• Inconvenient “convenience” fees – I think this one bothers me the most. That said, I experienced the fees far more in Japan and Australaia than I did here, so it’s yet another case of the US catching up with the rest of the world. The “convenience” fee that I don’t mind is the exit row and other extended legroom options as Virgin America charges for them. I don’t agree with the airlines that make these available only to elite level, they should be available to those willing to pay. It’s interesting to see how it’s going to shake out with booking fees, as I’ve mentioned before.
• Gridlock on the ground: the sequel – I agree with Christopher here, Mass Transit. Last school year I was commuting 80+ miles a day on school days from Nyack -> Suffern -> Midtown or Astor Place. I was killing my car and my sanity. Now with the internship in Manhattan, I take the TZ Express from Nyack to Tarrytown, where I pick up MetroNorth. Someone else fights the traffic and I get to read or sleep, sounds like a win win to me.

So maybe it’s not the end of the world…

The safety demonstration!

This isn’t exactly the one I saw, but it’s pretty close. I love that their planes have done away with the obsolete no smoking sign and replaced it with something useful and I adore the seatbelt comment. Good way to make people pay attention.

ETA: The Travel Blog Carnival has launched and it’s already garnering some attention. I look forward to my turn to host it.

I flew from JFK to LAX and that was a nice flight. Highlights:

• mood lighting — much less harsh than typical airline light, I almost didn’t need my eye mask.
• IFE/Red Network – lots of fun both for the ability to order food on demand but also for the games. Loved that it was active from boarding to de-boarding, meant that we could continue to play Mahjong as we sat on the taxi way at LAX waiting for a gate. Also the flight journey was GoogleMaps which was fun to play with.

The main downsides? The cost of the food and limited selection of same is easy to overcome. Will bring my own next flight. However going to Kennedy is a royal pain. I can’t help being spoiled, EWR is far less of a hassle to get to. I’d love it if VX flew from EWR but that’s not going to stop me from flying it. The price is good, as is the service.

Plus, you can’t beat he novelty factor at this stage.