A Fee For Overhead Bin Space?

7 Jan

Tired of flying on airplanes yet? Well, it could get even more annoying. Currently, the world’s airline industry offers 19 à la carte fees and services to customers.  Those combined sources of revenue, which vary widely depending on the airline and location, account for more than 35 percent of the industry’s revenue and could bring in more than $22 billion annually.

They want more.  Rather than raising fares, the airlines continue to explore new potential fees to charge customers. Among the possible things services to charge for:

1) Overhead Bin Space: Though most airlines claim they will not follow the lead of Spirit Airlines, which charges a fee to put bags overhead, the possibility remains open. Preferred seating plans lead to a de facto charge for bin space.

2) Checking Bags Internationally: Most airlines currently allow customers to check one bag free of charge on international flights. As the price of oil rises to close to $90 a barrel, though, a charge to check bags overseas seems logical.

3) Infant Fees: Babies and infants currently fly free of charge, but the airlines are considering a fee for them too.

4) Talking to Someone: Airlines are pushing more aggressively for customers to check-in online to save on staffing costs. Yet, some people still resist. The solution: charge people to speak with someone at the airport or over the phone.

While none of these fees are at risk of going into effect soon, they are all being actively considered.

Living the American Dream Through… Donuts

7 Jan

This clip from the 1990 documentary “Cambodian Doughnut Dreams” offers a glimpse into thousands of pastry shops around Los Angeles (a world I know little about). Shortly after the genocide by Pol Pot in Cambodia, millions of people immigrated to the United States as refugees and cornered a small, but growing, market. That of the donut shop. Since then, surveys estimate that 70-75% of all independent donut shops are owned by Cambodians. They work long hours, and sometimes as much as 364 days a year, to make their shops profitable and to provide for their families.

[Via Boing Boing]

Britain to Abolish the Pint?

6 Jan

The pint, one of Britain’s cultural staples, may soon be going to way of the dodo bird.  Under a new set of rules, restaurants and pubs could begin to use the Australian measure of a schooner— or roughly 2/3 of a pint. The government says the changes are in response to changing “consumer tastes.” Government officials say that the British people now prefer slightly smaller amounts of “hard drink,” and the schooner would offer more choices. Others suspect that the new measurement will discourage excessive drinking, which is growing more prevalent across the country.

Spanair Delivers Christmas Cheer to Passengers

6 Jan

So, close to 200 people were traveling on a Spanair flight from Barcelona to Las Palmas on Christmas Eve. It’s sad to be traveling on the holidays so the airline decided to surprise them with personalized presents upon arrival.

“Real” Superheroes Protect Seattle

6 Jan

From CBS:

Now, apparently, these guys are part of a national movement, complete with website. They claim to embody the values of comic book superheroes and seek to protect people from crime at night.

Not that their efforts are without risks. Police nearly shot one of the men after he came running out of a park late at night, near a crime scene.  In another case, police spotted a group of the superheroes in masks by a gas station and thought they were planning to rob the place.

[Thanks, Emily]

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