Tiffany Hawk

5 Great Food Sourcing Experiences

tiffanyhawk — Mon, 16 May 2011 16:26:44 +0000

To cultivate a little appreciation for food sourcing, you’ll have to get your hands dirty. Start with one of these trips where you can navigate the coast, chase bird dogs, work a farm, or dig for earthy treasures.

TRAWL FOR SHRIMP IN BRUNSWICK, GA

Once the shrimp capital of the world, South Georgia’s moss-draped coast is now better known for its exclusive beach resorts. To track down the area’s original source of pride, ply the coast on the Lady Jane, a working shrimp boat that now offers near-daily tours. You’ll learn how to find, catch, and sort shrimp, then boil them for an ultra-fresh on-deck picnic.

Get Your Drink On

tiffanyhawk — Thu, 05 May 2011 08:43:37 +0000

I had fun researching this story for The Daily Meal. Here are my picks for the top 6 drinking tours in the U.S.

Battle over PEDs

tiffanyhawk — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 18:13:02 +0000

I have an admission – sometimes I call out fellow passengers for breaking the rules. Maybe it’s the former flight attendant in me, or maybe I’m just a rule-follower or a chicken shit, but there is no way I’m going to let someone endanger my life just so I can be a good neighbor. Of course, when it happens on take-off, I’m in for a long flight.

Last week when I was on my way home from Puerto Rico, the passengers seated immediately to my left and right, made cell phone calls on climb-out. I know a ton of you don’t believe that cell signals can interfere with the cockpit electronics, but check out Christine Negroni’s article “Handhelds on Planes A Bigger Problem Than You Think,” where the spokesman for the International Air Transport Association reveals up to 300 incidents of interference. Do you really want to mess with that?

As for speaking up, at least I didn’t hit anyone like this passenger did.

Three-Minute Fiction

tiffanyhawk — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 02:22:08 +0000

As a huge fan of NPR (radio doesn’t get better than WHYY), I was thrilled to have my short story read on-air and posted online by the judges of All Things Considered’s writing contest. There are so many fantastic stories this round that I am truly honored to be in such great company.

When Working at Home Doesn’t Mean Home

tiffanyhawk — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 00:52:29 +0000

Although I had plenty of work to do, I jumped at a last minute trip to Puerto Rico. My husband was sent there to support President Obama’s trip to South America, and thanks to spring break, all rooms in San Juan were full. Lucky for him, that meant a stay at a nice resort on the beach (don’t worry taxpayers, they got a very good rate). So I crashed his room, and instead of working at home in New Jersey with the heater on full-blast, my laptop and I carved out a space by the pool at El Conquistador. My workday routine was accompanied by a soundtrack of rustling palm trees, latin music, and kids playing Marco Polo. Every so often, an iguana ambled by.

Las Vegas Airline for High Rollers a Bluff

tiffanyhawk — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 20:57:19 +0000

Reporters across the country – from CNN to USA Today to the Associated Press – are regurgitating news about LV Air, a full-frill carrier set to launch in August. With an innovative sponsorship model, low labor-costs, and a built-in cache of wealthy clientele, this start-up would be a fantastic story – if it were true. Unfortunately, nothing about this venture adds up.

It sounds sexy as hell. High-rollers will be picked up by limo, whisked past airport security lines, wined and dined with food made by Las Vegas chefs, and treated to lay-flat seats, personal iPads, and a club-like atmosphere with music, mood lighting, and onboard gambling. Best of all, the flight will be free since casinos and local advertisers will foot the bill. But wait, there’s more. If you’re not satisfied, there is a money back guarantee! Only, you didn’t pay anything. Does this mean the casinos get a refund if passengers don’t lose enough to cover the investment?

From a business perspective, the sponsorship story is also juicy. The Las Vegas upstart is fully-embracing the advertising-revenue model that other airlines have only dabbled in with things like seatback ads and mileage rewards. That much may work. I have long thought legacy carriers will be rescued by taking names like PetCo United Airlines or Budweiser US Air. (Beer isn’t unprecedented. We’ve already got Kingfisher Air in India.)

But to maximize efficiency, LV will also partner with an existing commercial airline, thus reviving the brilliant “airline within an airline” idea (think Ted and Song). According to the LV Air website, it will be a subsidiary of said airline, so they must have a profit-sharing model so lucrative the airline won’t mind sharing its customer-base.

By leasing four of this supposed parent company’s 767s, LV won’t have to waste time getting its own FAA certificate and they’ll be up and running in August, barely six months away. No matter that the plane pictured on the website is not a 767. Or that pimping these planes out with lay-flat beds and in-flight-entertainment systems will keep them grounded for months. Presumably they’ll pay the lease fees during the installation, and if the mystery airline needs its planes back at the end of the lease, they’ll once again pay for the reconfiguration.

One thing LV claims it won’t be paying for is high labor costs. They plan to operate four round-trip flights a day between New York and Vegas (two million passengers in its first two years according to LV) with only 50 employees. Talk about efficiency. Air carriers around the world will be taking notes on this one.

Even if they can squeeze transcontinental turns (12-hour duty days, at least) out of their crews, they can’t pull this off. With an FAA minimum of four flight attendants per 767 (likely seven or more for the service they’re suggesting) and two pilots, they’ll need a bare minimum of 24 crewmembers per day to staff these four trips. Take sick days, delays and time off into account (transcon turns mean more days off and longer rest periods), and they’ll need way more than 50 crew just to work the route, not to mention the schedulers, the supervisors, the dispatchers, the marketers, the managers, the planners, the buyers. You can outsource things like maintenance and catering and baggage delivery, but you still need someone to order and account for these services and supplies.

At first glance, LV Air sounds great. Its marketers think so anyway – the website is ripe with promises. You’ll find “amazing value” and experience a “fantasy.” “You will be enthralled,” and there will be a clientele “unlike any ever seen.”

But will it fly? Don’t bet on it.

Bye Bye UA Tulip

tiffanyhawk — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 02:21:22 +0000

The new livery just breaks my heart. I’m not saying it’s a bad business decision, but I’m feeling mighty nostalgic about my days at United.

Attention Mileage Runners

tiffanyhawk — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 04:05:26 +0000

Though strikingly bare bones in design, a new search site called MileageBrain.com will help you find the cheapest route to reaching your goal. Just enter a departure airport, an airline or alliance, and a CPM (under five cents, under 10 cents or under 15 cents), and wait for it to cough up a suggested itinerary with price. Thanks to Grant Martin at Gadling.com for bringing this to my attention.

Here’s a bit more about mileage runs if you’re just getting started or wondering why someone would fly halfway across the world for nothing other than frequent flier miles.

PC or Publicity Stunt?

tiffanyhawk — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 21:12:06 +0000

A new Thai airline called P.C. Air is making headlines by hiring transgender flight attendants. The CEO claims that by recruiting ladyboys, they’re promoting equal opportunity. Sounds progressive. But the airline’s hiring qualifications throw this benevolent motive into question – to be considered, flight attendants must be no older than 27 years old. Might this better be called exploitation?

$49 Fares

tiffanyhawk — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 16:28:11 +0000

>A new low-cost carrier – Vision Airlines – is entering the fray with dirt-cheap flights in and out of Florida. Great deals or not, I’m stuck on their name. I can’t help but think of Anita Shreve’s The Pilot’s Wife, which centers on the explosion of a fictional trans-Atlantic Vision Airways flight.