I have my favorite airlines (Continental, KLM, Delta) and my least favorite ((Sl)EasyJet) and now Jet Blue.

My flight was actually fine. I got a whole row to myself and slept for most of the 6 hours and ten minutes of my journey from New York to Portland, Oregon. But here’s the thing. When I booked the flight they let me reserve my seat online as most airlines do nowadays. Unfortunately, there appeared to be only middle seats available, one aisle and one window seat in the very last row. Well, I like window seats so I took the only one left. Oh, there were actually a lot more aisles and window seats available but you had to pay $45 for “extra leg room” in those rows.

Well hey, I’m on a start-up budget and don’t like to be seen by my co-workers and investors as a prima donna so I wasn’t going to shell that out. Plus, those kinds of things just make you hate the airline. I think it’s bad PR because whether you take the upgrade or not you end up seething at the airline for that policy. But that’s nothing compared to what actually happened when I got on the plane.

Turns out, the flight was very empty. Tons of seats were available all over the plane. There were LOTS of window seats that weren’t in the last row!!

So, once everyone was on board a flight attendant comes on the loudspeaker and announces that since the flight is empty we should all feel free to sit wherever we want….. (wait for it)….. EXCEPT IN THE ROWS DESIGNATED AS EXTRA LEG ROOM UNLESS WE AGREE TO BE CHARGED $45.

SERIOUSLY?????

You can imagine the rest of the story. The flight crossed the country with almost every “Leg Room” seat empty.

It’s hard to believe JetBlue would take the PR hit that gives them instead of returning $45 to the people who prepaid for those seats on an empty flight.

Hey, I’m a lowly start-up entrepreneur so what do I know? But, that just seems nonsensical.

First they create a false sense of worth by showing you that the only non-premium seats available are not very desirable to encourage you to buy a more expensive seat. Then, those that did purchase the extra leg room end up being upset because the flight is empty and those who didn’t are clearly shown the kind of BS the company is pulling on its customers.

Speaking of “hey look at me!” posts… early last year I thought I wanted to do a series of video podcasts that featured (rather, sort of compared and contrasted) Barcelona and New York. I go back and forth quite a bit so I thought I could get plenty of fresh footage on an ongoing basis and I was having all these ideas about how the two cities could be juxtaposed.

I was going to do the whole series in Catalan (so, obviously not directed at an English speaking audience). In the end, I just couldn’t get it together to make more than the first installment so I never posted it. I just had too much on my plate and I wasn’t getting any strong indicators that there would be a lot of interest. For what it’s worth, here it is.

For you non-Catalan speakers, what I’m pointing out in the video is that New York is beautiful and imposing as seen from above or from a distance but when you get down into the city it’s a bit gritty, industrial and it could use a makeover. Barcelona in contrast, isn’t so pretty as seen from above but when you get down into the city it’s one of the most beautiful cities in the world with great infrastructure and manicured public spaces. I make a few other comparisons and contrasts as well. You get the point.

I don’t foresee making any more of these.

A principis de l’any passat vaig voler fer una sèrie de vídeos curts que comparaven i contrastaven Barcelona i Nova York. Ja que vaig i vinc sovint, pensava que sempre tindria suficient metratge i no deixava de tenir idees de com relacionar les dues ciutats.

Entre una cosa i l’altra només vaig fer el primer episodi. Vaig començar a tenir massa feina i no detectava que hi hauria prou interès com per justificar la continuació. De totes formes, aquí tenim el vídeo que sí que vaig acabar. No crec que en faci més però si us agrada passeu-lo. A veure que us sembla.

Salut!

I fly transatlantic all the time on Delta / Northwest. I take an Ambien and I sleep. I also wear earplugs. If the guy that tried to bring this plane down had been sitting next to me I probably would have slept right through it.

I hate airports. I hate all the security rigmarole you have to go through but there is nothing too inconvenient to save my life. Bring on more airport security. I’ll deal with it.

Delta Attempted Bombing

The hard economic times in Spain have been making the major news media in the US. Here are two reports from NBC news.

The first one is from tonight’s broadcast. It’s about the truckers’ strike. Here in the US we’re having a hard time coming to terms with $4.00 for a gallon of gas. In Spain they’re paying $6.80!! And for Europe that’s still cheap!

This next one is from a few days ago and is about the fishing industry in northern Spain protesting the price of fuel.

I think this counts though!

Disclaimer – The camel in this video is the first and only camel I’ve seen here. This is a modern, first world, wealthy country. Sometimes the dusty, brown, war-torn images we get from this region on the news make us think that’s what it’s like here and that you see people leading camels through the streets all the time; like actually is the case in other places I’ve been such as Egypt and Morocco. It’s not that way here. Israel (or at least most of Jerusalem) is a beautiful, green, very first-world city.

Click on the video below to see Running Around The World – Jerusalem.

Anyway, it’s October 1st and no, I didn’t hit my goal of losing roughly 10 pounds in September. Not even close. I need to take this a little more seriously. I do go running a lot but that’s obviously not enough. It’s hard to eat healthy in airports, and when away from home between meetings and when mom’s cooking… and about any other time. OK, I’m rededicating myself for October.

My running course in Barcelona is probably the most beautiful I’ve ever had. I’ve got the beach and the Montjüic Park including the Olympic Ring all within blocks of our place. I start my running course right out the front door.

Click on the video below: