Hartmann

The A380 will run until June. It switches to a 777 in July.

Will you be there? My attendance all depends on whether or not I get stuck at LaGuardia again.

There is no way Copa is going to operate out of Hobby. They're ties with United are just too strong (they're even entering the Star Alliance later this year). Plus, they're happy to devote their fleet to Panama City - LatAm routes and let United feed it from IAH. I don't see them ever coming to Houston. I can see Volaris, VivaAerobus, Allegiant, and maybe Spirit operating out of HOU.

Who's flying 727s around? I'd love to see that period.

Unless they sell them by the kilo like El Bolillo, I'm not interested.

Interesting. Would have preferred they had something that isn't considered the Bud Light of Bavaria on tap, but I guess it's a start. I'll have to check it out. Looking at the pictures of the outside, it looks like it'd fit in more in Berlin over München. It has that Bauhaus look to it.

The free ones are the same ones they charge for, so you're probably better off avoiding them. Prior to that Silvers weren't able select exit rows until check-in at all. So you had to pray someone moved or got upgraded. Now you at least have the option to select the seats. It should be noted that Continental has announced that Economy Plus will be part of the new United: http://www.united.co...67,1314,00.html As it is now, all elites are able to select the E+ seats free of charge on United and as they roll the product out to the Continental planes, I'm sure the story will be the same there too. Me, I'd rather have five more inches of free pitch rather than free pretzels.

The headphones have been $3 for almost two years now. If you're on a flight with DirecTV, they're free. And which elites do they charge for the exit row? Plats and Golds can pick them for free at booking and Silvers can have them for free at 24 hours out (online check-in time).

The Buy-on-Board program pretty much sealed the deal that we'd see Continental adopting more of the United way of doing food. I'm not surprised by them getting rid of pretzels since the evidence is there that a lot of people either refuse them or don't eat them.

You want a big stein so it'd be: Ein groß Bier bitte

I like that the price for the IAH-Moscow segment is actually somewhat reasonable. I bought a $650 ticket a few weeks ago and I'm happy with that.

The Singapore stats are extremely interesting. A lot of people have been worried that that particular route would be killed off.

Yes, will be within walking distance to Cedar Creek according to Ricky.

I'm fairly sure this is related to the finishing of the trail. You can see them working on it along White Oak Bayou as it heads toward the railroad tracks just south of Hogan.

The buy-on-board announcement has been made: http://phx.corporate...5060&highlight= With the menu: The upside is that there will be hot options, similar to what Alaska Airlines offers.

Did they happen to answer questions on how driving access to the Wal-Mart would be arranged? I know that Koehler was mentioned but will Yale be the main access point or are they going to build out Boerne? My other thing is a bunch of talk I saw on the news about "pull the 380 money". My understanding is that without it the developer is not obligated for any infrastructure improvements, so why would anyone want them pull the money? Common sense says, if they are committed to putting in a Wal-Mart, don't we want them to improve the area? I mean, they even mentioned during the meeting that the Heights trail would be extended with the 380 money. That sounds good to me.

Well I think it's a stupid quote and would argue that Target attracts a very similar audience to Wal-Mart. I wonder if the person quoted has actually gone to Target. I also wonder if they ever shop at Loews or Home Depot off the north loop.

I don't think a majority of people in the Heights are either of those things. There certainly is a hipster element in the area but it's down in Montrose too. For the most part, people here are "normal".

After seeing some of the posts about traffic and where exactly the Wal-Mart will be located, I don't think Yale north of 10 will be that much more inundated with traffic (originally I did). I wonder what they're going to do about the 1 lane headed north near Washington though. I no longer care if they put the Wal-Mart in, I've got more important things to worry about. Don't want to support their "tactics", just don't shop there. The other thing I think is just ridiculous is the charge that people against the Wal-Mart are racists and don't like Latinos. That's as much of a stretch as Wal-Mart being put on this earth to stick it to the poor. I wonder how people would feel if it was a Costco instead of a Wal-Mart?

I agree the inner loop is under served, I just wonder if the Yale location is a good one (traffic wise). I'd rather them shut down the Kroger on 19th and build the Wal-Mart there. I guess the plus is that the lot on Yale is fairly large and easier to develop. There was a site choice crew followed around on an NBC special on Wal-Mart and they have a lot of metrics that help them choose locations. Yale must have the demographics close-by and the predicted traffic that Wal-Mart wants to see before they build a store. They know their business fairly well, I probably shouldn't second guess them.

I wouldn't like the traffic an HEB created either. I'm sure with the changes to the access roads they'll time the lights accordingly though (hopefully). I wonder how well that HEB on 18th does. It is never busy.

If a Wal-Mart does go in on Yale, my only concern is the traffic. I frequently use Yale to avoid the possibility of a train on Heights Blvd. As for shopping at Wal-Mart, I generally do not find any deals there that I couldn't find at one of the larger Fiestas and like supporting a local chain. I've actually come to know a few of the workers at the one on 14th and Studewood and will shop there because of them. The large chains are a product of people wanting cheaper goods, I can appreciate that and take advantage of it from time to time. I can't really imagine what home repair goods would cost if there weren't a Home Depot or Lowes. To be honest, my worst shopping experiences have been in Randall's and Kroger, both of which are big stores but have a total of three lanes open and charge more.

My legs barely fit in the RyanAir seats. Whoever is sitting in front of me is getting two knees in the back. They're definitely a bus in the sky but they're cheap. I'm flying Air Berlin for some intra-European stuff in July, they're supposedly a decent low cost carrier as well. I'm so used to Lufthansa's no nonsense attitude that I'm sure Air Berlin will be a relief (hopefully).

If you fly RyanAir, it's about to get worse: http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/item.aspx?type=blog&ak=86948.blog They're going to try and charge people to use the toilet facilities on the plane. For people who fly a lot, having loyalty to an airline does pay off. Free bags, usually better seating choices (United's E+), etc.

I doubt the legacies will follow this. Remember when US started charging for sodas? There was nearly a revolt and they backed off and kept them free.