Zagat rates the airlines and IBM (oddly enough) checks for rip-offs

By Amy Chen
October 3, 2012

As you prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving, here are two new surveys about the airline industry to give you food for thought.

Earlier this week, Zagat Survey released its list of top airlines, based on the experiences of nearly 10,000 frequent fliers.

The top economy-class airlines are:

1. JetBlue

2. Southwest

3. Continental

4. AirTran

5. Delta

See the full results at zagat.com/airline.

Some of my favorite Zagat quotes: "The Rhett Butler of airlines: they just don't give a damn"; "Bathrooms smell like a lion house at the zoo on a hot day"; "Hot food in coach—so retro!"; "Would rather flap my arms than book this airline"; "Gets you where you're going…sometimes."

Oddly, IBM also has gotten in the business of doing travel surveys. According to its latest phone survey of about 1,000 people, about 78 percent of travelers think baggage fees are the biggest airline rip-off.

Other rip-offs?

Additional charges for redeeming frequent-flier miles: 76 percent

Food and non-alcohol drink fees: 52 percent

Fuel surcharges: 47 percent (a tie—another 47 percent think fuel surcharges are reasonable)

The study also asked people what were the travel mishaps they experienced in the past year:

About 20 percent said they had missed a connecting flight due to airline delays, while 8 percent said they had been bumped from a flight. About 16 percent say they had lost their luggage.

Researchers also found that 26 percent think the airline industry can learn from cruise lines in terms of offering better customer service, whereas some 10 percent think the airlines should model themselves after the banking industry (only when it comes to customer service—not when it comes to making stupid investments).

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This weekend: Downtown Indianapolis lights up

For the 46th year, Indianapolis will celebrate the Circle of Lights this Friday. The entire lighting ceremony and display is centered around the Soldiers and Sailors Monument in downtown, a late-19th century structure. Fifty-two garland strands of lights (that's 4,784 colored lights total) hang from the top of the monument to its base. Monument Circle is also adorned with 26 toy soldiers and sailors, huge peppermint sticks, and a Santa's workshop scene. With 56,700 more lights in the surrounding area's trees, it's quite the sight. The flipping of the switch happens at about 7:45 p.m., but live entertainment, chosen from open auditions around the state, starts at 6 p.m. Indy leaves it to the pros for this spectacle: Circle of Lights is sponsored by Contractors of Quality Connection and Electrical Workers of IBEW 481. Are you going to a lighting ceremony in your city? Leave a shout-out in the comments! Free, Monument Circle, Indianapolis. Editor's note: If you Google map Monument Circle, you can easily get directions. MORE Indianapolis' new, $1.1 billion airportFind local bloggers at Indianapolis Bloggers PREVIOUSLY How To Travel During the Holidays

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New York gets its first "fake ice" skating rink....But is it skate-able?

On Saturday, the American Museum of Natural History opened New York City's first synthetic ice-skating facility, the Polar Rink, on its outdoor terrace. The eco-friendly rink reminds visitors about the effects of global warming with a 17-foot glowing polar bear centerpiece. Its "ice" is actually a plastic surface engineered to match the density of frozen water. Every morning, a light spray lubricates the surface for skaters. Thanks to the clever new material, the museum doesn't devour enormous amounts of energy the way traditional ice skating rinks do. It also doesn't need to spend money on Zamboni cleanings. The "ice" isn't biodegradable, but the museum can re-use the same sheets for several years, and then they recycle the plastic. But can plastic skating still mean good fun? I went for a whirl to find out. Lined with twinkling trees and awash in cool blue floodlights, the terrace felt like a winter wonderland. And the museum's other-worldly planetarium seemed appropriate, looming in the background. When I stepped onto the strange material in the rink, I quickly learned two things: First, synthetic ice is harder to skate on. Second, it's softer when you fall. It took a lot of leg strength to push myself a few inches, and I couldn't dig my blades in to get a stronger push. To be fair, I've never been the most graceful skater, but looking around, I noticed that no one else was either. Even experienced skaters felt their skills tested. Falling wasn't a problem, though. The surface isn't wet or cold, and it has more bounce than ice. Plus, every wobbly skater had plenty of room to spread out: The 150-foot by 80-foot rink can accommodate up to 200 people in each one-hour session, but when I got there at 6 p.m. on a Sunday night, there were no more than 20 people on the ice. Another 15 or so spectators guarded shoes on the sidelines. (There are no lockers available, so pack lightly or bring a designated bag-watcher.) One group that seemed to love the faux-ice were children, who happily shimmied around the edges. A pair of laughing kids crawled around the center on their hands and knees pretending to be polar bears, something that would be too cold to do on real ice. I was happy to watch them from the adjacent snack shop, which serves rich hot chocolate ($3.25) and candy, small sandwiches, and pastries. It's a cozy place to take in the picturesque scene—and to rest your quads. Open until February 28, 2008 Arthur Ross Terrace at the American Museum of Natural History, enter at 79th St. at Columbus Ave. $10 per person per hour includes skate rental. (Children $8, seniors/students $9.) Sessions start on the hour. If you prefer a traditional ice-skating experience, note that South Street Seaport is opening up an 8,000-square-foot rink (with real ice) on November 28. Details at thenewseaport.com/icerink

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This Just In, as you know, is a great source for travel news. But perhaps you've read all of our recent posts and still have some time to kill. What to do? You could check out Travel Off the Cuff, a travel-news aggregator. It relies on its users to link to the news they find interesting—recent entries include an ABCNews.com story called "End of the Tourism Boom" and Vagabondish's guide to better travel writing. Adding stories is easy. Click "Submit News" and paste in the URL and story title. Even easier: The box labeled "First Class Submit" has a button called "Share on Travel Off the Cuff" that you can add to your browser's bookmarks bar; when you're on another site, like BudgetTravel.com, and come across an interesting story, just press the button to send the story to Travel Off the Cuff. Users can also comment on stories and can "Upgrade" stories that they like; items that get upgraded become "Top News," so you'll find out if others like the articles you post. The site's founder, Mark Wolinski, expects the upgrading to be more useful as the site gets more traffic and more people indicate which stories they like. Wolinski wrote in his first blog post that the site will be "about what you do when you get there," and his goal is to build a database of cultural events around the world. These would range from big events like Munich's Oktoberfest to the smaller ones featured in our own "Wacky Festivals." As with the Travel News section, this would allow input from users, so if you lived in a small town in Scotland, for example, you would be able to add a local event; people planning to travel to Edinburgh might decide they'd have more fun in your town. Check it out. And if you like site, help get it going by adding the stories you like from around the Intertubes.