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Jill Stone

Your Meeting Matchmaker Fairy Godmother

Happy Fly Year

in: Event Planning Advice Meeting Planning Experience Travel and Hospitality

The Flight Forecast is out via The Wall Street Journal (12/27/12) and here is what travelers can expect for the coming year.

Trusted Traveler: The Transportation Security Administration, TSA, is looking to expand its list of “trusted travelers.” A background check and finger print can land you in the lane where all clothing stays on and everything stays in your bags, including your laptop. For $100 you get a five-year enrollment. It is a lengthy form, but may be well worth the fill out time for frequent flyers. To find out if you are eligible, check out this site.

Wi-Fi Fly By: More and more airlines will be adding in Wi-Fi so you can fly the friendly skies and surf your social media sites (ahem! Like this one ) at the same time.

Get Out Your Wallets: Hey tall people, be ready to spend extra money if you are looking for extra-legroom. Hey late people, if you are not going to make the flight you may wish to call ahead or you could risk a no-show fee.Examining X-Rays: Are those X-ray machines really safe or are they emitting unwanted radiation into your cute self? The National Academy of Sciences will be conducting a study this year. In the mean time, think positive and non-radiating thoughts.

Profits Take Off (Sort Of): 2013 is looking profitable for the airline industry. Though not brag-worthy profits, they are profits none-the-less.

Fly the Sleepy Skies: United, Delta and American will be adding beds on cross-country domestic flights.

dreamlinerHot Model: Making its entrance into the skies this year is the 787 Dreamliner, according to The Wall Street Journal it is “built with composite materials rather than aluminum, allowing more-comfortable cabin pressure and slightly higher onboard humidity.” Not sure if this makes it “dreamier,” but perhaps I will get to find out if I fly to Tokyo or London this year.

New Look, New Logo: American is updating its look with paint. The unpainted silver birds made sense as the paint added hundreds of pounds of weight; the new composite material planes, however, require paint. Recently a plain plane with an all-gray tail and no logo was seen on the runway and delivered to American. Perhaps the new look and logo will be seen on this plane first and will soon make its fashion debut.

Also: Check out this report on The Today Show.

Happy Traveling to all for 2013!

*Thank you to Composites Today for the image!

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