No, Plant fans, it’s not what you think – we are saying happy birthday to the zeppelin aircraft – you know, the blimp.

And the reason is, it carried the first paying passengers in the air back in 1909 so it officially gets credit for being the first air travel conveyance – plus, because it is now 2009, that means all this happened 100 years ago which is a nice, round anniversary-type number – so you, dear readers, get a post out of it.

By the way, this was not cheap travel: a jaunt from Duesseldorf to Lucerne set one back about $1,860 in today’s dollars, but that wouldn’t have been a problem for that lady who’s sure all that glitters is gold.

Well this was an ugly mess.

Some tourists from New York were on a Carnival Cruise that stopped in Antigua and our tourists nosed around and decided to take a taxi to the beach.

But when the cabbie said, “That’ll be $100″, the tourists said, “Too much” so the driver took them to a police station where a brawl ensued. The tourists claim the cops were in plainclothes so they didn’t know they were cops and besides, “They started it.” One of the cops said, “Want to see my bite mark, the one that required stitches?”

While the trial was underway, a plea agreement was reached, and the tourists will be sentenced Monday.

You too can be an auteur.

Just head to the Kids First website, make a fantastic 3-minute movie, and meet Mickey.

Something like that, anyway – the rules are here. First prize is airfare to Orlando for 4, plus theme park tickets and passes to the 19^th annual Florida Film Festival, which is in April.

Hurry – you’ve got until Jan. 11^th to come up with the next Paranormal Activity.

Whew, dodged a bullet there.

No, we do NOT have the best airport in the world – that distinction was won by Singapore’s Changi (Singapore wins everything).

But on the bright side, we weren’t worst, either: thank goodness for Heathrow. Although personally, I’ve never had a problem there.

Rounding out the top “worst” five: Paris’ Charles de Gaulle, Los Angeles (LAX), Frankfurt International in Germany, and Miami.

This public service is brought to you by USA Today, which reported on a survey by the airport lounge program, Priority Pass.

Serious topic, this.

If you are card-carrying (literally) medical marijuana patient, abiding by your state laws, you can carry up to 8 ounces of pot without being questioned, held, whatever — in San Francisco and presumably in most/all California airports.

This directive came down from the Justice Dept. this week.

One possible problem: where is the medical marijuana patient going to fly to? Laws in 30 states ban medical marijuana.

Did you know? According to India Today, it is NOT a criminal offense for a pilot in India to report to work drunk – which they sometimes do, especially at “festive seasons” including Christmas, New Year’s and Diwali.

This is from the article:

“It [drunk pilots] is an old issue,” said a retired pilot, after Air India had to scramble to replace an inebriated pilot on a Mumbai to New York run. He added that the airlines don’t want to take any harsh or punitive action against them, because “there is a shortage of experienced pilots”.

Uh…any pilots in India out there who would like to respond? I wish you would…

Designer Amber Pollard has launched “Lunch a la Mode” which is described as a contemporary handbag line combining fashion and function – which means it has a detachable insulated compartment for your lunch, and it’ll keep that lunch cool.

The bags are those big ones that are fashionable these days – they really do look good and would be handy to have on a plane instead of buying food on board.

Irony Alert: the press release mentions how “watching one’s budget” is one of the main concerns of busy women – and the solution offered by “Lunch a la Mode” is, make your own lunch for work or travel, and put it in these bags that cost – oh, anywhere from $270 to $588.

Well – the bags do come in tasty colors: buttercream, anise, oyster, caramello, and rum raisin. More details here.

EARLIER: Unless you avoided TV and basically every online news site yesterday, you’re aware of the “Balloon Boy” escapade. However, you may not know that Balloon Boy (or the Balloon Boy-less balloon involved) had a fairly substantial effect on air traffic over Denver:

“Flights had to be diverted due to the risk of colliding with the balloon and at the time what was believed to be a 6 year old passenger. Due to the balloon and helicopter traffic the FAA created a safety bubble around the rescue operation and steered aircraft to either side.” (from the Examiner)

As of now, it doesn’t look like the FAA is going to come down on Balloon Boy or his family, as the whole affair seems to be an accident. However, the Examiner (and others) are quick to point out that if it turns out the event was a pre-planned stunt of some kind, the FAA could punish the family of Balloon Boy.

Well, it was a controversy – but it’s over now.

Seems a move to rename tiny Souther Field of Americus, Georgia ran into some opposition from the locals – who weren’t thrilled by the sound of “Jimmy Carter Regional Airport”.

Some of those nay-sayers said it was a matter of history – for 90 years, the little airfield was called Souther in honor of Maj. Henry Souther, a WWI Army aviation pioneer.

If they were going to rename it for anyone, why not Charles Lindbergh? He lived at Souther Field for a few weeks back in 1923 while he learned to fly (he bought his first plane at Souther, for $500). But maybe it would get confused with San Diego.

Whatever – Souther is now Carter – at the moment, anyway. The former president said he figured in another 20 or 30 years, it would be time to change the name again.

O tempora o mores!

Here’s a fine mess.

A former flight attendant aboard Oprah Winfrey’s private jet says she was fired after being accused of having sex on the plane (while it was on the ground).

I’m not going to speculate as to who Corrine Gehrls’ partner was but the chief pilot was fired, too. They both say, it never happened, and they passed polygraphs.

Oprah’s not the only one being sued -flight attendant Kirby Bumpus is also a target, as she is supposedly one of those who made the accusation against Gehrls.

Bumpus, by the way, is the daughter of Gayle King, the stereotypical BFF – and Oprah’s constant sidekick. Bumpus is also Oprah’s goddaughter.

The Australian airline Jetstar recently apologized to one of its 15 year old passengers.

It seems the girl got what she and her mother considered to be harassment on Facebook, when a male flight attendant – who met the kid on a recent flight – allegedly asked to become her “friend”.

According to Australia’s TheAge.com, the messages included the following:

“I’ve never wanted to add a 16-year-old before… um, well you seem quite mature maybe we might come [sic] friends. Here is my number….do you even have a phone? What area do you live in? Why haven’t you added me?” -Facebook message

The airline has since apologized to the girl, and her mother, too – and they are investigating.

A hat tip to Gadling – they know where all the bodies are buried.

18 year old Colton Harris-Moore is suspected of stealing at least three small private planes – he flies off with them. And then he crashes them. Well, at least one of them, but then, he’s never had a flying lesson so there you go.

Anyway, he’s got some Facebook fans (quelle surprise) who liken him to “Jesse James – without the murders” (plug time: if you want to read more about the real, murderous Jesse, and learn how you can see his ghost, see Rick’s Halloween post on the subject).

Where was I? Oh, yeah, the kid – anyway, police consider this kid a fugitive – he was doing time in a juvenile facility for other misdeeds, then walked away from his half-way house – and now he sort of lives in the wilds of the Northwest – out in the woods or in empty cabins.

Gotta love mothers – Colton’s mother says, her baby hasn’t been stealing any planes, adding “Wouldn’t you need a little bit of training in flying a plane? They’re not easy.”

No, they’re not, Mom. That’s why he crashed that last one. Allegedly.

We told you about Ashton and Demi and their rough landing earlier this summer – now let us tell you about Brooke and Belushi!

Okay, not much to tell, but that didn’t stop People magazine from blogging about it – anyway, it seems Brooke Shields and Jim Belushi were on a Cessna, which landed at a little private airstrip at Hearst Castle in San Simeon (and, if you haven’t been to this coastal California landmark, you really should go – it’s just beautiful).

Anyway, the pilot didn’t turn on the brakes (maybe, “turn on” is the wrong expression, but they were not doing their job) and the little plane hit an SUV and – BOOM went the dynamite.

Okay, maybe not quite “boom” but the plane broke its mirror and gave the vehicle a good scrape, but there were no injuries. Except to the SUV. And it was a rental.

Why were these celebs there in the first place? “Attending a private function” according to People – and goodness knows what that could mean.

Goodness gracious, weren’t we just talking about the Snoopster and his penchant for airport hijinks?

Well, it’s happened again – at Beirut International. Seems, rapper Snoop Dogg was there, heading out after a concert in Lebanon, when he was stopped by security.

Mr. Dogg was wearing a necklace of old bullet casings – no, no, it’s not what you think – this is the latest thing from a company called Bullets 4 Peace, which sells artistic ammo pieces (like the one at left – price: $275). Some of the money is said to go to charity but I don’t know how much or to what charities (though the site does feature a logo for one of Madonna’s pet causes).

Anyway, hard to believe, but bullets are still no laughing matter in Lebanon, so there was a bit of an “issue” and the Doggalator’s necklace was confiscated.

Wonder why a guy with his airport history doesn’t just break down and get a private plane?

Maybe you saw this: Guy Laliberte, the rich fellow who founded (and owns most of) Cirque de Soleil, went into space to Wednesday aboard a Russian Soyuz capsule.

Cost of his ticket: $35 million.

Fortunately for Mr. Laliberte, he is worth about $2.5 billion. Boy, those flexible folks who make the cirque soar can really pull it in, can’t they?

Now, where’s my check book?

Whoa.

A Boston TV stations is reporting that the FBI has questioned two flight attendants (and maybe more) who were on an American Airlines flight yesterday – the flight where ?a “bomb threat” note was found in one of the aircraft’s lavatories.

Here’s the kicker: again, per Boston’s 7News, those same flight attendants (a man and a woman) were also questioned about a similar incident that occurred two weeks ago.

In both cases, nothing was found – but the incidents resulted in tedious delays for the passengers.

I’m kind of hoping it’s not the crew. I mean, if it is, well…how creepy is that?