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Belgians terrorized by inflight warblings of Bonnie Tyler
Bonnie Tyler is apparently a threat to your inflight security. The singer, whose sound always seemed to me like a cross between Meat Loaf and Kim Carnes, busted out the 1980s classic “Total Eclipse of the Heart” a cappella onboard a flight from Paris to Mauritius. “‘I was asleep in First Class. The stewardess came and said the co-pilot was retiring. And they asked me would I sing to him. They were having a bit of a party,’ Tyler said.” (First problem: Why is a flight attendant waking up a sleeping passenger, for any reason!? And to sing a song? Jeez!)

Now some passengers (rumored to be oh-so-nefarious Belgians) are suing the airline, because they were “traumatized by the experience and had feared for their safety during the celebration.” Tyler was not charged in the incident. Singing a song is a threat to security?? Apparently these Belgians have never flown Southwest! Some of those flight attendant-led inflight songs are begging for a lawsuit… (via Gary Leff)

Can’t find good help anymore? Blame the airlines!
20,000 prospective housekeepers can’t get to Saudi Arabia, to clean their future employers’ increasingly messy homes, because airlines don’t have enough empty seats to transport the maids from their homes in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and the Phillippines.

Paging “Monk”: Inflight personal care devices for the obsessive-compulsive
I stumbled across this on Amazon.com and thought it must be a joke. It’s not. The Plane Clean Air Filter attaches to the air nozzles over your seat, and the company claims it “removes 99.5% of all allergens, bacteria and viruses from your air stream.” Which would be brilliant…except that 150 other people’s nozzles are blowing air without filters, and you’re all breathing the same air. You’re in an ecosystem, people, not hooked up to a ventilator. However, if you’re suffering from OCD or just want a snappy conversation starter, you can buy it here.

First passengers on the A380
The ultra-mega-jumbo jet Airbus A380 has been flying around Europe with a full load of passengers on board, and not just test pilots, to see how the overall customer experience actually looks in practice. However, they’re using Airbus employees, who aren’t necessarily unbiased participants.

tags: travel | Bonnie Tyler | airlines | OCD | A380