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Did you think that the printed emergency instructions at every seat in a jetliner simply sprung ex nihilo from the mind of the graphic designer? No, they are grounded in the rich traditions of Western art. Avi Steinberg, who hates flying, explains using several examples, including Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s Mary Magdalene:
Thus the “fallen woman” motif is reimagined in the most urgent terms: this airline Magdalene is a woman who has quite literally fallen. And this is where we find her, floating in limbo, clutching a lily-white life preserver to her breast (instead of a vase, as in the 1877 portrait). Like Rossetti’s romantic Pre-Raphaelite Magdalene, this woman’s lowly state serves only to magnify her elemental beauty. Here she is, Our Lady of the Plane Crash. “I will make you fishers of men,” says the Christ. “We will rescue you in any corner of the globe,” says a Pan Am safety card. The fallen woman will not remain cast away forever—and, if we follow her lead, the artist assures us, neither will we. It is a pretty vision of earthly salvation.
Link -via The Hairpin
Minnesotastan’s mother was a member of American Airlines 1941 graduating class for the fairly new profession called “stewardess.” She passed along some interesting tidbits about the business in those days, such as how the pilot communicated with the passengers: with handwritten notes! You’ll find some of those notes in a post at TYWKIWDBI. Link
Aviointeriors, an Italian design firm, unveiled its vision for a jetliner interior with increased passenger capacity. Passengers will be able to fit into a smaller space:
They’d sit at an angle with no more than 23 inches between their perch and the seat in front of them — a design that could appeal to low-cost airlines that have floated the idea of offering passengers standing-room tickets on short flights.[...]
“We feel extremely confident that this concept will … have great appeal to airlines for economic purposes,” says Dominique Menoud, director general of Aviointeriors Group.
Link via DVICE | Photo: Aviointeriors
A woman flying on standby on a Southwest Airlines flight was removed from the plane because one passenger needed two seats:
A petite Sacramento woman was bumped from a Southwest Airlines flight to make room for an extra-large 14-year-old child who required two seats.
The 5-foot-4, 110-pound woman, who was flying standby from Las Vegas to Sacramento, was buckled up and ready to go when the teen arrived late to the gate, reported the Sacramento Bee.[...]
Southwest generally requires large passengers to buy two tickets. But in this case, the child’s parents had purchased only one.
Link via Say Uncle | Photo by Flickr user Cordey used under Creative Commons license
If you think that airlines are nickle and diming you with fees, that’s because they are. Airlines contend that the majority of these fees are for extraneous stuff not essential for travel. Like, for instance, luggage.
Indeed, when questioned by Congress, Spirit Airlines CEO Ben Baldanza defended his company’s fees:
The head of the nation’s most fee-happy airline told Congress today that bringing luggage on vacation was "not essential" to travel and his airline was actually helping the poor fly by charging up to $45 to place a carry-on bag in the overhead bin.
"We are certain that Spirit’s decision to unbundle services not essential to the transportation of passengers, has enabled more passengers to fly at lower cost," said Spirit Airlines CEO Ben Baldanza. "Indeed given our low fares, it has allowed many to travel who otherwise simply could not afford to do so."
Get ready, Spirit Airlines is going to charge you for carry on luggage starting in August. But don’t worry, Jet Blue’s ad department has a suggestion for you: Invest in their “Extrago Sherpa Shirt” if you plan on traveling with Spirit anytime soon.
Included in a press release announcing a fare sale, Spirit Airlines also announced today that they are now charging for carry-on luggage for travel effective August 1. The airline justifies the new fees as an attempt to, “improve inflight safety and efficiency by speeding up the boarding and deplaning process.”
In case you were wondering, JetBlue will continue to offer a free first checked bag, not to mention that you can bring your Mickey Mouse ears, your magazine collection, your favorite wrinkle-free slacks, and your lunch onboard, and enjoy free use of the overhead bins and more legroom than any other airline in its class.
But for those times when you can’t travel on JetBlue, we recommend you check out our expertly-crafted Extrago Sherpa Shirt*, special outerwear that we designed to hold “an entire trip’s worth of necessities, including the money you’ll save by not checking or carrying on your bag.”
Sadly, the item is not actually available for sale. I would love one in pink.
While most people look for the cheapest airfares, Rob Cockerham sought out the most expensive fares from several different airlines. Unsurprisingly, the priciest tickets were either last-minute bookings or scheduled near Christmas. Adding a carbon offset didn’t add much, relative to the astronomical ticket prices you could book. The highest fare came from British Airways, but that doesn’t mean they are the most expensive airline overall. Link
(image credit: Flickr user caribb)
But was it always this way? The answer, of course, is no. And so, we decided to take a look back to the glory days of flight – when the stewardesses resembled beauty pageant contestants, when pilots seemed likes heroes, and when flying still seemed to be an adventure – to remind us, of just how things once were.
Enjoy 50 photos of stewardesses from the good old days of air travel. Link -via Gorilla Mask
