Mike FriedmanI can’t believe it’s already Friday, which means that it’s time for our weekly TWIT (This Week In Travel) notes. This week, our post is brought to you by the three bears. We’ll talk about airline seats that are too small, a Starbucks that is too big and a passport that’s just right.
Just How Small Can Airline Seats Get?
Phrases that you will never, ever hear anyone utter:
- “But vegemite tastes so good!”
- “I just can’t get enough of that 1-877-Kars4kids jingle!”
- “This airplane seat is just too big!”
Not surprisingly, we will talk about that third bullet point, since the FAA is running a 12-day test, as 720 passengers will determine just how small a seat can be and still allow passengers to, you know, move. With airlines squeezing an increasing number of seats onto planes and load factors (the percentage of those seats with a butt in them) running well over 80%, the mandatory 90-second evacuation in case of an emergency might be a difficult hurdle to leap.
Here’s the bad news: This test has nothing to do with customer service and could, in fact, make things worse for passengers. If the FAA decides that a 27″ minimum pitch (the distance from seat back to seat back, often referred to as “leg room”) is permissible, versus the 29″-30″ that we see today, not only will airlines pull another couple of inches out of your leg room but they’ll also claim to do it with the FAA’s endorsement.
The World’s Biggest Starbucks
You know what the world needs? It’s a 4-story Starbucks. Oh, what do you know? We’re going to get one, as the former site of Crate and Barrel in Chicago goes from selling coffee cups to selling the coffee itself, in the form of the world’s largest Starbucks.
This won’t be just any Starbucks, either. Rather, it’s going to be a Starbucks Reserve Roastery which, best as I can tell, offers the real-life equivalent of Henry K. Duff’s Private Reserve Beer.
Oh, good, just what we need: A Starbucks that sells expensive coffee.
Starbucks “Enhances” Rewards Program
Just The Right Passport
Bet you didn’t know that there’s such a thing as the perfect passport, either. Maybe not perfect, but when 107 passports participated in a real life version of The Hunger Games, it was Japan and Singapore who emerged as the most powerful, allowing entry to 190 countries each. Coming in second were Finland, Germany and South Korea, all of whose passports allow entrance to 188. The United States came in at 184, in a tie for sixth.
Japan and Singapore winning it all, though? The only remaining question is which one’s Katniss and which one’s Peeta.
This Week at LVA Travel
Southwest Vacations Sale to Vegas and Beyond
