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With all the latest changes to weight restrictions on baggage by practically all of the airlines, more and more travelers find themselves trying to figure out if their stuffed suitcase is going to make that new 50-pound limit or be slapped with a whopping $125 (or more!) surcharge.

Well, you could try to stand on your scale and weigh yourself with and without bag and hope your scale is on. (Although this method is rather cumbersome trying to lean around the bag attempting to see the display, and can also be a problem once you are on the return flight and jammed in all those goodies from your trip to Kalamazoo). Or, you could purchase a $25 Balanzaa. Absolutely brainless to operate; the Balanzaa weighs your bag in seconds. It runs on 2 AAA batteries, and itself weighs in at a mere half-pound, so you can even throw it in your suitcase without much worry of tipping those scales too much. The model pictured here is their latest available.

All you have to do is slip the Balanzaa’s strap through the handle of your luggage, pick up your bag and wait for the beep. The LED will quickly show just how much your bag weighs in at…and if you have to remove a couple trinkets or that pair of extra Docs to hit the new airport weight limit. The Balanzaa can measure up to 100 pounds, so if you are carrying something over that, well, I suggest you bring your Visa for that surcharge.

Read [Balanzaa]

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Southwest Airlines has announced they will begin to test in-flight Wi-Fi as of the summer of 2008. Following on the heals of JetBlue and American Airlines, they are the latest to announce the start of a testing period. The access is a satellite-delivered service that will be provided by Row 44, who claim to be the current leader in airborne broadband communication. Initially the testing phase will be on just four planes and will allow passengers access to e-mail, music, shopping and virtual private networks.

Row 44 is also preparing to work with Alaska Airlines this Spring. In addition Virgin America is also promising in-flight access. Maybe in-flight Wi-Fi will be a good thing and catch on, hopefully the in-flight use of cell phones will remain a no-go. As of now the roll-out date for Southwest has not been announced.

Via [Switched]

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Farecast, which was available in only select markets until yesterday, has been rolled out in 55 cities across the country as a beta with a new approach to airfares.  Basically it will tell if it is a good time to buy your plane tickets or not.  Are prices going up or down, or staying steady?  They call it predictive modeling using simulation technology.  As a wanna-be mathematian, this is really great stuff.  Read more about here.

Farecast.com’s development was led by Oren Etzioni at the University of Washington.  According to Farecast.com, “We use data-mining algorithms to search for patterns, in the accumulated airfare data, which are associated with significant price changes.“  I have to say…I know exactly what that means, but it just sounds so intellectual, doesn’t it?

Via [TechCrunch]
Read [Farecast]

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