Good morning Happy 75th birthday to the Golden Gate Bridge, which opened in May 1937. It has become one of the world’s most instantly recognizable bridges, and is approaching its two billionth vehicle crossing sometime very soon. Although having the longest span in the world when built, it lost that title in 1964 to the Verrazano Narrows Bridge, and nowadays is the ninth longest suspension bridge, with a 4,200 ft main span length. The longest [...]
From time to time, a story ‘gains legs’ in the media, telling the sorrowful tale of some person who through terrible tragedy and no fault of their own, is unable to take the flights they had previously booked and paid for. Such stories are made better if the person in question is elderly, in poor health, short of money, and either a veteran or a mother with (sick) young children, and they become unavoidably compelling [...]
Good morning I had another burst of intense self doubt earlier this week. Are airlines really as stupid as I say they are? Or am I missing something so thunderingly obvious as to imply I’m even more stupid than I suggest the airlines sometimes are? This was triggered by the confirmation that Delta is indeed buying an oil refinery, and was underscored by the near unanimous chorus of approval by the usual talking head commentators [...]
We wrote a month ago about Delta being rumored to buy a closed down loss making oil refinery in the Philadelphia area. Although we had no exact data on the claimed benefits to Delta or clear reasons why it might consider such a strange diversification, we were still able to reach a clear conclusion – it would make no sense at all for Delta to buy the refinery. The rumors have now been proven true, [...]
Good morning ‘Waste not, want not’ has been my motto for a long time now. It is amazing how many experiences can become Travel Insider articles – it seems a shame to waste an interesting or learning experience so I try to write about them whenever possible. Our feature article this week about in-car emergency kits arises from one such experience a week or so ago. Hopefully after reading the article you’ll be spared the [...]
Good morning Happy 60th birthday this week to the illustrious Boeing B-52, still operational as a heavy bomber, sixty years after it first took to the skies on 15 April, 1952. 744 of the planes were built, including 102 of the final B52-H model, of which 85 are still in active duty and another nine are in the Air Force Reserve. Current projections suggest the planes will continue in service until perhaps 2040. The plane [...]
I noticed an article in the NY Times earlier this week about when is the best time to buy an airfare. That is, for sure, a murky topic that we’d all love to know the answer to. Is the best time immediately before travel (almost certainly not), eleven months before travel (typically the furthest out you can buy a ticket) or somewhere inbetween? I went to read it, and laughed silently as I did so, [...]
Good morning I was excited to read about JK Rowling’s next book, ‘The Casual Vacancy’, being released in September – especially because it is a book for adults. But upon going to the information on Amazon, I saw that the book, with a recommended retail price of $35, is currently showing a street price of $21 for the hardcover book and $20 for the eBook. Furthermore, the $21 hardcover price is ‘only’ a 40% discount [...]
Normally one shouldn’t pay too much attention to the respective sales figures for Boeing and Airbus during the course of each year, because large orders appear irregularly, and while it is interesting to see one manufacturer or the other beating its opponent at some time during the year, the only number that really counts is the final net total new orders at the end of each year. There is however a less wildly variable number [...]
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