French transportation workers are protesting the government’s move to push the mandatory retirement age from 60 to 62, so there’s little sympathy felt from the USA.

For most long haul travelers — such as people flying in from the US shouldn’t notice any delays until they land. Air France says it will not delay those flights, according to

A simulated photo of what crusty French workers would look like if it were the 1930s.

news reports. However, more local flights could be canceled or delayed.

Once someone lands, there could be some chaos on the ground, as trains and buses may not be operating.(One note: Eurostar, that speedy train that scoots people between London and Paris in two hour, does not face any delays.)

The strike is scheduled to end on Wednesday as transportation workers will have made their point by then and they wouldn’t want to strike during their time off.

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The reason is its simplicity. Sure, it may have a goofy looking chipmunk on the homepage and the graphics are overly simple, but that simplicity is what makes it so bucktooth beautiful. There are no ads on the site, just a simple box that you fill out and then a bad ass bar chart that shows you all of the possible flights to take you away.

The site is as user friendly as you’re going to find. After the flight schedule appears — including the time, duration and price, you can hover the mouse above the flight and get any other info you need. You can also adjust the times by sliding a simple line on the chart.

You can also sort by different features such as time, price and airline. But our favorite feature is the agony algorithm, which weighs a number of features and then determines the agony of any particular flight. A more expensive flight may cause less pain — but that’s OK. Less pain should be a feature every trip includes.

Also on the site are a number of straightforward tips under the blog section, such as how to get free train rides, how to handle a canceled flight and other solid tips. They are straight forward and easy to follow that even the most unhipmunk would know what to do.

The blog also tipped us to Demogirl‘s screen cast on how to use the site — so take a peek at the video and see if there are a few more feature’s you might want to include. Definitely bookmark the munk.

Photo from Hipmunk.com

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Farecompare.com, one of our favorite travel websites, recently sent out this notice to subscribers that included $49 tickets and even better deals to Europe this fall:

• American Labor Day sale from $49 one-way
• Frontier Labor Day sale from $44 one-way
• Fall Europe sale from American

The downside is you’re going to need a few vacation days to really enjoy it and you’ll need to buy your tickets no later than Sept. 8.

As for our advice, the Fall is an absolutely one of the best times to head to Europe. A lot of tourists have already left, the classic sites have fewer crowds and the people don’t mind talking to an American or two. (Though we’d stick to telling people you’re from Iceland.)

So now, the only question is, where do you want to go?

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Hurricane Earl impacts vacation and flight plans. Photo courtesy NASA

As Hurricane Earl churns up the coast of the Eastern US, it looks like Cape Cod and both Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket will be hit next.

The hurricane, whether you’re traveling east or not, will impact your travel.

Airports will be affected. Expect shutdowns in the New England area and delays rippling out from that. Apparently flights won’t be taking off in sustained winds of 100 mph. If you’re flying and any of your flights bring you to or through an north eastern state,  check your airline for any updates and any ticket changes.

Many airlines have already begun to waive the change fees on tickets due to Hurricane Earl. Be a little proactive, go to their websites and check out your options to save yourself from sleeping on those airport chairs. It’s no fun spending more time in the airport than the beach.

Photo from NASA

Ferry service to Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket will be shut down. As the seas get rougher, all ferries will be docked, stranding people on either side. This is going to happen sometime on Friday as the storm nears, so hopefully everyone is where they need to be by midday.

We just happened to be headed over to Martha’s Vineyard on Thursday for a little fun. Woods Hole was bustling with people and parking lots were full. Full of the many locals taking the ferry over to secure boats and weekend homes. The laughter and fun of the summer, now a little lost as people run about preparing for the storm.

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Virgin is offering two for one tacos and tickets to Mexico if you can find the right taco trucks in LA and San Francisco. This special is to celebrate the new Virgin America flights from LA to Cancun and San Francisco to Los Cabos, Mexico that are planned to start this winter.

Virgin is also kicked off a three day fare sale for all flights in the US and to Mexico that ends Thursday at 11:59 p.m. Fares start as low as $39 between LA and San Francisco, $109 each way for a cross country trip and $129 for a one way ticket to Mexico.

Two tacos for the price of one? You can’t beat that deal!

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There's a reason this woman is not on an airplane in the promotional picture by Mexicana Airlines: No one is.

Mexicana Airlines suspended all of its flights today until further notice.

This is not really good news for anyone holding a ticket for the airline. According to a release by Grupo Mexicana, the airline’s owner, the airline is undergoing bankruptcy protection right now and could not afford both lawyers and pilots. (Read the company’s apology here.

If you would like a refund for your ticket, you can go to the Mexicana’s website to apply for one. Good luck with that, because you have not become one of many debetors that the airline is attempting to dump. However, you can still try.

If you bought your ticket in the U.S. or Canada, click here.

If you bought your ticket in Mexico or anywhere else the world.

If you want to listen to a recording and possibly talk to a person you can try calling some of these numbers:

In the U.S. or Canada

1-888-882-9994
1-877-801-2010

In Mexico City:

5448-8634
5998-5998

In Mexico

01800-837-6150
01800-801-2010
from anywhere in Mexico

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On a British Airways flight flying from London to Hong Kong, a prerecorded message announcing the plane was about to make an emergency water landing in the North Sea so now was the time tuck your head between your legs and put your affairs in order was played instead of, say, flight attendants are about to serve coffee and biscuits.

Naturally, all 275 passengers found the announcement alarming.

According to ABC News, one passenger Michelle Lord said,  “Everyone was panicking. There [were] people who were crying and shaking. Obviously it’s not the sort of thing that you hear every day so nobody knows how to react. But there was definitely a sense of panic.”

The staff then quickly announced that a mistake had happened and the plane was probably going to make it to its destination without incident.

Fortunately pilots kept cooler heads or were not listening to the PA system and decided to continue flying to Hong Kong instead of landing the plane in the North Sea.

While I don’t mind the prerecorded “fasten your seat belt video” most planes now show, I think I would rather get my “you’re about to die” announcement from a live person — or at least one that’s alive for a couple more minutes. Some things are just better when they are delivered in person.

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The plane was stopped on the runway shortly before take off. The plane was diverted to a remote part of the runway where passengers sat. And sat. And then they sat some more.

One passenger felt they had enough time to contact my favorite reporter from CNN via Miami, Rick Sanchez. Rick got the news directly from a passenger over the phone.

Others on the plane were tweeting, texting and e-mailing in an attempt to find an update. Even American Airlines joined the fun, releasing on their twitter feed for concerned passengers: “Hang in there, the authorities are taking care of things”. Technology is awesome!

The FBI, apparently living up to the I in their name, entered the plane from the rear and removed two passengers with little fanfare. The passengers were handcuffed, removed from the plane and are in custody.

After about five hours, passengers were removed from the plane in small groups and were quickly bussed back to the terminal where they were interviewed, re-re-rescreened and booked on other flights.

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From baggage checking fees to the newest fee, American Airlines charging passengers to sit in the first few rows of coach, airlines are raking in the dough. The reason why? They can.

American Airlines will charge $19 to $39 per passenger to sit in the first few rows of coach class. The fees are based on flight distance, the longer the distance flow, the higher the fee. No determination of what number AA designates as “few” so, who knows how many rows will be set aside for this new experiment.

The perk of paying this fee? You get to board earlier, after first class and miles members but before the general cattle class seated behind you, so you’re guaranteed overhead storage and you get to disembark the plane earlier than those non fee paying fliers.

This has created a new level in the class system of the airlines. There was first class, business class, members class and coach. Add to that the new middle class, that pocket of people placed just below the elite few in the front, but ahead of the suckers in the back of the plane.

It’s just like life. You won’t receive any better treatment than the rest of coach seated behind you, but you can have that superior feeling as you sit in your seat.

Suck it up, there’s only going to be more of this. If you don’t want to pay it, don’t. This only works if people buy it. If they don’t, the seats will go to paying passengers anyway.

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Buy a single ticket for 30 days and fly as much as you’d like.  The program starts Sept. 7 and runs until Oct. 6.

Basically, if you’re going to fly three or four times during the month, the $499 or $699 it could be worth the price of admission.   (The price different involves weekends — meaning, if you only pay $499 you can’t flying on Fridays and Sundays; if you pay $699, you can fly any day.)

There are plenty of rules and restrictions that come along with these tickets, such as you have to book your ticket at least three days in advance. You also have to become a TrueBlue member — but if you’re flying that much without a card, you’re potentially throwing away money — and no one wants to do that.

The other big downside is JetBlue doesn’t fly every where. And when it does, many of those flights are through New York and Boston — so a flight from Orlando to Denver includes a trip to NYC or Boston. A trip from Chicago to Salt Lake City requires a stop in Long Beach — and so time will need to be on your side. Just check out JetBlue’s map-o-flights.

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