Why frequent business travel is so bad for you...

Hmmm... apparently there are a few reasons mixed in with a healthy dose of scaremongering... (Fastcompany):

If aging faster isn’t scary enough, it turns out that frequent business travelers are exposed to more radiation than is considered healthy. "Radiation exposure is hundreds of times higher at high altitude than at ground," says Cohen.

Matter of fact, it’s so high that "there have been calls to classify frequent business travelers as ‘radiation workers,'" he says, and notes that just seven round-trip flights a year from New York to Tokyo (about 85,000 miles) exceeds the limit for public exposure to radiation. As Cohen notes in his paper, "radiation exposure amongst commercial aircrew even exceeds that of nuclear power workers."

Tipping and travel...

Useful but recurring issue... how much to tip while travelling abroad? (WSJ)

The best day to buy airline tickets has now changed... to Sunday

Useful to know... (WSJ):

One factor behind the change: Airline executives come into work Monday looking to raise fares, not discount them with sales to fill seats. Just this week airlines put through a $2 each-way across-the-board fare hike, even though prices for oil—the largest expense for airlines—have been plunging. Prices are still going up due to increasing demand for the limited number of available seats.

The lower Sunday and Saturday prices also result from the ability social media has given airlines to throw discounts in front of consumers at any time. That turns vacation shoppers surfing the Web on weekends into ticketed passengers without discounting tickets business travelers might buy while at work. And the findings reflect the lack of corporate sales over the weekend, since business travelers typically fly on more expensive tickets than vacation buyers.

When searching for the lowest fare, don’t give up on Tuesdays. It’s the day with the most frequent price drops, leaving the door open for good deals.

Aerospace eyecandy: video animation of air traffic in Europe over 24 hours

Too bad the view isn't nearly as cool or pretty from inside any one of these planes (via core77):

Europe 24 from NATS on Vimeo.

BusinessInsider: How airfares are decided

Just in case like everyone in the world you're trying to game airfare pricing - a few bits of useful information particularly this passage (BusinessInsider):

[Q:] Why is it that sometimes I can wait until the last minute and find a cheap fare, but other times the fare goes up?

Well, most of the time the fare will go up because the flight will be filling up or the advance purchase restrictions will be kicking in. But on routes with significant competition -- New York to Los Angeles for example -- airlines may have sales or "dump seats" at the last minute to fill the plane if it's not particularly full. It also depends on the day of the week. Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday are often the cheapest days to fly because we carry fewer business passengers those days.

Update: So apparently a recent study shows how prices fluctuate prior to flights with a few consistent patterns (HuffingtonPost)

Fifty-four days before takeoff is, on average, when domestic airline tickets are at their absolute lowest price. And if you don’t hit 54 days on the head, you should usually book between 104 to 29 days before your trip -- within the “prime booking window” -- for the lowest possible prices. In this window, ticket prices typically hover within $10 of the lowest price they’ll ever reach. [...]

If you’re going somewhere incredibly popular at an incredibly popular time -- like spring break in Florida, for example -- you should book well before the “prime booking window” begins. When there’s constant, strong demand for a flight, the researchers explain, airlines have no incentive to lower ticket prices as time goes on. The same principle holds true for flights to hard-to-reach airports in small cities: there’s little airline competition here, so ticket prices don’t drop nearly as much over their lifespan.

Foreign countries are incredibly popular destinations with hard-to-reach airports, so the researchers suggest booking much earlier than the 54 days recommended for domestic flights.

Here are the “magic numbers” for some common international destinations:

Europe: 151 days before your flight
Asia: 129 days before your flight
The Caribbean: 101 days before your flight
Mexico: 89 days before your flight
Latin America: 80 days before your flight

If people who travel are more enlightened...

It makes really fear for those who don't given this list of purported complaints to Travel Cook Vacations. (BlogDramedy)

China's 64 pg pamphlet for travelling citizens: "Don't pick your nose in public" and other nuggets

Not sure if this is disturbing or "it's about time" kind of things (WSJ):

A new set of guidelines by China National Tourism Administration, issued late last month ahead of the key Golden Week vacation period that kicked off on Oct. 1 National Day, aims to set such tourists right.

Among the admonitions contained in the 64-page illustrated handbook: Don’t sneeze in front of others. Ditto for picking noses and teeth.

While the booklet contains suggestions for Chinese when traveling at home, the main target is to improve the lamentably poor reputation of Chinese tourists abroad.

Biggest travel mistakes

Courtesy of CNN. Mostly for recreational travel.

Travel Tip: 3 Images to Save to the Cloud Before You Start Travelling

Good tip: Save the first few pages of your passport, credit card, and prescription information to the cloud before you start travelling (ApartmentTherapy). Caveat: do what you can to make sure the information is secure.

Travel Tip: Inflight Ginger Sweet Tea

Coming off a bizarre cold just as summer is settling in, I may try this now. It's a great idea for travel though if you're someone who normally brings a waterbottle/thermos anyway (theKitchn).

Planning for Post-Travel Tip

A pretty good idea: have a frozen/easy to make meal ready for you when you get back (thekitchn). Especially useful for those +12 hour trips when all you want to do is burn your clothes let alone be seen in public after you get back.

Chris Blattman's Carry-on Baggage Tips

A nice little checklist for a long haul flight (ChrisBlattman)

Cute T-Mobile Flash Mob @ Heathrow

H/T Brian J (fb). While I enjoyed this, I confess if I were in the middle of it, I suspect I'd probably be that one surly impatient guy just trying to get out of there - I can only imagine the level of coordination that had to have gone into this:

Not Coming to Air Canada Any Time Soon

via Tim:

PSA: What to do when you flight is cancelled

Much of this advice also applies to when you miss your connection: "Reasons You're Doing it Wrong When Your Flight is Cancelled" (hipmunk.com via lifehacker.com). Hint: don't bother waiting in the customer service line.

This explains a lot...

"What's our priority for aviation infrastructure? Safety. (Not efficiency)" (Infrastructurist) - I didn't realize that the tradeoff was that great.

More on the Forces of Good

Newsflash: Markets work! The more baggage fees that US airlines have been charging customers, the faster their overall revenue has been collapsing.

Making Air Travel More Fun Than it Already Is

I am hoping that these measures are temporary: TSA Security Directive SD-1544–09-06 (BoardingArea). On the other hand, maybe this will mean even fewer travelers through the US and cheaper flights?

Update - Megan McArdle via Instapundit: "I don't know what annoys me more: Janet Napolitano saying "the system worked" when what she means is "the system failed, but smart passengers proved that the system is unnecessary", or the moronic new rules the TSA is apparently putting into place in order to "prevent" future such occurances. The TSA's obsession with fighting the last war is so strong that I expect any day to see them building wooden forts at our nation's airports in order to keep the redcoats at bay."

Update #2 - The TSA bans snowglobes: "FINALLY! The TSA Bans The Right Thing. We're saved. No terrorist is going to ever blow up a plane with a snow globe again" (Business Insider)

Why I hate checking luggage

Pretty hilarious standup routine by Welshman Rhod Gilbert:

Let's make air travel even less enjoyable than it already is

Ugh. Apparently the FAA is now recommending that before takeoff "nothing [can] be placed in seatback storage pockets — no eyeglasses, no ticket stubs, no iPods or bottles of water or magazines" (NYT via Paul Kedrosky). As Kedrosky goes on to note: "My suggestion: Let’s go straight to no humans on planes. They’re just a general security risk, and they smell badly too."

I really hope they don't start attempting to enforce this for overseas flights.