With the Thanksgiving holiday upon us here in the U.S., the roads, rails, and skies are jam-packed with 39 million travelers. This year, I’m giving thanks that I’m not one of them. The U:TB home office will be taking the next few days off, to recover from the tryptophan low that excessive turkey consumption is bound to bring.

(Incidentally, in the spirit of the Gerald Ford flashback photo, the presidentially “pardoned” turkey nowadays flies to Disneyland or Disney World to live out its days at a petting zoo. And the bird flies… typically in first class. I’m not making this up.)

So for those who ARE traveling this holiday, good luck. The tips I posted a year ago for holiday travel are just as valid today, if not more so.

If you’re heading to one of the major airports, you might want to check Travelocity’s live-blogging from the terminals. Or test-drive Orbitz Traveler Update (look on the right side of the screen, under “Orbitz TLC,” to find it), for live passenger reports from the field (background here.)

But good luck, and a safe journey, no matter how you travel.

At the same time, let me take this opportunity to thank YOU, the readers of this site. Thanks for reading, thanks for commenting, thanks for e-mailing in your tips and questions, and thanks for making online travel-related purchases through the “support” page. I appreciate the time you spend on Upgrade: Travel Better, and I hope you’ll continue to point your browser (or feed reader) this way.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Austrian Airlines recently announced a genuine upgrade on its medium-haul flights: real business class seats. But the picture they used to accompany their public relations blitz (above) is taking the term “illustration” a bit literally. Couldn’t they take a real photo?!

That said, it’s actually a meaningful change for Austrian to put these seats in their Airbus A320s. After all, the majority of “business class” seating on single-aisle flights in Europe involves just adjustable armrests in a regular row of coach seating. That means there’s no center seat, but it’s not a “real” business class seat.

So by offering a real business class seat on shorter routes — albeit a cradle seat, not a top-of-the-line lie-flat seat — Austrian is kicking things up a notch. It’s a small scale, but if it works, it could signal the start of a new trend in Euro-travel.

The new seats will be put into a whopping four planes in the fleet by September 2008, which will cover flights from Vienna to Damascus, Cairo, Tehran, Dubai, and Astana. (Astana? Borat demands a cradle seat!)

Now if only they could get their art department involved.

(Thanks, Benet!)

Thanksgiving is almost upon us. And I’m giving thanks that I’m not traveling this holiday. But in the spirit of the season, how about an upgrade/downgrade cornucopia:

Downgraded: Hooters Style
Kyla Ebbert, the Southwest miniskirt bandit, has posed for Playboy. Glad to know she wasn’t in it for the publicity. Nah, never… What took her so long?

Upgraded: Carry-on rules for UK travel
The UK may — may — allow passengers to have more than one carry-on item again, if airports demonstrate their ability to handle the load. If they pass muster, airports will be greenlighted starting January 7, 2008.

Upgraded: Weight-based airfare proposals
An Australian doctor is proposing airfare based on your weight. Not a particularly practical policy for advance purchases, but heck, hotels have tried it, so why not.

Downgraded: American Airlines’ flight tracking
What did AA do to keep up with the list of 130 diverted flights on December 29, 2006? It kept a list on a legal-sized notepad. Way to work the high tech! (via Consumerist)

Upgraded: Elitism on Greyhound
Greyhound, taking a page from the Skybus playbook, is charging $5 for early boarding on its buses. It’s not a bus with free wifi, but it’s a start, I guess.

Downgraded: Merger Mania
Yes, Delta and United are in play for a merger. Sure, Delta said the airlines weren’t talking. But their stockholders (hedge funds) were. So who the heck knows if this will actually happen. We’ve seen this thing before (United-Continental? US Airways-Delta?) and it hasn’t happened. Bottom line: airlines are making record profits, despite record fuel prices, and yet they still keep arguing for a need to cut capacity and raise fares, which is most easily effected through a merger. This makes no sense on so many levels. I remain opposed to airline mergers, like a broken record.

Pod, cube, or capsule — there are more and more mini-hotels popping up around the world, offering tiny rooms with no frills at low prices. Brands like easyHotels (from the makers of easyJet), Yotel, Qbic, Podhotel, and others are following the trend made famous by Japanese hoteliers. (No sleeping in drawers.)

At the same time that luxury properties are fighting for bragging rights on who can be the most over-the-top, the pods are aiming at the opposite end of the market.

The pods have their place. If you’re looking for a few Z’s at an airport? Perfect. City tourism for the go-go-go traveler who just crashes for the night? Sure. Backpackers looking to upgrade from the hostel for change of pace? You betcha.

But how big is this market, really? Will it succeed in the US? After all, America is still the supersize society, despite some slight recent pullback.

So, the question goes to you, the traveling consumer:

Downgraded: Hotel-room glasses
I’m always a little wary of those glasses in hotel rooms, but now we’ve got hidden-camera proof that we shouldn’t be using them — or washing them ourselves before every use. Fox Atlanta planted cameras in several hotels, including Holiday Inn, Sheraton, and the Ritz-Carlton. In each hotel, housekeepers don’t remove the glasses for cleaning in the dishwashers downstairs. At best, they simply rinse them. At worst, they spray them with poisonous household cleaners, handle them with the same gloves they wore when cleaning the toilet, or dry the rinsed glassware with the same towel you used as a bathmat that morning. Disgusting. (Thanks, James!)

Upgraded: Ways to contact Skybus
Skybus, the notoriously hard-to-reach airline that tries to tell its customers that there’s no working phone number at the airline, has been exposed. How to contact Skybus, according to Skybus? Write an e-mail. After seeing far too many boilerplate e-replies that don’t address the problem, Chris Elliott has posted the executives’ contact information, including e-mails.

Upgraded: Advertisers’ unwitting sense of irony
Skybus again: CapitalOne is shelling out the big bucks to paint pigs all over a Skybus A319. It’s a savings account ad — a piggy bank theme — plus a riff off “When pigs fly,” leaving you, the consumer, with hijinks and hilarity. But if you’re an airline, do you really want your plane looking like a pig? Skybus, the flying pig? Wallow aboard!

Upgraded: Paris wine
Where to find a good wine bar or wine retailer in Paris? Look no further. Dr. Vino hits the scene with yet another installation of his wine maps. The Paris wine map features both stores and bars.

Upgraded: Getting on the bump list
The Cranky Flier notes that United has started asking for volunteers on overbooked flights at the time of check-in. Talk about getting in front of the problem. Unfortunately, the net effect for travelers is negligible, because you can’t (yet?) be guaranteed a bump by registering for one online. You still have to drag your butt to the airport and wait at the gate. Registering online only gets you an early spot on the list, if that’s your bag.

Upgraded: Smokin’ hot suitcases
The joke luggage insert (ahem, the Citizen’s Insertable Swiftness Manifest) posted last week included several jokes about smoking luggage. Now life imitates art. Phoenix SkyHarbor Airport was actually shut down after a smoking suitcase was discovered.

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I admit, I’m a sucker for the Shatner ads for Priceline. His over-the-top self-mocking is pitch-perfect. But beyond the Shat, there’s great news on the booking fee front courtesy of the firm he hawks. Priceline has “permanently” eliminated the booking fee it once charged on regular airfare.

Note that this is for a traditional flight search, by airline, schedule, etc., not the name-your-own-price opaque airfare they offer. (I wouldn’t recommend opaque airfare to anyone but a backpacking tourist with time to kill.)

Priceline and Hotwire have both previously put their booking fees for scheduled airfare on hiatus, but Priceline’s news is to make it “permanent,” and not just a limited-time offer.

This is a blow to Orbitz, Expedia, Travelocity, and any other agency, online or off, that charges a fee. But it’s not a death blow. Neither Priceline nor Hotwire have that great of a fare search engine, though you’re able to buy mixed-airline itineraries on both. Priceline allows multi-city routings and refundable-fare searches. (Hotwire punts and sends multi-city requests to Expedia instead.)

Nonetheless, it’s good to see a whittling down of booking fees, especially in an environment of fuel surcharges and all around nickel-and-diming. Bravo to lower fees. And with the ever self-deprecating Shat, to boot.

Related:
- Priceline flight search (aff)
- Hotwire.com (aff)