First up is a most interesting story which is going to make Jetblue see a lot of red. $2 million worth of red, to be specific. USA Today reports that an NYC resident has filed a $2 M lawsuit against Jetblue Airways Corp. because a pilot made him give up his seat to a flight attendant and sit on the toilet for more than three hours on a flight from California.

Gokhan Mutlu, of Manhattan’s Inwood section, says in court papers the pilot told him to “go ‘hang out’ in the bathroom” about 90 minutes into the San Diego to New York flight because the flight attendant complained that the “jump seat” she was assigned was uncomfortable, the lawsuit said.

When Mutlu expressed reluctance to go sit in the bathroom, the pilot, who was not named in the lawsuit, told him that “he was the pilot, that this was his plane, under his command that (Mutlu) should be grateful for being on board,” the lawsuit said. - USA Today, 12th May 2008

I’m thinking the pilot will have neither plane nor command soon, and Mutlu is gonna be really, really grateful he was on board - $2M worth of grateful…

China’s quake, where the death toll has pushed past 12000, and counting, has produced a few interesting (albeit morbid) sideshows. The fate of the Pandas at the Wolong Giant Panda Protection and Research Center, at Chengdu, about 20 miles from the epicenter of the quake, has been a hotly written about on the net, on various travel, environment and animal websites over the last few days. To top it off, 19 Britons were there at the reserve on a panda watching expedition. At last count, Google News showed 462 articles about the Pandas and 757 articles about the 19 British tourists. Photo by Hipnos via Flickr

My point is that with 12,000 plus people dead, tens of thousands more buried under, and billions in damage, most of these thousand over websites were explicitly focused on the fate of the Pandas. Question is, environmental concerns aside, are pandas more important to the media than 12,000 dead people? Forgive me if I sound racist, but what would have been the reaction had the same thing happened in the U.S. or in Europe? Its worth thinking about. For the record, the pandas are safe. No news yet on the British panda-watchers. Let’s hope and pray they’re safe and sound.

Lastly, Liz Webber, CNN Travel has a list of 7 tourist traps that her readers love anyway, based on feedback. The list includes San Francisco’s Cliff House. The mechanical museum has moved to Pier 45 at Fisherman’s Wharf (415/346-2000, museemechanique.org). But the camera obscura still projects a fantastically detailed view of the coast in a building on the grounds, using a trick with light and mirrors that’s similar to the inner workings of a submarine periscope. Stroll the grounds for free, pay $3 to see the camera obscura or dine at one of the two indoor restaurants that face the ocean. (1090 Point Lobos, 415/386-3330, cliffhouse.com).

If you know of any more things to do in San Francisco which could be construed as tourist traps, which you love anyway, please post in the comments. I think I’d like to build a list of ‘lovable tourist traps’ in San Francisco.

Posted on May 14th, 2008 by PLing
Filed under: Travel News