As I was just randomly surfing the web, I came across a potentially useful service called MySkyStatus by Lufthansa. This service allows travelers to input their flight information and have departure and arrival information as well as up to two updates while in-flight posted to their Facebook and/or Twitter accounts. The great thing about this service is that this is not limited to Lufthansa flights, but for many other airlines as well.

The only drawback it seems is that once you input a flight and link it to your Facebook and Twitter accounts, you can’t cancel it. However, you would still be able to remove it once updates are posted. I think I will try this out for a future flight.

USA Today reported today in its “Today in the Sky” blog that United Airlines plans to end free meals for some of its trans-Atlantic flights starting October 1. The new change will be rolled out with flights from Dulles to European destinations. Passengers will be paying $6 or $9 for meals, depending on choice. In addition to this major change, there will be other changes on October 1, as follows:

United’s own site has no comments about these changes. However, travel discussion groups such as flyertalk have been monitoring the changes. Read the full article at USA Today about this as well as the discussions on flyertalk by clicking on the links below.

On June 14, Tokyo’s new subway line, the “Fukutoshin” line opened to the public. This line added 7 new stations to the system, in addition to 9 existing stations, extending from the city of Wako in Saitama Prefecture to Shibuya in central Tokyo for a total of 20.2km (12.55mi) of track, of which 8.9km (5.53mi) was newly added. Taking the complete route would take about approximately 35 minutes. For foreigners, the letter “F” is used to identify the line and its stations.

In addition to a new subway line, Tokyo Metro continues its “manner campaign” to promote subway etiquette. The image below are the monthly promotions since the campaign started in April. Basically on the train you are advised not to put on make up, nor take more than one seat on board. In addition (and most importantly), you should not be using your mobile phone while on the train, and all phones should be on “manner” (vibrate) mode. If you are standing near the priority seat, your phone should be switched off. You will find that on Japanese trains most people read, play games or send SMS messages, but rarely do you actually see anyone talking on the phone, as it is truly frowned upon.