Gadling

I've often marveled at how smooth air travel has become. Contrary to media reports, tens of thousands of flights operate every day with nary an issue. That was certainly the case for the previous six Paris trips this month.

The first clue that it'd be a more interesting flight came as I walked into the cockpit after doing the walk-around inspection outside. The captain mentioned that we didn't have any autothrottles tonight. It's akin to driving a car for 7 hours without cruise control.

I pulled out my Macbook to check the 767 MEL (Minimum Equipment List) to see if there were any issues about flying across the Atlantic without the autothrottles. Nothing came up, which meant they could be deferred for a few days until repairs or component replacements could be made.

At this point I can already hear a few corporate and regional airline pilots screaming, "Hey, we don't even HAVE autothrottles!"

Oh boy, oh boy. Just a couple of weeks ago, I wrote about a family with an autistic child being booted off an American eagle flight for "out-of control" behavior.

Today, another "unruly family" hit the news.

A woman, her 5-month-old sister and four kids were kicked off a flight after they were misbehaving on a Southwest Airlines flight to Phoenix. As they were getting off the plane at Phoenix, airport police were already waiting for them and prevented them from boarding their connection to Seattle, CNN reports.

You can watch the video here. Yeah, emotions definitely ran high here. Glad I wasn't on that flight!

The interesting thing is that this family, like the one from two weeks ago, also traveled with an autistic child. On top of that, they had one child with cerebral palsy. It seems to me that airlines need to better prepare for more and more families traveling with special-needs children. (And other passengers need to start realizing that in times of cheap mass air travel, there is no divine right to a quiet flight. Hmm, I'm sure that will go over well.)

What strange things have been found on planes?

Click the image to read the bizarre story...

Did that review of the Tom Tom XL330s get you all envious that you don't have a GPS for this summer's road trip? Well you're in luck! In addition to the other the XL330s sent over to the Gadling offices, our friends at Tom Tom sent us an extra Tom Tom ONE 3rd edition to give away to one lucky winner!

Chocked with features like turn-by-turn directions, millions of points of interest and a clean simple interface, the third edition ONE is the best selling GPS on the market.

And it can be yours. Just leave an entry telling us how you learn your way around a city you're visiting in the comments below and we'll draw a lucky winner by next Tuesday, July 15th.

Good luck!

• To enter, simply leave a comment below telling us how you learn your way around a city you're visiting.
  
• The comment must be left before Friday, July 15th, 2008 at 5PM Eastern Time.
• You may enter only once.
• One winner will be selected in a random drawing.
• One Grand Prize Winner will receive a free Tom Tom ONE, Third Edition
  
• Open to legal residents of the 50 United States, the District of Columbia and Canada (excluding Quebec) who are 18 and older.
• GPS is valued at $199.00.
• Click Here for complete Official Rules.

It turns out that all of that hubub we heard about Southwest joining the international market earlier this year was true. And why not? They're in the best financial situation of any of the current operating airlines -- why not expand now while the the competition is faltering? Why not step on the throats of the choking airline industry?

Just today, the Dallas based company announced that they were entering a partnership with Westjet, one of Canada's largest carriers. The deal will involve sharing flights and operations for a variety of services and will ultimately be implemented in late 2009.

Westjet, in case you're wondering, is based in Calgary, AB and has focus cities in Edmonton and Vancouver. So this agreement will hopefully make travel from core Southwest sites up to the great north a little easier and less expensive -- you also might be able to earn Southwest miles as well.

Details of the agreement are still slim, but as the integration continues we'll probably get more info on exactly which routes and schedules will be merged between the two airlines. For now, consider this an ominous precursor to Southwest entering (and maybe taking over) the international airline market. Hold on to those shares.

Location: Mr. Bourdain kicked off a new round of episodes last night with Laos. As one of the last "untouched" destinations of Southeast Asia, Laos sits nestled along the Mekong River, a mountainous country filled with mist-shrouded hilltops, orange-robed monks and a fascinating history both recent and ancient.

Episode Rating: Four bloody meat cleavers (out of five) in honor of Chef Bourdain.

Summary: Laos is one of those mysterious destinations romanticized by 21st century travelers. Still scarred by violent memories of the Vietnam War, it is a country largely untouched by the typical tourist trail of Southeast Asia but ripe with beautiful places to visit and delicious new foods to taste. In other words, it's one of those places that Anthony Bourdain just knows how to do best - seeking out the remote, the fascinating and the cringe-inducing for our viewing pleasure.

Tony kicks off the episode by briefly stopping in the capital city of Vientiane before heading out for his "obligatory Asian noodle breakfast" in the small city of Phong Savan. Much like its Vietnamese cousin Pho, the spicy Lao soup he tastes is filled with a combination of noodles and meat, typically either chicken, duck or pork. Give Bourdain his bowl of noodles and he's generally a pretty happy customer.

I feel small in these seats, a feeling that I am unaccustomed to when flying overseas. Christopher stops by to see if I'm okay because I'm shifting around awkwardly. I send him off with a cheerful wave and adjust my duvet for the tenth time.

How did I get here?

Open Skies is a new airline spawned from British Airways and the open skies agreement. Their service, kicked off on June 19th between New York's JFK and Orly in Paris, is the most recent in a line of airlines catering to a new demographic – one who appreciates an enhanced business-class environment, treatment and experience overseas. For the extra one or two hundred dollars over the competition to fly in Economy, passengers can enjoy a smaller cabin, comfortable seats and superior In Flight Entertainment, food and service

Their only 757 aircraft features less than 100 seats, with three classes of service, Economy, Prem + and Biz. I'm told that in the future (and with their acquisition of L'avion), new cabins may only have Prem + and Biz.

With only about sixteen pilots and four times as many flight attendants, the community is small and tightly knit. On my outbound flight, I got to know a few of the flight attendants who filled me in on some of the details about the airline and gave me some tips for my stay in Paris. Each employee, hailing from a colorful past, brings a broad spectrum of experience to the table, the result of which is a multi-faceted group of individuals ready for any situation. As Antony Crucilla, the captain of the return flight told me, the airline has strict requirements in bringing experienced staff on board -- and it shows in their service.

Today, I'm on one of the first flights between New York City and Paris, test driving the service and reporting on the experience. Follow along and indulge in the newest airline on the planet: Open Skies.

Continue onward to Planning, booking and the concierge service, or skip ahead to

Online check in
Arrival and check in
In flight: Economy
In flight: Prem +
In flight: Biz
Transfer in from Orly
Return trip logistics
The final word

Back in April, Catherine posted about Denmark being ranked the world's happiest country by the University of Leicester in England, which published its so-called Map of World Happiness.

Well, just in case you doubted that institution's findings, another study, this one released last week by the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research, has also ranked Danes No. 1 in terms of happiness and life satisfaction.

The Michigan study's overall conclusion: Happiness is on the rise worldwide.

It's perhaps no surprise that Denmark tops the list, since it is a perennial favorite in any survey of this ilk. There is just something about life in that Scandinavian country that is apparently better than anywhere else. But a few other countries in the top 10 do surprise...at least me: Puerto Rico. Colombia. Northern Ireland.

The 10 happiest countries in the world:

1. Denmark
2. Puerto Rico
3. Colombia
4. Iceland
5. N. Ireland
6. Ireland
7. Switzerland
8. Netherlands
9. Canada
10. Austria

The U.S. comes in 16th on the list, not too shabby given the sad recent years we've lived through.

This is the 26th edition of the U of M study, which annually surveys around 350,000 people worldwide, asking them, well, just how happy they feel.

The 10 unhappiest countries in the world:

1. Zimbabwe
2. Armenia
3. Moldova
4. Belarus
5. Ukraine
6. Albania
7. Iraq
8. Bulgaria
9. Georgia
10. Russia

Not many surprises there.

Check out the complete U of M rankings here.

Even if you manage to do more than a staycation this summer, vacations just aren't what they used to be. Along with paying to check baggage and incredibly high gas prices comes a whole new level of social responsibility; seems like we can't even take a simple American road trip without considering all the environmental costs involved.

For those of you that are concerned with just how green your summer travels are, the Sierra Club has two easy quizzes to figure out where your vacation ranks on the green scale. The How Green is My Destination quiz looks at the environmental impact of where you are going and the How Green is my Getaway quiz analyzes just how your mode of travel -- bike, bus, airplane, etc. -- changes the greeness of your upcoming vacay.

To take the quizzes click here.

Straight out of Fashion Week! The only difference is that this couple looks so much better than Posh Spice in all her cheesy zebra-print outfits.

AngeAngerson took this photo in a game park in Nairobi, Kenya in 2006.

Seriously, how cute is the baby zebra??

***To have your photo considered for the Gadling Photo of the Day, go over to the Gadling Flickr Pool and post it. Make sure it is not copyrighted, otherwise we can't post it here.***

Is this a meaningful sign of China's impending reformation or merely cosmetic?

China's new Olympic-inspired 10 yuan notes show no sign of former Communist leader and all-around bad guy Mao Zedong. Mao is replaced on the currency by, among other things, the new Beijing National Stadium (aka the "Bird's Nest"), a scantily-clad (if at all clad) discus thrower, and the Beijing 2008 Olympics logo.

Lest you think this marks a definitive change in China's attitude, note that "only" 6 million of these are being printed. In a country of over a billion people, these notes may be more like collectors' items than widely-traded currency.

More here.