Flying-Phobic Comic Takes to the Air

Airlines ramp up discounts in promotional offers

(NEWSER) - The latest airfare deals aren't online or at travel agencies—they're targeted promotional fares, being emailed and tweeted to customers who sign up to receive them or who enroll in frequent-flier programs. These under-the-radar offers, an inexpensive form of advertising increasingly popular with recession-battered airlines, range from 10% discounts to buy-one-get-one-free ticket deals, the Wall Street Journal reports. More»

Most options come with costs Congress, or fliers, find unpalatable

(NEWSER) - The White House is talking tough about airline security after Friday's failed bombing, but many options for tightening up the system are either politically untenable, repugnant to travelers, or both. Josh Gerstein takes a look at a few possibilities, and their likelihood of becoming reality, in Politico .

• Expand the no-fly or stricter-screening lists: Suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was on the larger TIDE watch list of 550,000. Some argue all 550,000 suspicious persons should be subject to more stringent screening. Are you nuts? a Bush official wonders. "You’d have this meltdown." Not likely, Gerstein writes.

Trips to Thailand net vintage headphones and the like for cabin mockup

(NEWSER) - To Anthony Toth, Pan Am was the epitome of airline class, with its top-notch, martini-pouring first-class service and in-flight music so excellent that the United Airlines employee brought along a tape recorder to record it on trips as a boy. Now that he’s 42 and owns a home, he’s built a full-size mockup of a Pan Am 747 first-class cabin in his garage—complete with headphones in their original packaging, Pan Am china, and a red-carpeted staircase. More»

SC gov defends use of official aircraft

(NEWSER) - Mark Sanford defended his personal use of state-owned planes today, arguing that the competing demands of fatherhood and the governor’s office required that he mix business and family travel, the AP reports. "I've got a busy life, and I've tried as best I can to be a reasonable father, while at the same time, a good governor,” Sanford said. More»

(NEWSER) - Nobody likes the middle seat on an airplane, and a recent study shows fliers would rather endure some novel discomforts than sit squeezed between two seatmates. BlackBook runs down a few—as well as what's particularly unpleasant about the middle seat.

• 56% of respondents would rather have their teeth drilled at the dentist's.
• 54% would prefer a doctor's visit to the middle seat.
• 20% of fliers would spend the night at an airport hotel for a chance at an aisle seat the next day.