Being recorded in the beautiful Hampton Inn & Suites, Lenoir, NC.
This is another part of North Carolina that plays a big part in my family history. My grandmother’s brother Dr. Voigt R. Cromer was the college's president from (1949 to 1967). There’s even a Cromer Center building that houses the bookstore as well as the campus food facility…. Makes sense since I come from a line of foodies.
Onto The March crazy travel roundup and this month, there’s a lot of ground to cover.
Opening up with something timely… think Academy Awards. Diddy’s Son Quincy Claims JetBlue Pilot Physically Assaulted Him Following Disagreement Over Carry-on Luggage.
First I had no idea that Diddy had a son, much less a son who is a “Star” actor with 4.5 million Instagram followers. Quincy claimed that his bag, which damn near fit in his was considered a carry-on.
According to JetBlue’s “carry-on bags” policy posted on the airline’s website, “All fares include 1 personal item that fits under the seat in front of you. This could be a purse, daypack, laptop bag, or approved pet carrier.
Quincy’s bag was his diabetic testing kit, and that apparently coupled with his other carry-on exceed exceeded JetBlue’s carry-on limit.
There’s a link in the show notes, but this still leaves me with one question…. Quincy your dad is Diddy, why are you flying JetBlue?
From WIVB-4 in CHEEKTOWAGA, N.Y.
Police report: Drunk JetBlue pilot drank ten 22-ounce beers night before
First question night before what? Wedding, the birth of a child, divorce… what?
It appears that 52-year-old Pilot James Clifton was in the cockpit, getting ready to fly 133 passengers from Buffalo to Fort Lauderdale (Thak you Florida) around 6:15 a.m. when NFTA officers pulled him from the plane.
Get this - TSA agents suspected something was off about Clifton when he was checking his gun through security just minutes earlier.
Clifton ended up blowing a .174%, more than four times the legal limit for pilots.
JetBlue ended up firing Clifton and launched an investigation. So, has the FAA.
While in the police interview room, Clifton told someone over the phone that he drank ten 22-ounce beers, also known as “Tall Boys.” Here in Florida, we call those Double-Dueces.
That he missed the shuttle to the airport and had to take an Uber.
If I was Clifton I would’ve simply called in sick. No reason, no explanation just “I’m sick.
You knew this was coming…. Clifton’s arrest delayed their trip by four hours.
Ten Double-Deuces that’s 220 ounces of beer. I couldn’t drink 220 ounces of anything in an evening. They say “bottle to throttle 8 hours” after that much beer it’s more like don’t cobble to the throttle”.
Out of all that, what catches your attention? Weel the highlights come from Live and Let’s Fly.
A 23-year-old pleaded guilty to criminal charges after refusing to stop vaping and consuming his own alcohol on board an EasyJet flight, and after all that he vomited all over the seats.
This went down on a flight from London Gatwick (LGW) to Inverness, Scotland (INV).
Ben Munday, a Royal Air Force employee, began smoking onboard with his e-cigarette and also began consuming alcohol that he had brought on board. Both smoking and the consumption of personal alcohol are illegal under UK law and airline policy.
Flight attendants implored him to stop, but he refused. Instead, he stretched out across three seats and continued to smoke and drink. Again, flight attendants advised him to stop but he responded by taking long puffs on his e-cigarette and blowing the smoke through the cabin.
We’ve talked about this many many times nothing good really comes from drinking on a plane.
At a minimum, EasyJet should make Ben Munday, hopefully, a former Royal Air Force employee pay for the deep bio cleaning the plane required.
This next one comes from Creepy McCreeperton and BoingBoing - Texas Airbnb host arrested for recording 2,100 images of guests naked and having sex.
Did your spine just crawl? Well, Texas police arrested Airbnb host A Jay Allee (54) for allegedly videotaping guests naked and having sex in his cabin near San Antonio.
According to the police affidavit, Allee told one of the guests to "be comfortable, we don't care if you are in your PJs or nude." This aroused the guest's suspicion, and after doing a YouTube search about finding hidden cameras they found a camera disguised as a power adapter.
Thankfully, YouTube to the rescue. If an Airbnb ever told me "be comfortable, we don't care if you are in your PJs or nude." I would immediately pull out my phone or laptop and find another place for the night, especially if I was traveling with the CEO. Honestly not for my sake after about 10 seconds of screen time, I guarantee you that the cameras would go black, I’m more concerned with her privacy.
This next story is 12 words and you can make your own decision about it. United Airlines to let employees with COVID vaccine exemptions return to work. That’s it.
That’s followed up with The Points Guy 16 word story - US travel mask mandate to be extended 1 month, with plans to loosen it in April.
Concluding with View From The Wings - Watch Delta Kick This Passenger Off Flight For His Offensive Hoodie.
View From The Wing posted added - Delta Air Lines kicked off a passenger that was wearing an “F- Biden” hoodie. He eventually took off the hoodie but was removed prior to departure anyway over mask compliance issues. The man might have tried the less offensive “Let’s Go Brandon” instead.
And that ends this month's political minefield corner.
Let's head a bit closer to home for the next couple of stories Fox354 Orlando - Hundreds stranded in Orlando airport after massive flight cancellations
Delays and cancellations plagued travelers at Orlando International Airport for three days in the middle of March and storms rolling in on March 15th didn’t help at all.
In case you didn’t know, Florida is still a Spring Break destination. Beginning Monday, March 14th the Orlando airport saw 266 delayed flights. Mostly caused by weather issues. However, by late week travelers were hoping that things would start getting better after the three previous days of delays
Elaine Bodick, visiting from Rhode Island said "If the flight was going to get canceled, it would have been nice to have known it earlier during the day. That way we would have made other arrangements.
Another casualty of the delays was long lines at the car rental facilities, with some people waiting five hours for a car.
Back in episode 162, I talked about how our 2022 Spring Break World Domination tour was being done by car. This is one of the reasons why, O-Town is a hub when it comes to peak travel and after 20+ years my focus is avoiding the airport grind unless it’s for business travel, and I’m traveling solo.
Earlier I mentioned that I was a foodie, and I’m not ashamed of that, all you can eat Chinese buffets, I’m in. If a group of us orders the 100 wing plate, I’m in. If we're heading to Fogo de Chão put your money on me. So get a load of this - The Man Who Ate An Actual Airplane Over 2 Years
“Over the course of Michel Lotito’s career, his diet has included 18 bicycles, seven TV sets, two beds, 15 supermarket trolleys, a computer, a coffin (handles and all), a pair of skis, and six chandeliers.”
But how - Thanks to abnormally thick intestinal walls, Monsieur Mangetout’s digestive tract “could “safely” consume just about anything,” including metal objects. He could eat as much as 2 lb of metal per day without any side effects. And get this, his body is also curiously immune to toxic substances such as lead.
No need to look for his latest meal, Lotito died of natural causes in 2007, at age 57.
Chinese man has lived in an airport for 14 YEARS so he can get away from his family plus smoke and drink as much as he wants - From the Daily Mail.
All of us can relate, living with family can be overbearing sometimes.
For Wei Jianguo, a Chinese man who is in his 60s, the solution has been to move to Beijing Capital International Airport, where he is understood to have been living for 14 years now so that he can smoke and drink as much as he likes.
Channel Tom Hanks' in the 2004 movie The Terminal - where Hanks’ as a tourist is forced to live at JFK airport - It seems that Mr. Wei has a set up of his food, belongings, and sleeping bag in a waiting area.
But he won't return home because then, he'll be forced to quit drinking and smoking - a habit he funds with his monthly government allowance.
Back in 2018, he told China Daily: 'I can't go back home because I have no freedom there.
'My family told me if I wanted to stay, I had to quit smoking and drinking. Mr. Wei, that’s what Man-Caves are for.
All this being said there are a few airports that I wouldn’t mind setting up camp in.
Next time there’s a pilot shortage there’s someone we can call up from the minor league - John Travolta. Travolta just received his 737 pilots license which pairs well with his 747 and 707 licenses. Travolta has staying power and he’s been smart with his money. So much so that he has amassed a fleet of planes including a 707 he bought 22 years ago for $77 million, tricking it out inside for another $20M.
Everyone knows that I’m a Southwest Airlines fanboy, and I have been ever since we relocated to central Florida. And Southwest fares are very straightforward, there are only three types.
Wanna Get Away - cheapest, non-refundable
Anytime - refundable
Business Select - refundable, with earliest boarding positions and a free drink on board
Most tickets I purchase are Anytime, the reason is that they’re refundable. When COVID hit I was sitting on close to $500.00 in flights that I had already paid for.
Southwest has released a fourth fare - Southwest is going to introduce a new fare type between Wanna Get Away and Anytime called “Wanna Get Away Plus.”
Wanna Get Away Plus gives you -
* Flight credits will be transferable to book a ticket for someone else when canceling an itinerary
* Comes with same-day confirmed changes (or standby on full flights) without paying a difference in fare (similar to the current elite benefit)
* 1/3 points bonus (earn 8 points per dollar instead of 6 with the cheapest tickets)
Would I ever book a Wanna Get Away Plus ticket? Doubtful the only enticing piece would be the 8 points per dollar. What would make me pull the trigger on a new Southwest fare structure? Believe it or not, assigned seats.
Last year we talked about Vyvianna Quinonez. She was the passenger who broke a southwest flight attendant’s tooth during an altercation over seat belts.
Vyvianna plead guilty but her sentencing was delayed because she was cited for drunk driving less than two weeks after her plea.
Now Vyvianna has a classic defense to her DUI. Are you ready?
She claimed the driving drunk wasn’t her fault – blaming her gastric bypass surgery - I’m listening. Her smaller stomach meant that drinking led to higher than normal blood alcohol concentration.
Good luck Vyvianna, you’ve got your hands full.
BoingBoing closes out the month with this - Karen on plane who refused to wear mask properly has a fit when cops come to kick her off the flight
It’s been a few months since we’ve had an anti-masker episode but here we go again…..
This Karen was on a recent flight complete with a face shield but no mask to cover her nose. Karen copped an attitude when the flight crew told her to cover her nose.
When the plane's captain heard about it he also copped an attitude and ordered Karen to get off the plane. Karen refused and argued with an attendant.
The police were called, and Karen took her argument up with them.
The cops told the woman if she and her family refused to get off the plane they would have to deboard the entire plane and charge her with trespassing. Karen shrieked "What!?"
Then other passengers told Karen to get off the plane, Karen then stood up and whined, "They ruined my whole family's vacation!"
Karen and the rest of her family reluctantly collected the luggage and got off the plane. Complaining the whole time saying things like, "Why are you doing this to me?"
Karen, you did this to yourself, like it or not, constitutional or not you have to wear a mask while on a plane.
That’s it for the March crazy travel roundup.
If you want detailed show notes, links and pictures head over to podpage.com/travel-stories/
Leave a message onAnchor, or shoot me an email atTravelFrick@gmail.com.
As I always say, travel safe, stay safe, and thanks for listening.
Thanks for listening.
