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Reader Michelle sends in an e-mail she received from Expedia, in which she’s encouraged to pack her bags and depart frigid New York for warmer climes. Such as:

Click for larger view

Chicago??!

That’s some solid marketing right there. Maybe if this were sent as a fare alert to customers in Nome, Alaska. But New York?

Let’s take a quick peek at weather.com and see where things stand in Chicago right now. Hmm…

At least it’s sunny!

Foodie tourist traps, highbrow and low
Two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed… museum campus? The Big Mac Museum is open for business. Not your speed? How about the uber-bombastic Napa Wine Castle? Sounds like the supersizing of wineries. (Thanks, Dr. Vino!)

“Secrets From the Tower”
Fox News Chicago has a short “tell-all” report featuring a former Chicago O’Hare air traffic controller. My favorite snippet: “ORD controllers still use slips of paper to control traffic.” But take heart, the controllers take delays “as personally as you do.” (Thanks, Steve!)

Delta starts a blog
Corporate blogs are actually remarkably rare in the travel business. (Of the biggies, Bill Marriott has a blog, and Southwest has their blog.) Delta Airlines now joins the fray. Welcome to the blogosphere!

The re-mystification of myths
The TSA keeps trying to play “Mythbusters,” which I’m sure has the folks at the Discovery Channel doing cartwheels of excitement, seeing their brand name attached to the TSA. The problem is, the myths aren’t really busted. Here’s their attempt to refute the ban on liquids. But as Chris Elliott busts the supposedly busted myth, you can’t just say that liquids are dangerous “because we said so.” There are plenty of others who disagree, after all, and who come back with science-based arguments. (More here, for example; or read most anything Bruce Schneier has written in the last six years.) The TSA simply has lost its credibility, and it’ll take more than a few decontextualized videos of stuff going “Boom!” to make me feel water is dangerous. Their mythbusting efforts? Busted.

Down the memory hole
A China Airlines plane recently blew up (no one was injured) but what does the airline do to manage their image? They white out their name and logo from the plane. China Airlines explosion? What China Airlines explosion? Full story and before-and-after photos here.

Remember last week’s post on the Chicago suburb of Berwyn, Illinois, that was planning to tear down this amazing piece of parking lot art, to replace it with yet another Walgreens? I’m pleased to report that the movement to Save the Spindle is underway!

The site, savethespindle.com, is just getting started, but they promise to fight the removal of the car-ka-bob and prevent its replacement with yet another Walgreens drug store. More power to ‘em!

What’s in the cards for the Spindle-Savers? A petition drive to stop the demolition? An effort to move the sculpture to another location? A Walgreens boycott in favor of CVS? Non-stop “Wayne’s World” screenings? Tune in to find out…

As a longtime aficionado of roadside kitsch and a longtime (and now former) resident of Chicago, it is with great sadness that I read that the Spindle, a sculpture consisting of cars stacked on top of each other like a shish-ka-bob, will be torn down, to be replaced by a Walgreens.

A Walgreens? Anyone who’s been to Chicago knows that you can’t spit without hitting a Walgreens. They make Starbucks seem scarce and far-between… and that’s an accomplishment.

The 1989 sculpture was perhaps most prominently featured in the movie “Wayne’s World.” It’s in a shopping center at the corner of Cermak Road and Harlem Ave. in the suburb of Berwyn, if you’re keeping score or want to pay your final respects. It’s a shopping center that incidentally is chock full of late 1980s art. It’s an odd place in its own right. But the Spindle really makes the mall special. (As special as a strip mall can ever be.)

The fact that the sculpture, which features at least three models of car that my family owned at one point or another, will be removed, and likely destroyed, is bad enough. That it will be replaced with a Walgreens is unconscionable.

Save the Berwyn Spindle!

(image: Matthew Kulcsar, via Google Earth)

I’m back from vacation, tanned, rested, and ready. Thanks to Tyler Colman, a.k.a. Dr. Vino, for minding the store in my absence, and for guest-posting earlier today. (And, as an aside, congrats to him for his James Beard Award nomination!)

I returned to Chicago just in time to catch a glimpse of the behemoth Airbus A380 at O’Hare. Airbus and Lufthansa have been taking it on tour. Sadly, I arrived at 4:30pm and was unable to get the interior tour, but I snapped a few exterior photos. They’re not the greatest pictures, but what the heck.

The photo above was taken from my seat onboard a comparatively wimpy little Boeing 737, right after landing. We taxied right past the mega-jet after touching down. I have to admit, it’s really impressive when you see the plane in person. There was a 747 nearby, and it looked small.

And yes, being a dork, I took the train to the long-term parking lot and back to the terminal to try to get another glimpse.

More photos after the jump. Click “more” to see them.

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A group of Chicago’s aldermen (the local name for city council members) is proposing a bill that would block airlines from landing at O’Hare or Midway airports if they fail to have a passengers’ bill of rights in place. Pass the popcorn.

As a resident of Chicago, I really have to snicker at this kind of story, with a simultaneous sense of city pride and shame. This is the city council that, when its members aren’t being indicted, hasn’t shied away from making headlines with laws banning foie gras and a minimum wage aimed only at big-box stores.

But sometimes this is how things actually get done. In a federalist system, it’s sometimes slow, difficult, or impossible to change the rules nationally, for better or worse. Sometimes, large states (or groups of states) take matters into their own hands.

Take California’s rules regarding vehicle emissions. To fight smog, the state’s regulators mandated tougher emissions rules for carmakers; the size of California’s market was large enough that automakers implemented California emissions nationally. David Vogel, in his book Trading Up(aff), calls this “the California effect” or the “race to the top.”

A similar example might be the Texas school board’s power over the writing of textbooks. Because Texas is one of the largest states, and has a board wielding great power over which texts can be used in classrooms, publishers edit their books for Texas’ standards. Because it’s too costly to have different editions in different states, Texas has a huge role in defining curricula nationally.

Alderman Ed Burke believes in the California effect and apparently thinks that Chicago has similar influence. “O’Hare is the busiest airport in the nation. No airline is going to not want to do business in the city of Chicago.” Indeed, it’s hard to imagine airlines pulling out of Chicago en masse if a PBOR were required. This could get interesting.

The Chicago proposal isn’t yet officially proposed, and it sounds like it’s really more of an idea they’re kicking around at this point, rather than a full-fledged bill. No word yet on what the minimum requirements for a bill of rights would need to be, or if international and domestic flights would be treated equally.

It’s certainly a bit of grandstanding. (There’s an election this coming Tuesday, after all.) And while the city owns the airports, can they legally block an airline for such a reason? And finally, if PBOR bills up for review in Congress actually move forward in committee, it might be moot. But it’s certain to make the airlines sweat.

Like I said: Pass the popcorn.

(Hat tip to Rob at the Airline Hub for the link!)

Passengers miss flight because a Northwest crew wanted donuts
Since when do pilots call the shots on the ground, too? A flight crew convinced a hotel shuttle bus driver to go for donuts instead of heading to the airport, causing other van riders to miss their flight. Full story via Chris Elliott.

Wisconsin Dells loses its Wonder Spot
Ah, the Dells… The klassic kitschy Chicagoland weekend getaway. It has now lost one of its treasures, the gravity-defying Wonder Spot. While Tommy Bartlett’s Thrill Show remains, the Wonder Spot will be missed.

My bag is happy to see you
A “vibrating bag” was discovered unattended at Chicago O’Hare. (It contained a sleep apnea machine, so wipe that smirk off your face!)

I came for the transportation, I stayed for the haircut
Virgin Atlantic hires more in-flight beauty therapists.

Love at first sting
Two separate flights, two separate incidents of scorpions stinging people on a plane. Flight one: Chicago to Burlington, Vermont. Flight two, Miami to Toronto. Forget Samuel L. Jackson. Bring me Klaus Meine!

Singapore Airlines’ new business class… reviewed!
Remember Singapore Airlines’ major upgrade to its business and first class cabins on selected routes? The Global Traveller has sat in the business class seat, and offers his review. Live vicariously.

Charlie Trotter and United Airlines reunited and it feels so good
This is where the cost savings from eliminating pretzels in coach must have gone. United Airlines is jazzing up the food in business and first class. They’re bringing back uber-chef Charlie Trotter, whom they ditched after 9/11. Bet you a bag of savory snack mix that it’ll still taste like airline food… (Thanks to Mark L.!)

Oasis coming to Oakland
Oasis, the Hong Kong based discount airline, famous for it’s $128 tickets to London, is coming to the United States. They’ll start flights from Hong Kong to Oakland in June, with 4x weekly service to start, moving up to daily service in August. No word yet on the fare.

Avoid the TSA by shipping yourself in a crate?
This isn’t living the first class life, but it’s first class by shipping container standards: The Travelbox, a crate designed for shipping a person. Bonus: It has its own running water supply.

Enterprise Rent-a-Car adds hybrid SUVs in California
Enterprise will rent you one of 160 Saturn VUE Green Line SUVs in the Bay Area, LA, or Sacramento. Yes, only California. What, no other parts of the country care about fuel consumption? Hybrids: good. Hybrid CARS, and not just SUVs, would be even better… It’s a start.

American Airlines spurns Expedia
If you’re looking for American Airlines’ international fares or premium cabin fares on Expedia, you’re out of luck. The airline is apparently having a little spat with the online agency, and yanked its fares from the site. We’ll see how long that lasts…

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Paging Fox Mulder! The truth is not just “out there,” but it’s at O’Hare.

A dozen United Airlines employees report witnessing a UFO at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport on November 7, 2006. A “mysterious elliptical-shaped craft sitting motionless over Concourse C of the United terminal” prompted radio calls to the tower, where controllers were unable to spot the object, neither visually nor on radar. Yet plenty of people on the ground — all employees of the airline — saw it.:

All the witnesses to the O’Hare event, who included at least several pilots, said they are certain based on the disc’s appearance and flight characteristics that it was not an airplane, helicopter, weather balloon or any other craft known to man.
[…]
The pilots of the United plane being directed back from Gate C17 also were notified by United personnel of the sighting, and one of the pilots reportedly opened a windscreen in the cockpit to get a better view of the object estimated to be hovering 1,500 feet above the ground.

The object was seen to suddenly accelerate straight up through the solid overcast skies, which the FAA reported had 1,900-foot cloud ceilings at the time.

Good stuff. And no, it’s not a weather balloon, that’s already been ruled out.

Making it even tastier for the conspiracy buffs, there’s even a coverup!:

Some [airline employees] said they were interviewed by United officials and instructed to write reports and draw pictures of what they observed, and that they were advised by United officials to refrain from speaking about what they saw.

Like United, the FAA originally told the Tribune that it had no information on the alleged UFO sighting. But the federal agency quickly reversed its position after the newspaper filed a Freedom of Information Act request.

Go read the whole thing.

Now THAT’S the way to start off the New Year. Thanks to the Tribune’s Jon Hilkevitch for making my day.

JetBlue, the airline whose in-seat televisions pay you nice compliments, just announced their routes in the Chicago market, effective January 4, 2007. It’ll be the first time the airline has flown to the Windy City: 2 flights a day to/from New York-JFK, and 2 flights a day to Long Beach.

And of course there’s a fare sale to go with the new routes. $36 each way, plus tax. I priced out an itinerary from Chicago to Long Beach that’s $91.10 roundtrip, all-in. That’s quite cheap.

The legal mumbo-jumbo:

Service begins on January 4, 2007. Fare requires a 14-day advance purchase. Tickets must be purchased on or before October 27, 2006. Travel must be completed by February 15, 2007.

Now let’s just keep the pilot alertness experiments to a minimum, okay?

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Update: No kowtowing to teetotaling taxicabs
Remember the cabdrivers who were refusing to transport passengers from Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport if they suspected the traveler was carrying alcohol? The airports commission has wisely reversed its earlier plans to label taxis as “wet” or “dry.” If a cabbie refuses a fare for any reason, he now has to go to the back of the line. Good. If you don’t want to transport people whom you find objectionable for whatever reason, don’t be a cabdriver. Simple enough.

Economy Parking, Premium Skycaps
Chicago’s O’Hare airport is getting skycaps at Economy Parking Lot E. The new service, run by BAGS, Inc., will allow parkers to check in and drop off their bags ($5 fee) before they head back to the terminal via the train. But you’re expected to drop off the bags a whole 2 hours before your flight. That seems like a stretch.

More airlines lower fuel surcharges
Lufthansa and Singapore Airlines are rolling back fuel surcharges for longhaul flights. Good for them, and for us.

Singapore Airlines’ gift from above
A large metal bolt fell off a Singapore Airlines 747 and hit an Australian man’s house. (He should be glad it wasn’t a DC-10 overhead.)

Behind the scenes at American Airlines
Peter Greenberg spent a week checking out American Airlines’ operations behind the scenes. The result is a CNBC special which aired Wednesday. I missed the first showing, but it’s being re-run on Sunday. Plus, clips from the show are available for download here. Will there be coverage of the mice that seemingly infest their planes?

Europeans: ask for your travel records
Privacy advocate Ed Hasbrouck advises Europeans to find out what’s in their travel records. In Europe, you own the rights to your data. In the U.S., the company that holds the data owns the rights. Might as well have a look, to see if there are errors. Much like looking at your credit report to look for fraud…

Ryanair revises fine print, battles its own employees
Britain’s Office of Fair Trading is forcing Ryanair to change the fine print in its ticketing contract. The changes make it easier to file a claim against the airline for lost, damaged, or delayed luggage, as well as expenses due to flight cancellation. This comes on top of employee actions, including unionization threats, promises of a strike by baggage handlers in Spain, and the refusal of Italian crew to sell food on board. (See here for the unionization campaign’s homepage.)

Terrifying liquid
Via Boingboing: a liquid whose name deserves all the TSA scrutiny it can handle. Best to pack this on in your carry-on, if you absolutely, positively need to bring central American cleaning supplies through an airport.

Terrifying lawns
Taking his work home with him? A Los Angeles plane mechanic has turned his front lawn into a mock airplane crash site for Halloween. It uses real aircraft parts from a Gulfstream. Considering it’s in LA, trick-or-treaters might be unfazed and think he’s running a filming location for “Lost.”

Sharkey strikes back
NY Times travel columnist Joe Sharkey, who survived the midair collision in Brazil a few weeks ago, and whose blog was peppered with hate-filled comments after he posted a short statement of concern for the fates of the pilots of his aircraft, lashed out against his (largely Brazilian) critics in a recent post. The investigation into the accident and the surrounding controversy has become quite the drama. Thusfar no word on his site on whether or not he is, in fact, Robin Leach.

Safety first!
Flying from the United States to Korea or Japan? If you’re traveling with Asiana or Korean Air Lines, you’ll take a different flight path nowadays, thanks to North Korea’s recent missile tests coming dangerously close to existing air routes. Today Japan’s largest airlines, Japan Air Lines and ANA, announced their own re-routings. No word on American carriers’ flight paths. Yay.

Safety second!
British tourists file more travel insurance claims on trips to Thailand than any other country. Runners up: “…the Czech republic, which came out top for incidents of pick-pocketing, South Africa, top for violent robberies, and Mexico, which is the place to go for over-exposure to the sun, it seems.” By this measure, Ireland was the “safest” destination.

Impressive, but…
China recently completed the train to Tibet and began passenger service. It’s an ambitious and impressive engineering project to be sure (the train cars are pressurized, like a plane, due to the enormous altitudes), but also a highly controversial exercise in internal colonialism. A good overview of the cultural and political ramifications (and fears) can be found here. It’s not all gee-whiz-isn’t-it-neat-what-they-built.

The Denny’s of the Sky?
A new promo: If you fly Aloha Airlines on their birthday (July 26), and you keep the boarding pass stub, you can fly free on your birthday (return within 7 days). Inter-island flights only. But what the heck.

Fare sale to Europe
Air France kicks off their Bastille Day fare sale today (purchase by July 28). Some good late summer/fall fares.

More luxe to Europe
All-biz airline Eos looks to expand from the New York-London route to also serve New York-Paris.

Healthier airborne meals
Northwest Airlines had better keep up. Just a few weeks ago they announced that their Stalinist experiment in inflight dining was over, and that they would reintroduce a choice (gasp!) to the menu in domestic first class. At the same time, other carriers are redesigning their first and business class menus, too, with an eye for lighter gourmet fare. But take away the ice cream, and flyers revolt. (The sarcastic chorus of “boo hoo” is coming from the economy seats.) The article also plugs Peter Greenberg’s book The Traveler’s Diet: Eating Right and Staying Fit on the Road.

Predicting the next protectionist outrage
Chicago Midway under foreign management? It could happen, since the city is soliciting bids for long-terms leases on the airport. We’ll see if a (likely) winning bid from a foreign entity yields as much furor as the Dubai ports affair. If an international firm wins the bidding, it won’t be the first foreign-managed US airport. Indianapolis and Stewart-Newburgh, NY airports are already under British firms’ control. International bids for US assets should be no surprise, given the current account deficit; all those dollars flowing overseas need to be put to work somewhere…

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Chicago O’Hare reclaimed the title of the world’s busiest airport, measured in take-offs and landings, taking the top spot from Atlanta, which falls to number 2. Delta’s recent cuts in their domestic schedule account for a large part of Atlanta’s drop.

Delays and cancellations at these and other U.S. airports this summer have been better than expected. But don’t celebrate too soon, especially not in Los Angeles. LAX is rebuilding one of its four runways. The reconstruction of the runway is scheduled to take 8 months, with another 16 months to finish the taxiways.

One of the reasons for the rebuilding is to make LAX capable of handling the Airbus A380. If Florida Republican John Mica has his way, no federal tax dollars will be spent on the venture. The chairman of the House Aviation Subcommittee has introduced a bill to prohibit the use of federal airport grants for purposes of A380 refitting. His reasoning: No US-based commercial passenger airline has bought the (gasp!) French-built plane, so why should the US pay for airport improvements to handle it.

Putting aside arguments for/against an infrastructural change that directly benefits foreign passenger airlines, Congressman Mica forgot two things in his rush to jingoism: 1) Freight carriers use airports, too. Box-haulers like UPS and FedEx have ordered the A380, and presumably will want to land them at American airports. 2) Boeing’s next-generation 747, the 747-8, will have similar runway requirement as the A380, due to the streched 747’s greater weight. Brilliant.

Attention Florida voters: It’s never too late to register to vote…

tags: travel | airports | LAX | ORD | protectionism | John Mica