Travel News – Best Public Restroom, Plane Engine Fire, Travel to Cuba? Japan The Favorite, Fewer Airline Complaints

When I saw this story I thought of the Mount Madonna Inn in Paso Robles, CA. My father’s boss went there with his (the boss’s) mother and his mother grabbed him and dragged him (again the boss) into the ladies room to show him the waterfall.

Best Public Restroom

We ask that question seriously. What makes the experience of using a public restroom something special? Is it style? Is it elegance? Is that restroom so clean you are almost ashamed to go home? Is it the view? All of these have been reasons cited for past nominees for the title of America’s Best Restroom Award, presented by Cintas.

Plane lands safely at McCarran after engine fire

A Southwest Airlines plane en route to New York was forced to turn around and make an emergency landing in Las Vegas today after an engine caught fire, officials said.

The twin-engine Boeing 737 was in the air just 19 minutes before the emergency landing at McCarran International Airport.

Remember I predicted this would happen on Travel to Cuba – Episode 170.

Travel Ban to Cuba Could End

Bill Delahunt, a Democratic representative of Massachusetts and eight additional cosponsors introduced the bill that has drawn praise from President Barack Obama. During Obama’s campaign, he openly encouraged a change in the United States’ diplomacy with Cuba.

I have not been to Japan so it would not currently be my favorite country. Turkey might be mine or Italy. What is your favorite country?

Japan Voted World’s Best Country – Wanderlust Magazine Announces 2009 Travel Awards

After years of jostling between New Zealand and Namibia, Japan has been named Top Country in the Wanderlust Travel Awards 2009. Not only has the country snatched the top spot, Kyoto is also runner up in the Top City sector. This is the first ever showing for Japan in the awards top ten, reflecting a surge in interest among adventurous travellers. Namibia and New Zealand were voted in second and third place respectively.

Fewer people are flying but that also seems to have produced some good news. The system worked better in 2008 than it did in 2007.

Airlines log fewer delays, lost bags, complaints

It’s not all doom and gloom for fliers these days, and we’re not just talking bargain fares. Passengers are arriving on time more often, losing fewer bags and filing fewer complaints, the government says.

U.S. airlines in November flew nearly 13% fewer passengers than in November 2007, the U.S. Dept. of Transportation (DOT) reported today. Nearly 25% of seats on an average flight went unclaimed, or 2.4% more than in November 2007. The upside: If you get bumped or miss a connection, you might actually land a seat on the next flight out.

Delays: More than 76% of flights by major airlines arrived on time last year, the best performance in three years. And fewer passengers faced long waits on the tarmac. Only 1,232 flights logged taxi-out times of three hours or more, the DOT’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics said, down 25% from 2007.

The worst of the 32 major airports for taxi-out times was New York’s JFK, averaging nearly 35 minutes from gate departure to wheels off the ground; the best was Oakland (OAK), at 10 minutes. Los Angeles (LAX) averaged a respectable 15 minutes.

Baggage loss: The odds that your bag would get lost, stolen, delayed or damaged dropped by 25% last year on major airlines, based on DOT figures. Reports of mishandled baggage fell from 7.05 to 5.26 per 1,000 passengers between 2007 and 2008.

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