A Laboratory of the Future Human Experience
The future of air travel?
On your last flight, did you stare with envy at the people sitting in the exit row? Did you get a charley horse from trying to cross your legs under your tray table? Consider yourself lucky, pal. Your next budget flight might ask you to fly horseback style, squeezed onto a saddle in just 23 inches of space.
Continue reading… “SkyRider – Will This Really be the Future of Air Travel?”
World’s first glass-bottomed hot air balloon.
These stomach-churning images capture the moment the world’s first glass-bottomed hot air balloon took its maiden flight today ahead of the 2010 Bristol International Balloon Fiesta. (Pics and video)
Continue reading… “World’s First Glass-Bottomed Hot Air Balloon Makes Heart Stopping Maiden Flight”
Fewer people flew in 2009
The global economic downturn took 68.6 million scheduled airline passengers out of the USA’s skies over the last two years. Last year, 769.6 million travelers boarded planes in the U.S. or planes bound for the U.S., according to new data from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. That’s down 5.3% from 812.3 million passengers in 2008 and down 8.2% from the record 838.2 million air travelers in the U.S. market in 2007.
Continue reading… “Airlines Saw a Significant Drop in Passengers and Revenue in 2009”
Rotel Tours
This bus owned by a German tour company features a six-foot-long bed for each of its passengers. The company claims to operate some 3400 “Betten auf Rädern,” or “beds on wheels.” Want to see Africa lying down? (Pics)
Continue reading… “Rotel Tours – A Hotel on Wheels”
Some airline pilots make long, exhausting commutes to work
Senators demanded Thursday that federal regulators do something about airline pilots who regularly make exhausting commutes of hundreds — and sometimes thousands — of miles to work.
Passengers wait in line at a Southwest Airlines tcket counter
Carriers trying to fill planes to the max routinely overbook flights to account for no-shows, leaving some travelers without seats. But those bumped passengers have rights. Based on the numbers, America’s major airlines are doing a better job of getting us to our destinations on time and with our luggage in tow — assuming we can get on the flights.
Continue reading… “Trouble For Travelers As More Passengers Getting Bumped From Flights”
Full body scanner
Fears over airport security could leave millions of passengers facing the indignity of a ‘naked’ body scan and paying higher fares to fund it. Hi-tech body scanners can see through clothes to detect hidden weapons or explosives such as those used in the failed Christmas Day plot.
Continue reading… “Would You Be Happy To Take The Full Body Scan?”
Vespa’s stretch scooter
“Honey, I stretched the Vespa.” This unique, four-seater “family” version of the iconic Italian scooter allows you to take friends along for the ride.
Continue reading… “Vespa’s Four-Seater Stretch Scooter”
Travellers board a high-speed train which heads to Guangzhou in Wuhan
In the week that Britain’s high speed rail link closed down because the wrong sort of snow interfered with the engine’s electronics, China unveiled the world’s fastest train service on one of the coldest days of the year. (Pics)
Continue reading… “China Unveils World’s Fastest High Speed Train”
The seatbelt inflates over the shoulder and torso in a 40 milliseconds
A car maker is introducing seatbelts that inflate like airbags to give extra protection to passengers. Ford is fitting the back seats of vehicles with belts that inflate automatically during a crash.
Continue reading… “Ford To Introduce Seatbelt Airbags On The Explorer”
Last year, procrastinators were rewarded when they finally got around to booking flights for holiday travel. Back then, airlines were not prepared for the sharp falloff in travel and offered last-minute deals to fill up empty planes. This year? Dilly-dallying, even waiting just a few days, could carry a steep price. Fares, though still lower now than at this time last year, are rising each day, a trajectory that began more than a month ago.
Continue reading… “Airfares Soar For The Holiday Traveler”
The Maharaja witnessed his first in-flight Mughal-e-Azam at 30,000 feet above sea level on Saturday, as two members of the cabin crew—one male and one female—slugged it out with the pilot and co-pilot. Endangering the lives of 106 passengers and grossly violating safety norms, the airline staffers came to blows in the cockpit and galley of the Indian Airlines Airbus A-320 as the aircraft cruised over Pakistan en route to Delhi via Lucknow from Sharjah. (Video)
Continue reading… “Air India Pilots and Crew Slug It Out At 30,000 Feet”
