Nervous Flyer News

[peteryoung]

Gacked from assorted BA publications, safety updates:

Passengers queueing for toilets
You may have recently heard on the news that the US Government is instructing that for airlines flying into the USA, passengers during flight are not allowed to queue for the toilets. There is NO change to our current procedures and passengers are still allowed to queue. The current in-flight crew procedures continue to satisfy BA and the UK Department of Transport requirements. As always we are in frequent contact with our own government and they have not advised that we need to change our crew operating practices.

Carriers say no to Sky Marshalls
Some airlines in Europa and Africa said they will cancel flights rather than comply with US demands to carry armed air marshals on some US-bound services. ...... Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Portugal said they would not allow air marshals to travel and would cancel flights if the type of risk that justified having them on board existed, reported The Independent ...... Thomas Cook Airlines, which flies to Orlando from the UK and also flies over US airspace to the Caribbean, ruled out using air marshals in any circumstances. South African Airways, which has 28 return flights a week to Atlanta and New York, alsdo said it would not meet US demands for the time being.

PY slips through US immigration, plans sudden trip to Grand Canyon tomorrow
After a hassled flight to Phoenix and another hassled entry where fingerprints were once again grudgingly submitted, the question remains, will he be up for a 4.30am departure? We have sorted out the car, with three of us driving. Also the possibility of a helicopter trip into the Canyon, and overnight stay in cheap motel (waterbed/free porn channels optional). Should have brought YHA Membership (I am a YHA life member, for chrissakes). Will keep travelogue of exactly where we go, plus costs, etc. About bloody time I did something spontaneous like this.

Comments

[pickledginger.livejournal.com]

Happy Grand Canyoning!
(I really must get there someday.)

[del-c.livejournal.com]

Dude! You kept that quiet; I'd have lent you my "Roadside Geology of Arizona" if I'd known.

[peteyoung.livejournal.com]

We only decided when were somewhere over Newfoundland on the flight over. The alternative was the usual 'hang out in Barnes & Noble' option, which can be done anywhere! If you're at the Rob Grant evening at Waterstones tomorrow bring the book along, I'd love to see it.

[supergee.livejournal.com]

Those fools! After they've let a menace like you visit, they'll be left with a big hole in the ground.

[the-gardener.livejournal.com]

Will keep travelogue of exactly where we go, plus costs, etc.

And of course you can always recycle anything you post to LJ into an article for your next issue of Zoo Nation...

[green-amber.livejournal.com]

Hey - advice? I'm dithering about whether to fly UK-> Chicago_> Mexico _> Berkeley at end Jan or whether to drop the Chicago stop and fly straight into Mexico City in early Feb. One of the reasons (mildly) for this might be to avoid kerfuffle with US immigration. Is this true? or will I just be making trouble for myself when SFO tries to work out why a white Brit girl academic travelling on her own is entering continental US from Mexico?? (Please not the anal probe!)

[peteyoung.livejournal.com]

It's really none of their business what your travel plans are.

Why not do UK -> Mexico -> Berkeley -> Chicago -> UK? That would mean entering and leaving the US only once. If you have no US visa and enter the US under the Visa-Waiver scheme the theory is you shouldn't have a problem, and (as I type) should not get fingerprinted.

[pickledginger.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a plan!

(And yes, one is more likely to be hassled on reentering a country (including the UK) from another country not your own.)