Shipping Luggage?

You may as well buy another ticket and put the bag in the seat. My wife is flying to Italy on British Airways in October. I just saw an article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution  warning that European airlines lose bags at an alarming rate.  More specifically:

Such is the magnitude of the problem that travelers were advised this week by the Association of European Airlines, which includes the major national carriers, to avoid checking bags altogether if possible and to take carry-on luggage instead.

The association released figures showing that an average of 10 passengers per flight lost bags between April and June. British Airways was cited as the worst among Europe's major airlines, and is on track to lose a record 1.3 million bags this year.

So...being the good husband that I am, I searched for luggage shipping services to ensure my wife does not lose all her clothes on the way to or from Naples.   One, LuggageForward.com offers door-to-door delivery service.  I expect my wife to take one medium bag.  The fare?  $527.  

Yeah.  So I went to LuggageFree.com.  $600.  5-day service.  FirstLuggage.com?  $524.

Her ticket cost us $630.  So, we're going to live on the edge, I think, and check her bags.

College Football is Just Around the Corner

Thank You, Ron Mexico

The retribution has already started...Dog shoots man in back.

Police say King George, a 150-pound Great Dane, accidentally knocked a .22-caliber pistol off his owner's end table around 2:30 a.m. Wednesday. The gun went off, hitting his 21-year-old owner in the back, MyFOXMemphis.com reports.

I Just Got Back from Alabama

alive!

How Stupid are Atlantans?

This stupid. Atlantans voted Imperial Fez, a Moroccan restaurant, the best Indian restaurant in a recent Atlanta Journal-Constitution poll. Nevermind that Morocco is a mid-sized Arab and Berber country in the northwest corner of Africa, and India is a large multi-ethnic country that comprises most of South Asia. They're all brown, I guess.

TED: Not the Airline

What is TED?

TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from those three worlds. Since then its scope has become ever broader.

TED spreads interesting, earth-shaking and challenging ideas far and wide. And it is one of the most compelling things I've seen on the web.

Update:  Available as video podcasts on the iTunes Store.

Most Surprising Headline of the Day

Especially if you're as cynical about Atlanta and Atlantans' transport choices as I am.  

Flexcar service cranking in Atlanta

That Flexcar, which rents cars and trucks by the hour, is expanding in Atlanta and not retreating from it is a pleasant surprise.  According to the AJC, the company has seen solid usership here in Atlanta, where 80% of workers commute to work alone.  

Flexcar, a short-term, low-cost car rental service, has proven it can be popular in dense cities where commuters tend to bike to work, like Portland, or use mass transit, like Washington, D.C. But in sprawling Atlanta, where the U.S. Census reported about 80 percent of commuters drive to work alone, the Seattle-based company has taken a gamble— one that, at least in the short term, seems to be paying off.

Now with about 80 vehicles stationed in spots such as Buckhead and Decatur, the company expects to add 20 more cars in the next two months, said Liz Wattenberg, Flexcar's general manager for Atlanta.

Good for Flexcar and good for Atlanta.

Keep the Good Times Rolling

Kingfisher Airlines coming to the US?  They have A380s on order and just put in an order for some A340s.   Fly the Good Times.

With Apologies to TINA

America goes from Alaska to Argentina, we are just so self centered as to not have an actual adjective.

Looks like I won one heart and mind.

Cool Service at Lowe's

I was checking out after getting a new fridge for the condo, and saw something really cool. Because the unit was a floor sample, I had to check out at the customer service desk to get the immense price reduction. Up there, I noticed multi-lingual signs -- not just English/Spanish -- which is de rigeur at home improvement stores -- but also Russian, French and what I thought was Korean. Pretty cool, eh?

But that's not all. They have a service called Language Line, that will translate dozens of other languages, including Gujarati, Hindi and Bhojpuri. That's pretty amazing. I don't know how useful it is to Lowe's in terms of attracting business, but I'm more likely to go there just because I know they have it.