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It seems a lot of bloggers on the Huffington Post fly on United.

Yesterday, tech journalist John Battelle was minding his own business, video chatting with his wife and children from 30-plus thousand feet in the air, when a flight attendant informed him that he must disconnect the video stream for security reasons. Battelle was informed that the camera posed a security risk since he could potentially communicate with a terrorist.

Does that mean the Airfone's are just decorations?

Battelle was then shown the United Airlines policy manual "which prohibits 'two way devices' from communicating with the ground."

That means that video chat is against its policy, the Switched team chat is against the policy, and United Airline's own in-flight Wi-Fi service is against the policy. 

Bottom line, the author is correct. If two-way communication is not allowed, then why are we allowed to contact "terrorist" satellites from 30,000 feet above the ground?

Story here.

^{Day 0: Introduction: Perfecting My Trip to Europe Using United Miles}

^{Day 1: LAX-YVR on Air Canada, Vancouver, and YVR-LHR on Air Canada}

^{Day 2: BD Number One Lounge at Heathrow and London to Lisbon on TAP Portugal}

^{Day 3: A Day of Sightseeing in Lisbon}

^{Day 4: An Unexpected Extra Day + New Years in Lisbon}

^{Day 5: 12-Hour Bus Trip from Lisbon to Algeciras, Spain via Seville}

^{Day 6: Monkeying Around in British Gibraltar + Ferry to Tangier, Morocco + Overnight Train to Marrakech}

^{Day 7: My Five Star Hotel Room in Marrakech}

^{Day 8: Bartering for Mont Blanc Pens + RAK-MAD on Royal Air Maroc}

^{Day 9: City Tour of Madrid on Foot}

^{Day 10: Escape to the Madrid Airport Hilton}

^{Day 11: MAD-FRA-CPH on Lufthansa}

^{Day 12: CPH-IAD on SAS, IAD-PHX-BUR on US Airways}

--

Day 8: Bartering for Mont Blanc Pens + RAK-MAD on Royal Air Maroc

I'll spare you the details of my morning and afternoon in the Medina bartering for Mont Blanc pens, Rolex watches, and Ray-Ban sunglasses except to say that I'm getting pretty darn good at it. I've had a lot of practice the last few years and I finally feel comfortable negotiating. I better be comfortable with it if I plan on succeeding in law school and as a lawyer! Prices are more reasonable in Morocco than in Istanbul, East Jerusalem, and even Cairo. I think the real deals will be in China, though--a trip I hope to take later in the year.

^{Forget cars. A traffic jam in Morocco.}

It took me four cabs, but I finally found one willing to accept my ~$4 price to take me from the Medina to the airport. The fourth cab driver initially said no, but he picked up a French couple going to the airport down the street then honked at me to hop in the front seat. The couple in the back had a confused look on their face as he displayed a toothy grin and told them in French that he was taking me to the airport too.

The airport looked modern and was clean inside. I had a few hours to kill so after checking in I sat down at a cafe in the airport lobby. Tourist prices were levied: a bottle of water cost me EU4 and internet was EU8/hour. At least the electricity was free...

I wasn't sure how long I was going to spend in Morocco and whether I would have time to hit Casablanca or Rabat as well as Marrakech. Airfare was astronomically high to fly to Europe, even on the LLCs into London, so I thought I'd probably be taking another overnight train to Tangier and a boat back to Spain. The night before I left Spain for Morocco, I performed my usual itasoftware.com search from RAK;CMN to MAD;LIS;LON;FRA and found the perfect flight, an evening non-stop on Royal Air Maroc from Marrakech to Madrid (the city I actually wanted to get to next) for just over $100. I booked it immediately and am happy I did--I must have grabbed the last ticket in the cheap fare bucket because the fare had tripled when I checked it again after booking.

About an hour before my flight was scheduled to depart, I cleared security (a quick and easy process--shoes stay on), was stamped out of Morocco, and took a seat in the gate area. The internatinonal departures area was crowded, but there was ample seating available. I took a peak in the Royal Air Maroc lounge (surprisingly for an airport that had so many employees just standing around, there was no attendant at the desk) but it was filled to capacity and the food offerings were weak--cookies and various other sweets only.

I pulled out my good camera from my bag to snap some pictures of our plane to Madrid, but must have pulled out my electric adapter as well, because I couldn't find it when I got Madrid.

The flight boarded 15 minutes late by both rear and front airstairs.

The 737-300 was vintage inside--but I like vintage. I was assigned my favorite Economy seat on the 737, the first row window which featured a generous amount of legroom.

Most announcements were made in Arabic only, though there was a French-speaking staff member onboard. No English announcements and no Spanish announcements on a flight to Spain...

I was not expecting a meal, but a small tasty cold dinner was served soon after takeoff. The chunks of chicken on the right were flavorful and the black stuff on the left was a delicious olive tapenade.

No IFE, save for the safety card, but I had a book with me. We arrived in Madrid about 20 minutes late and I quickly cleared passport control and hopped on the Metro to my hostel near city center.

I highly recommend Royal Air Maroc. The staff was friendly, the meal and legroom were decent, and the price was fair.

Catch Me If You Can is one of my all-time favorite movies. I never thought we'd see another Frank Abagnale, Jr. though.

A pilot has been arrested at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport for flying passenger planes for 13 years with a false licence.

The 41-year-old Swede was in the cockpit of a Corendon Airlines Boeing 737 about to take off for Ankara with 101 passengers on board when the Dutch police arrested him after a tip from the Swedish authorities.

The Turkish low-budget airline was informed in advance and had a second pilot lined up to take over the flight.

I must admit I am impressed--though this guy wasn't clever enough to forge Pan Am checks and play doctor and lawyer on the side. Full story here.

I can't even bear to to track UAUA anymore. 

I just noticed this ad in the Wall Street Journal today, but apparently it has been around a couple weeks.

Earn a $100 Amazon gift card after every two Westin Hotel stays arriving Sunday – Thursday now through May 13, 2010.

This offer applies only to Westin Hotels in the USA and Canada.

Must be a Starwood member to participate and each member may earn maximum 3 gift cards.

It doesn't appear expensive rates need to be used--the best availalble rate qualifies for the deal.

Register by April 30, 2010.

^{Day 0: Introduction: Perfecting My Trip to Europe Using United Miles}

^{Day 1: LAX-YVR on Air Canada, Vancouver, and YVR-LHR on Air Canada}

^{Day 2: BD Number One Lounge at Heathrow and London to Lisbon on TAP Portugal}

^{Day 3: A Day of Sightseeing in Lisbon}

^{Day 4: An Unexpected Extra Day + New Years in Lisbon}

^{Day 5: 12-Hour Bus Trip from Lisbon to Algeciras, Spain via Seville}

^{Day 6: Monkeying Around in British Gibraltar + Ferry to Tangier, Morocco + Overnight Train to Marrakech}

^{Day 7: My Five Star Hotel Room in Marrakech}

^{Day 8: Bartering for Mont Blanc Pens + RAK-MAD on Royal Air Maroc}

^{Day 9: City Tour of Madrid on Foot}

^{Day 10: Escape to the Madrid Airport Hilton}

^{Day 11: MAD-FRA-CPH on Lufthansa}

^{Day 12: CPH-IAD on SAS, IAD-PHX-BUR on US Airways}

--

Day 7: My Five Star Hotel Room in Marrakech

I neglected to pick up or download (free wi-fi BTW at the train stations in Marrakech and Tangiers) a map of Marrakech so I was not sure where I was going. Someone pointed me in the direction of the Medina (old town Marrakech if you will) and I started walking. I had no idea where I would be staying that night, but vowed to keep it cheap.

I finally reached the Medina—reminiscent of the old city of Jerusalem—and started looking around for a place to stay and dump my bags. I found a little “guest house” down a side street and noted that the nightly rate for a single was only  45 dinnars, about $7. 

The room itself was acceptable, though I suspect the sheets had not been changed in quite some time. The bathroom, though, was just horrible by my spoiled western standards. But for $7, I knew I could survive for one night. 

The Medina is filled with shops that offer everything you could ever want—especially knock-off designer luxury goods like clothes, watches, pens, purses, and luggage. I had a few items in mind and was pleased to find that many of the vendors had what I wanted. I explored the Medina for a couple hours before returning to my hotel room to study law. From the outset, my trip was supposed to be a combination of work and pleasure, so I took the rest of the afternoon to get ahead on my coursework. 

After an extended early evening nap, I ventured out to the Medina where I was ambushed by a slick guy who wanted to play middleman and make a few bucks helping me locate “gifts for my family.” I played along for a few minutes because I do like Mont Blanc pens, but my stomach was growling and furthermore I had no cash to pay for anything. He was persistent, but I just began to ignore his accosting and he finally walked away (not before demanding money for his effort). 

There were dozens of ATMs in the Medina, but they were all out of money. I had about $10 on me for dinner and as it turned out I only had to spend about half of it to get it a very tasty Moroccan dinner. 

The restaurants are set up in stalls in the center of the Medina and each restaurant has at least one person actively trying to coral customers. One hustler even grabbed my arm and tried to pull me into his restaurant. From what I observed, though, all the restaurants looked tasty and reasonable. 

I returned to my hotel, studied for a couple more hours, and fell asleep. See how mellow I am?