Air New Zealand is launching new seats in its longhaul economy class, with a section of the plane fitted with “Skycouch” seats designed to create a three-seat wide airborne equivalent of a foldout couch. It’s an effort to create the first lie-flat bed in coach, a worthy goal if ever there was one.

Starting in November 2010, the window seats in the first eleven rows of economy class of newly-delivered Boeing 777-300s will have cushioned extensions (positioned like calf supports when in “seat” mode) which extend up to create a couch-like flat surface.

To reserve a Skycouch, you’ll need to buy three seats, obviously. If you’re traveling as a pair, you can buy your usual two seats and add on the third seat for half the price of the other two.

My first thought, when I saw the design, was that they were making the “ghetto upgrade” — laying down across a row of empty seats — an official booking class. And indeed, that’s the basis of the design, but expanded to be wide enough for two consenting adults.

No curtains, and no undressing, so don’t get any ideas.

The biggest shortcoming at this point appears to be the length of the bed. The width of three airline seats isn’t that big. Average seat width is 17″. Let’s even add a few inches for gaps between cushions, to be generous. (I know, gaps?) Let’s bump it up to 55″ — 4′ 7″ or 1.4 meters — across all three seats. That’s great if you’re short, but if you’re any taller than that, your feet will be hanging out into aisle. Look at the promo photo below. The guy’s head is angled up the wall of the plane:

There’s some romper room risk here, too. I can see families, especially large ones, buying these seats if they can afford them, and keeping the seats in couch mode for the duration. That means higher odds of noise. If traveling in a non-Skycouch economy seat, and looking for rest, try to find a location as far from the couches as possible.

The airline is also changing its premium economy seats and improving some service delivery in the business cabin. And there’s “new oven technology that will cook food from scratch rather than simply reheating,” but the big news is really (deservedly) the couch-in-coach concept.

A short promotional video to give further perspective (and showing the changes to business and premium economy), after the jump:
(more…)

Reader Richard T. writes:

The incident where the guy snuck through security to see his girlfriend off on a flight got me thinking: Is there a legal way for a person to go through airport security without having a boarding pass? I’m happy to submit to all manner of screenings, wandings, pat-downs, etc.

Yes, actually, there are a couple.

1. Request a gate pass from the airline
Under certain circumstances, you can obtain a gate pass, essentially a permission slip issued by an airline, which allows you to pass through security and to the gates. (Of course, you’re subject to inspection, like everyone else.) Gate passes are typically issued to parents/guardians of a minor traveling alone, to a medical assistant, to an interpreter, or to someone designated as accompanying an elderly person, usually for health reasons. And under TSA Security Directive 1544-01-10w, family of military personnel may get passes to “sterile concourse areas to escort the military passenger to the gate or to meet a military passenger’s inbound arrival at the gate.” Gate passes are free, but are issued at the airline’s discretion. Just saying you’d like to meet your friends and family? Not good enough, typically, but take your best shot!

2. Buy a refundable ticket.
Buy a fully-refundable ticket — to anywhere. Somewhere cheap, somewhere expensive, it doesn’t matter. Buy it, then check in. Print your boarding pass. Walk through security, with a perfectly legal boarding pass. Wave goodbye (or hello) to your friends from the gate. Exit the secure area of the airport. Refund the ticket, by phone or at the counter. (Remember, it was fully refundable. FULLY. But do it before the flight leaves.) It’s an annoying step, but there’s nothing illegal about it.

Richard, you asked about the legal options. So I know you’re not interested in illegal methods, like printing your own forged boarding passes. Phony passes won’t work to get you onto a plane, but they might get you through the security checkpoint. They could also get you a visit from the FBI, since they violate the U.S. code, title 18, part 1, chapter 47, § 1036. Needless to say, NOT RECOMMENDED unless you want to go to jail. But it’s been done…

Any other techniques out there? Hit the comments!

You can’t make this up: A TSA worker abuses his authority and scares the crap out of an innocent woman by planting phony contraband… as a joke. From the Philadelphia Inquirer:

After pulling her laptop out of her carry-on bag, sliding the items through the scanning machines, and walking through a detector, [Rebecca Solomon] went to collect her things.

A TSA worker was staring at her. He motioned her toward him.

Then he pulled a small, clear plastic bag from her carry-on – the sort of baggie that a pair of earrings might come in. Inside the bag was fine, white powder.

The innocent passenger understandably freaked out, realizing she had been framed. And when drugs are involved, it’s not just a missed flight that’s of concern. But wait:

Just kidding, he said. He waved the baggie. It was his.

Kidding? Kidding??? Unbelievable. Not only is this offensive, but so stupid. On what planet did this agent reside, that he thought this was even remotely okay? And what kind of power trip must he have been on, to do this in front of other passengers and fellow agents?

According to the Inquirer, the agent in question no longer works for TSA, but you have to wonder how someone with such miserable judgment was ever hired in the first place.

So, how would you have handled being framed by TSA?…

This may be the dumbest marketing/PR gimmick I’ve seen in a while. Via Barbara de Lollis, the Telegraph reports:

A hotel chain is employing human bed warmers to help guests get a good night’s sleep.

The walking electric blankets are dressed in special all-in-one sleeper suits and are sent to warm the beds of guests staying at the Holiday Inn before they get under the covers.
[...]
Holiday Inn spokeswoman Jane Bednall said the idea was ”like having a giant hot water bottle in your bed”. The five minute free bed warming sessions are being tried out in London and Manchester at the end of January.

This is so dumb it hurts. If you’re not looking for, umm, a casual encounter… why on earth would you want a stranger hanging out in your bed??

I guess the labor cost of hiring people to warm beds is lower than actually buying electric blankets and hot water bottles?

Upgraded: Making the most out of a small airport
For those who are frustrated with the seemingly slow-as-molasses pace of relief efforts and the ceaseless flow of depressing imagery from Haiti, consider this, from the commander of the earthquake-damaged airfield that was once the Port-au-Prince airport:

Col. Buck Elton, who was given the mission to open up airfield and assist with airlifts, says they have controlled 600+ takeoffs and landings in an airstrip that normally sees three takeoffs and landings a day.

Because the air traffic control tower has collapsed, all of this is being done by radio, on the ground – in a place that only has one runway/taxiway for planes, set directly in the middle of the airport and thus making it difficult for other planes to take off and arrive.

Col. Buck talked about how they have to “stack the aircraft until we have space for someone else to come in. ” The maximum number of aircraft that can fit on the ground: one wide-body, five narrow-body planes. and three smaller aircrafts that can taxi in on the ground, filling that spot as necessary. (It sounds like a game of Tetris.)

“The volume is similar to running a major airport without computers, radar or other equipment,” he said.

That’s great work in a bad situation. Here’s hoping that they can squeeze a few more relief flights in and out.

Downgraded: JAL
Japan’s JAL officially declared bankruptcy and defaulted on its bonds. The bidding war for the airline reached an impasse, but will resume now that bankruptcy is definitive.

Upgraded: Your debit card’s PIN
For some time, debit cards have been accepted as a form of payment on airline websites, but in the US, the cards have been processed much like a credit card, through the Visa or MasterCard number to which they’re linked. Now, Spirit Airlines is serving up a way to use your debit card to pay for airline tickets, using the same PIN you use at the ATM. PIN-enabled transactions at retail locations have gained acceptance (and are far cheaper for the retailer than swipe-and-sign transactions), but entering your PIN into a website? That may be a tough sell to the American consumer.

Upgraded: Really big new threats to air safety
Downgraded: Reality
On a lighter note, forget airport patdowns. Worry about giant sharks that are larger than super-jumbo jets and can attack aircraft from deep in the sea. There’s so much to enjoy in just this short clip from the B-movie horror spectacle “Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus.” The wooden acting, the awful computer animation, the absurd physics. Aviation geeks will enjoy the near-slanderous depiction of a “Condor Airlines” (alert the German airline of that name of this abuse!) Boeing 747-8 — a plane that hasn’t even been built yet — bouncing through the clouds, before it … just watch below. Words get in the way.

The recent uptick in scrutiny of baggage — carried-on and checked — has claimed another victim: epicurean travelers who might have brought back a culinary souvenir of their travels abroad. The Wall Street Journal has a piece focused on chefs who smuggle in small quantities of cured meats, sausages, and other charcuterie for the demanding carnivore.

For the would-be meat runners: One of the tricks of the trade, revealed in the article: Hiding a meat product inside a fish, like a whole salmon (which can legally be brought in).

The chefs argue that they are bringing in samples of small-production meats from villages across Europe in order to “reverse-engineer” the products and recreate the recipes here in the US.

The US government’s view is less sanguine:

Sausages and hams “are much more dangerous than people think,” says Janice Mosher, an official at U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which seizes about 4,000 pounds of prohibited meat, plant and animal products a day. “Those items truly have the ability to spread disease.” The government is concerned that bacteria from a smuggled piece of meat will spread through the ecosystem, infecting livestock and hurting agricultural production, Ms. Mosher says.

And then there’s this kicker, the culinary equivalent of a terrorist watch list:

Ms. Mosher [...] says that if people are caught bringing food in once, it’s a good bet they’ll be subjected to extra searches in the future. She says that Customs and Border Protection doesn’t target chefs, but their exploits are known to the government.

Sometimes it seems the CBP folks is targeting travelers from an entire country: On a recent international arrival in Philadelphia, I was horrified at the long lines to exit customs. But a friendly airport worker advised me that the long line was just for the people arriving from Italy. “Not arriving from Italy? Step right to the front.” No beagle sniffing the bags, no questions asked. (Travelers from Italy carrying aged meats might wish to consider changing planes in Paris, London, or Frankfurt, before heading back to the US, to improve their odds.)

The CBP isn’t just out to protect American soil from the dangers of smoked meats. They’re also defending America from smoke — Cuban smoke.

Wine Spectator and Cigar Aficionado critic James Suckling got dressed down at the US-Mexico border by CBP guards after (correctly) citing the law governing their transport of wine into the country. Correcting a border guard on the fine points of the law? Yes, asking for trouble, but the alternative (dumping cases upon cases of wine, when the law is on your side) is hardly pleasant. But, by standing up for his rights, Suckling subjected himself to an excessively thorough search, which turned up a pair of Cuban cigars — illegal to transport into the US.

I’ve been guilty of this in the past. I’ll cop to transporting both meats and Cuban cigars (the latter purchased at duty-free, no less). But in today’s post-crotch-bomber world, with its increased scrutiny, bringing it into the US is a riskier proposition.