stephan Wilkinson

One of a traveler's worst miseries is being dehydrated, dead-tired and unable to sleep at an airport during a lengthy layover.  Hard plastic benches, thinly padded vinyl chairs, harsh lights, food-court smells, endless clatter and bustle, everything designed to make you wonder why you ever left home.

One of a traveler's greatest comforts, on the other hand, is an airline's cozy first-class sleeper seat, compact but comfortable, a tiny world of its own, a miniature bedroom at the same time spare but just a bit luxurious.

Yotel is a new company that hopes to assuage the misery of sleepless airport layovers with taste and technology borrowed from airlines' high-roller cabins: layover mini-rooms called Yotels at airports first in England, then Europe and, it's hoped, eventually U. S. hubs as well.

Why are they called Yotels?  Good question.

It's a Gulfstream V corporate jet, not an Airbus, but its winglets are obvious.
Photo: Wikipedia

by Stephan Wilkinson

Don't be fooled by the media hysteria following the flight of a SriLankan Airlines Airbus A340 from London Heathrow to Colombo, Sri Lanka without its right winglet (a small, sweptback vertical fin at the very end of each wing).  The airplane made the trip two weeks ago, with passengers aboard, following a minor incident in which it clipped the wingtip of a British Airways 747 while taxiing for takeoff at Heathrow.

Damage to the BA 747 was a bit worse than what happened to the Sri Lankan airplane, but a maintenance crew cleanly removed the A340's winglet, which is a pretty easy job: A winglet has no structural function, adds no strength to the wing or anything else, and is basically a hollow carbon-fiber fin the only function of which is to keep air from spilling uselessly sideways off the wingtips, rather than flowing straight back and thus creating lift.

But might the impact have damaged the Airbus's wing, as some feared? (Several passengers refused to reboard the flight when it left Heathrow, winglet-less, the next morning.)

Consider this:

Real-time flight information, whether you're a pilot or a passenger.
Photos: Courtesy FlightAware.com

by Stephan Wilkinson

I knew more about my wife's flight than she did, and she was aboard it.

There it was, a little green swept wing symbol on the chart, American Eagle Flight 4774, out of KJFK (Kennedy) and bound for CYYZ (Pearson International, at Toronto). Its flight-planned route had been from Gayel Intersection along Jet Airway J95 to Buffalo then onto the Youth 2 Arrival at Pearson. Total flight duration would be one hour, 18 minutes. Susan's flight had eight minutes to go and was descending through 4,000 feet, an Embraer ERJ-135 doing 172 knots, being vectored to the northeast to intercept the localizer for Runway 24 Left. The en-route portion of the flight had been at Flight Level 300 (30,000 feet corrected for a standard barometer of 29.92) and at a speed of 430 knots.

I checked 10 minutes later, and Susan was on the ground. She'd landed at 0916, 15 minutes late. Her route from JFK had taken her just about over the chimney of our house in Cornwall-on-Hudson, New York, clipping the very northeastern corner of Pennsylvania and then straight over the Southern Tier of New York, overhead Buffalo and a gentle swing around the west end of Lake Ontario. It looked like the Embraer had picked up the localizer about 15 miles out in a comfortable left turn.

How did I know all this? Did I get a really talkative automated message from American's flight-information phone line? Not exactly.

When my Cathay Pacific flight from JFK to Hong Kong stopped in Vancouver
to refuel, we had to remain onboard while a cleaning crew prepped the
plane for the continuing leg to Hong Kong. 2:00 a.m. Vancouver time,
October 26, 2007

by Wendy Perrin

I should have done what Cranky did. The Cranky Flier is headed to Peru and has asked his blog readers to vote on which airline he should fly -- specifically, which will provide the best onboard experience in coach. I should have asked you guys to vote on which airline to fly to China in coach!  Instead I left it up to my travel agent.

My final destination?  Beijing. The travel agent put me on a 20-hour Cathay Pacific flight from JFK to Hong Kong via Vancouver, connecting to a flight from Hong Kong to Beijing -- a 26-hour trip in total.  (Why not fly one of Cathay's New York-Hong Kong nonstops?  Because Conde Nast Traveler is very budget-conscious in its travel spending, and I saved the company quite a sum by flying via Vancouver.)

Cathay's flight #889 sits on the ground in Vancouver for a full hour -- from 1:40 to 2:40 a.m. local time -- to refuel, let a few passengers off, and take on a few more.  If your destination is Hong Kong, though, you can't disembark. You can't sleep either -- not if you're in coach -- as there's way too much commotion, what with all the workers bringing new food supplies on board and cleaning the plane. (The folks in business class slept fine during the stop, as their cabin was kept dark and quiet.)

The view from my seat (45C) during the one-hour Vancouver stop, while
workers brought new blankets and pillows on board and cleaned the
bathrooms.

Here are three important things I learned about the seats on Cathay's Boeing 747-400s: