I don't know about you, but I'm itching to get outta this gray and gloomy weather, and am ready to head South for the rest of the Winter. Remember the sun? Yeah, me neither. If you need some assistance getting some vitamin D, check out these apps that will help you book flights, cars, and hotels in a place where it's warm and sunny. Or not — you can go North too if you want. It's totally up to you.
In-flight fires caused by gadgets are back in the news after a recent piece in the New York Times warned of yet another risk: fires caused by the rechargable lithium batteries in handheld credit-card machines used by flight attendants to ring up purchases. The Federal Aviation Administration considers the batteries hazardous, and requires special training for flight attendants on airlines who carry spare batteries (some airlines, like Delta and JetBlue, don't carry spare batteries at all).
No fires from the readers have been reported, but according to the same article, in the last two years, a portable DVD has caught fire on a plane, a flashlight placed in a storage compartment exploded, turning into a projectile, and eight people were injured when a battery fell against a metal seat frame and exploded.
The best way to keep devices from overheating, or worse, catching fire? Keep them out of overhead compartments, and turn them off completely before storing them for flight. Do you take special precautions when flying with gadgets?
You already know that I'm a big fan of Virgin America's in-flight entertainment system, and have been known to tune in to JetBlue's DirectTV programming a time or two. But for a lot of you, an airline's in-flight goodies may not be a reason to book a seat.
On a recent flight to LA, I noticed how few people actually use their seat-back TV sets to watch the tube, a movie, or play games, instead choosing to sleep or use their own gadgets to keep them busy.
I found a very handy chart on one of my favorite travel sites the other day that lists how airlines stack up against one another when it comes to entertaining their passengers. I was pretty happy with the results: most airlines are now offering some sort of in-flight WiFi, as well as music and movies via personal viewing sets on the seat backs. So what gives? Are you totally into your favorite airline's in-flight entertainment, or do you completely tune out when flying?
Whenever I need to book a flight, my priority is usually getting the best price, so you can find me scanning websites like Kayak or Farecast. But what about comfort and quality? A new website called InsideTrip not only price compares flights, but ranks them in terms of speed, comfort, and ease, and then provides you with an overall trip quality ranking. You can even click on flight details to see rankings on specific things like routing quality, lost bags rank, legroom, connection time, etc. The founder, Dave Pelter, said he wanted to create a site that provides people with info to help them make the smartest travel decisions possible. It's really easy to use, and definitely gives a good idea about the overall experience of a particular flight/airline!
Do you have a favorite website you want to share with us? Submit your faves to our Website of the Day group! To learn how, just read more
All this talk of what the airlines are charging for the details, got me thinking about my lil detail, North. He loves being included in my life – and lets me know when he doesn't feel that way – but, boy, can the price of plane tickets get us down! When looking into a summer trip with my pooch this week, I realized a very shocking (and troubling) fact: JetBlue has doubled the price of a cabin pet from $50 to $100. I spoke with a representative from the airline's corporate communications department who shared some information on this change. Learn what I found out when you read more
