“More Americans have passports now than ever before,” says Ken Chavez, Public Affairs Officer in the Office of Policy Coordination and Public Affairs at the US State Department. Over one-third of the population to be exact, or nearly 110 million out of 313 million Americans. That’s more than double the number of US passports in circulation in 2000 (48 million) and around 15 times 1989’s 7 million.
Read the rest of the story on my Seat 1A blog on Forbes.com.
How many times has this happened to you? You reserve an airfare costing, say, $455, but when you go to ticket it 10 minutes later, the fare has suddenly spiked to $498 when taxes were figured in. Starting Thursday January 26th, such bait-and-switch pricing will no longer fly. It’s just one of several regulations being imposed this week by the US Department of Transportation, covering fares, baggage fees and more.
Read the full story on my Forbes Seat 1A blog.
Story and photos by Andrew Bender for SilverKris, in-flight magazine of Singapore Airlines
Just a decade ago, the industrial and gritty neighbourhood of Long Island City, Queens was terra incognita to Manhattanites. Then the Museum of Modern Art in New York City closed for renovation, set up a temporary location here in 2002, and culture vultures started taking notice of the area. Today, art – and reasonable rents – make Long Island City a storehouse of masterpieces lying alongside former factories, hipster hangouts, old-world ethnic eateries and au courant restaurants and pubs. To get here, take the subway from Manhattan, and travel between venues by taxi.
Read the rest of the story here.
By now you’ve heard of the Incident of the Confiscated Cupcake. It seems that one Rebecca Hains, of Peabody, Mass., was returning home from Las Vegas last month, when Transportation Security Administration agents confiscated her cupcake on the grounds of excessive frosting, which the TSA classifies as a gel.
On the one hand, dude, it’s a cupcake! On the other hand, the incident raises questions about both airport security and the American diet.
Read the rest of the post on my Seat 1A blog on Forbes.com.
When travel writers dream, it’s often of a better world for travelers. Sure enough, this New Year’s morning, I awoke from a blissful reverie that all the stakeholders in the air travel industry got together and made 12 resolutions for 2012. Here’s that list, to the best of my recollection…
Read all about it on my Forbes Seat 1A blog.
