From a newly released survey by Synovate that asked 10,000 people in 13 global markets about air travel come these facts and “curiosities:

• 63% of air travelers surveyed prefer window seats and 41% say they are so fussy about where they sit on an airplane that a bad seat can ruin their flight experience.
• While only 3% of travelers surveyed said the thing they liked most about flying was ‘attractive flight attendants,’ when they convened in-person focus groups, researchers discovered that:

“…once mid-conversation, a large proportion of people rather sheepishly admit this is an important part of the in-flight experience… perhaps something people will admit to face-to-face only! “

Read more about what people really think here.

Categories: Fun Stuff
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Here’s a great example of an airport getting involved with the community in a fun way:

On Saturday, October 4th from 4-8 pm, Missouri’s Kansas City International Airport will host its fourth annual “Cruise Night”

The free event will feature a display of hundreds of classic, muscle and special interest cars and a bevy of prizes, including a Richard Petty Driving Experience “Ride Along,” airline tickets, hotel stays, dinners, rental cars, gasoline cards and more.  Here’s a link for more information about “KCI Cruise Night.”

Categories: Exhibits
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A flurry of fashion shows at O’Hare International Airport today helped kick off Fashion Focus Chicago 2008.  The celebration of Chicago’s fashion industry runs through October 9th.

(Fashion show photo courtesy O’Hare Airport)
As part of the festivities, O’Hare Airport is hosting an exhibition of designer garments and accessories in Terminal 2, complete with on-duty ‘fashion concierge’ standing by to tell travelers about Chicago’s fashion industry, local designers and, most importantly, the cool places to shop.  (The exhibition is open around the clock; the fashion concierge is on-site from 11 am until 7 pm. )

Categories: Exhibits, Fashion
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It’s icky, irritating, rude — and relatively rare — at least for now.

But as in-flight Wi-Fi becomes a reality, some flight attendants, passengers and parents are worried that passengers booting up pornography, violent content, and other potentially inappropriate content on their laptops at 35,000 feet will become a real problem.

Find out what travelers, parents, and the airlines say about the pros and cons of filtering in-flight Internet in my most recent  Well-Mannered Traveler column on MSNBC.com.

Categories: Etiquette, Wi-Fi
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Airports tend to be known more for their security lines than their architectural ones.  But there are a batch of new and “new-ish” terminals worth a stopover – some for their outstanding views; others for their pleasing amenities.

Here’s a link to my MSN.com article about nine new airports worth a look-see.

Categories: MSN
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