“The airlines behind immigration flights aren’t household names, and they rarely land at major airports. They’re part of a shadow world of contractors that transport immigrants for profit. Since 2004, they have charged the U.S. government — and its taxpayers — more than $2 billion.”
air travel
Posted inEditor's Pick
‘We Are Slowly Being Poisoned’
Kiera Feldman investigates how toxic fumes seep into the air you breathe on airplanes.
Posted inHighlight, Quote Posts, Quotes
The Cobra in the Can and other Shenanigans at LAX
And then there was the man “who tried strutting through security with 84 songbirds taped to his body.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
My Own Private Iceland
When an island nation of 300,000 residents receives more than two million tourists a year, radical change is inevitable — but is it all negative?
Posted inHighlight, Nonfiction, Quote Posts, Quotes
Companion Fair?
“That’s what Dad’s AAirpass and ultra-elite flying status yielded for him: lifelong bonds.”
Posted inHighlight, Quote Posts, Quotes
‘Something’s Got to Give’: Redux
“Get me out of here — I’m losing it!”
Posted inCurrent Events, Story
The Elements of Bureaucratic Style
The bureaucratic voice presents governments and corporations as placid, apologetic, and unmovable. It also makes their victims as active as possible.
Posted inEditor's Pick
De-Muslimization
Writer Rafia Zakaria reports back on flying while Muslim after the U.S. travel ban.
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
A Side Effect of Airport Design: Protests
Christopher Schaberg writes about the recent travel ban protests for Real Life magazine — they didn’t gum up the works so much as take advantage of the ways airports are already designed for mass action.
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
ROKIT, MOTOWN and NIMOY: How Aviation Waypoints Get Their Names
Then there is the intriguing way airways are navigated, using radio beacons and “waypoints”, spots defined by geographic co-ordinates or their bearing and distance from a beacon. These waypoints are typically given five-letter capitalised names that are supposed to be simple enough for any controller or pilot to recognise them, regardless of their first language. […]