Subject: Air Travel

• Scorpion on a Plane!

  January 10, 2007

• So Long, Friendly Skies

  August 10, 2006

• Please Check Your Seatbacks -- and Pilot

  July 25, 2006

• This Just In: Rod Stewart Canceled

  April 10, 2007

• Pretty Soon They’ll Be Using an Outboard Motor in the Hot Tub

  April 16, 2007

• I Must Know Immediately If Beyonce and Jay-Z Are Married!

  April 7, 2008

• Scenes From The Osteen Trial: The Race Card Played

  August 7, 2008

• The Osteen Trial: Brilliant Legal Mind At Work

  August 8, 2008

• The Osteen Trial: Let The Feasting Begin

  August 12, 2008

• The Osteen Trial: Wherefore The Shark?

  August 12, 2008

• The Osteen Trial: All Over But The Shouting

  August 13, 2008

• Osteen Trial: Victory For Victoria!

  August 14, 2008

• Aftermath: The Black Keys at Meridian

  October 1, 2008

• News of the Weird

  October 14, 1999

• Guy Sues Continental Airlines over Fuel Surcharges

  October 14, 2008

• Best Roadway Improvement

  U.S. 59 from I-10 to just south of Humble

  September 21, 2000

• Lakewood Still The Biggest Church, If You Believe Porno Magazine

  October 17, 2008

• High-Speed Rail Coming To Texas, Once Again

  Last week, the Houston Business Journal reported that high speed rail  is coming to Houston. At a speech at New York's Penn Station, U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Mary Peters announced that her office will soon begin "accepting expressions of interest to finance, design, build, operate and maintain high-speed trains on the Northeast Corridor and in 10 other federally-designated corridors around the nation."And wonder of wonders - Houston is on one of the corridors.Just think -

  December 23, 2008

• Southwest Adding Flights To See Obama Get His First Executive Experience

  As we've noted before, Houstonians are going wild over the chance to be in DC for Barack Obama's inauguration (assuming it still goes on, after the world discovers The Truth about his birth certificate.) More proof: Southwest Airlines is adding flights to Washington just to handle the increased demand, and Houston is one of the cities included. The airline is adding one non-stop from Hobby to Baltimore on January 17; the only return flight added, oddly, is on January 18. It's not much, bu

  November 21, 2008

• Tough Month To Be A Houston Flier

  October was really a tough month to be an air passenger in Houston.The federal Bureau of Transportation has released its latest survey of flight delays, and Houston plays a prominent role in it.The third-worst airline when it came to on-time arrivals was our very own Continental. Almost 19 percent of the airline's arrivals were late in October.But it's in the category of "Longest Tarmac Delays" that Houston really shines.

  December 10, 2008

• Southwest Airlines Going All International On Us

  You are now free to move about...another country?Has Southwest Airlines, the little Texas company that introduced cattle-call boarding, going all international on us?The airline announced today it's taking the first steps to offering flights to Canada, which is a country somewhere to the north of the U.S. It has different money, some people there speak French, and they drink a lot of beer.There is already a sneaky way to book Canada flights through Southwest and WestJet, its Canada partner, but

  December 23, 2008

• Continental Wants Its Pilots to Work Harder, Fly Righter

  If you're flying Continental to Mumbai in the near future, you might want to pay close attention to how rested the pilot is. Are her eyes bloodshot, or are the lids propped up with toothpicks? Or is she perhaps knocking back little pills with gallons of coffee? Well, the FAA seems a bit worried that crews on flights greater than 16 hours aren't getting the rest they need to fly safely, which is why last October the agency issued new rules for crews on such long flights. As a Christmas gift, Con

  January 5, 2009

• The Times Finds Yet Another Annoying Thing About Houston

  Houston, The New York Times has found yet another thing you do that's highly annoying.Earlier, it was our pathetic efforts at recycling. Now it's the security announcements at what it terms "the grandly named" George Bush Intercontinental Airport."I immediately start grousing about those annoying security announcements," writes columnist Joe Sharkey, who definitely is not grandly named. "'Can't you just ignore them?' [my wife] says. 'That lady on the loudspeaker is threatening to arrest me if I

  January 6, 2009

• Erin Andrews: Playboy's Sexiest Sportscaster

  Photo by speedye The competition has ended, and just like the Philadelphia Phillies putting down the upstart Tampa Bay Rays in last year's World Series, ESPN Erin Andrews' dominated her competition once again to repeat as Playboy.com's Sexiest Sportscaster. Playboy.com attempted to toughen things up this year, so they made it a two-step competition. But despite their best efforts, and despite my attempts to get people to write in Suzy Kolber and Carrie Milbank, Erin Andrews easily won this com

  February 13, 2009

• Hot Plate

  February 26, 1998

• The Insider

  May 14, 1998

• What, The Name "Death To Jews" Was Taken?

  Photo courtesy Qatar AirwaysQatar Airways is making a big move in the Houston market -- it's got ads on the air touting its luxurious service, it's got a giant new 777 plying the new Houston-Doha route.One thing it's probably not doing -- advertising in Houston's Jewish Herald-Voice. Or, if they are, they're probably not headlining the name of the new 777 flying exclusively from Houston to Doha.Qatar Airways has named it the Gaza.The airline names all its planes after cities or geographic locati

  March 4, 2009

• Life On The Rodeo Road: The Road Was My Home

  Photo by Paul KnightScotty Drennan Rodeo cowboys basically live on the road, traveling with a herd of men and women crazy enough to ride, rope and wrestle live animals for a paycheck. Each day, Hair Balls is asking a different cowboy to tell us a little bit about himself and his wildest story from a life of rodeo. In the end, we hope, we'll have a collection of stories that re-enforce our Texan ideals that rodeo cowboys still like to raise hell. Name: Scotty Drennan Age: 36 Hometown: Buffalo, T

  March 6, 2009

• Houston Exports Its Airport Know-How, God Help Us All

  Believe it or not, the Juan Santamaria airport in San Jose, Costa Rica, might actually get finished.Stunning, right?You may not have known that there have been ongoing delay problems with the airport. Even more likely, you may be wondering why you should care.But it was the opening of this story that caught our eye: Houston Airport System (HAS) announced yesterday that it has secured the required financing to complete the Juan Santamaría (San Jose) international airport from the International

  March 10, 2009

• Erin Andrews: Playboy's Sexiest Sportscaster

  Photo by speedye The competition has ended, and just like the Philadelphia Phillies putting down the upstart Tampa Bay Rays in last year's World Series, ESPN Erin Andrews' dominated her competition once again to repeat as Playboy.com's Sexiest Sportscaster. Playboy.com attempted to toughen things up this year, so they made it a two-step competition. But despite their best efforts, and despite my attempts to get people to write in Suzy Kolber and Carrie Milbank, Erin Andrews easily won this com

  February 13, 2009

• The Art Guys Silver Jubilee Tribute Album Concert and Variety Show Extravaganza

  Michael Galbreth and Jack Massing celebrate 25 years together

  November 6, 2008

• Victoria Osteen, Continental Airlines and Unmanned Drones

  Verdict on the Victoria Osteen trial: Fun!

  December 6, 2007

• John Vanderslice

  Emerald City

  September 6, 2007

• They Fought the Law

  In Rap, You're Nothing Without a Sheet

  August 2, 2007

• Junction Jog

  May 25, 2006

• Will Dance for Cash

  June 1, 2006

• Creepy Guys and Dolls

  June 29, 2006

• Up in the Air

  Was this the punch line to a bad racist, homophobic joke or a dry run for a terrorist bombing?

  October 14, 2004

• Best Place to Ride a Horse

  September 23, 2004

• Rock Star 101

  Panic in Detroit learned to play before they learned to party

  January 15, 2004

• Best Performance by Out-of-Towners

  Charlie Victor Romeo, Collective: Unconscious

  September 25, 2003

• Money to Spin

  Budget woes don't affect HISD's PR department

  May 1, 2003

• Man's New Best Friend

  In the wake of September 11, security dogs have become must-have items. Prices have skyrocketed. There aren't enough German shepherds.

  March 21, 2002

• It's Only Business

  Readers complain of Chronicle price gouging

  September 27, 2001

• Air Sic

  In cargo holds or plane cabins, critters are taking more than flights of fancy

  May 17, 2001

• Wipe and Sniff

  Air passengers will get the rub, all in the name of safety

  November 18, 1999

• Insider

  Not Ready for Prime Time. Continental may have taught the mayor how to fly right

  October 7, 1999

• After the Crash

  When victims' rights advocate Pam Lychner and her daughters died on TWA Flight 800, her husband knew what he had to do: Find justice for Pam.

  October 23, 1997

• Continental Airlines: Work Hard, Fly Right -- Unless You're A Kid

  For the second time in a week, Houston's Continental Airlines has admitted they sent an unaccompanied minor passenger to the wrong destination.One 10-year-old girl who was trying to get from Boston to Cleveland ended up in Newark. (The only time ending up in Newark is "not so bad" is when you were intending to go to Cleveland.) A, 8-year-old girl trying to get to Charlotte from Houston ended up in Fayetteville. Not Fayetteville, North Carolina -- which would have been close, at least -- but Faye

  June 17, 2009

• For Continental's 75th Anniversary: Five Not-So-Great Highlights

  Houston's Continental Airlines announced today it's taking delivery of a plane done up in "retro livery," which to the rest of us means an old-school paint job and decoration, to celebrate the 75th anniversary.It's "The Blue Skyway" design from 1947, in case you're interested, and was chosen by current and retired employees in a poll. We would have gone for a 1970s look that included hot pants, but we had no vote.Continental is the only major airline based in Houston, of course, so we should hon

  June 24, 2009