Darius Cappille Exposes Himself, Punches Seatmate, Gets Naked on Airplane

People: They're the worst. That Seinfeld line runs through my brain every time I sit down in an airplane. And I've never had the "pleasure" of sitting next to Darius Cappille either.

Mr. Cappille -- although extending any sort of gentlemanly title to his name seems like at this point -- pulled off the remarkable "nightmare passenger on an airplane" trifecta recently, as he managed to expose himself, punch his female seatmate in the face and then strip naked while on a Southwest flight from Oakland to Las Vegas.

Now, I'm not entirely sure where to go with this -- after all, someone did get punched. So it seems a bit inappropriate to make a "Donkey Punch" joke (although, any reasonable amount of foresight would probably tell me that's highly inappropriate anyway). And it doesn't seem fair to do what Gadling did and point out that passengers are worse than terrorists these days (because, after all, that would mean that the terrorists have won, no?) Instead, I'll just assume that he really, really hates rapping flight attendants and doesn't know how to focus his anger.

Photo Via

New Southwest Commercial Makes a Subtle, Valid Point

I don't find the following commercial (via Nuts About Southwest) all that funny. At all. In fact, it's kind of lame. But, it does make a valid (and very awesome) point: Southwest Airlines doesn't charge consumers for checking baggage, one of my biggest beefs with any member of the airline industry. So, yeah, that alone makes it worth posting/discussing/applauding, regardless of the humor present.

Rapping Flight Attendant Opens Southwest LaGuardia Terminal

Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee's baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack. (Of course he is, right?) The "Rapping Flight Attendant," David Holmes, made famous by such national websites as CNN and PTG, was on hand to open up Southwest's new terminal in LaGuardia Sunday. Naturally, what ensued was good ole' fashioned hilarity and confused-looking, elderly CEO-types clapping to a beat they don't really understand. Good times! Seriously, shouldn't this guy have a record deal at this point? Or is Southwest just paying him so much money that he can't leave? I'm going with the latter.

Rapping Flight Attendant Explains Generally Acceptable Accounting Principles to Southwest Shareholders

No. The title is not a mistake. Southwest's upper management people decided that they should bring David Holmes, the famous rapping flight attendant, to the shareholders' meeting in the role of "rhythmic ambassador" to explain actually what "Generally Acceptable Accounting Practices" are. As the CEO explained, "Now GAAP is fun!



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Southwest Airlines Flight Catches Fire on Runway

Landing on a runway, for those that are scared of flying, means one thing: safety. Typically speaking, once your plane's wheels hit terra firma, you're safe. And that ended up being the case for the passengers in the video below, although they got quite a scare when their Southwest Airlines flight caught fire as the plane landed.

FareFinder: Thursday, April 16

Get ready to cruise: Carnival Cruise Lines' 72-hour Summer Sale is going on now, which offers a free stateroom upgrade plus up to $240 on board credit with select bookings. Oh yeah, 3-4 day Baja Mexico cruises start at $209 a person.

Piggy-backing on Tuesday's post, Southwest has started selling its Boston (Logan) flights, which take off in August. The airline will fly Boston to Baltimore/Washington and Chicago (Midway).

Between May 1 and July 31, 2009, the Starwood Preferred Guests' Free Weekends promotion lets any new or existing SPG member earn one Free Weekend Night Award after every two stays. Redeem awards any Friday, Saturday or Sunday through the end of September with no blackouts.

JetBlue is now offering frequent flyer miles for you and your pets. Thanks to Jaunted for the heads up.

FareFinder: Tuesday, April 14

Walt Disney World offers up The Magical Mother’s Day Weekend Package, starting at $499, and includes three-day/two-night stay at the Swan and Dolphin Resort, a 50-minute Swedish massage for mom and more.

The Buckingham Hotel in NYC offering two art lover's packages, one for the Museum of Modern Art and another for The Museum of Arts and Design. Each include accommodations and tickets to museums and start at $249 a night.

Princess Cruises offering specials on its 12-day Emerald Isles & Russian Splendors May sailings onboard its Tahitian Princess, starting at $799 with promo code UEF. Ask an agent for details.

Your weekly Continental.com airfare specials.

Starting June 28, Southwest Airlines flies from LaGuardia to Chicago for $89 each way and Baltimore/D.C. for $49 each way. And the flights are filling up fast.

Justin Timberlake Gives Southwest Accidental Advertising

When we think of celebrities traveling, we think of giant private jets, stretch limousines, and hovercrafts. They are, after all, celebrities, so why would they ever roll with the common folk?

Justin Timberlake made an exception of this rule recently, as found by TMZ (via Jaunted), when he hopped aboard a Southwest Airlines flight from Burbank to Las Vegas ... coach style!

According to a TMZ spy who happened to be on the same flight, JT and his
bodyguard were allowed to board the plane first -- but somehow the massive bodyguard got stuck in the dreaded middle seat anyway. We're told the bodyguard tried to shoo away a passenger who asked for an autograph after the flight, but Justin happily signed anyway.

Um, yeah, "surprising" doesn't do this revelation justice -- Timberlake's one of the most recognizable celebs in the entire universe, and it's completely shocking that he only got one signature request.

The real thing to focus on here, though, is that Southwest should be jumping all over Timberlake for advertising; I would think that normal folks would be 150% more likely to purchase a Southwest flight out of Burbank (or in/out of Las Vegas) if they thought there was a chance for a celebrity sighting, and Timberlake could pick up some free tickets in the process. Or, you know, enough money to avoid flying coach next time.

Photo via TMZ

Rapping Flight Attendant Takes World by Storm

Flight attendants, God bless their souls, are incredibly annoying. They don't seem to understand that we all hate the pre-flight instructions that we're wrung through every flight we take. David Holmes, Southwest Airlines steward, puts a different spin on things by rapping the entire pre-flight takeoff spiel. It's rather awesome.

Free Southwest Wifi During Beta Testing

In case you didn't need another awesome reason to get out of your chair and hop on an airplane, Southwest announced today that their in-flight wireless internet connection will be FREE during their beta testing (via Gizmodo).

Operated by Westlake Village, Calif.-based technology firm Row 44, the new Wi-Fi system will be tested for "the next few months," the company said. 

"Internet connectivity has been high on our list of priorities for quite some time," says Dave Ridley, senior vice president of marketing for Southwest Airlines, in a statement. 

As it should be -- it's amazing to me how we've come so far, technologically speaking (we put a man on the moon, man!), yet wireless internet is not easily accessible on airplanes yet. 

But hey, one small step for mankind, right? At least this one's free.

Southwest Buys $7.5 Mil Worth of LaGuardia Landing Spots, Which Is Called 'Making a Statement'

It's no secret at all that the economy is currently "not good". Such circumstances make it tough for businesses to break even -- I feel like driving down the road I see 'Going Out of Business Sale!' signs littering the curbs -- much less prosper.

And the airline business has been hit up a little bit too. But apparently, that's not stopping Southwest Airlines, who announced today that they have purchased $7.5 million worth of landing spots at LaGuardia Airport in New York City from ATA Airlines.

"It is our intent, with the successful conclusion of the transaction, to make plans to initiate service from LaGuardia," said Southwest CEO Gary Kelly. "Even in this volatile environment, we have said we must monitor the competitive landscape and take advantage of prudent market opportunities."

And yes, technically Southwest did purchase ATA (now bankrupt) as a whole. But they seem to have zero interest in actually acquiring anything other than the landing spots, which says something pretty stout about their play in this tough market.

Southwest has clearly been marketing themselves as an airline that doesn't tack on surcharges to customers for baggage check-in, reservations by phone, non-refundable ticket refunds or curbside check-in.

So, yeah, couple their "consumer-first" attitude with this strong financial push to wedge themselves in a major market means that SW understands people are going to keep flying -- there's no better time to travel than now, actually. And by locking themselves into a major spot in one of the world's biggest airports, they appear at least poised to take a run at the "Big Three" of Delta, U.S. Airways and American.