United Airlines launches Three Perfect Days contest -- win a free vacation!

Good with a video camera and a Final Cut Pro? United Airlines might have the perfect opportunity for you to win your dream vacation.

Yesterday they launched a new promotion on Facebook soliciting video entries for their "Three Perfect Days" contest. All that you have to do to enter is make a short video explaining what you would do with three perfect days of vacation and post it to their site. The submission that gets the most "likes" wins two free round trip tickets, a digital camera and a $2,500 Visa debit card (you could use it to pay off the taxes!) at its complete disposal. You've got until March 1st to come up with the most "likeable" video on the web.

Having sumbitted a few entries and reviewed a few more ourselves at Gadling Labs, permit us to give you a tip before inking the celluloid: people who vote in these contests dig two things:

   1. The best cinematogrphy ever known to man
   2. Hotties

Aim to have one of the two concepts in your entry and you're guaranteed a shot. Have both and you'll take home the gold.

Six reasons why I don't like to check my luggage

In the past week, we've posted a lot about the upcoming carry-on fee being introduced on Spirit Airlines. In that discussion, a lot of commenters pointed out that too many people carry too much stuff on their flights.

I am guilty of refusing to check my bags (when possible), but I don't feel like I'm cheating on the airlines - if anything, I think the airlines have been cheating us for years. Here are my top reasons to refuse checking bags:


Security has made checking bags a major hassle

 
The airport experience is a pretty lousy one. In the past, you'd walk up to a check-in desk, hand over your ticket to a smiling airline employee, and drop your bags on the scales. That was the last you'd see of them until you landed and retrieved them from the baggage carousel.

American Airlines delays start of Chicago-Beijing flights

Yesterday, American Airlines was scheduled to start a new non-stop route from Chicago O'Hare to Beijing - but a last minute snag has forced them to delay the launch. American had requested a preferential take-off and landing slot from the Chinese Government, but was handed slots for a 2:20am arrival, and a 4:40am departure - making the whole thing pretty useless.

American Airlines is working behind the scenes to negotiate a better schedule, and as of right now, the first Chicago-Beijing flight should leave on Tuesday May 4.

Customers who were supposed to be on the inaugural flight are being offered a full refund or free date change to the later flights. Of course, nobody knows yet whether those dates will stay put, or what the final departure and arrival times are, so keep checking AA.com for updates.

Travel chaos continues in Europe

Hundreds of thousands of travelers remain stranded for a third day as flights stay canceled across northern Europe. Ash from an erupting volcano in Iceland continues to blow eastward and numerous countries have limited flights or have closed their airspace entirely.

The following countries have no flights operating: Austria, Belgium, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom.

These countries have limited service with severe delays and numerous cancellations: Belarus, Croatia, France, Italy, Lithuania, Norway, and Serbia.

Questions are arising about how this is going to affect an already struggling airline industry. Some sources are estimating that the airlines are losing $200 million a day, with several companies already talking about laying off employees or putting them on unpaid leave. There has been no public discussion of reducing executive bonuses.

The Eyjafjallajoekull volcano in southern Iceland is still spewing out ash, although Icelandic vulcanologists are saying at a lower rate. Clouds of ash are hazardous to jets because they can make their engines stall, as happened with two flights in the 1980s.

Ferries and trains such as the Eurostar are reporting record ticket sales as people look for other modes of transport.

As I mentioned in the post about delays on Friday, my wife Almudena, who took many of the best photos in my Ethiopia travel series, is trapped in the UK. Her story is typical of countless other travelers. On Friday, British Airways told her they had rescheduled her flight for Saturday morning, but a few hours later the flight was canceled. UK airspace is now closed until at least 1 am local time Sunday. So at the moment I'm a single dad, she's given up hope of getting to her meeting in Toronto and went to visit friends in Oxford, and our son is drawing pictures of mom flying over an erupting volcano. I have a feeling a lot of European kids are drawing pictures like that right now.

Spririt Airlines credit card comes with three free roundtrip tickets

We don't always cover frequent flier promotions or airline credit card bonus perks - but when we run into generous ones, we'll always try to share the news.

The newest promo from Spirit Airlines rewards you with three free roundtrip tickets, just for signing up and making one purchase on their card.

Of course, the promotion isn't as impressive as the recent 100,000 mile bonus British Airways handed out to people who applied for their credit card, but in this economy, snagging free airline tickets can be a pretty rewarding hobby.

The "Free Spirit" credit card also offers priority boarding, priority check-in, first year free, additional bonus miles for balance transfers and a free fare club membership.

To apply for the Free Spirit card, click here and click here for an overview of all award ticket destinations. The free tickets are based on off-peak availability, so please do keep an eye on the fineprint for any other "gotchas" - which is of course applicable to anything an airline offers you.

Furious Ryanair passenger eats his $13,600 winning lottery ticket

Despite all the weird things Ryanair manages to do to its passengers, they do have their fair share of wacky passengers as well.

During one of their flights this week, a passenger purchased a scratchcard lottery ticket (one of the many ways Ryanair makes money). When he uncovered the numbers, he turned out to be the lucky winner of €10,000 (about $13,600).

And this is where the story takes a twist for the weird - when the passenger was told that he would have to send his ticket in for verification, and that the cabin crew don't fly around Europe with that kind of cash, he got furious.

Normal people would throw a tantrum, calm down, and accept the situation. Instead, the lucky winner ate his ticket.

Right in front of all his fellow passengers, this guy actually ate a $13,600 winning lottery ticket. The only upside to this story is that the winning prize money will go unclaimed, so it can be donated to charity. I'm not sure whether alcohol or just plain stupidity played a role here, but it sure seems like one of the dumbest ways to throw away money.