Chinese discount carrier Spring Airlines is considering a literal interpretation of the word “Airbus.”  With the Chinese government and research from Airbus behind them, the airline is moving forward with plans to sell standing room tickets on their flights.

Spring Airlines says that selling discounted tickets to passengers willing to stand in flight would allow them to fit 40% more passengers on each plane, while cutting operating costs by 20%.  But is it safe?

Passengers with standing tickets would be strapped by the waist onto a barstool-like seat during takeoff and landing.  Airbus, the company that makes the airline’s planes, has been studying the safety issues for standing passengers for years, and they say that Spring’s proposal is viable.

Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Dejiang likes the idea, saying that “for a lower price, passengers should be able to get on a plane like catching a bus, with no seat, no luggage consignment, no food, no water, but very convenient.”  “Convenient” depends on the length of a flight.  Those who stand on buses generally only have to stand for a few minutes before a seat becomes available or their stop comes up.  Standing on a three-hour flight just doesn’t seem like the same thing.  Would these passengers be allowed to sit if all the regular seats aren’t sold?

How much cheaper would the ticket have to be for you to consider purchasing standing room only airfare?

On my recent cross country adventure with my friend Jess, we took twelve days to drive from Virginia to Portland, Oregon, stopping at many points of interest along the way.  It was a great trip, but I wasn’t prepared for how little time I’d have to adjust to time zone changes before *poof* I was another hour behind the times.

On the one hand, crossing the time zones east to west was a blessing — we’d inevitably be running late after an unexpected MUST STOP roadside adventure, and then we’d cross a time zone and gain an hour back, just like that.  I’m glad we were gaining time rather than losing it, as we would on an eastward journey.

I’m not someone who can easily sleep in a car, though I definitely recommend trying it if you’re making a drive like this.  Little naps along the way will help your body deal with the time change a little better than I was able to.  By the time we got to the Pacific time zone, I was hungry for lunch at 9:30 in the morning and tired for bed by 6pm.  This is not ideal when you’re trying to get out and experience new cities one day at a time.  Even when I forced myself to stay up late, I couldn’t help but wake up early.  That early wake up was great for keeping up with my work and uploading photos and such from the previous day, but I still found myself dragging by the end of each day.  If I could do one thing differently on this trip, I would schedule in a nap time each and every day.  And a mid-morning snack.

I’d like to thank Diet Mountain Dew and Gummy Lifesavers Candies for getting me through the sleepy stretches on the road.  And of course Jess, for all the great conversation and rockin’ tunes.  Every road trip should include a good companion like her.

I know I’m among the last few people in America to jump on the BlackBerry bandwagon, but I had my excuses for waiting.  They’re expensive.  The data plan is expensive.  Everywhere I go has wifi anyway, and I have a laptop, and a netbook — why do I need internet on my phone, too?

I had no idea what I was missing.  It may not have been the best idea, given that I’m already desperately in need of a 12-step internet addiction program, but I love my new BlackBerry Curve.  I got it last week, and so far I’ve figured out how to e-mail, use facebook, surf the web, play games, navigate, and occasionally even make phone calls.  I’m still miles away from really figuring this phone out, but I’ve mastered the essential features well enough that I’m never disconnected.

Of course, it’s the iPhone that gets all the press, but the BlackBerry Curve actually outsold the iPhone last quarter, and there are more versions of the BlackBerry available, like the Bold, the Storm (which has a touch screen like the iPhone), and the Pearl.  The Apple iPhone brought smartphones to a whole new level, but BlackBerry maker Research in Motion is proving that they can compete with Apple.  My fake nails make the touch screen difficult to navigate, and I’m not on AT&T anyway, so the BlackBerry Curve was my natural choice, but I don’t know anyone who dislikes their iPhone.  In the BlackBerry vs. iPhone debate, I really don’t think there is a loser.  Either phone is a great tool for someone who’s constantly on the go.

Probably the best thing about having a smartphone is having Google, IMDB, and Wikipedia at your fingertips wherever you are.   Never again will I drive myself crazy searching my brain for random bits of trivia, because all the answers are right there on my BlackBerry.  And standing in long lines just isn’t as annoying when you can pull up your favorite websites while you wait.

Is a smartphone a necessity?  Well, no…but now that I have one, I don’t think I could live without it.  It’s still new to me, though.  Any suggestions for must-have apps?  If you can share specific pros and cons for various smartphone models, feel free to leave your testimony in the comments here.

Whenever you’re on a long trip, it’s a great idea to take audiobooks along.  I can’t read more than a chapter or two at a time without my eyes getting droopy or my mind wandering away from the text, but when someone else is reading out loud, I can tune everything else out and listen for hours on end — a great way to pass the time in an otherwise boring journey.

Now through Friday (tomorrow), Barnes & Noble is offering nine free audiobook downloads at bn.com, and I suggest anyone with a few hours of travel time to kill this summer jump at this giveaway!   These aren’t just obscure titles from no-name authors, either — download any or all of the following audiobooks for free:

The Babysitter’s Code by Laura Lippman
Super Goat Man by Jonathan Lethem
Best New Horror by Joe Hill
Great Day by Kurt Vonnegut
Fathers by Alice Munro
Truth or Dare by Elizabeth Berg
Ysrael by Junot Diaz
Merrano of the Dry Country by Louis L’Amour
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

When you download these books, you can play them on any device that plays MP3′s.

This special offer ends at 2:59am Eastern Time on May 16th.

In my previous post about the airline industry, I mentioned that Southwest is my favorite airline.

There are so many reasons to love this discount carrier.  For one, tickets are cheap.  If you keep an eye out for specials, you can get a ticket to just about anywhere you want to go in the US for under $100 — sometimes even as low as $79, $59, or $29!  And Southwest is one of few airlines I’ve ever dealt with that doesn’t treat the customer like the enemy.

When they say “no hidden fees,” they mean it.  They don’t charge extra for checked luggage (until your third bag, which used to be standard across the industry), they still hand out free snacks (good ones, too!), and the things they do charge for are cheaper than any other airline.  Alcoholic beverages are just $4, compared to $5, $6, or $8 on some other airlines I’ve flown recently.  Best of all, they don’t have any penalties for changing your flight.  If you need to cancel or reschedule, they’ll give you full credit for what you’ve already paid, and their customer service agents are extremely helpful when it comes to rescheduling your flights.

For all these reasons and more, I love Southwest Airlines.  But their flight attendants are the icing on the cake.  Case in point:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivjybzdXVmI[/youtube]

An annual airline quality report released today showed that airline performance in the US improved in 2008 — the first improvement in five years.  But does that really mean anything?

Well, airlines did perform better in 2008 in terms of customer service.  The report ranks airlines based on four categories:  baggage handling, on-time arrivals, denied boardings and customer complaints.  All 17 major US airlines improved in each of these categories, but then again, 2007 was a year of record low ratings in the industry, so there was a lot of room for improvement.  And let’s not forget that air travel was way down in 2008.  Of course it’s easier to better serve customers when there are fewer of them.

Still, the fact that all major airlines improved across the board is rather encouraging,  and it seems that the airlines really are taking steps to improve the flying experience for passengers.  The airlines that scored the best on this year’s survey were mostly low-cost carriers.  Perhaps customers are less likely to complain about their experience when they haven’t had to pay a fortune for tickets.

Hawaiian, AirTran, and Jet Blue scored the highest overall ratings for 2008.  I can’t speak for Hawaiian or Jet Blue, but I flew AirTran for the first time last month and have to say I was impressed with the service.  The flight was on time, the seats were comfortable, and the employees were friendly.  The three lowest-scoring airlines were Comair, American Eagle and Atlantic Southeast, but each of these did improve over their 2007 scores.

In the individual categories, AirTran scored best for luggage handling, with just 2.87 mishandled bags per 1,000 passengers.  American Eagle had the worst score with 9.89 mishandled bags per thousand passengers, compared to the industry average of 5.19.

Hawaiian had the best on-time performance in 2008 at 90%, while American Airlines scored the lowest at 69.8%. The industry average was 76%.

Jet Blue had the lowest involuntary denied boarding rate at 0.01 per 10,000 passengers. Atlantic Southeast’s was highest at 3.89, and the industry average was 1.10.   I know some airlines have come under fire for the reasons they deny boarding, but this is an area where I’m not sure airlines are being strict enough.  On a recent flight, I was watched as the gate agents loaded an irate passenger in a wheelchair to get him on his flight, because he was too out of his mind to walk onto the plane.  He seemed like he was moments away from throwing up or passing out, or perhaps even lashing out, and I was really surprised that he was allowed to fly.  It made me nervous to have him on board, not because I thought he might be dangerous, but because I was afraid he’d puke and I didn’t want to be stuck on a plane with that smell.

Southwest Airlines, my personal favorite airline, had the lowest consumer complaint rate at 0.25 per 100,000 passengers. US Airways, one of my least favorites, had the highest at 2.01, and the average was 1.15.

Do you have a favorite airline?  Least favorite?  Tell me about it.

I’m sitting at Hobby Airport in Houston, getting ready to board a flight to the next stop on my 3-month world tour after spending the last two weeks in Texas competing in the 2009 Spring North American Bridge Championships (don’t look for my name in the results.  I didn’t exactly dominate), and I am out of $1′s.

I’ve adjusted to this touring lifestyle pretty well, and I’d say I’m a pretty savvy traveler.  I no longer get sucked into the stress of flying (well, not as much as I used to), and I know what to expect when staying at hotels and how to communicate with hotel employees to get the most out of my stays.  But there’s one aspect of traveling that I still haven’t mastered, and that’s tipping.

Now, I know when I am supposed to tip, and I know the appropriate amounts, but what I’d love to figure out is how to get out of tipping altogether; rather, how to entirely avoid confrontation or interaction of any sort with people that want me to tip them.  In each of my last three hotel stays, I was completely unsuccessful at refusing the bellman’s services.  I know it’s their job to be incredibly helpful, but their unwavering insistence in helping with my bags really irritates me.  I can carry them myself; in fact, I want to, because on days when I travel, carrying my luggage from point A to point B will be the only exercise I get all day.  But they will unfailingly deprive me of that brief exertion.

You see, they insist!  They take the bags right out of your hands and walk them to where you’re going.  They box you out so you have no choice but to let them load up your cab for you.  And then they stand there and wait for you to hand over your dollar bills.  And no, you don’t have to, but then that’s an uncomfortable moment, too.  You don’t want to be the a-hole who couldn’t spare a single lousy buck for the super friendly guy who so eagerly leapt to your assistance…so you either choose to give him your dollar or you choose to be the a-hole.

It’s just a dollar, though, so what’s the big deal?  Well, you have to be prepared.  What if you only have $20′s?  How tacky is it to ask for change?  Probably not quite as tacky as actually pulling out your wallet only to realize your bills are too big to tip with…

And it’s not just one dollar one time.  I’ve noticed that at nicer hotels, the bellmen will really latch onto the guests.  They help with every little thing, from holding doors to carrying bags and calling cabs, doing an excellent job of making you feel that you owe them that tip.  Even though you could easily do all of these things for yourself.  They just beat you to it.  In addition to the bellmen, you’ve got cab or shuttle drivers and skycaps at the airport, too.  It adds up… and then you get through airport security, exhale a sigh of relief that you are done with the tipping gauntlet for the day, anyway, whether you chose to part with a small fortune in singles or you chose to be the a-hole, you have to sign a credit card slip for the $9 coffee and muffin you bought (using a card because you spent all your cash for tips), and you see there’s a tip line on the receipt…

I think most people would advise me to either tip all these helpful employees (a dollar or two is the going rate for help with luggage, in case you’re curious) or don’t, and not worry about being the a-hole.  After all, I try to refuse assistance — can they blame me when I don’t have a dollar to spare?  But, sigh, it’s dreadfully uncomfortable to accept service (no matter how reluctantly) and then not tip for it.  Perhaps it’s time to adapt the same approach to bellmen that I use for panhandlers and petition pushers on the streets:  pretending not to see them at all, even when they’re in my face talking right to me.  Avoid eye contact at all costs.  Walk away swiftly…

If anyone has suggestions for non-rude, non-awkward ways to skirt the shakedown, I’m all ears.  I’ll be traveling for the next 12 weeks straight, and I could stand to save some cash.

Shortly after I started unpacking my bags in my new place in Portland, my brother sent me this link.  Apparently, Business Week thinks that Portland is a pretty crappy place to live.  According to their rankings, the Rose City is the most unhappy city in America.

Portland Skyline

Everybody already knows that I think Portland is the cat’s meow.  I love every aspect of living there — the skyline with Mount Hood towering over the city is so breathtakingly gorgeous that it makes all the rainy days worth putting up with.  Portland is a great place for yoga lovers (like me) and beer lovers (like my husband).  There are tons of rad restaurants and hangouts, and the city rates very well for walkability (learn more about the Walk Score) and eco-friendliness.  Portland is indeed one of the greenest cities in America, but apparently it’s also one of the bluest.

Business Week ranked unhappy cities based on factors like depression rates, suicide rates, divorce rates, crime, unemployment, population loss, job loss, weather, and green space.  Depression, suicide, unemployment/job loss and crime rates had the most weight in the survey.  Portland is apparently the most depressed city in America.  I can understand how Portland’s weather (often rainy or cloudy, with winters that tend toward gloomy) can be hard on the psyche, but for me, living here is like taking strong anti-depressants, only without the negative sexual side effects!  Yeah, the weather can be a bummer, but the nice days make it all worthwhile.  Time will tell if I’m still singing this tune after living here for a while, but I think I will.  I’m very enthusiastically in love with my new home.

It doesn't look so bad...

St. Louis, which has the nation’s highest crime rate, was number 2 on the list of unhappy cities.  It’s unsurprising that New Orleans ranks 3rd on the list, since Hurricane Katrina pretty well destroyed the place just a few years back.  I wonder how much better the city would have scored before 2005.  Detroit is 4th on the list, but things are looking bleaker and bleaker for the Motor City, as the motor industry is having a particularly rough time with the recession.  Cleveland rounds out the top five, thanks in large part to very high unemployment and divorce rates.  For the full list, check out the Business Week article here.

It’s an interesting list, and it gives a good idea of what the recession is doing to our nation’s biggest cities, but numbers can’t tell the whole story.  I don’t feel like everyone around me in Portland is miserable, and I know there’s no place I’d rather be.  There are also plenty of cities on the list that are great tourism towns — especially in recession times, when you can find killer deals on luxury accommodations and discounts just about everywhere you go.

I assume this survey was completed before I came to town, but I’m doing my part now to bring up the average cheer in Portland.  Don’t let this scare you out of seeing the place for yourself — it really is a wonderful town.  And I’m sure the other cities on the list have their merits, too.

In this economy, does anyone really have job security anymore?  The recession has hit just about everyone by now, in every industry, and even those who have dodged cutbacks and layoffs so far know that they could be next.  When you can’t count on your income, it’s certainly difficult to plan a vacation.  You might be able to afford it now, but if you were to lose your job in six months, you might wish you’d done something else with the money you’re spending on your trip.

JetBlue, an airline that has always been budget-friendly, is offering a deal right now that they hope will eliminate worries like this.  Under the JetBlue Promise Program, JetBlue will refund fares to customers who get laid off and submit a request through the program, with no cancellation fees.  JetBlue hopes that by offering this deal, you won’t let the fear of losing your job stop you from buying a plane ticket.  Unfortunately, JetBlue won’t do anything about your hotel reservations…

JetBlue isn’t the only company using the recession for marketing.  Intrepid Travel, a travel agency specializing in adventure travel, offers 15% off its travel packages to anyone who can prove they’ve recently been laid off.  Their spokesperson says the idea is to help people clear their heads and start anew — but she admits that a post-layoff vacation may not always be prudent.

It’s tempting to take advantage of a deal like this, but I’d strongly suggest having a game plan in mind before you spend next month’s rent on a getaway.  Send out resumes before you go, and do some budgeting to make sure you can really afford it, in the event that the job search doesn’t go as well as you expect when you return from your trip.

I still don’t know about this, though.  I can see how a getaway would be beneficial, but at the same time, I think it has just as much potential to compound your stress.  You’ve just lost your job and then you spent $1000 or more on a trip when you could be home lining up interviews?  Everyone deserves time to decompress, but I know it would be impossible for me to really clear my head on a trip like this.  I don’t think the idea is in keeping with Intrepid’s commitment to “responsible travel,” but if you think it’s what you need, there it is.

Lastly, luggage maker SkyRoll is another company that will hook you up if you’ve just been let go.  Show them your layoff notice and they’ll give you 50% off their luggage, so you can pack your interview duds in style for your next out-of-town job opportunity.

It may not be the smartest thing for the recently laid off to go globetrotting, but it is smart for companies to cater to this demographic, for sure — sadly, this group’s numbers are large and still swelling.  As someone raised with a healthy concern for personal finance, I feel like the JetBlue offer is truly consumer-friendly, but the other two strike me as somewhat predatory, tempting those on suddenly tighter budgets to spend money on non-essential items.  But hey, if your savings account is still healthy, I see nothing wrong with jumping on these bargains.

Airline passengers have come to expect extra fees for just about everything when flying, but low fare European airline Ryanair is considering a new policy that’s surprising even the most cynical frequent flyers.

They want to charge passengers a pound to use the airplane bathrooms.  According to the airline, they are simply investigating the possibility of charging for bathroom use, but this isn’t the first time they’ve considered the move.  They are considering adding coin slots to the bathroom doors, so that passengers must pay to gain access to the facilities.

Consumers are generally dissatisfied with the notion of pay toilets on planes, and feel like Ryanair is pulling some sort of bait-and-switch, offering low fares, but then squeezing profits out of consumers by charging extra for everything — including simple services like airport check-in.  While Ryanair reps dismiss criticisms, saying that a pound is just chump change and no passenger would really mind paying, the public response to the idea seems to suggest otherwise.

This is the same airline that sold promotional 2009 calendars featuring suggestive pictures of their flight attendants.  Ryanair certainly has some creative minds in their board room, but I don’t think this pay toilet idea will fly.  For one thing, customers are pretty outraged just at the idea of it — much more so than when airlines started charging for drinks and luggage.  Secondly, this plan has the potential to backfire.  If passengers know they’ll have to fork over more cash to use the loo, they may think twice about ordering in-flight cocktails and snacks.  This kind of money grab could really hurt the bottom line in the long run.

One idea I could get on board with would be paying for the toilets if they make the drinks free again.  That probably won’t ever happen, though.  It just makes too much sense.

I know a lot of airlines are in trouble and need to scrounge up extra money wherever they can, so I do at least have some sympathy for Ryanair’s idea, but I just can’t get behind this one.  American low fare airline Southwest has really raised the bar in the industry, and they get by with very few extra charges, while the things they do charge for are cheaper than what other airlines ask.  ($4 alcoholic drinks last time I flew, and lower baggage fees than all their competitors.)  Southwest and Ryanair don’t serve the same markets, so this could be a moot point; I’m just pointing out that budget airlines don’t have to come up with all kinds of sneaky fees to make money.

What do you think?  Would you be turned off by an airline that charged you to use the toilet?  Even if it is inexpensive, a policy like that might just be a dealbreaker for me.