So United had to shut down its online application for Flight Attendants after 16,700 applications were filled out online for the 2,000 positions that they will need due to attrition for 2006. The pay rate will be significantly reduced compared to the prior years.

Due to continued overwhelming response, United today announced that it will temporarily suspend taking applications for flight attendant positions, effective immediately and until further notice. The company received more than 16,700 online applications within the first three days. United plans to hire approximately 2,000 flight attendants in 2006, with positions initiating in Chicago and Washington, D.C.

An application web site is the exclusive way to apply for a flight attendant position with the airline. The company is beginning to interview 5,100 candidates who have successfully completed the initial steps, and intends to resume the application process on the site when it determines more applicants are needed. United will continue to provide updates on the site about the hiring process at http://www.united.com/flightattendant .

It is amazing that even with the paycuts that have affected the airline industry over the past few years, there are so many people who would love to be a part of it.

After a summer of near misses, some major changes are being inacted at Logan International Airport by the Massachussetts Port Authority to make the Boston airport safer for the flying public.

The Federal Aviation Administration and the Massachusetts Port Authority yesterday announced a series of changes designed to prevent runway episodes at Logan International Airport, and to reassure travelers heading into the busy holiday season.

After an intensive five-week investigation, the agencies agreed to these measures:

Speeding approval and construction of a 9,300-foot taxiway that would keep planes going to and from gates from crossing runways in use by other planes.

Placing strict limits on planes taking off on runways not normally part of takeoff patterns; that scenario led to a close call on June 9.

Requiring ”back-to-basics” training for controllers, which could include checking how quickly they talk and how promptly they give instructions to pilots. via The Boston Globe

This is good news. Lets hope they do a better job with this project than they have done with the Big Dig, otherwise they may have to shut down the airport for good.

Ready to go ballistic on Delta? USAir Got you down after 1 too many cancellations? Bad video on Jet Blue? Well, you can always say thank god it is not Air Zimbabwe which has shut down indefinately due to a lack of fuel.

The Mugabe government has mismanaged the economy so badly that the airline has no choice to shut down the airline as it can not buy fuel.

Unbelievable.

Hat tip to Jared over at Online Travel Review.

Talk about a great gift for that someone you know who loves to travel. A great way to drop the subtle hint that you would like them to come and visit.

Southwest Gift Card Page.

Hat Tip Ben Mutzabaugh.

Athens, Charlottesville, Chapel Hill…

REM, Dave Matthews, Ben Folds.

Forget the ATL or New York, or Left Coast, if you like new and upcoming alternative music, these college towns are the places to find the cutting edge of music, and some of the very best there is.

The Washington Post has a strong article on the music scenes of Athens, Georgia, Charlottesville, Virginia , and Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

These college towns are laboratories, creative enclaves where music bubbles, swirls and mutates into more infectious strains. They are the primordial ooze in which some of the best American music evolves — or, if you prefer, is created.

I’m no music clerk, but I knew all this in a book-learning kind of way. But to really understand the workings of college music towns, I needed more than that.

I needed a field trip.

Days would include driving, browsing record stores, hanging out in coffee shops and strolling leafy, attractive campuses. Nights would be spent partying like a rock star — or, at least, with one.

My planned stops — Charlottesville, Chapel Hill and Athens — are three of the Southeast’s classic college music towns. In addition to bad parking, each has a vibrant music scene and a good record store or two. They also support a variety of small and mid-size venues: That means you can chat with musicians after sets, not just squint through binoculars or stare at the Jumbotron. Read the rest at The Washington Post.

The New York Times does a good job of explainin the benefits of visiting the city of Boston. From a Southerners point of view, I would prefer to visit Beantowm in the summer when the wind is not whistling, but if you do not mind the cold, it could be a fun trip.

WHY GO NOW Winter here evokes holiday tidings like few other cities. Boston, after all, is the land of centuries-old buildings, tree-lined streets and fickle weather. As the Citgo sign in Kenmore Square heralds Beantown baseball, so the weather beacon atop the old John Hancock Tower heralds Boston weather.

…

From the Boston Pops’ joyful strains of seasonal music to “Nutcracker” performances by the Boston Ballet, this is a city for classic Christmas. Boston remains the link between Europe and United States and the place where that cord was severed. It’s a city that creates traditions - like First Night, Boston’s New Year’s Eve celebrations, which have since spread around the country - and provides an endless list of firsts and oldests (Boston’s subway, for one). A walkable city, Boston has Old World charm - but there’s always a bit of revolution in the air.

The LA Times has a very interesting article on getting the best price on hotel rooms. The use of yield management by the hotel companies means that rooms can be sold for different rates depending on occupancy and other factors.

“The core concept of yield management is to provide the right service to the right customer at the right time for the right price,” the report says.

It’s all about timing.

A big problem, industry experts say, is that room demand waxes and wanes by day of the week, time of year, special events and other situations that hoteliers can’t control. Yet every night, a Hilton or Sheraton has the same 100 rooms to fill.

Ensuring that rooms get booked at the maximum price possible, without getting stuck with vacancies at 5 p.m., is a delicate high-wire act.

Enter yield management, which aims to “gain control of consumer demand by using time- and price-related strategic levers,” the report says.

Yes, they’re manipulating you.

By lowering the rate for stays during slack times, hotels induce penny-pinching vacationers to book then, filling rooms that otherwise would have gone vacant. By saving some rooms for last-minute bookers, often business people who have no choice, they can demand higher prices for the now-scarce rooms.

It looks like Southwest is going after US AIRWAYS by taking on more gates at Philadelphia International Airport.

Southwest operates from six gates at the Philadelphia airport now. By early January, the airline plans to take over leases on two gates used by UAL Corp.’s United Airlines, said Steve Sisneros, Southwest’s manager of properties. By spring, Southwest will get four gates now used by Delta Air Lines Inc.

Southwest’s expansion could further pressure US Airways to cut prices. In 2004, when Southwest invaded US Airways’ Philadelphia turf, average one-way fares here dropped 26%.

Southwest serves 61 cities nationwide, and it recently announced plans to start flying from Denver.

US Airways spokesman Philip Gee told The Philadelphia Inquirer for a story in Thursday editions that the airline wasn’t fazed by Southwest’s expansion plans. He said America West Airlines, which acquired US Airways out of bankruptcy court, has competed for years with Southwest in Las Vegas and Phoenix, where both airlines have hubs. US Airways and America West are merging their operations under the deal, which was completed in September. via USA Today

Looking for the safest place to land in America? Do not head to Los Angeles, it has the most dangerous runway system in America.

It’s not a record you want to brag about: Los Angeles International Airport and two others nearby have the worst runway safety records recently among the nation’s busiest airports, a review of federal aviation data shows.

Federal officials are most concerned by the situation at bustling LAX, where commercial jets have come perilously close to crashing at least twice since 1999, the first year of data reviewed by The Associated Press.

The problem persists because, despite millions spent to reduce violations known as runway incursions, LAX’s airfield has built-in flaws: It’s too tightly packed, and arriving aircraft must cross runways used for takeoffs.

Runway incursions occur when a plane or vehicle on the ground gets too close to a plane that is landing or taking off. via CNN