JetBlue flight-attendant-turned-momentary-folk-hero Steven Slater apologized on Larry King Live this week for quitting his job via beverage cart, public-address system, and evacuation slide. He blamed the “take this job and shove it” moment that made him famous—and that earned him criminal-mischief, felony, and misdemeanor pleas—on “a perfect storm of bad manners,” including his own.
Slater isn’t the only one who’s apologizing this week. The Wall Street Journal reports that airlines are increasing their monitoring of social-media sites such as Twitter so they can catch customer complaints—and that customers are finding that sending complaints out onto the Web nets better results. And British trade groups and government officials may not want an apology from American air-travel regulators, but they want more streamlined and consistent security procedures for passengers traveling on UK airlines.
All these recriminations stressing you out? Never fear! If you’re craving an Irish getaway and some whiskey to heat you up as temperatures start to fall (at long last!) in Washington, Budget Travel has a Halloween treat for you. This deal gets you airfare to and five nights in Killarney for $633. And if drinking’s not quite your thing, you can bring your clubs and check out the Killarney Golf & Fishing Club or hike the Ring of Kerry. Book by October 31 for travel through April 30, 2011.
If warmer European climes are to your liking, this deal for an Italian escape might be worth the bus to New York or the train to Newark. For $899, you get airfare to and six nights at a thousand-year-old Tuscan villa designed by the Ferragamo family. Once you’re there, you can keep yourself occupied with winetastings, cooking classes, fishing, and archery without even venturing into the countryside. But if you do, protect your Ferragamo flats by taking the car that’s included in your package price. Book by November 5 for travel through February 20, though for $50 extra per person, you can travel in early spring as well.
And if you’ve just got to get away this Halloween weekend, United has $69 one-way tickets from Washington to Boston so you can get your Lizzie Borden on, and Woodloch Resort in the Poconos has weekend-getaway packages from $320.
