Rent an iPod inflight, catch up on Sabado Gigante
Here’s an airline that’s thinking outside the box: For about $5, Mexican discount airline Volaris will rent you an iPod loaded with Mexican TV shows and popular music. (American sitcoms y musica gringa coming soon.)

If Seinfeld ran an airport
Airport food is notoriously overpriced, but at least there’s food available, which is more than you can say for the departing planes. The latest entrant into the in-terminal dining segment: Cereality, the restaurant chain devoted entirely to cereal. Benet Wilson reports that a mini-version of the chain with limited selection opened at Newark Airport. A full-fledged restaurant, with 40 cereals and 40 toppings, opens at Chicago O’Hare (terminal 1, concourse B) soon. The idea is brilliant: Near-universally-liked food, HUGE profit margins.

Very superstitious, writing on the tail
Brussels Airlines’ logo consists of 13 dots that create a “B.” Superstitious passengers refuse to fly with the airline because of that number. Airline adding a 14th dot. Oy.

View the Opryland Glacier from your riverboat cruise ship?
Much like Nepal tourist advertising recently pictured photos that were actually in Peru, Tennessee’s promo materials were discovered to feature photos of mountain bikers in Alaska. Maybe Elvis is alive and well and living in Kodiak.

(image)

Too bad this didn’t happen on WizzAir
An Air Canada Jazz pilot locked himself out of the cockpit after visiting the lavatory. The co-pilot and flight attendant, both up front behind the locked door, were unable to open it. (Insert joke here.) After banging on the door, perhaps even shouting “Let me in!” to the horror of the passengers aboard the 50-seat Canadair Regional Jet, the pilot unscrewed the door hinges and got back in his seat. (The plane landed safely.) — And in case you’re wondering about the puerile joke in the title, there really is a WizzAir.

Security 2: Electric Booga-loo (emphasis on “loo”)
Losing your iPod certainly sucks. Losing it by dropping it into an airplane toilet, even worse. Having your plane make an emergency landing because of your dropped iPod being in the toilet, and being questioned as a terrorist suspect: almost trip horror perfection. (via Consumerist)

Moisture-based lawsuits begin
Add it to the growing list of lawsuits. An Irish woman is suing Delta Airlines for failing to provide beverages for her 18-month old boy, whom she carried on her lap. TSA agents at JFK had required her to empty her child’s juice at security. (via Consumerist, again)

Passports not worth what they once were
The U.S. government is preventing two American citizens from returning to the United States from Pakistan, unless they agree to be questioned — with lie detectors — by the FBI about their relatives, who were convicted in a case involving terrorism. Though they are not considered suspects, and are not charged with any crime, these two Americans are on the no-fly list for now. As usual, Ed Hasbrouck, recently turned consultant to the Identity Project/papersplease.org is on the scene, making a strong (if wordy) case that this is a violation of constitutional rights.

More kung fu fighting, still fast as lightning
China is sending some of its air marshals to the United States for further training. Apparently China’s flying cops are already “trained in martial arts and carry knives and clubs.” But can they sing and dance as well?

(image, taken onboard Southwest Airlines)