Downgraded: The mile-high club That’s what airlines need in order to survive the economic downturn: Hookers! “Federal prosecutors in Pennsylvania say [Roger] Sedlak used a non-existent airline, dubbed CQ Air, to arrange sex-for-cash trysts in hotels across state lines.” The thing i...

The a-la-carte airfare trend not only mucks with price transparency; it mucks with your reimbursements. One friend of mine had a hard time getting his checked-luggage fee reimbursed. A former colleague sent me a rant about a previous employer, noting that her $25 standby fee on US Airways, which she...

Upgraded: Weird contraband found at airports Downgraded: Pigeon welfare The NY Daily News has a set of photos of items found by customs agents at airports. Most are drug related, but my favorite has to be this image of a man with pigeons wrapped up and kept in his long underwear: “Sir, your pa...

The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority is waging war on hotels near DC hotels. The reason: Airports feel they’re losing parking and taxi/shuttle revenue to hotels that serve them. The real loser: Hotel guests, especially if the Washington Airports plan succeeds, serving as a model for ...

Downgraded: Cocktails as tourist marketing Thailand’s tourist managers have concocted a mixed drink to personify the spirit of the nation, or so they claim in their heavy-handed marketing blitz. A “Siam Sunrays” cocktail “consists of a shot of vodka, coconut liqueur, a dash o...

Oh, Ryanair! There’s nothing about air travel that you won’t consider eliminating! Up next: the airport check-in counter. European budget airline Ryanair wants to do away with airport check-in desks by the end of the year, saying most of its customers already check in online. Passengers ...

Downgraded: The fates of whistleblowers who look out for passenger safety A cold day in Calgary, and three US Airways flight attendants notice ice building up on the wings. After much wrangling, they convince their flight crew to de-ice an aircraft. After landing safely, they report the incident to ...

Italian politicians need to read their own history more. They seem to have forgotten the roles of travel and trade in shaping what has come to be known as Italian cuisine. Instead, they’re taking protectionism and closed-mindedness to a new peak with new rules and regulations designed to purge...

Recession be damned! A new “ultra-elite” credit card has launched in the US, in an effort to woo clients who aspire to better travel benefits and members-only services. Barclays is behind the new Visa Black Card, which obviously hopes to emulate the aura of exclusivity and status that th...

If you thought the recession and hotel overbuilding would lead to the end of the giant-hotel arms race, think again. Since late 2006, the 6,118-room First World Hotel in Genting, Malaysia, a technicolor mammoth if there ever was one, has borne the honor of the World’s Largest Hotel. Now, an ev...