Travel News – Delta Delta, Cruise Casual, Undesired Asylum, Luggage Virgins, Profitable Airline, Flying Sick, Swearing in Dubai

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In engineering the distance between your expected results and your measure results is commonly known as a delta which makes Delta the best named airline this week. Wasn’t Delta’s motto “we love to fly and it shows”… not so keen on the landing apparently.

Lingering mystery why pilots flew 150 miles past destination

A co-pilot who “forgot” to land says he was not asleep and there was never any danger to passengers but why pilots flew 150 miles past their scheduled airport remains a mystery as investigators struggle for answers.

Flight 188, which was carrying 144 passengers and five crew members from San Diego to Minneapolis, lost touch with controllers east of Denver. It then traversed the Plains, flew across busy airways carrying flights to Chicago and crossed into Wisconsin before turning back to Minneapolis.

Pilots have given various evasions and explanations but in one recent story, they said they were distracted by their discussions of a new monthly flight-schedule system.

You may not have heard of the most profitable airline in the U.S. Their secret is that they book more than just your airfare.

Most profitable US airline does more than carry passengers

Some shocking airline news: Allegiant Air reported its 27th consecutive profitable quarter, earning it the title of “the nation’s most profitable airline,” according to the St. Petersburg Times.

“Allegiant made more profit per dollar of operating revenue than any US airline for the previous three quarters, far ahead of traditional network airlines and big-name discounters including Southwest and JetBlue” the newspaper said.

In news of the weird, it is apparently possible to be granted (or denied) political asylum in the U.S…. even when you don’t want it.

Mexican official in US custody doesn’t want asylum

A Mexican human rights official who has publicly said he feared for his life has been detained by U.S. immigration authorities as an asylum-seeker — even though he doesn’t want American protection, his lawyer said.

Gustavo de la Rosa Hickerson is being held indefinitely at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement jail in El Paso while the U.S. decides whether to grant him asylum.

As someone who wears jeans to work and likes to travel light, put me down in favor of having at least one cruise option that is more casual.

Is Regent’s new dress code a winner? Even travel agents are split on the topic

A survey of several hundred CruiseOne and Cruises Inc. cruise specialists conducted Wednesday for USA TODAY unearthed mixed feelings about the line’s move to do away with jacket-required evenings and formal nights on most cruises starting in January.

When asked if they thought the change was a good one, 48.6% of agents said it was, but a significant minority of 31.5% disagreed. Another 13.5% said the dress code wouldn’t matter to their customers either way while 6.4% said they were unsure about the impact of the change.

Of course, remember that people who have no carry-on luggage also checked bags and therefore paid more for their seat.

Virgin America Tests Allowing Baggage-Free Passengers To Board First

Ever the innovators, Virgin America is testing a new boarding scheme for speed and efficiency. They’ve ordered agents at targeted airports to let people without bags board the airplane first, the idea being to seat them and then let everyone else slow down the line while fighting for overhead space. It’s the kind of thing that, if you run it through your mind, seems just crazy enough to work.

With airlines charging more for change fees one of the unintended consequences this flu season will be that people are more likely to travel while sick. Great.

More than half of air travelers would fly with the flu to avoid a change fee

A disturbing new poll says 51 percent of air travelers say they’d rather fly while infected with the flu than pay a $150 airline change fee. The survey, conducted by TripAdvisor.com, asked travelers if they would fly while they’re sick in order to avoid paying a booking change fee. A total of 2,327 users responded.

I am not in the habit of swearing, ask the people I work with, but if you grabbed me in the security line in a foreign country I wouldn’t swear I wouldn’t swear.

Australian man detained in Dubai for swearing at undercover airport cop

An Australian man has been stuck in Dubai for more than a month after his passport was suspended. His offense? Swearing at an undercover police officer at Dubai International Airport. Sun McKay, a 32-year-old former Australian soldier now working as a private security consultant in Afghanistan, claims he stepped out of a line in the airport’s passenger queues to use an ATM. That’s when he says the undercover officer forcefully grabbed him by the wrist, The Advertiser newspaper of Australia reports.

The Brisbane Times writes that when KcKay “was manhandled by a stranger (the undercover officer) in the arrivals hall at Dubai International Airport, he did what many young Australians would do. He swore.” McKay is quoted by the Times as saying: “This guy in a blue shirt grabbed my wrist quite hard, pulled me towards him and started yelling at me in Arabic, and I just said: ‘What the f—?’ “

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