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airline security
airplanes
June 29 Will Be Like Y2K for Airlines
America has never been a fan of frilly international standards, like the meter or the Kyoto Protocol, but for some reason the airline industry is switching flight plans for all domestic flights over to the international standard on June 29. According to our people's champion brother blog, you might wanna be prepared to at least stand around longer than usual—like Y2K, the switchover could make things screw-y and bork a whole bunch of flights, or it could be totally painless. Make sure your gadgets have a full battery charges, just in case. [FAA via Consumerist]
singapore airlines
Singapore Airlines is installing iPod docks and 15.4-inch widescreen LCDs in their all-Business Class Airbus A340-500 flights between NY/LA and Singapore, ensuring that we're going to be flying with them if we ever have to travel to that part of the world. Each business customer can dock their iPhone or iPod and watch their own movies on the included noise-canceling headphones—which will be interrupting when the captain wants tell you to look off to your left so you can see a drunken Superman mooning your plane. Flights from Newark with this will start May 15 (today), and August for the LA ones. Maybe now business passengers won't engage in business time whilst in the air.
Singapore Airlines Flights Get iPhone/iPod Docks and 15.4-inch LCDs
Singapore Airlines is installing iPod docks and 15.4-inch widescreen LCDs in their all-Business Class Airbus A340-500 flights between NY/LA and Singapore, ensuring that we're going to be flying with them if we ever have to travel to that part of the world. Each business customer can dock their iPhone or iPod and watch their own movies on the included noise-canceling headphones—which will be interrupting when the captain wants tell you to look off to your left so you can see a drunken Superman mooning your plane. Flights from Newark with this will start May 15 (today), and August for the LA ones. Maybe now business passengers won't engage in business time whilst in the air.
airplanes
It may not be as fancy as first class accommodations, but Delta's new "Cozy Suite" seats promise to make economy class seating less of a hellish, crippling nightmare. The major feature of the design is a staggered layout that increases privacy while simultaneously creating a space for weary travelers to rest their heads. It also allows passengers to enjoy 31-inches of leg room (2-inches better than the competition) and the ability to recline without disturbing the person behind them.
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Delta "Cozy Suite" Seats Make Economy Class Semi-Tolerable
It may not be as fancy as first class accommodations, but Delta's new "Cozy Suite" seats promise to make economy class seating less of a hellish, crippling nightmare. The major feature of the design is a staggered layout that increases privacy while simultaneously creating a space for weary travelers to rest their heads. It also allows passengers to enjoy 31-inches of leg room (2-inches better than the competition) and the ability to recline without disturbing the person behind them. More »
urinals
Urinals Coming to Airplanes, Beware the Golden Shower Turbulence
This is a pic of the urinals at Stockholm's Arlanda airport, courtesy of urinal.net, but if a German design company has its way, pissoirs will soon be a feature of passenger jets. Dassler Interiors has designed one-man urinals designed to stand alongside (sorry) the existing cubicle toilets on planes—let's just hope that they come with doors.More »
showers
Emirates Air In-Flight Showers Cost $18,000 (Plus Enviro Guilt?)
Starting October 1, if you're flying first class from Dubai to New York on an Emirates Air A380, you'll have the option of grabbing a hot shower midflight. It'll cost you $18,000, but some showers are worth it, am I right? "No!" say those party poopers in the environmental lobby. More »
mobile air
Emirates the First Airline to Allow Inflight Calls from Passenger Cellphones
Dubai-based airline Emirates has claimed the first ever permitted mobile phone call from a commercial flight. The conversations took place aboard a Casablanca-bound Airbus A340 that had been kitted out with a system that stops cellphones from messing with the plane's electronics. By the end of the year its passengers will be able to clack away on their BlackBerries and use other data services, such as sending texts. Calls on night flights will not be allowed, and the crews will be allowed to prohibit yakking whenever they feel like it. The only stipulation is that cell users, who can only make calls when at cruising height keep their phones switched to silent—thank God—during flights. [BBC Online]
6:32 AM on Fri Mar 21 2008
By AddyDugdale
2,149 views,
16 comments
Latest by banned for iGay joke: @UndeadOverlord: good airline. more »
in-flight
Gogo To Bring In-Flight Wi-Fi By Spring; We Can't Wait
We already knew that Virgin America and American Airlines were planning to bring in-flight wi-fi in 2008, but we seriously didn't expect it be ready by spring. Aircell has just launched its US in-flight wi-fi service called "gogo" and they claim it will be available in the first half of 2008. Virgin America and American Airlines have both signed on to use gogo but it looks like Virgin America is the only airline taking the service seriously. More »
We already knew that
airplane
Pilot Gets Fired After Extremely Low Flyby in Brand-New Boeing 777
Captain Ian Wilkinson got fired after doing a crazy 322mph flyby at 28 feet over the 9,000-foot runway at Paine Field, a regional airport located next to Boeing's Everett facilities, the manufacturing site of the new 777-300 he was flying to Hong Kong, and the 787 Dreamliner. Reportedly, first he was congratulated upon arrival (as shown in the picture,) but when the video of his stunt hit the web, he was fired:
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gadgets
Southwest Airlines Testing Satellite Broadband Internet Access For Your Pleasure
According to their own press release, Southwest is going to be testing in-flight broadband satellite Wi-Fi access so you can check your mail and do all sorts of stuff (though probably not surf porn or talk to someone on Skype). They'll start testing on four planes this summer, with a wider rollout to come whenever they damn well feel like it. [PRNewswire]
air cells
Air France Makes In-Flight Calling Possible, Gallic Shrugs All Round
Air France is to let passengers loose on their cellphones by turning on its in-flight mobile data and voice system. An initial three-month trial period will only allow SMS and mobile emails, with voice calls expected to come later. Although this is the first European carrier to allow mobile devices to be used, one wonders whether the famously laconic French will be le bothered by the news. More »
in-flight wi-fi
Update: Jet Blue Wi-Fi Crippled For a Reason
Jet Blue's air-to-ground cellular network (provided by LiveTV on the same spectrum as those in-flight phones no one uses) is still experiencing too many dropped connections between cell nodes to support the bandwidth necessary for full-on surfing, the NY Times is reporting. Hence the Yahoo Mail/IM and Blackberries only restriction, and the lack of cost. American, Virgin America, and Alaska Airlines are expected to join the fray with more robust, pay-per-use services "in the coming months," the latter using a more reliable and international satellite connection for more bandwidth and range. [New York Times]
jetblue
I can hardly believe my eyes, but the WSJ and Reuters are reporting that JetBlue is offering Wi-Fi on it's flights December 11th, 2007. But wait a minute. The service will be able to "support the entire plane" but don't expect YouTube out yet. The biggest catch is that only Yahoo Mail and IM on lappies, and Wi-Fi enabled RIM phones like th 8820 and 8320 will be capable of using the link.
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JetBlue. Free Wi-Fi. December 11th 2007. Kind of.
I can hardly believe my eyes, but the WSJ and Reuters are reporting that JetBlue is offering Wi-Fi on it's flights December 11th, 2007. But wait a minute. The service will be able to "support the entire plane" but don't expect YouTube out yet. The biggest catch is that only Yahoo Mail and IM on lappies, and Wi-Fi enabled RIM phones like th 8820 and 8320 will be capable of using the link.
More »
nojack
New Israeli Anti-Hijack Pilot Verification System Cannot Be Bluffed
Soon, pilots from all airlines flying into Israeli airspace will have to enter a numbered sequence to prove they are not terrorist hijackers. The secret code will be generated by the Security Code System, designed by Elbit Systems complete with a credit-card-sized keypad. Authorized pilots everywhere will eventually be issued keypads, 10,000 in all. For security reasons, the Israeli government won't go into detail about what pilots are supposed to do, exactly. But they did mention what would happen when pilots failed to do it: More »
no sex please, we're singaporean
Sex Not Allowed in Airbus A380 Double Bed Suites
Even though Singapore Airlines has equipped its new A380 jets with private double bed suites, company officials are saying you'd better not do the bouncy bouncy in there or you'll meet with their stern disapproval. What are they going to do? Throw you off the plane? The first couple to book one of the double suites wasn't too impressed with the airline's prudish demeanor. More »
travel
Lufthansa May Add Beds to Coach; Mile High Club to Add Thousands of Members
Sleeping while flying coach is damned near impossible, especially if you're over six feet tall. Sure, you could drop three times as much (or more) for one of those fancy business class seats that fold into a bed, but only suckers and jerkbags do that. If you're flying to Germany anytime soon, however, you might just get a bed with your coach ticket. More »
flying
Artur Bergman of Six Apart and O'Reilly got a tour of the new Virgin America planes and found some some amazing geek amenities. Every seat includes 110 volt AC current, ethernet, USB ports for charging iPods and phones, but will also accept a QWERTY for the linux-based, thin client, in flight entertainment system. And, it has Doom. But I'm not sure if it has Internet.
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Virgin America's In-Flight Ethernet, USB, 110v Power and Doom
Artur Bergman of Six Apart and O'Reilly got a tour of the new Virgin America planes and found some some amazing geek amenities. Every seat includes 110 volt AC current, ethernet, USB ports for charging iPods and phones, but will also accept a QWERTY for the linux-based, thin client, in flight entertainment system. And, it has Doom. But I'm not sure if it has Internet.
More »
wireless
