The airlines need to remove all reclining seats. I’m sick of someone taking what little space I have on a plane and having to look at their mottled head all the way across country.
Of course, if we taught people better posture and how to behave in public, we wouldn’t be having this conversation….
Of course, we wouldn’t be having this conversation if airlines treated people like people, instead of cargo, and actually gave them space and tried to make them comfortable…
But this is the real world….
(CNN) — The passenger in seat 9C was ready for a nap after takeoff, so he pushed the button on his armrest and reclined — straight into the path of someone who apparently wouldn’t have it.
Tensions grew quickly on the American Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Denver on November 22, court papers show.
The incident adds fuel to a debate that seems to divide air travelers into two camps: those who say that reclining their seat on a plane is a right that comes when they buy a ticket and those who believe it’s a privilege that shouldn’t be abused.
As Brian Dougal leaned back on the Denver-bound flight late last month, he felt someone bump his seat, according to a criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court of Colorado.
“Are you serious? My knees are up against the seat,” said the man behind him, identified as Tomislav Zelenovic, according to the complaint.
Dougal suggested that Zelenovic also recline, slide into an empty seat next to him or move his legs to the side. Dougal told the man in 10C that he paid for his seat and was going to recline it.
Zelenovic then shook the back of Dougal’s seat and grabbed his right ear, pulling it back and down with enough force to knock Dougal’s glasses off his face, according to the complaint.
When the plane landed in Denver, police officers escorted Zelenovic off the flight. He was charged with assault “by striking, beating, or wounding on an aircraft” and has pleaded not guilty. Zelenovic’s attorney declined to comment on the case for this article.
Heated debate
Few arguments over reclining seats go that far, but as cabins grow more crowded and cramped, it’s easy to find eye rolling, seething frustration or downright resistance coming from behind travelers who choose to push the armrest button.
Steve Collins, an Australian broadcaster who runs the blog Grumpy’s Getaway Guide, argues that he shouldn’t have to put up with passengers who lean back and invade his personal space.
What next? Has every lawmaker in Virginia lost their minds????
WASHINGTON – A conservative Loudoun County lawmaker says controversial airport pat-downs by the Transportation Security Administration are part of a “wide-scale homosexual agenda.”
Eugene Delgaudio, a Republican representing Sterling on the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors, made the comments in a widely distributed e-mail sent in his capacity as president of the conservative nonprofit Public Advocate of the United States.
In the e-mail — reported by WUSA9 — Delgaudio also says the TSA’s non-discrimination hiring policy is “the federal employee’s version of the Gay Bill of Special rights.”
“That means the next TSA official that gives you an enhanced pat-down could be a practicing homosexual secretly getting pleasure from your submission,” he wrote.
What I haven’t seen is an informed take on what airport security ought to look like. We all hate taking off our shoes and pulling out our laptops and being limited to three ounces of liquid and not being allowed to meet people at the gate anymore — we hate all of that. But if it’s all useless, what should we do instead? Shouldn’t someone write that article?
Ever dutiful, I set out to complete Kevin’s assignment. I asked Goldberg, security expert Bruce Schneier, and airline pilot (and security critic) Patrick Smith about what their ideal airport security schemes would look like. After speaking to them, I think Kevin is missing the point: the elimination of existing useless security procedures is the heart of the plan. It’s not about doing something “instead” of the current system—it’s about not doing things that are wasting money and time and not making us safer. It’s quite possible that we’re already as safe as we’re going to get—and every subsequent airport security “improvement” is just reducing our freedom without improving security.
And the plan:
All that said, Goldberg, Schneier, and Smith did offer some suggestions for new or different security procedures to use “instead” of the methods we’re currently relying on. Here are a few options:
1. Enhance baggage security. All three experts mentioned this. Baggage is where the greatest danger is, and where airport security resources should be focused. “Right now the biggest threats are still bombs and explosives. That’s the path of least resistance,” Smith says. “All luggage going on passenger planes should be treated the same, and scanned,” says Schneier. Making sure that a passenger’s bags never, ever fly if he doesn’t is also key. And we could do more. Here’s an excerpt from a 2006 article by Schneier:
If I were investing in security, I would fund significant research into computer-assisted screening equipment for both checked and carry-on bags, but wouldn’t spend a lot of money on invasive screening procedures and secondary screening. I would much rather have well-trained security personnel wandering around the airport, both in and out of uniform, looking for suspicious actions.
2. Pay more attention to airport workers. Schneier was an early advocate of background checks and increased screening for airport employees. If you’re screening pilots, it’s “completely absurd” not to screen the guy who is loading food on the plane, Smith says. This has improved in recent years, and the TSA now conducts random screening of airport employees. That could be broadened. Goldberg suggested considering biometric IDs for airport employees.
3. Randomize enhanced screening. Schneier has suggested that any “enhanced” screening of passengers be “truly random.” That means that while the majority of passengers wouldn’t face the invasive security checks they face now, every passenger would face the risk of a thorough search. Terrorists can’t avoid or plan for truly random enhanced searches, like they can with protocol-, background-, and profiling-based searches. You don’t want terrorists to be able to plan their way around your security. You want them to have to get lucky.
4. Make security lines less vulnerable. The huge lines of people waiting in airport security lines are themselves a huge target. “If you want to terrorize the country, you don’t have to take down an airplane, you can just take people down in a security line,” Goldberg says. “All these people packed in tightly waiting and waiting and waiting… The next day all the airports in America will be closed.” Moving people through security quickly and efficiently will make the security lines themselves less of a target.
5. The Israeli model is unworkable on a large scale. But that doesn’t mean you can’t replicate parts of it. Some people believe that America should move to the Israeli model of airport security: intense screening based on asking passengers many, many questions and assessing their responses. But the experts I spoke to don’t think that plan is workable in the United States. Israel has one medium-sized airport, and it would be next to impossible (and incredibly expensive) to enact Israeli-style security procedures in a country the size of the US. But that doesn’t mean you couldn’t have more (well-trained!) people observing passengers’ behavior or asking key questions of randomly selected passengers.
I guess I’ll have to start taking bottled water when I go there…
(Nov. 1) — Someday, millions of Americans will be drinking their own urine, says Robert Roy Britt, managing editor of LiveScience.com, a news site that prides itself on the provocative approach it takes to science.
In a recent commentary for the site, Britt, based in arid Phoenix, said that because of imminent drought in the West, many people will have to rely on treated sewage — containing human waste — for their drinking water.
“We now have too many people living in places where we don’t have fresh water,” Britt told AOL News.
As an example, Britt cited the Phoenix area, which gets its drinking water from a remote body of reservoirs, including Lake Mead, which sits more than 230 miles away.
He suggested that Phoenix and other cities throughout the Southwest may soon go the way of Orange County, Calif., which does exactly what he’s foretold – it recycles wastewater into tap water.
That’s right. From the toilet bowl to the punch bowl, so to speak.
The latest “Earl” News from Ocracoke Island, one of our favorite places on earth, via Philip Howard’s blog.
That is almost the worst that can be said about the aftermath of Earl…almost. I did see one tree lying on top of a roof (at Ocracoke Restoration), but it hadn’t punched any holes through the roof, or even torn off shingles. And the outer portion of the dock at Ocracoke Harbor Inn has collapsed. There surely is other damage, but everyone I saw and spoke to agreed — the damage was minimal.
The tide was up in several places around the village (“flowing like a river” one neighbor said), but it had receded by morning. Blanche’s house is very low to the ground, and the tide came up to her siding, but not into the house. We lost no trees on Howard Street, just a few branches and limbs.
The last I heard there was sand on Hwy 12 between the village and Hatteras Inlet (I’m sure the state will be clearing that as soon as possible). I understand that officials are checking to see that the ferry channels are clear.
I do not have any up to date information about Hwy 12 on Hatteras Island, or about when the ferries will resume operation. However, the NC DOT web site should have the most current information: http://tims.ncdot.gov/tims/default.aspx
If you want Hurricane Earl news from Ocracoke Island and the Outer Banks, Philip Howard’s blog is always the best source. His family has been on the Island for generations. He’s a great source of Island news and history all year long..
His daughter is filing for him while the power is out. Here is her latest report and a link to Philip’s blog.
This is Amy Reporting my father’s observations. We are in Carrboro making a vacation of the evacuation order.
As of 8am today, it appears all is well on Ocracoke. There will be some clean up of course, but a quick glance out around the harbor indicates that there was not widespread damage. The power has been out since 4am with winds that felt like they were about 60-65mph on Howard Street. A stroll out to the harbor this morning verified that Howard Street was more protected, because the winds there were still quite blustery and quickly flipped the umbrella inside out. The tide did come up, however Howard Street houses appear to have all stayed high and dry.
My father said he actually slept through most of the night, waking only when the house was really shaking and rattling. He has been up since early morning just checking on things in the area around the house. So far he’s not been out to the beach to see how the dunes held up. Most cars are still staying parked on higher ground for the time being.
As a frequent flyer, I can understand why the poor guy cracked!
JetBlue flight attendant Steven Slater has become an instant Internet folk hero after arguing with a passenger, making a four-letter-word-laced intercom announcement and then fleeing down the aircraft’s inflatable emergency slide at New York’s JFK airport — with a beer in hand, snatched from the beverage cart.
Slater, 38, activated the plane’s chute Monday, moments after the passenger who tried to remove luggage from an overhead bin too early upon landing bonked him on the head with a bag and then swore at him, according to news reports. Slater swore back at the passenger over the plane’s loudspeaker and then said, “That’s it. I’ve had it.” He grabbed a beer, his own luggage and slid down onto the tarmac.
I just finished this excellent, entertaining and extremely readable biography of Somerset Maugham. I highly recommend it….
Here is an excerpt from the review by Michael Dirda in the Washington Post and a link to the full review:
During the second half of his life, William Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) was the most famous writer in the world. Not only did readers love his sardonic tales of sexual passion and dark secrets, of desperation and sudden violence, but so did Hollywood: More of his stories, novels and plays have been filmed than those of any other author. Just one short story, “Rain” — about the prostitute Sadie Thompson and the preacher obsessed with saving her — has provided star turns for Tallulah Bankhead, Gloria Swanson, Joan Crawford and Rita Hayworth, among others.
As this excellent biography by Selina Hastings makes clear, Somerset Maugham lived a life of quite astonishing richness and variety. Over the course of his 91 years, Maugham moved effortlessly around the world and in society: He dined with Henry James and Thomas Hardy, clashed with the sinister Aleister Crowley, argued Russian politics with Alexander Kerensky, discussed art with Sir Kenneth Clark and managed to enjoy the longtime friendship of both Winston Churchill and the Duchess of Windsor. Maugham’s luxurious home on the Riviera, the Villa Mauresque, offered guests beautiful gardens, first-class cuisine, delicious conversation and multiple sexual opportunities. It also boasted a fabulous collection of paintings, including a Gauguin that Maugham had discovered in a farmhouse when visiting Tahiti.
Throughout his life, Maugham always managed to look the perfect English gentleman, exquisitely turned out in bespoke suit and tie, punctilious about social conventions and just a bit shy because of an embarrassing stammer. But he was also exceptionally cosmopolitan in a decidedly continental manner, being absolutely fluent in French, Spanish, German and Italian and possessing enough Russian to work as a spy in Petrograd in 1917. Once he started to earn serious money, he traveled constantly, gathering material for his fiction and happy to be away from England. This was, in part, because he had been trapped into a wretched marriage with Syrie Wellcome, a noted interior designer and the mother of his only child, Liza.
I’m just back from a trip, so I decided to revise and re-run one of my older posts. It’s still accurate, but I needed to add a couple of points. I’ve never seen an industry go downhill as fast as the airlines. They have used 9/11 as an excuse to avoid any attempts at Customer service. After our tax dollars bailed them out.
Think about that, those of you who don’t want to extend unemployment benefits. We bail out entire incompetently run businesses, then people complain if we try to help the average person…
One of the reasons I don’t post as often as I might like is that I travel on business about 50% of the time. I’ve been doing this for almost 15 years now and I’ve really seen first hand the decline in quality of life for airline travelers. A lot of it– most of it– is the fault of the airlines, but my fellow travelers are also contributing heavily to the unpleasantness of travel through their own behavior. Here are 10 suggestions I think would improve the process for all of us.
1.Weld all airline seats to a stationary position. I’m tired of some drunken businessman laying in my lap and blocking my reading light all the way across the country. I never recline my seat. Not only does this lead to poor posture, I find the seat is even more uncomfortable reclined than upright. Exceptions would be made for overnight flights only.
2. Allow pets in the cabin and put ill-behaved children in the cargo hold in pet carriers. Not only would it deter terrorists if we had numerous dogs loose in the cabin, it would be much more pleasant than having some kid kicking your seat from coast to coast, screaming and crying at the top of their lungs or whining unattractively.
3. Either increase the width of the seat or enforce the policy for severely over weight people to have to buy two seats. God knows I could lose a few pounds and I hate to say this, but it really makes for an uncomfortable flight if the person next to you taking half of your space. If you have spent 5 hours hanging halfway into the aisle or unable to move your shoulders because the person next to you takes up so much space, you will know what I mean.
4. Limit carry on bags and enforce the limits. I’m sick and tired of people practically dragging steamer trunks onto 30 seater planes, then seeming amazed that they don’t fit in the overhead.
5. Deliver checked luggage in a timely manner. We now have to pay the airlines to handle checked baggage, so they should handle it quickly. I’m tired of waiting up to 45 minutes after landing for my bags to arrive.
6. Ban carry on food. Either provide it or sell it, but don’t make me smell a meatball sub for hours in a confined, ill-ventilated space.
7. Define “weather” delays so the airlines don’t use it as a catch-all excuse not to staff or schedule appropriately or pay for hotel rooms for passengers they leave stranded. I’ve seen the airlines use this excuse too many times when they strand people for several days due to canceled flights when there either is no weather issue or it was several days previous to the delay or cancellation.
8. Don’t let airlines claim an “on time” departure from pushback from the gate. Require it to be when the plane actually is airborne. This would greatly reduce the time spent sitting on planes on the tarmac.
9. Start calling “Flight Attendants” Stewards and Stewardesses again. This might bring their attitudes down a notch and make them a little less uppity and mean.
10. Ban Flip Flops. If, god forbid, there were an emergency these fools would cause half the people on the plane to die because they don’t have appropriate footwear. Just think if there was a fire, crash landing, etc. Would you want to be crawling over hot, tangled metal shoeless or with little pieces of plastic melted to your feet? These people would delay the process and endanger everyone on the plane. This isn’t just a style preference, this is a safety issue.
11. Make people dress appropriately for travel in all other ways. If you wear shorts and a tank top on a plane, you should expect to be cold. Don’t make them turn down the air conditioning so those of us who are dressed appropriately for travel, burn up.
12. Nationalize the airlines and start over by reselling them to someone with a viable new business plan and customer focused strategy. We’ve gone so far downhill, this may be the only true fix….
13. Remove the requirement that the Airlines be majority US owned. I’m thinking Richard Branson. Virgin Atlantic is a wonderful airline. It seems only American’s no longer know how to run an airline. Other countries do this much better…either learn from them or let them go ahead and run ours.
14. Make them clean the damn planes. I actually found a used diaper in my seat back pocket once. When the stewards and stewardess come down the aisle to collect trash, I’m thinking we should all start keeping it and throwing it in the floor before we leave. That may be the only way to force them to clean the planes. Now, they expect us to do that ourselves, too.
More to come…I’ve got 3 more business trips over the next month or so…
Lost in the 21st Century 
Va. lawmaker claims pat-downs part of ‘homosexual agenda’ – wtop.com
What next? Has every lawmaker in Virginia lost their minds????
via Va. lawmaker claims pat-downs part of ‘homosexual agenda’ – wtop.com.
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