Seriously, one of the best little pieces of writing about modern day air travel that I’ve read recently. Anyone who flies frequently should read this piece by Wayne Curtis of the New York Times JetLagged blog:

User’s Manual to Seat 21C

Any frequent traveler will get a laff from Long or Short writer Johnny Debacle’s musings on Thoughts As People Attempt to Put Their Carry-On Luggage In Overhead Bins on Commuter Flights. For example:

Wait…why does he have wheels on that thing? There can’t be anything more than a laptop in that and maybe some paper. If there was a way to sterilize him I would, for the sake of mankind. A bag has to be the size of half a golden retriever in order to have wheels. Man that would be horrible, how would you cut it in half, lengthwise or widthwise? Maybe it’s not the best measurement. I’ll use a bear head instead. Grizzly bear head. This is the new FAA bag size regulation measurement unit for the retention of manliness and balls. If a bag isn’t as big as a grizzly bear head, you cannot have wheels on it and pull it. Done.

World Hum pointed us to the New York Times blog JetLagged: Navigating the Unfriendly Skies, which debuted this week. Some excellent travel writers are churning out the content: Betsy Wade, who penned the paper’s Practical Traveler column for 14 years; Pico Iyer, the novelist and essayist; and Wayne Curtis, New Orleans native and author of And a Bottle of Rum: A History of the New World in 10 Cocktails. One to bookmark and add to the ‘ole RSS….

Yee-haw. ‘Tis the season to spend, spend, spend. The Travel Gear Blog has a post up that rounds up the blog’s many recent posts about gift-worthy items for travelers and coupon codes you can use during the holiday season. Check check checkitout.

Gift List Roundup, Coupon Codes and More

Yup. You read that right. Spirit Airlines sent out a promotional email touting its new M.I.L.F. sale. Although the airline claims it wasn’t aware of the acronym’s notorious connotations and that - as far as its sale is concerned - M.I.L.F. stands for Many Islands, Low Fares, the rumor is that the marketing arm knew full-well what it was doing by launching a sale with that title. And wouldn’t ya know? It worked. The blogosphere is awhirl with commentary on the subject.

P.S. The $9 fares offered in the promo have all been snapped up.

Why would an airline refuse to allow me to upgrade to a business class seat if the seat is empty and I have the miles to do so? That’s a question a frequent Continental Airlines traveler asked travel advice guru Christopher Elliott, who contacted the airline and published this intriguing response on his blog:

There may be “empty” BusinessFirst seats on a flight for a variety of reasons, including held seats for crew (contractually required) and circumstances beyond our control (e.g., passenger misconnects, cancellations, etc.). So, an empty seat is not always necessarily available to offer.

But upon further investigation, Elliott concludes that the real problem, in this case at least, is not the lack of reward seats available, but the airline’s inability to handle customer requests for upgrades at the gate. Continental says it won’t (or can’t) clear
seats for upgrade travel with less than 24 hours notice. That surprises me. Of course airlines don’t want to have copious empty seats available for upgrades, but when they do, it doesn’t make sense to block loyal customers from taking them - and turning in miles to do so.

It’s an interesting problem facing frequent business travelers and further proof that award travel is increasingly a pesky thorn in the airlines’ hides.

Have a burning travel question you’d like to ask the experts? There’s probably no one more expert than Arthur Frommer, founder of Frommer’s Travel Guides and Budget Travel magazine. Post your questions in the comments of the New York Times column linked below. Frommer will supposedly respond with his answers in the next few days.

Ask the Travel Guy: Arthur Frommer Will Now Take Your Questions

Get your swimmies ready and check out the Athletic Minded Traveler’s round-up of the Top 10 Hotel Lap Pools. Avid swimmers, fear not! These folks have standards. Only rectangular pools 20 feet or more in length featuring temperatures of at least 80 degrees (f) year round and stripes or lane dividers were considered.

According to the WaPo Travel Log blog, Southwest is going to be testing in-flight email capabilities this year. Bring it on!

Wired in Flight

Via the Travel Gear Blog, I was reminded of Aqua Bells Travel Weights. Pack ‘em, fill ‘em, lift and lower. How’s that for an easy on-the-go workout?