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It’s official. Our long national nightmare is over. Virgin America, the embattled airline that has yet to fly, has been approved for service in the United States.

Their time spent waiting to start flying has been a long one. I honestly didn’t think it would happen. But if you’re jonesing for an inflight service that promises to be swankier than the normal coach experience, you’ll be in luck later this summer.

The airline will be based in San Francisco, and promises to fly cross-country at prices that undercut the major airlines. Unlike the minimalist non-service of startups like Skybus, Virgin America promises to be a high-quality airline at discount prices. Sounds good to me!

Where will they fly?

Virgin America’s first flights will be between its home base of San Francisco (SFO) to New York (JFK). The airline also plans to serve Los Angeles (LAX), Washington/Dulles, San Diego and Las Vegas within its first year of operations.

The airline expects to serve as many as 10 cities within a year of operation and up to 30 cities within five years of service. Additional cities under Virgin America’s consideration include: Atlanta, Austin, Baltimore, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers, Hartford, Houston, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Kansas City, Miami, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Nashville, Newark, New Orleans, Orlando, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Providence, Portland, Ore., Raleigh-Durham, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, San Jose, Calif., Sarasota, Seattle, St. Louis, Tampa and West Palm Beach.

Not exactly thinly-traveled routes with no competition. It’s going to be an uphill climb. Expect a battle royale from United and Southwest in the San Francisco area. CEO Fred Reid, who is forced to step down within six months, may be glad that he won’t be around to fight that fight.

In the meantime, join the fun by helping them name their planes. The folks at BoingBoing already named one: “Unicorn Chaser.” Alrighty then. (Was “Goatse” rejected?) I like Edward Demott’s suggested name: “Mach Daddy.”

Reader Michelle C. writes:

I got this e-mail from American Airlines about a club with American Airlines: “Save $400 on airfare when you join the TrAAvel Perks® program! No inventory restrictions. No hassles…” It costs $134 to join. Is there a catch to this?

As a rule, I am extremely wary of any “club” that requires cash up front and then promises discounts in the future. There are usually numerous strings attached, with lots of fine print. The terms and conditions for this club are no exception.

American promises that its club will save you $400 in airfare. It’s possible, but you’ll have to work for it, and your timing will need to be right.
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Hell freezes over: Southwest makes its fares more widely searchable
(corrected) It’s a bizarre reversal of their earlier strategy of keeping their fares out of the major online booking systems and travel agencies, and forcing you to go to their website to check their prices. But they’ve opened it up: Southwest Airlines has signed on for a ten-year pact with Galileo, one of the major computer networks used by travel agents and online booking companies to pull up fares. What does it mean for you? Easier comparison shopping. (Some background here, from when jetBlue similarly linked up other sites.) Until now, Southwest has never shown up in airfare searches outside of their own site, so it’s pro-consumer to see their fares head-to-head with other airlines’ offerings. But there’s a catch: They’re keeping some of their lowest fares out of Galileo. Baby steps. (Clarification: Travel agents who subscribed to the Sabre GDS were able to book Southwest flights for their clients previously. But the big online agencies — Orbitz, Travelocity, Expedia, etc. — couldn’t. It’s not clear if the new deal will integrate Southwest into those sites yet.)

Non-news: People aren’t happy with airlines
It should come as no surprise whatsoever that the general public is dissatisfied with the airlines in America. Only slightly more surprising is just how much some airlines’ ratings suck. United Airlines’ miserable showing is worst in the airline sector. But even more telling, the only company (in any industry) in the survey that out-awfuls UAL? Charter Communications. When you’re in a dead heat for last place with the cable guy, you know something is wrong. (As an aside, looking at the trendlines, I’m obviously not the only person who liked bankrupt United better…) Click here for the full ranking — for all companies, not just airlines.

Reason #7,619 to avoid checking luggage
The Today Show’s Peter Greenberg discovers the dark side of European low fare airlines when easyJet hits him with over $500 in excess luggage fees. Each way. He wasn’t transporting an entire apartment across the Channel, either. Flying on Air France, with those same suitcases, would have cost him less in the end. But Peter, why are you traveling low-rent on easyJet in the first place? (via Elliott)

Midwest and Northwest codeshare, but will it matter once AirTran buys Midwest?
Midwest Airlines and Northwest have started codesharing, which lets customers of both airlines earn miles on a lot more routes. Great, but considering that AirTran is launching a hostile takeover of Midwest, and already has nearly 57% of shares, will this deal survive the seemingly inevitable acquisition?

ID required, just not necessarily real ID
You may have to pull out identification in order to pass through airport security, but as a recent undercover investigation proves, the ID doesn’t need to be real. Just plausible enough to look real. That “Official Bikini Inspector” ID you got on the boardwalk in Wildwood, New Jersey in 1985 won’t cut it, tough guy.

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Several innovative companies have been working to improve information about (and access to) low airfares in recent years. We’ve seen the widespread acceptance of aggregators like Kayak, SideStep (reviewed here last year), and the growth of fare watching/predicting services like FareCompare and FareCast.

So what’s next?

The tech world went ga-ga over Yapta (Your Amazing Personal Travel Assistant) recently. And if it’s the real deal, then it could be a great service.

Unlike existing fare alert tools, Yapta also tracks the fares on your trip after you’ve purchased, in order to take advantage of low-fare guarantees and fare-drop voucher policies. If your ticket’s fare drops after you’ve purchased, you get a refund in the form of a voucher. The site is in closed beta right now, and was supposed to open up for public beta this week.

The idea is a good one. One possible snag: Not every airline (or booking site) guarantees their fares in case of a fare drop. If more than 24 hours have passed since the time of purchase, getting a fare-drop voucher is increasingly rare. (For example, United still does it, but US Airways apparently abandoned their fare-drop policy after they merged with America West.)

Perhaps the best of all possible worlds would be 1) using Farecast to get a reading on whether the current fare is a good one, and whether to wait or buy now, then 2) using FareCompare to get e-mail alerts when fares drop (even hours before those fares even go on sale), and finally 3) using Yapta to track fares after you’ve pulled the trigger, so you can collect vouchers or refunds if fares drop further. Sounds like a great combination to me. (If these three companies merge, e-mail me for the address where you can send the finder’s fee for brokering the deal.)

I certainly appreciate all the effort, venture capital, and sheer computing power that goes into giving consumers better access to low airfares. It’s a big reason why airfares are as relatively low as they are today, despite recent fare hikes in light of high fuel costs.

But I’d love to see similar effort put into tracking hotel rates. I know, there’s more variation between hotels, and then more variation between rooms within each property, so it’s harder to make comparisons, but I’m sure there are some clever, entrepreneurial programmers who can figure out a way.

Yapta promises to introduce a hotel tracking feature in the future, and I’m looking forward to testing it. Fingers crossed.

Elvis has left the building. If by “Elvis,” we mean the entire flight crew of a United Airlines flight from San Francisco to Sydney, and if by “building,” we mean a Boeing 747 full of passengers who just spent over 14 hours in flight.

Passengers on a United Airlines Boeing 747 endured a horrendous 27-hour journey from San Francisco to Sydney yesterday, when their flight was left stranded on the tarmac at Brisbane Airport - without a crew. Fog in Sydney forced the diversion of two United flights to Brisbane early yesterday. But passengers on both aircraft were left to fend for themselves when their United crews clocked off, having exceeded their legal flying hours. (link; emphasis mine)

So let’s get this straight: The plane gets diverted due to weather, the crew goes over their legal time limit, exits the plane, and leaves the passengers locked inside, with no assistance??

Sounds like the modern-day equivalent of “Lord of the Flies.”

Rules? Pfft! With no Leviathan to control the atavistic masses, life onboard devolved to the state of nature. Economy class passengers pillaged first class, spreading themselves wide in the motorized “suites” up front and helping themselves to the few remaining hot nuts. Lavatory smoke detectors were tampered with. Seatbacks and tray tables were kept at partial, not full, upright positions. Exact change was neither necessary, nor appreciated.

Well, maybe not. It’s a testament to the patience of passengers that we’re not reading such stories of onboard revolution.

But honestly, if the crew can be let off the plane, why can’t the passengers? Even if immigration wasn’t prepared for such an influx of cranky flyers (no relation), couldn’t they have let people out and kept them in a waiting room?

Perhaps we’ll hear about an Australian passengers’ bill of rights soon. How fitting that an American carrier would be the one to set that ball in motion.

Thanks to reader Rob M. for the link!

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Upgraded: Onboard pizza delivery
If you’re stuck on a plane for eight hours, the pizza is free! (While supplies last.) Yes, another airline incident, again on American Airlines, with passengers trapped on board the plane for hours on end. Been there, done that. It happened on April 24th, when a Dallas-bound 757 was diverted to Midland, Texas, but it took weeks for the news to trickle out, not even making real headlines anymore. (So when is that Passengers’ Bill of Rights making its way to the Congressional floor for a vote?…) But the reporting of the story contained this nugget that demonstrates the absurdity of the event: “Pizza was delivered, but only 50 to 70 slices, along with 30 bags of chips.” People weren’t allowed off the plane, but it was okay to order takeout?! And whom do we blame for messing up the order? Were they taking requests? If I were onboard and called in an order for barbeque, could I have had that delivered as well?

Upgraded: Ryanair’s pricing
Euroskinflint Ryanair took a consumer-friendly step in the right direction this week: The airline started quoting their prices inclusive of taxes. Considering the number of mandatory fees and taxes that are added on, that’s a significant change in policy. Good for them!

Downgraded: jetBlue’s CEO and his many apologies
JetBlue founder and CEO David Neeleman, who took a beating for the way his airline kept passengers stuck on board its planes for hours on end back in February, may have won some sympathy for his incessant apologizing after the incident, but his board of directors fired him anyway. “Sorry” doesn’t pay the bills, I guess.

Upgraded: Hotel wi-fi…for hotel management, not you
Next time you check in to a hotel, your minibar may get better internet access than you. Hotel managers are rolling out new features that link their back office to your room via wi-fi, as well as creating in-house wi-fi powered walkie-talkie systems for staff members. In other words, yes, they’ll use wi-fi to keep tabs on your minibar, but they’ll continue to charge you $10.95 a day for you to access your e-mail from your room. Lovely.

Upgraded: Deodorant
If your armpits have that certain je-ne-sais-quoi after you lug your rollaboard around for a few hours, then the TSA may soon try to register you in a database of travelers’ odors. I’m not entirely kidding. Wired reports that the federal government’s Technical Support Working Group is soliciting proposals for a system designed to collect human scents and record them in a database “for future use to track a specified target.” For civil libertarians seeking to avoid detection, the solution is simple: Start dousing yourself with other people’s sweat. “Freedom sweat,” anyone?

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The International Herald-Tribune’s Roger Collis gets a question from a reader regarding the etiquette of windowshades on longhaul flights.

Great question, but he doesn’t really answer it.

Instead, Collis proceeds to describe the windowshade policy on British Airways and Air France. All well and good, but he nonetheless fails to address the reader’s question about the etiquette of windowshade use.

To be fair, it’s not a cut and dried answer. So let’s try to answer it ourselves.

Here’s the original question:

On a recent trans-Atlantic flight with Air France, I was asked to pull down my window shade by a stewardess. I refused as it was daytime and I had no desire to sleep. She insisted, but I held my ground and told her to take the matter up with the captain. She left me alone after that. Was I within my rights to keep my window shade open? Philip Cokkinos, Athens

Collis’ answer just describes the airlines’ rationale for wanting to lower the shades, but it ignores the passengers’ preferences. So how about a passenger who says no? The etiquette on this could go any number of ways.

The body’s internal clock and the amount of sunlight outside aren’t necessarily in sync, so your body could be tired and ready for sleep even though you’re flying in bright sunlight. (This is an issue on eastbound trans-Pacific flights that depart at night, for example. But on a daytime trans-Atlantic flight, your body shouldn’t necessarily be expecting sleep. You could take a siesta, sure, but it’s not quite as necessary as on the eastbound flight.) Regardless, if people are trying to sleep, keeping your shades open could be disturbing to others.

But if you selected a window seat specifically to look outside, to see the beauty of the world from above, why should you sacrifice that? Does it matter what you’re flying over? What if it’s cloudy?

What about people trying to watch a movie? Should you give up your view so someone else can get a better resolution on their 5 inch screen showing “Norbit”?

And of course, if you’re claustrophobic, you’ve got a good argument for keeping the shades up.

So was the reader within their rights to keep the windowshades open? Or should the cabin be dark in flight? Let the people have their say. Vote!

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Last week, Delta emerged from bankruptcy to much fanfare, including a new paint job for its planes and yet another iteration of its corporate logo. Many in the media are reporting this as wonderful news, and describing the celebrations of hopeful employees with words like “jubilee.”

Northwest will also soon emerge from chapter 11 protection, having obtained approval for their post-bankruptcy plan from 97% of their creditors.

But should passengers be celebrating?
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Last week, I spent a night at a Four Points Sheraton. It’s been little over a year since I’d been in one of their hotels, so I wasn’t mentally prepared for what awaited me. As I walked into the lobby and toward the front desk, I was accosted with a phony smelling scent of apple pie.

It was then that I remembered that pie was the chain’s schtick. (Sheraton-branded pies are even being served up in US Airways’ first class. Maybe that comes with an ad on the tray table, too.)

It was just about a year ago when I posted this:

And joining the trend of hotels pumping scents into the air, [Four Points] will start misting their public spaces with the scent of baking apple pie. Why apple pie? They did a survey, and found that it “will spur thoughts of childhood (27 percent), home (39 percent) and holidays (48 percent).” As much as I like apple pie, do you really think it’s a good idea to make road-weary business travelers think longingly of home and carefree youth?

I assure you, I thought of none of those things. Rather, I tried to pinpoint what it was that I was actually smelling.

I thought, “What’s that fake-smelling odor? Cinnamon?” As I waited, I recalled the press releases and e-mails promoting the scents. But apple pie? Not a chance. It was too phony-smelling.

I don’t know how the staff can handle being surrounded by that scented air for extended periods. (Much like I wonder how anyone can work at a Yankee Candle store, but that’s another matter.)

A fresh and clean smelling lobby is one thing. But the stifling, phony smell that the Four Points was pumping into the lobby gets the thumbs down. Consider a clothespin for your nose.

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Reader Kim writes:

I just got back from a trip which included an extended stay hotel. The rule at this place was “no housekeeping for stays under one week.” If you wanted fresh towels, you could go to the office and ask for them. (This was Crossland Studios, fyi.) So when I checked out, and it was time to leave the tip for the housekeeper, I wasn’t sure what to do. What’s a fair tip for a room that’s never serviced during your stay? The room was clean at the time of check-in. I left one dollar. My question: Am I being a cheap-ass? Or is this fair?

No housekeeping… classy! The hotel equivalent of the buffet restaurant.

I feel sorry for housekeepers at extended-stay hotels. The tips must suck. But for that sort of non-service, I’d only tip whatever you leave for a one-night stay in a “real” hotel. If it’s a really cheap room, like a Motel 6, a dollar might be okay. If it’s a decent place, two bucks and up.

What say you, gentle readers? How much of a tip is enough?

Love is no longer in the air
An amorous couple that got busted for their inflight PDA will have to resort to conjugal visits soon. A jury convicted Carl William Persing of interfering with a flight crew last November. In the original complaint, he was accused of being overly amorous with his lady, and that he had his head in her lap in what was perceived to be a sexual manner. (His original defense was that he suffered from a medical condition that required him to rest his head. I guess they gave up that line of defense.) But a felony? And why did he take the fall, while she was let off the hook? It takes two to tango!

Fight terrorism! Shop!
Britain’s airports have been criticized for their long advance check-in times for a while now. Four hours before your international flight? Puh-leeze! Now the airlines themselves are getting into the criticism game. The leadership of British airline bmi has gone on record to claim that the British Airports Authority uses the terror threat to boost its revenue at airport stores.

Fight terrorism again! Assign seats!
No open seating for airlines in India: Assigned seats are now mandatory. Why? The Indian Directorate of Civil Aviation argues that “the move will ensure keeping the centre of gravity within limits at all times during flight,” and that “allocation of seats will also avoid confusion among passengers over seating arrangements and in cases of emergency, specific seat numbers given to certain passengers will be helpful for investigation purposes.” Okay… well, I like seat assignments, but is the center of gravity ever really an issue at Southwest? Seems like they really want to know where the baddies are sitting…

Europeans get better fares when they shop in the USA
European travelers looking to get a deal might consider booking their intra-European flights on US-based travel agency sites. The Times of London reports that fares are often lower on this side of the pond. But beware: Some sites don’t take credit cards that aren’t issued by US banks.

Deciphering pilot-speak
Patrick Smith provides a glossary of things you’ll hear on the PA system in flight. Some of it is niggling over the present tense, especially in variations that involve the word “do.” (As in “I do speak” vs. “I speak” or “I am speaking.”) Fight the good fight, Patrick!

Just over a year ago, Airbus tested its evacuation of the Airbus A380. It went faster than expected, with “only” one broken leg and 32 “friction burns.”

Now the infrared-camera video of the test, from a German news program, is online, including images from the cabin.

Naturally, it’s a test environment, with no emergency landing immediately preceding the opening of doors, and no smoke filling the cabin, but it’s still kind of neat…

Thanks to reader Todd!