If you haven’t caught this video yet, it is a must see. Every airline has a few maxi-pads on board and one creative flight attendant, Heather Poole, came up with 20 interesting ways you can use one.

I talked to Poole about her inspirations for making this video. She told me that she has [...]]]>

If you haven’t caught this video yet, it is a must see. Every airline has a few maxi-pads on board and one creative flight attendant, Heather Poole, came up with 20 interesting ways you can use one.

I talked to Poole about her inspirations for making this video. She told me that she has heard stories of her co-workers using maxi-pads to stop a passenger’s bleeding, for shoe padding and for soaking up condensation. Hearing these stories made her think, “man, we’re a pretty clever group of flight attendants. I should write something about this.” And that she did.

She started with the first ten and some of the crew asked what she was up to. When she told them about her plan, they kicked things into high gear, game up with 20 great ideas, broke out the ‘ol flip video camera and got to work! Not only is the video awesome entertainment, it can also bee seen as an educational video. Poole told me that people have emailed her saying they’ve put some of the ideas into action.

“Another person mentioned that one day at work an office coworker started bleeding, he thought of my video, and ran to the ladies room for a maxi pad! I saved the day,” Poole told me.  She also had a passenger recently who was upset that red fuzz from the airline blanket got on her white shirt and she had and important meeting. Poole handled it like a pro, “I smiled, entered the lav, and said, ‘I have got an idea.’ It worked. The passenger was thrilled.”

I was curious how many maxi-pads were destroyed in the making of the video. Amazingly only three. Two for mopping the floor, and one for everything else. Now that is resourceful!

connect | web | twitter | facebook |

You can catch Heather:
* On her blog Another Flight Attendant Writing
* On Galley Gossip on Gadling.com
* On Twitter

I know this might be a bit old for some of you who have seen it on other sites, but maybe it has been long enough where you can once again enjoy it .

An ad for Air New Zealand showing they have nothing to hide, not even their bodies.

Believe it or not, British budget airline EasyJet has been asked on more than one occasion if they could marry people at 30,000 feet. They always had to say “no,” but they wanted to say “yes.” EasyJet wanted their pilots to be able to officiate [...]]]>

EasyJet Airline, Airbus A319-111, landing at Edinburgh 21st April 2009

Believe it or not, British budget airline EasyJet has been asked on more than one occasion if they could marry people at 30,000 feet. They always had to say “no,” but they wanted to say “yes.” EasyJet wanted their pilots to be able to officiate weddings during flight. If sea captains can, why not pilots?

The Borough Council told EasyJet “no” but they would be happy to let people marry at the airport.

The idea sounds pretty cool, but I wonder how annoying it would be for frequent flyers who can no longer take naps because EasyJet keeps hosting weddings on their flights.

A 43 year-old man had a bathroom emergency on a Delta Airlines flight on March 28th that landed him in jail. The passenger, Joao Correa, had a meal earlier that day that didn’t agree with him and by the time [...]]]>

Dang, I wish all airline lavatories looked this good. This is on Emirates A380

A 43 year-old man had a bathroom emergency on a Delta Airlines flight on March 28th that landed him in jail. The passenger, Joao Correa, had a meal earlier that day that didn’t agree with him and by the time he was ready to take action, the food services cart was blocking his way to the back lavatory. He decided to try the facilities up front in Business Class when a flight attendant reminded him he had an economy ticket and needed to return to his seat. When he explained the situation, he was advised to wait a bit and the cart would be moved.

The cart wasn’t moved and Correa was in trouble, so he returned to the front of the plane to plead his case. Correa says he then grabbed the woman’s arm to stabilize himself, though she contends he was twisting her arm. Either way, the flight attendant told the pilot of the situation since Correa wouldn’t return to his seat, and the pilot allowed the troubled man to use the First Class restroom.

The incident landed Correa in jail for 2 days. He currently doesn’t face any charges, and admits he could have handled the situation a bit better.

I know the rules governing the airline class system are there for a reason, however I think in occasions like this, the rules can be twisted. I wonder how this scenario would play out in a one bathroom system that Ryanair is proposing?

Normally one has to take whatever Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary says with a grain of salt. He says a lot of crazy things, most likely to get a few news stories written about him. When he first started talking about charging passengers [...]]]>

Ryanair Boeing 737-800 in March 2005 showing off the airline's first winglets

Normally one has to take whatever Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary says with a grain of salt. He says a lot of crazy things, most likely to get a few news stories written about him. When he first started talking about charging passengers to use the bathroom, I thought it was another crazy publicity stunt, but…

Ryanair plans to add credit card readers to the bathrooms in their Boeing 737-800 jets and even remove two of the three bathrooms to provide more seats. O’Leary is quoted as saying, “We are flying aircraft on an average flight time of one hour around Europe.” Is it crazy for this to start making a little sense to me now? I mean, some people ride buses and trains without bathrooms for longer than an hour on a daily basis. 

The airline plans to charge about $1.50 for each bathroom usage and no word on emergency situations for people without credit cards. They plan to have the new system in place within 2 years.

That’s right! 24/7, comedian Mark Malkoff will be hanging out on an AirTran plane, travelling to about 12 cities per day, sleeping, eating — even washing himself on an airliner for thirty straight days. The beauty? He has a fear of flying.

Not only does he want to conquer his fear of [...]]]>

Mark's Website

That’s right! 24/7, comedian Mark Malkoff will be hanging out on an AirTran plane, travelling to about 12 cities per day, sleeping, eating — even washing himself on an airliner for thirty straight days. The beauty? He has a fear of flying.

Not only does he want to conquer his fear of flying, but he is also trying to break the Guinness record for continuous flight. And since AirTran has WiFi, Mark is able to relate his journey through his website and on his Twitter account.

His great adventure started this Monday and will go to the end of the month. I wonder if he is able to earn frequent flier miles through Airtran — I will try and ask him — stay tuned.
Update: Mark’s response: “I hope so!”
Update2: He has earned so many miles he got a big Elite airmiles card.

A 47 year old woman on a Southwest Airline’s flight from Florida to California ran into some trouble texting messaging someone while on her way to her seat.

She states that a flight attendant approached her and “rudely” told her to turn off her phone and buckle up. [...]]]>

Southwest Boeing 737 winglet overlooking LA

A 47 year old woman on a Southwest Airline’s flight from Florida to California ran into some trouble texting messaging someone while on her way to her seat.

She states that a flight attendant approached her and “rudely” told her to turn off her phone and buckle up. The woman states she totally complied and turned it off immediately and sat down. She continues saying the flight attendent returned and harassed her 6 more times before leaving the gate, not listening to her showing him that she turned off her phone.

He suposidly came back to her twice more while the plane was on its way to the runway and he decided to throw her off the plane. The flight was then returned to the gate, the woman was arrested, and the flight continued on.

Personally this seems like a bunch of hogwash and someone found a lawyer who likes publicity. First off a flight attendant can’t control what the plane does. The pilot would have to be informed of the situation and make the call to return to the gate. Then police are not going to just arrest this woman if she really did nothing wrong.

Of course Southwest Airlines is not commenting at this time, but I am sure they are looking forward to comment and set the story straight.

British Airways Flight 38 crashed in Heathrow Airport in London in January 2008. Luckily no one died and only 13 of the 136 aboard had minor injuries. The flight landed 1000 feet short of the runway due to lack of thrust to the engines, probably caused from ice [...]]]>

Boeing 777 not looking so great

British Airways Flight 38 crashed in Heathrow Airport in London in January 2008. Luckily no one died and only 13 of the 136 aboard had minor injuries. The flight landed 1000 feet short of the runway due to lack of thrust to the engines, probably caused from ice in the fuel lines.

Upon landing, the landing gear collapsed and caused quite a mess.

Since then, the aircraft has been kept intact while investigating the accident. Even though the investigation is not completed, permission has been given for the airframe to be “broken up” and “sent for recycling.”

It is quite interesting to think what will happen to the airframe and in what future products it might end up in.

Sometimes I come across stories that are somewhat interesting, but don’t know how to approach the subject and I end up moving on. This is one of those that I almost did, but I can’t help but making a post about it.

Imagine for a moment you are on a [...]]]>

Continental Airlines in Hawaii

Sometimes I come across stories that are somewhat interesting, but don’t know how to approach the subject and I end up moving on. This is one of those that I almost did, but I can’t help but making a post about it.

Imagine for a moment you are on a flight from LA to Honolulu for a nice little scuba diving vacation. You are in the middle of your in-flight movie wasting the time away. Then your seatmate stands up next to you and…well…starts to urinate on you. Then you push him to get him to stop, but he keeps going.

I wish this was a crazy fictional story, but this happened to a 66-year old woman on Continental flight 3. A 28-year old, well intoxicated gentlemen (well I guess not so much of a gentlemen) either couldn’t make it to the bathroom or didn’t care. Some-what luckily there was an Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms agent behind this incident and was able to restrain the man.

He has now been sentenced to 3 weeks in prison and six months of probation after wards. This kind of story makes sitting next to a snoring person not too hard to handle!

THANKS FOR THE TIP CHRISTINA!

What do you want on every AirTran flight you are on? That is a question that — surprise, surprise — AirTran is asking people. They have created a nifty site EveryFlight.com and allows you to give not only suggestions, but also rate those suggestions.

Some of my [...]]]>

AirTran Boeing 717-2BD at Atlanta at dusk

What do you want on every AirTran flight you are on? That is a question that — surprise, surprise — AirTran is asking people. They have created a nifty site EveryFlight.com and allows you to give not only suggestions, but also rate those suggestions.

Some of my personal favorites that answer the question “I want __________________ on every AirTran flight”:

- Chuck Norris
- Your Mom
- Salsa Lessons
- Optimus Prime
- Strobe Lights
- Helper Monkeys
- More cowbell
- Fondue
- Clowns
- Slip N Slide
- Pony Rides

Man, I couldn’t even make some of these up if I tried. To see more, sign up for a free seat on every flight or submit your own, check out the website!

A cargo handler working for JetBlue decided to take a little nap at a bad time. He fell asleep in the planes cargo bin and didn’t realize what was going on until in the air. Lucky for him, the cargo hold was heated which allowed him to live [...]]]>

Cargo Door open on jetBlue A320

A cargo handler working for JetBlue decided to take a little nap at a bad time. He fell asleep in the planes cargo bin and didn’t realize what was going on until in the air. Lucky for him, the cargo hold was heated which allowed him to live to tell his tale.

He took the short flight from New York to Boston and after be determined it was all an honest mistake, he was allowed to return to New York. No word if he will be one of many people newly unemployed.

Source: KOMO Image: gTarded

What silly things people will try to get on flights. While traveling to the Middle East there are all sorts of fun things people can pick up. One man tried to smuggle two pigeons — in his pants!

The 23-yr old traveler raised suspicions by having two [...]]]>

Man with pigeons in his pants

What silly things people will try to get on flights. While traveling to the Middle East there are all sorts of fun things people can pick up. One man tried to smuggle two pigeons — in his pants!

The 23-yr old traveler raised suspicions by having two eggs in a container. After a full search they found two pigeons — in his pants!

Even though smuggling of wildlife can carry at $70,000.00+ fine and 10 years in jail, but I would imagine that to be a bit much in this case.

The odd thing (well I guess a few odd things in this one) is they weren’t even endangered.

Source: AP Image: AP 

One of the biggest enemies for a large jet airliner is still a bird. Birds can get sucked into an engine and especially during a crucial time like take off can cause a lot of havoc. According to the FAA from 1990 to 2007 there have been about 80,000 bird [...]]]>

A dog chasing birds

One of the biggest enemies for a large jet airliner is still a bird. Birds can get sucked into an engine and especially during a crucial time like take off can cause a lot of havoc. According to the FAA from 1990 to 2007 there have been about 80,000 bird strikes, 11 people have died from the result of bird strikes, and bird strikes have cost almost $300 million in damages.

There have been many different methods used to get rid of flocks of birds around airports (sounds, sprays, killing, etc), but Southwest Florida International Airport is one of 20 airports trying something a little different: using a dog to keep the birds in line.

Thanks Kate for the tip!

Source: USA Today Image: Mark Beaudin via USA Today