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Downgraded: Food on Alaska Airlines
Well, the food is the same, but it’ll cost you $5 starting August 1.

Upgraded: First class food on Singapore Airlines
Flying up front on Singapore? Consider the thali. Do they have a tandoor in first class? This I gotta see.

Upgraded: Smokers’ inflight nicotine fix
Stuck on a long flight (and not flying all-smoking Smintair), or sitting inside a smoke-free Westin or Marriott? Crack open an ice-cold NicLite — the bottled water with the nicotine kick. You’ll soon be able to buy it at LAX, and possibly other airports.

Downgraded: Delta’s online booking bonus
Book a flight online at delta.com, only get 500 bonus miles instead of the usual 1000. American has already done this for less than top-dollar fares.

Upgraded: AA’s Online Check-In
Same-day round-trip American Airlines flyers rejoice: You can now check in online for both the outbound and the same-day return flights. Convenient for out-and-back trips, as well as mileage runners.

Downgraded: Varig. Upgraded: Varig
Brazilian airline and Star Alliance member VARIG, long in bankruptcy court, was sold for a mere pittance to VarigLog, the cargo arm of the airline that had been previously spun off. The new owners immediately cancelled all flights except the lucrative Sao Paolo-Rio de Janeiro shuttle, leaving many international travelers scrambling for alternatives. Brazilian regulators subsequently forced the airline to resume international flights, but the carrier only has 13 planes that aren’t either repossessed or grounded due to lack of maintenance. Where she stops, nobody knows.

Downgraded: Canadians and permanent residents
If you’re Canadian or a green-card holder, you’re more likely than a US citizen to be a criminal. That’s the only conclusion I can draw from efforts to expand fingerprinting requirements. My opinion: Either fingerprint everyone, or no one.

Downgraded: My opinion of South African airport security
Reporters walked through security and onboard aircraft carrying razor blades, knives, mace spray, and other prohibited items.

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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Posh all-business class Eos Airlines did the unthinkable last month: It broke even. Business must be going well: The airline, which flies New York-JFK to London-Stansted in Boeing 757s configured with 48 seats, has been flying at 70% capacity and will add a second daily flight to the schedule in September.

All-biz competitor Maxjet has been showing similarly full planes, but hasn’t made any statements as to profitability. Maxjet, too, is adding flights and leasing more planes.

I still stand by my earlier comments that Maxjet, while providing a great value for a reasonably posh flight, is still not a serious business airline. It’s luxury class for tourists — and that’s terrific! Nothing wrong with that, but it ain’t business.

But let’s put aside gripes about the seat… what’s the food like? Enter AirlineMeals.net, the web’s repository for photos and menus of inflight dining, past and present. It’s an amazing resource, and worth your perusal, much like opening up a time capsule. But it also lets you see what various airlines around the world actually offer in terms of inflight service.

Maxjet’s food looks good. (Virgin Atlantic’s food looks nicer, though Virgin also charges two to three times as much for airfare… but check out that dessert at #117!)

Eos isn’t included in airlinemeals.net yet, but I found the adjacent photo on flickr. And they have real metal knives! (Gasp!) Someone alert the TSA!

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The free drinks are back, baby!

Well, sort of. Economy class travelers on Delta’s international flights will be able to have ONE complimentary alcoholic beverage with their meal, including their suggestively-named “Mile High Mojito,” starting Saturday, July 1.

Most US-based carriers have put a $5 price tag on booze in economy, while European and Asian carriers have still let the liquor flow. It seems that Delta will give you one free drink, but will charge you for any extra. Nonetheless, it’s nice to see any amenities restored to coach travel.

The airline will also reintroduce amenity kits with eyeshades, earplugs, etc., and printed menus to the economy cabin. (Couldn’t the menu simply be a business card that reads “chicken or pasta”?)

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tags: travel | air travel | free drinks | Delta Air Lines Inc

Less meat, more food
Sure, if you’re promised a meal, and you don’t get one, you should be angry. But holding a sit-in? 55 vegetarian passengers on Air India refused to leave the plane after landing at their destination, because they had not been given a vegetarian option on board.

More drinks
As part of its continuing Texas-sized war with American Airlines, Southwest upped the ante and gave away free drinks last week to travelers from Dallas’ Love Field. 65,000 free drinks.

Less legroom, less luggage, but lots more prime minister!
Tony Blair, tired of flying in first class while Prince Charles flew business class, went downscale with his family, opting to fly Irish discount carrier Ryanair from Rome to Stansted. Unlike other Ryanair patrons, he and his family got to choose their seats in advance. (I wonder if he also paid for each piece of checked luggage, inflight food and drinks, or any of the myriad taxes and fees…) I guess he didn’t watch the channel 4 report on Ryanair safety! Next year, maybe we’ll see him jet off to Amsterdam on EasyJet for a weekend with his mates.

More plane
Singapore Airlines, the first airline to fly the double-decker Airbus A380, announced its first official route for the plane: Singapore to Sydney.

More old-school mileage
Best Interstate road trips in America? USA Today has a list. Some good roads, but if you’re road-tripping, don’t just stick to the interstates.

More newfangled mileage
Currently, twin-engine planes traveling over the oceans need to chart a course so they remain close to airports in case of emergency. (The certification is called “ETOPS” — explained here.) Airbus’ 319, 320, and 321 were just upgraded to 3 hour ETOPS recently by the FAA, allowing them to fly longer overwater. For widebody longhaul planes like the Boeing 777, the maximum legal flight time to the nearest airport is currently 3 hours. The Federal Aviation Administration appears set to certify the Boeing 777 (and potentially other 2-engine widebody planes) for longhaul overwater flights of up to 5 ½ hours. Only Antarctica would be off-limits.

More beat-up furniture and saggy mattresses. Lots more.
Want your home to be more like a rundown hotel? Then this is your home furnishing supercenter, from furniture to art. (via BoingBoing)

In a time when in-flight meals are declining or disappearing, Gadling points to an interesting challenge that Conde Nast Traveler posed to Gene Kato, chef at Chicago’s Japonais restaurant. The goal: Create the perfect in-flight meal.

The dish had to be spoilproof for at least three hours, leakproof, and non-odiferous.

Fair enough. Now, admittedly, the rules called for this to be an in-flight meal, not an in-flight meal you prepare on your own. If ever there was a need for a personal assistant/chef, this is it.

The recipe for Miso-Glazed Fried Chicken with Japanese Truffled Soybean Salad sounds delicious, but it involves an impressive list of ingredients and steps, even for seasoned home cooks. I don’t foresee too many business travelers whipping this one up in their down time.

More realistically, the magazine should check out hotels’ takeout options. In an effort to attract or retain business travelers, upscale hotels like the Ritz-Carlton Pentagon City offer takeout lunchboxes designed with air travel in mind. The offerings, sometimes sold under labels like “Flight Bites,” sound good, and certainly beat the fare available at most airports:

Pistachio-crusted blue fin tuna topped with shaved fennel and blood oranges. Prosciutto and burratta mozzarella on bone bread, garnished with arugula. Grilled chicken with avocado and chipotle aioli.

Yum. (Although I’m not sure what “bone bread” entails.)

(image: cherylladd.com. Really.)