Careening through the air 30,000 feet above the ground can be a brutal experience. To help us cope, airlines have evolved some pretty sophisticated on-demand entertainment in the form of games, movies, internet, and the occasional backrub. Here’s a look at some of the ambitious ideas that got us there, the failures along the way, and concepts we might see in the future.
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If you thought the lowest fares for flights listed on sites like Expedia or Kayak were the cheapest way to jet around the world, you’re wrong. Using every trick in the air travel book, Steve Kamb flew some 35,000 miles across nine continents. It cost him just $418 out of pocket, and this is how he did it:
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Every year around the holidays airports are jammed with travellers heading all over the country. And it begs the question: if this happens so regularly and reliably, why don’t airlines just add more flights this time of year to keep up with the demand?
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It’s Thanksgiving, and we’ve got food on the brain. Before the big meal, however, you might have to endure the available edibles at an airport departure lounge. Be brave, as you ponder this burning question: If you could do anything to improve the flying experience, what would it be?
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As a Nor’easter heads towards the east coast just in time for the busiest travel day of the year, you’re probably wondering how bad it has to get before your plane gets grounded. Well, as a new National Geographic feature explains, figuring that out is more an art than a science.
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Today we largely take international air travel for granted. Every major city in the world is little more than a hop, skip, and jump away. But what was it actually like to fly halfway around the world in the 1930s, when the very concept was still novel? Pretty incredible, as it turns out—provided you could afford it.
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With so many people cooped up in a tiny cabin 30,000 feet in the air, it’s inevitable that at least one flight experience in your life is going to be less-than-stellar. But some experiences are much, much worse than others. So while you’re traveling home this holiday season and that baby next to you won’t stop screaming, just be glad you weren’t on any of these flights. And if you were, we are so, so sorry.
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"It’s not the fall that kills you," as the saying goes, "it’s the sudden stop at the end." Humans are a rather splattery bunch when dropped from a sufficient height, but that hasn’t kept us out of the sky. Instead, we’ve spent centuries perfecting the process of controlled falling to make the stop after any fall as soft as possible. The result: the modern parachute, a canopy of silk and nylon, and engineering genius.
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Happy busiest travel day of the year, friends! Chances are good that you’re already on your way through the mass of humanity making a move from one place to another, so here’s a thought: If you could do anything to improve the flying experience, what would it be?
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As you curse the rat’s nest of terminals, walkways, and people movers of whatever transit hub you’re using to get home this week, it’s easy to forget how extraordinarily sophisticated the average airport is. They’re works of art, really—but they’re nothing compared to the airport concepts artists have dreamt up over the last 100 years.
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This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
