Results tagged “flight”

Peggy Whitson is a 48-year-old biochemist who fell from space and landed in the steppes of Kazakhstan. The eight people who greeted her didn't quite understand that they had encountered a spaceship gone astray, and asked about the origins of her boat.

After the crash landing (termed a "ballistic reentry") Anatoly Perminov, the chief of Russia's Federal Space Agency referenced the naval tradition of having more women than men on board a ship as a "bad omen":

"You know in Russia, there are certain bad omens about this sort of thing, but thank God that everything worked out successfully,'' he said. "Of course in the future, we will work somehow to ensure that the number of women will not surpass'' the number of men.

Challenged by a reporter, Perminov responded: "This isn't discrimination. I'm just saying that when a majority (of the crew) is female, sometimes certain kinds of unsanctioned behaviour or something else occurs, that's what I'm talking about.''

He did not elaborate.

The boat came from Russia. Peggy Whitson is from Iowa.

What It Is: Virgin America, the latest (and greatest) low-cost, low-hassle air carrier in the United States. It's an American corporation, though of course it shares its branding and company attitude with Virgin Atlantic.

The Experience: It's hard not to feel like Virgin America is all-but-explicitly trying to be Austin Powers Airline. Just like the movies, despite our better judgment, it works and it's downright entertaining.

The fundamentals from a business standpoint are a lot like JetBlue or even Southwest Airlines. You don't have to buy tickets a million years in advance, the website is really good at helping you do things like picking seats, and the attitude of the marketing, staff, and overall experience is friendly and fun.

I generally fly on major carriers -- one of the things that's really distinguished old-school airlines like United (which I usually fly) from the upstarts is that loyalty is rewarded. Frequent flier programs are kind of half-assed, even at an otherwise-great airline like JetBlue. Perhaps as a result, the low-cost carriers are also usually full of what I call "amateurs" -- families travelling on vacation, or those insufferable people who stumble through airports looking as if they've never heard of air travel before. For those of us who fly a lot, having amateurs in the way when you're trying to get to a meeting or an event is one of the worst things about flying.

Unlike JetBlue, Virgin is launching with a frequent-flier program from day one. It's not clear whether it'll be a substantial perk on top of their experience, but it's definitely worth watching.

Virgin makes up for any overentitled frequent-flier concerns. The planes are fancy as hell -- snazzy, fancy, brand-new Airbus 320s. These are the same planes that JetBlue flies, but apparently the state of the art at Airbus has advanced a good bit in the past few years. Every seat is covered in leather. The planes are noticeably quieter than the notoriously loud cabin-noise standard set by other A320s. The interior lights on the VA planes are also, rather famously, a pink-purple color. I'm a Prince fan -- this is exactly the sort of over-the-top ridiculousness I appreciate.

And Virgin is rather explicitly going for the geek audience. The touch-screen in flight entertainment screens at each seat, which VA calls "Red", are really well executed. The navigation for the system is pretty good, if a bit sluggish, but you can use it to watch first-run movies (for a fee) or student movies (which they should pay you to watch) or a bunch of the most popular cable networks. There's a really extensive library of songs that you can make playlists from, and the collections of songs for each of the artists seem to actually be curated by someone with some taste. I listen to mostly pop, rock, soul, and hip hop, and I could probably get the whole way across the country without having to take out my iPod.

How geeky is VA? They not only invited bloggers on their inaugural flight, the in-flight TV lists BoingBoing.tv as a premium video option. Gotta give them points for that.

The touchscreen perks don't stop there. VA's US CEO is Fred Reid, the same guy who launched Song at Delta. Song was perhaps best described as "JetGreen", a major carrier's attempt to clone the success of JetBlue. Delta has kept the Song planes, and some even still have the Song livery, and the experience on those flights is terrific. I loved it for the great digital seatback system, complete with the ability to play a trivia game against your fellow passengers. (Fast Company did a great interview with Reid with more info, though Reid has since been required to step down as part of Virgin's certification with the Department of Transportation.)

VA doesn't miss a beat in bettering Song. Every armrest has a tethered double-sided handset. One side has a game pad and good (old-school Nintendo-style) controller buttons so you can play a bunch of simple arcade games for free, including Doom. The other side is, incredibly, a tiny little full QWERTY keyboard. That's so you can use the in-flight chat room to talk to your fellow passengers, and the menus promise you'll even be able to email, send SMS messages, and surf the web in the future. Kickass!

Every seat has a full, three-pronged power outlet. There's powered USB ports for charging devices that use that method. And then there's the best use of the digital technology onboard: You can order food and drinks whenever you want.

It's a tiny little thing, but choosing when and what you eat is such a great example of undoing the powerlessness that makes air travel so stressful. Not having control over when you can sit or stand, when you can listen to music or make a phone call, or even when you can go to the bathroom is one of the biggest causes for people flipping out when they're flying. Add to that the capricious nature of airport security, and the fact that many frequent fliers are business people used to being control freaks at work, and it's a wonder there isn't more air rage.

So, the simple fix: I can make a few taps on the screen in front of me and they bring me a cup of tea. Goddamn, that's civilized. VA has also hinted that they'll be adding to their menu (all food costs on Virgin) with some higher-end options that might run as much as $20, but won't be shitty airline food. I think the logic there is perfect -- I'll gladly pay a few extra bucks for something edible.

In short, Virgin executes perfectly on the classic low-cost carrier model that makes airlines like JetBlue so beloved, with even more in the way of personality and panache. The amenities make coach flights on VA feel like business class does on other airlines, and the promise of ongoing improvements means they might even extend their lead.

(Thanks to Alanna Spence for the photos.)

The Gotchas: Virgin America doesn't fly many places. I tend to bounce back and forth between New York and San Francisco, so that works fine for me, but it could be a big concern if you're elsewhere. Also, Virgin isn't the rock-bottom cheapest airline around, so if you're really price-sensitive, you can probably go to Kayak.com and find a better deal, especially if you know your travel plans well in advance.

What It Costs: Flights are surprisingly affordable -- a cross-country round-trip flight, purchased on short notice, was about $500. In flight meals are additional, and priced a little under $10.

Recommended If You Like: Song Airlines, shagging, Richard Branson, mood lighting, Mark Frauenfelder

This post is one of a series of unsolicited testimonials. Please view that introductory post for more background information.

What It Is: The Clear card is designed for frequent travelers, to let you skip the line at airport security (You still have to go through security, of course) in exchange for a fee. This one I was fascinated by as soon as I heard about it. I fly a lot -- about a quarter million miles in the past two years alone -- and I have a bad case of Flying While Brown, so this was right up my alley.

The Experience: This is some straight-up James Bond shit right here, people! I filled out an application online, with an appropriately intrusive set of profile questions and some nicely reassuring fine print on their site making me feel fine about any privacy concerns. A couple days later, I got word that I was good to go, and could proceed to step two, the physical registration. This is where it got seriously cool.

Clear registration points are either at the airports they serve or at other locations that frequent travelers might find themselves. In my case, I went to the Hyatt in midtown Manhattan, right above Grand Central Terminal. They have a machine set up in an alcove off the lobby which is slickly futuristic, with the overall vibe being brushed metal and blue LEDs. After showing my passport and driver's license, I was walked up to a really freaking cool machine to have my fingerprints digitally captured and my retinas scanned.

In all the bad dystopian future scifi movies I've ever seen, they never mention that the mysterious private corporation that will be performing the biometric scans would be so upscale I'd felt underdressed for my retina scan because I wasn't wearing a tie. Seriously -- this was the fanciest invasion of privacy ever.

It gets even better at the airport. I finally got to try out the card itself on my way through airport security today, and it was the worst-case scenario. I was held up and got to the airport a scant 30 minutes before my flight was supposed to take off -- way late, and this was on an airline where I don't have frequent flier status, so they probably weren't inclined to indulge me.

I wasn't even at the place where the security line begins when I took out my Clear card, and a really nice guy in a suit and tie came over and shook my hand. He glanced at the card, and immediately greeted me as "Mr. Dash", and then scurried me past the entire line. He handed me off to another equally formal Clear staffer, who apologized for the fact that I'd have to wait about 30 seconds for another Clear member's passport to get checked by the TSA. After that, I was whisked to a walk-up Clear security verification machine that looked like it was something out of The Incredibles. (The guy had some nice banter about San Francisco without being annoyingly overbearing on the friendly chit-chat.) A quick scan of my left index finger, and the Clear guy grabbed two of the x-ray trays for me, helped get my laptop into them and made sure all my other stuff was safely on the x-ray belt, and then walked me right up to the metal detector, saying "have a nice flight to San Francisco, Mr. Dash!"

It was fanastic. In literally less than 3 minutes, I'd gone from frantic about making my flight to all the way to the metal detector, and they were even discreet enough the way it was implemented that I didn't feel like some line-jumping jerk. Even if, you know, that's essentially what you pay Clear for.

Even the card itself is cool -- it looks a lot like an American Express Blue card, mostly transparent with a little set of metal contacts on the side so the machine can read the card's chip. High-tech.

The Gotchas: There's a couple weird things about Clear. First and foremost, it's absolutely ridiculous that our TSA and Federal Government are so incredibly fucked up that this has to be handled by a private company instead of, you know, by our tax dollars. That's not Clear's fault, though, and I commend them for doing what must be the world's most ridiculous set of paperwork.

Second, anybody who's a privacy zealot is not gonna be able to get behind the whole Clear thing. Fingerprints, retina scans, background checks, two forms of photo ID -- they do the works. If you can't trust a company with that kind of info, then Clear isn't for you.

Third, I think any feeling person's gonna have a little bit of guilt using this Clear to skip the security line. There's no more straightforward expression of class inequity than the fact that I can use my disposable income to get treated better in a situation that is mandated and policed by our federal government. We all reckon with these things in our own way, but this falls squarely into the category of things make you confront your privilege in an unsubtle way.

Finally, Clear isn't in every airport yet. It's not even in most airports yet. I live in JFK and SFO, and end up in La Guardia a lot -- those are all on the Clear list. And they're doing a commendable job of getting new airports online with the system all the time. But if your local airport isn't covered, this isn't going to be a great deal for you.

What It Costs: Clear is $99. If you fly from one of the Clear-covered airports more than 2 or 3 times a year, I think it's a no-brainer, and in fact is actually a bit on the inexpensive side compared to a lot of other amenities like airport lounges or flight cabin upgrades. If you sign up, you can use my referral code and we both get a free month -- just email me for it.

Recommended If You Like: Showing up late, getting upgraded on a flight, James Bond movies, "Catch Me If You Can".

This post is one of a series of unsolicited testimonials. Please view that introductory post for more background information.