Travel Globe

DALLAS — Southwest Airlines plans to sell live television service on five planes and expand it to more aircraft by mid-July.

1. 1. TRACK 2012 Room with view and giant bedside clock

      Ghent, Belgium, has unusual rental built around the top of the clock tower of the city’s Sint-Pieters train station – part inn, part art exhibit.

   2. Survey: Low-cost airlines tops in customer satisfaction
   3. Man without hands not allowed to ride coaster
   4. Highbrows hit the high seas with NPR, PBS
   5. London's secret small hotels

The airline said Thursday that it would offer seven sports and news channels for passengers to watch on their own devices.

Southwest said it will test prices from $3 to $8 during a trial period. Passengers will need a Wi-Fi-enabled device such as a smartphone, tablet or laptop computer.

Live TV will be offered separately from wireless Internet access and customers won't have to buy Internet access to watch TV.

The Southwest channels: NBC Sports, MLB (Major League Baseball), NFL Network, CNBC, MSNBC, Fox News and Fox Business News.

Southwest hired Row 44 to provide the service, which the airline plans to expand to 20 planes by mid-July. Southwest said that if the service is successful, it will be added to all the airline's Wi-Fi-enabled planes by the end of the year.

The airline has about 550 Boeing 737 jets including about 250 with Wi-Fi. It plans to outfit 70 percent of its fleet by the end of 2013.

Airlines have been expanding in-flight entertainment options such as Internet access to distinguish themselves from other airlines that often sell tickets for about the same price.

LONDON — Leave your bags at home if you have tickets to an Olympic soccer match but take an empty plastic bottle with you wherever the venue. Do not even think about a picnic hamper.

1. 1. TRACK 2012 Room with view and giant bedside clock

      Ghent, Belgium, has unusual rental built around the top of the clock tower of the city’s Sint-Pieters train station – part inn, part art exhibit.

   2. Survey: Low-cost airlines tops in customer satisfaction
   3. Man without hands not allowed to ride coaster
   4. Highbrows hit the high seas with NPR, PBS
   5. London's secret small hotels

With a month to go to the opening ceremony, on July 27, London 2012 organizers issued a list on Wednesday of "Five Top Tips" for ticket holders heading for the Games, some more directed at foreign visitors than the home crowd.

Number one, in a country famed for its inhabitants' willingness to form an orderly queue with an air of weather-beaten resignation, is "Be prepared for security checks when you arrive."

This, the visitor is warned, will be like taking an international flight at an airport. There will be queues, so get there early and do not forget the tickets. They cannot be printed out online when you get there.

Organizers suggest checking the website www.london2012.com for recommended arrival times.

The second tip, for regulars of budget airlines, will also be a familiar one: "Bring as little as possible with you."

This is because the more you bring, the more time security will spend rifling through your possessions.

One small soft-sided rucksack or handbag will be allowed per person, which must fit under the seat that, all being well, you will soon occupy.

For those attending the soccer, organizers "strongly suggest" not bringing a bag unless you are happy to have your entry delayed and possibly miss the match.

This is because some of the soccer venues, such as Wembley Stadium, will see up to 90,000 people pass through the turnstiles for popular games.

Top Tip number three is also one frequent flyers know by heart: "Read the lists of prohibited and restricted items before you leave". This also means water bottles. Bring an empty one and fill it up for free at water points inside venues.

Any food brought in must fit inside the bag. There will of course be plenty of outlets on site, including the world's biggest and busiest McDonalds for those wishing to super-size their experience.

Tip Four is to leave plenty of travel time.

"London and the UK will be extremely busy and very different to what you're used to," says LOCOG, an assumption that some regulars on the Tokyo subway might not agree with.

Transport, and crowded subway trains, is one of the organizers' biggest headaches alongside security.

Tip Five is a simple reminder that VISA are Olympic sponsors and therefore the only credit, debit or prepaid card accepted inside Olympic venues.

Cash, of course, is welcome anywhere and there will be plenty of willing takers in a town hoping to attract a flood of international visitors.

Organizers say that, excluding soccer, some 90 percent of Olympic tickets have been sold.

Ocean/Corbis

The vast majority of checked luggage arrives on time and intact, but things can still go wrong. These tips will help assure that you and your bags vacation together.

Before you go

• Photograph the contents of luggage you intend to check, and keep an itemized list of valuable items in a safe place, with sales receipts if possible.
• Place an itinerary with your contact information and e-mail address in a visible place inside the bag.
• Make sure you’ve got a “clean” bag — remove tags from previous trips, especially those small white bag-check stickers airlines affix to the sides. Avoid travel stickers or decals: They may make your bag stand out, but they could be misread by a scanner.
• Take off any straps and lock wheels that can cause a bag to shift or get stuck on a conveyor belt.
• Avoid checking very expensive-looking bags; cloth bags are less appealing to thieves than leather luggage.
• Never pack anything valuable or that you can’t afford to do without, especially a laptop or other electronics, medication, jewelry or important documents. Replacing these items is inconvenient, to say the least, and airlines deny any liability. If in doubt, check airlines’ policies on their Web sites.
• Put the address of your destination — not your home address — on the outside of the bag. Your home address could announce that there is a house available to be burgled. The address on your bag should be where you will next be spending a night.
• Consider a TSA-approved lock, but keep in mind that it offers limited protection since it can easily be removed.

For added protection

• To protect checked bags from dings and theft, consider using one of the luggage-wrapping services found at many airports. For about $10 per bag, machines will enshroud your suitcase in a layer of plastic resembling a tough Saran Wrap. If the TSA opens your bag, it’s rewrapped for free.
• Open your luggage shortly after you land to see if everything is there. If something has been pilfered, submit a claim with the airline and your insurer as soon as possible.

This article originally appeared on Condé Nast Traveler.com.

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