PE.com - Tourism Blog

Picture of a massive Virgin Airlines billboard near a runway in 2005 (More info here)

Remember that part in Farenheit 451 where author Ray Bradbury talks about the 200-foot long billboards installed along freeways because the cars of the future are so much faster?

Welcome to the book's grim reality.

A London-based advertising company, Ad-Air, plans to lay massive billboards near major airports so flyers catch a glimpse as they take off and land. See a mock video of what your view could look like here. A news story mentions that the group plans on doing this near LAX, although I'm at a loss for where they'd find the open space unless they float a barge off the coast.

Posted by Kimberly Pierceall at 5:31 AM, September 26
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I know, I know. Companies making wi-fi networks for airlplanes need to make money, and they should. But it's a cost I'd like to see the airplanes eat instead of passengers.

Instead monumental plans from Virgin America, American Airlines and now Alaska Airlines to add wi-fi will likely come with a $10 fee while you're flying the friendly skies.

So besides a free wi-fi democracy for all, my ideal airplane, you ask?

1. Pillow attachments near the top of the chair so that your head doesn't A) crash into your seatmate's shoulder B) crash into the non-ergonomic plastic wall C) flail into the middle aisle.

2. Chairs raised a smidge higher than normal so carry-ons can actually sit underneath the seat in front of you without needing to be wedged in with several kicks.

3. Trays would swivel out from the arm rests rather than the back of chair. Take that kid-who-is-so-bored-the-tray-table-on-the-back-of-my-seat-is-considered-stimulating.

Posted by Kimberly Pierceall at 5:37 AM, September 20
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A flamingo. The mongoose and small leopard, though, are good to go.

Jack Hanna, better known as animal wrangler for late-night talk shows, tried to leave the Ohio State University Airport with an 11-month-old caged flamingo in tow but got it and himself stuck in the metal turnstyle.

Yup, that's right. Ohio State University has an airport.

Posted by Kimberly Pierceall at 3:16 PM, September 17
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Thought LAX was just the lesser of evils in order for you to get into and out of Southern California semi-cheaply and semi-quickly?

Apparently it's international flights are a boon to all of Southern California who might attain some of the tourists and most certainly business as a result. According to a survey by the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. and airport consultants SH&E, the airport created 363,700 jobs earning $19.3 billion in and around Los Angeles including Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

But the surveyors contend more could have been earned had LAX not lost about nine international flights to competing airports.

For more about the survey check out this site.

Posted by Kimberly Pierceall at 5:42 AM, September 17
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Hotel Casa 425, a new 28-room boutique hotel in Claremont, is offering a night's stay in one of its Deluxe rooms for $135 during its first week from Sept. 20-27.

Looks like their rates will range from $165 to $375 depending on the day of the week, based on figures on its Web site.

A unique freebie for hotel guests is free reign of one of the hotel's bicycles to get around Claremont.

Posted by Kimberly Pierceall at 4:48 PM, September 13
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For Palm Springs-ians, it's been hard to miss the long, green construction fence that has surrounded the Riviera Hotel and Resort -- a Rat Pack haven in the day, more recently a beauty-queen hangout.
Seattle-based Noble House bought the 475-room property in June 2006 promising a $50 million renovation that could last 18 months, but so far the construction fence has been the only visible change.
Now the owners seem to be moving forward. They've posted renderings of what the hotel should eventually look like and starting Saturday they've begun selling everything inside.

Posted by Kimberly Pierceall at 5:44 AM, September 10
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ExpressJet officials at the airline's launch in April (Kimberly Pierceall/The Press-Enterprise)

It looks as if ExpressJet picked up pace and passengers in July at LA/Ontario International Airport

The airline which launched it’s regional service at the airport in April, had 58,295 passengers in the month, about 8.6 percent of all of Ontario's passenger traffic. Based on the airport’s market share summary, the airline’s 50-seat jets could have carried a total of 87,650 passengers on 1,753 flights during that time. From April to June, the airline had 79,389 passengers.

But Leonard Kranser at the El Toro Info site (which is a bit of a misnomer since his site keeps tabs on news happening at all of Southern California's airports), brings up a good point -- it looks as if ExpressJet isn't creating a whole lot of new passengers for the airport, but taking passengers from airline's at the airport that have similar destinations but more stops.

Krasner says total traffic for all the other airlines was down for the month of July.

Posted by Kimberly Pierceall at 4:54 AM, September 03
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