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Travel Tidbits: Easy Check-In and Another Reason to Visit Germany

American Airlines is making it even easier for passengers to check in for flights… provided you have a Web-enabled cellphone and know how to use all of its features.

The airlines’ newest service won’t help cellphone-free travelers like my mom, but if you are a frequent flyer who never leaves home without your personal electronic device then I would highly recommend using American’s recently upgraded mobile website.

The expanded service allows customers to check in for flights and look at itineraries on their Web-enabled cellphones. Waht’s more, in a few weeks the airline’s new service will allow travelers to book flights, change reservations and request upgrades from any Web-enabled mobile device.

Note: The content is more condensed than on the airlines’ regular website, but it’s designed to be navigated from a mobile device.

ANOTHER REASON TO VISIT GERMANY

Visitors from around the world are lining up to see one of Nuremberg, Germany’s newest residents—a 6-week-old white ball of fluff.

Okay, the 6-pound fluff ball has feet, eyes, a mouth and a nose, and she is technically a polar bear, but that hasn’t stopped tens of thousands of curious onlookers from gathering at the Bavarian city’s zoo.

The tiny bear cub rose to stardom after being taken from her mother, Vera, on January 8th amid concerns that the mama polar bear could harm or even kill her newborn. Animal experts at Nuremberg Zoo say they made the decision to bottle-feed the cub and not return her to her mother after keepers spotted Vera carrying the cub around in her jaws and tossing it around her enclosure.

Since then visitors from as far away as Japan and the United States have come to the zoo to photograph baby Flocke–German for flake, as in snow flake.

Little Flocke has amassed such a huge following that the zoo set up an entire Internet site dedicated to updating fans on the bear’s condition.

Animal lovers might recall that a little more than a year ago, a similar situation occurred with another polar bear club in Germany – Knut – who was hand-raised by his keepers in Berlin and became a celebrity after his mother rejected him.

A local German newspaper already has asked of baby Flocke: “Will she become Mrs. Knut?”

Related Articles:

The Case of Knut, the Baby Polar Bear, and the Animal Rights Activist

Celebs’ New Gigs–Anne’s an Ambassador and Suri’s a Polar Bear?

Avoiding Long Check-In Lines

Travel Kiosks

This entry was posted in Travel Tips and tagged , , , , by Michele Cheplic. Bookmark the permalink.

About Michele Cheplic

Michele Cheplic was born and raised in Hilo, Hawaii, but now lives in Wisconsin. Michele graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a degree in Journalism. She spent the next ten years as a television anchor and reporter at various stations throughout the country (from the CBS affiliate in Honolulu to the NBC affiliate in Green Bay). She has won numerous honors including an Emmy Award and multiple Edward R. Murrow awards honoring outstanding achievements in broadcast journalism. In addition, she has received awards from the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association for her reports on air travel and the Wisconsin Education Association Council for her stories on education. Michele has since left television to concentrate on being a mom and freelance writer.