Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Avoiding Business Travel Headaches in the Holiday Season

Ah, the holiday season--aka the busiest travel season of the year. Students are returning home from college, families are traveling to visit their far-flung relatives and vacationers are flocking to sandy beaches or snowy ski runs. Sounds great ... unless you're a business traveler.

To those traveling on business, holiday travelers are simply seasonal speed bumps: grandparents meandering through airport terminals, vacationers' tennis racquets and backpacks hogging overhead bin space and security lines stalled by families trying to remove all of their children's shoes. Getting to your meeting on time, however, isn't impossible...

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Monday, November 20, 2006

glofiish M700

Not that long ago I was bemoaning the fact that there aren't any devices on the market which manage to achieve the right balance (rather than compromise) between form and functionality. Right on cue E-TEN announced the glofiish M700 which at first sight certainly looks the part. Disappointingly it's not a 3G device, though. If any buyers would like to send in their impressions of the M700 after a few weeks usage I'd be very interested in hearing what you think.

Saturday, November 11, 2006

International Airport Wireless Internet Guide

TravelPost.com publish a great guide to wireless internet facilities at many major airports around the world. The guide is free, can be read online here, and if you'll excuse me, I'll go and add it to our links page just now too! Thanks to Dave Owers for sharing this tip on his blog.

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

Which weather?

I've had a few requests from visitors to the Business Mobile website for the addition of a weather pages or some kind of link to a weather service. That sounds like a great idea but there are a lot of competing services out there - if anyone has a favourite please contact me and I'll add it to the shortlist, thanks!

Sunday, November 05, 2006

Light relief for frequent flyers

Occasionally, airline attendants make an effort to make the "in-flight safety lecture" and their other announcements a bit more entertaining. Here are some real examples that have been heard or reported:

"There may be 50 ways to leave your lover, but there are only 4 ways out of this airplane..."

And, after landing "Thank you for flying XYZ Business Express. We hope you enjoyed giving us the business as much as we enjoyed taking you for a ride."

As the plane landed and was coming to a stop at Washington National, a lone voice comes over the loudspeaker "Whoa, big fella. WHOA!"

After a particularly rough landing during thunderstorms in Memphis, a flight attendant on an XYZ flight announced "Please take care when opening the overhead compartments because, after a landing like that, sure as hell everything has shifted."

From an XYZ Airlines employee...."Welcome aboard FlightXXX to YYY. To operate your seatbelt, insert the metal tab into the buckle, and pull tight. It works just like every other seatbelt, and if you don't know how to operate one, you probably shouldn't be out in public unsupervised."

"In the event of a sudden loss of cabin pressure, oxygen masks will descend from the ceiling. Stop screaming, grab the mask, and pull it over your face. If you have a small child traveling with you, secure your mask before assisting with theirs. If you are traveling with two small children, decide now which one you love more."

"Weather at our destination is 50 degrees with some broken clouds, but they'll try to have them fixed before we arrive. Thank you, and remember, nobody loves you, or your money, more than XYZ Airlines."

"Your seat cushions can be used for flotation, and in the event of an emergency water landing, please take them with our compliments."

Once on a XYZ flight, the pilot said, "We've reached our cruising altitude now, and I'm turning off the seat belt sign. I'm switching to autopilot, too, so I can come back there and visit with all of you for the rest of the flight."

"Should the cabin lose pressure, oxygen masks will drop from the overhead area. Please place the bag over your own mouth and nose before assisting children or adults acting like children."

"As you exit the plane, please make sure to gather all of your belongings. Anything left behind will be distributed evenly among the flight attendants. Please do not leave children or spouses."

And from the pilot during his welcome message "We are pleased to have some of the best flight attendants in the industry...unfortunately none of them are on this flight."

Heard on XYZ Airlines just after a very hard landing in Salt Lake City, the flight attendant came on the intercom and said, "That was quite a bump and I know what ya'll are thinking. I'm here to tell you it wasn't the airline's fault, it wasn't the pilot's fault, it wasn't the flight attendants' fault.....it was the asphalt!"

An airline pilot wrote that on this particular flight he had hammered his ship into the runway really hard. The airline had a policy which required the first officer to stand at the door while the passengers exited, smile, and give them a "Thanks for flying XYZ airline." He said that in light of his bad landing, he had a hard time looking the passengers in the eye, thinking that someone would have a smart comment. Finally everyone had gotten off except for this little old lady walking with a cane. She said, "Sonny, mind if I ask you a question?" "Why no Ma'am," said the pilot, what is it?" The little old lady said, "Did we land or were we shot down?"

Part of a Flight Attendant's arrival announcement "We'd like to thank you folks for flying with us today. And, the next time you get the insane urge to go blasting through the skies in a pressurized metal tube, we hope you'll think of us here at XYZ Airways."

Friday, November 03, 2006

Ham sandwich, anyone?

David Needle has written an interesting article about the business use of next-gen handsets, within which there's a quote about how using a PDA to make a phone call is like speaking while holding a ham sandwich to your head. I couldn't agree more and see this as the main stumbling block towards creating the ultimate mobile business device. We're closer than ever to striking the right balance between form factor and functionality but we're not there yet (and progress is slow). When the ham sandwich becomes a chocolate biscuit, I'll be at the front of the queue.

Thursday, November 02, 2006

Don't forget the nail polish!

When talking about "business travel" I'm as guilty as anyone else of thinking only about men in suits but the truth is there are also many women who travel for business too. I recently came across an article called "Making the Most of Business Travel" which is aimed at the female traveller and includes a number of ideas probably not found in most other business travel checklists!