runway expansion

Work/Life: Say It Ain't So, Shoeless Joe

Owen Wild — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 11:59:31 -0400

"Shoeless" Joe Jackson got that nickname for taking off his shoes once in the second game of a doubleheader in 1908.

One hundred and one years later, TSA is still making Shoeless Joes of us all with the apparently immutable requirement that we remove our shoes when entering the airport's walk-through metal detector.

Work/Life: What Are Your Chances of Getting Bumped From Your Next Flight?

Owen Wild — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 16:05:26 -0400

Bumping is the nemesis of the business traveler. Leisure travelers often have a certain amount of latitude as to when they need to arrive at a destination. Not so with the road warrior, who is a clockwork captive. While it is highly unlikely that any flier will be bumped from a flight for which they are holding a printed boarding pass, that pass, in reality, is no guarantee that you'll board your plane.

Work/Life: What Are the Chances for a Passenger Bill of Rights?

Owen Wild — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 16:29:02 -0400

When the founding fathers endowed us with certain inalienable rights I would have hoped they had the foresight to assume these truths would have been self-evident even when sitting on an airplane.

Unfortunately, it seems like the folks who decide how long is too long to sit cooped up inside a plane on the tarmac never read the Bill of Rights. Following the high-profile flier imprisonment incidents of the past few years, it's clear that the policy which spells out travelers' rights once they cross the threshold of the jet way need to be formalized.

Work/Life: The Bus Also Rises

Owen Wild — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 15:51:22 -0400

Anne Marie Chaker of The Wall Street Journal wrote an excellent review recently of the new bus services that have come onto the scene to cater to business travelers. Her story includes a charming video of her trip to Baltimore on Greyhound.

She calls her article "Planes, Trains ... and Buses?" I think it is beside the point to note that in the movie John Candy indeed boards a bus to get home — along with taxi, plane, train, rental car, delivery truck, semi, and subway.

Work/Life: Is the Cutback on Business Travel Cutting Into Business?

Owen Wild — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 17:40:14 -0400

Business travel is the oil that lubricates the wheels of business. I've always felt that companies that cut back on travel for business are cutting back on their business's prospects. Now several surveys say that while technology can help, nothing really can take the place of face-to-face meetings.

Technology: Mobile Boarding Passes: Convenience, or Technology for Technology's Sake?

Robert Buckman — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 17:09:29 -0400

When new software is introduced, such as whiz-bang applications for mobile devices, technology reviewers tend to focus whether it is the latest, greatest, or coolest thing to hit the market. Less often do you see reviewers take a step back and ask the forest-for-the-trees question, i.e., Do we even need this technology? What's driving it? Is it fixing something that is not broken? The big one for me is, Is it going to be more trouble than it is worth?

Work/Life: Take My Breathe Away

Owen Wild — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 15:20:58 -0400

I'm sure it comes as no news that spending time in a sealed, pressurized aluminum tube at high altitude is probably not the most healthful thing you can do to your body. For that reason, one would think that fliers might have something to say about the quality of the air up there.

Work/Life: Let's Make Fixing the Air Traffic Control System a Priority

Owen Wild — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 08:01:30 -0400

It gets pretty cloudy in Juneau, Alaska. Constant overcast, plus the fact that the airport there is surrounded by mountains, has caused many flight delays and cancellations. Fifteen years ago Alaska Airlines (AA) came up with a better idea. The airline worked with the FAA and Boeing to design flight paths into the airport that curved instead of running in a straight line.

Work/Life: Back Up There

Owen Wild — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 11:22:31 -0400

Okay, I have a confession. For the past several months I have been a "virtual" road warrior. Like many of you I, too, have been affected by corporate travel restrictions. As a result, today I crossed the jetway threshold for the first time in a long time. Even with the intentional emphasis on hyperbole here — it was a very interesting experience.

Work/Life: Just Plane Kids

Owen Wild — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 09:53:42 -0400

Before you criticize someone you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way when you criticize them, you're a mile away and you have their shoes. Yes, it's an old joke but I'm reminded of it when I fly with kids - whether the kids in the plane are mine or not. Unless you never see yourself being in the position of traveling with children, it is best to be careful what you say or do. You may one day be in those shoes.

Work/Life: Whole-Body Scanners Aren't a Peep Show

Owen Wild — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 21:31:24 -0400

Whole-body scanners will replace metal detectors, in a little-noticed policy shift at the TSA (Transportation Security Administration). This means that instead of walking through the familiar security portals that stand next to the conveyor belts where your carry-ons, coats, and shoes are scanned, you will now enter a 9-foot-tall glass booth.

Work/Life: "Secure Flight" Takes to the Air in August

Owen Wild — Wed, 06 May 2009 14:32:00 -0400

Travelers will see an added layer of security when the TSA finishes implementing "Secure Flight" officially on August 15, 2009.

Travelers will also see an added security hurdle because Secure Flight requires that all of your identification match. Yes, that's right: match.

Work/Life: If You're a Hotel, the "AIG Effect" Is Real

Owen Wild — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 10:15:40 -0400

Reflecting concern at the thought of a road warrior indulging in luxury, corporate travel departments have cancelled an estimated $1 billion worth of industry conferences in the first two months of 2009.

Work/Life: Fleets Are Shrinking As Planes Are Mothballed

Owen Wild — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 22:07:15 -0400

The downturn in air traffic is leading to a major makeover in air carriers' fleets. Flight capacity demand among cargo and passenger carriers has deteriorated faster than expected, according to the IATA (International Air Transport Association).

Technology: When Is a Cola Not a Cola?

Robert Buckman — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 11:08:13 -0400

This month, Northwest Airlines' identity is merging with that of Delta Air Lines, starting with abandonment of the old Northwest uniforms. FoxBusiness.com reports that baggage counters, gates, and luggage claim areas are all being redone in Delta's flagship hues of red, white, and blue. But it will take until the end of next year to repaint all of Northwest's planes.

Work/Life: Business Travel and Social Media

Owen Wild — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 09:59:13 -0400

Do you really want people to know when you're not home? Or where you are going to be? You need to consider that if you are using online tools which circulate that level of detail to a social network.

Work/Life: NextGen Would Boost the Economy

Owen Wild — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 09:07:24 -0400

With all the talk about using taxpayer funds to stimulate economic growth, you'd have to think that someone in Washington would have remembered how important air travel is to a healthy economy.

Right now corporate America is rationing travel. Travel, in turn, is only getting more costly. But travel is integral to the growth of business, so you can only limit business travel so much in the short term before lack of business travel affects your business's long-term growth prospects.

Technology: Destination Moon

Robert Buckman — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 17:23:33 -0500

Travel technology is taking one small leap for mankind in this moon walk anniversary year. It is, after all, forty years this July 20 that the Armstrong and Aldrin set down on the moon. It is also the year that the private suborbital space tourism industry, highlighted by start-ups like Virgin Galactic, really ramps up.

Work/Life: Fuel Saving Imperiling Safety?

Owen Wild — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 09:17:08 -0500

You may have read that Air Canada's regional airline Jazz has removed life vests from all of its aircraft to save weight and thus get better fuel mileage. I've read that the reason Jazz can do this is that Canadian regulations permit airlines to use flotation devices (i.e. seat cushions) rather than life vests — with the proviso that the planes stay within 50 miles of the shore line. I'm not quite shure where they came up with the 50-mile rule, but Jazz is taking the regulators at their word.

Technology: What Is in Store in 2009

Robert Buckman — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 08:34:42 -0500

Technology: Social Networking Meets Your Travel Itinerary

Robert Buckman — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 18:12:52 -0500

If you'd like some good news about travel, mine is that technology is evolving in ways which helps travelers organize their trips to a "t."

Technology: Extreme À La Carte

Robert Buckman — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 09:04:54 -0400

Here’s a notion you might find difficult to stuff in your overhead bin: Airlines haven’t gone near far enough when it comes to "à la carte" pricing. In the airline world today, "à la carte" means experimenting with delivering products and services for an additional fee with the ultimate goal of growing revenues. And when network giants like Continental forecast netting $100 million from its checked bag fee, airline CEOs see an experiment worth pursuing.

Technology: A380 Impact Within U.S. Muted at First

Robert Buckman — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 21:37:58 -0400

As big as the Airbus A380 is, its impact in the U.S. market will be muted for the first few years simply because there won't be a lot of them flying here. In fact, to date no American carriers have even ordered the plane.

The impetus for the A380 really rests with other markets and the real impact will be felt where the plane is configured like a giant bus to carry up to 850 passengers. Which speaks
to its purpose: To provide major point-to-point, global, long-haul flight capacity.

Technology: The Sun Rises in the Southwest

Robert Buckman — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 10:52:51 -0400

The air travel landscape is changing forever from what we've come to expect: cheap flights, frequent flights, and all-inclusive fares.

The slow economy, the weak dollar, and high-priced fuel are all contributing to the big move by the big carriers in the U.S. market to slash their schedules. The network airlines' goal is fuller flights — boosting "passenger load capacity" from 82 percent to more than 90 percent. Meaning every flight will seem like Christmas or Thanksgiving.

In fact, the airlines are not finishing cutting schedules.

Technology: Are Airports at Risk?

Robert Buckman — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 11:48:35 -0400

Are airports really at risk?

Yes, says the Pennsylvania-based Business Travel Coalition, which claims 150 airports will lose all air service if oil prices stay in the $130-a-barrel range ("BTC Warns Congress About Airline Industry Failure").