The rate of lost or mishandled baggage spiked by nearly 25 percent in August as airlines struggled to handle a surge in checked luggage after authorities banned most liquids and gels from passenger cabins, according to a government report released yesterday.

The airlines had some trouble keeping up before, now with the layoffs and the increased load it can only get worse. I’m thinking they could learn something from UPS and FedEx, they seem to handle a few more packages a day and don’t have an issue losing them. For some reason lost luggage is accepted in the airline industry. Maybe standardizing luggage so that it’s more modular would work out better, or when you check your luggage it’s immediately put inside a container that makes it easier to load and track? I don’t know what the answer is, but they’ve been doing it the same way since Tony Jannus piloted the first commercial airline from Saint Petersburg to Tampa in 1914, I’m thinking they could improve upon it slightly more than putting a barcode on the luggage.

Frankly I’m to the point that I’d rather just buy my clothes when I get to where I’m going. I check everything but my laptop now because it’s such a pain to get through the screening any more. I actually feel like a mental patient when I go through because I usually take off my belt and anything else metal and put it in my laptop bag. So while I’m in the screening line I’m walking around holding up my pants like George Costansa in the mental hospital. I actually made a funny suggestion when I was in Atlanta a few months ago:

In order to improve customer satisfaction, and improve security when you check in they should divide up the passengers between first/business class and coach. The first/business class passengers will be greeted by their personal valet and escorted to a changing room decorated with rich Honduran mahogany stalls, plush carpet, and Coach leather furnishings. They will be given complimentary spa terrycloth robes and sandals to change into for their personal security screening by their security liaison. While they wait to board the plane, they will be offered champagne, caviar, and various delicacies. Several flat-screen TVs will show the latest financial news all while being serenaded by a string quartet.

The coach passengers will be hearded into a large cold room that is much like a high-school shower. They will have to rent (cash only please) paper hospital gowns that are 1 size too small (just enough not to close in the back) and paper shoes. They will be forced to change into these gowns in front of everyone. The coach passengers will then stand in line as they are hearded into the cow pen like screening area for their mandatory body cavity search. Once the screening search is complete they will be allowed one drink from the water fountain and then sit on their assigned steel bench. And to lift their spirits during this time, Christina Aguilera Muzak will be blaring from a blown out PA speaker above.

Oh, and while on the subject, a very cool place to check out is The Unclaimed Baggage Center in Scottsboro, Al. They are sort of a clearing house for unclaimed baggage and freight (I imagine the buy it at auction). Some good deals can be found there. And it’s also just interesting to see what they have an any given time. You can also shop online. Great deals like this Brett Favre autographed CHI Ceramic Hairstyling Iron for $75.00… huh? Yeah, so some Target picture mismatch going on there, but funny anyway. Actually, that’s a good price for that thing, wife’s was like $100, but someone else’s hair was on it though…

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I was shocked when I tuned into the new season of Flip This House to not see the usual Trademark Properties gang, but instead these Montelongos. I did a little research and it turns out that A&E decided to move ahead with a second season of Flip This House with out Richard and his company, even though Richard created the series. So Richard and Trademark filed suit against A&E and are now signing on with Discovery Communications for a similarly themed series on TLC.

Armando Montelongo on the other hand is a pompous, arrogant, gangster wanna be; who, while has made some progress in the real estate market, has no track record and no excuse to act like “the man”. Anna Johns says is best:

He constantly degrades his wife and sister-in-law. He made them dress up in beekeeper outfits and exterminate a colony of bees so he could save $300 on a professional beekeeper. While they were running around choking on bug spray, he was drinking a beer and watching the action. When his sister-in-law proposed a website, he filled out a form she gave him, giving her a $0 budget. She made an ass of herself, calling around website companies and asking them to do it for free. He makes his wife negotiate her own pay for selling his houses. (What is wrong with these women?) He treats the labor like dirt, brings a big dog to intimidate a new contractor, and micro-manages foundation and drywall issues of which he has no knowledge. Please, television gods, don’t let this guy get his own show.

Well, too late Anna, they already filmed it. I was really curious to see how his free website turned out but I never watched another show after the first one, so I don’t know if it ended up being free or not. After A LOT of searching I finally found it, (obviously no SEO was used). Now, I’ll say it’s not the worst website I ever been to, but the front page has about half the space dedicated to the website designer. The designer, Myers Internet, appears to be one of those website mills that just sell the same template over and over again to a specific vertical market, like real estate. I laugh hysterically when I click on “Residential Properties” to find “We found 0 matching listings.” Not sure if it’s the fault of Myers Internet or the Montelongos not bothering to update their site. I’m guessing the latter of the two.

The worst part is, the Montelongos are getting so much free national advertising with Flip This House ( A&E reaches 88 million homes ) that spending $10,000 or even $20,000 on a well designed and maintained website could literally pay for itself in a few days. Having that kind of national TV exposure for free is worth hundreds of thousands of dollars if not more; why not spend some of that money on the one tool that will work for you? The site design has all the usual features that attract unsuspecting customers like Calculators and an “online” loan application which is just a PDF for the “Uniform Residential Loan Application”, at least it’s an Adobe Form so you don’t have to hand write.

In any case, I don’t wish the Montelongos any ill will, but for the love of god drop the bad ass gangster I obviously beat my wife because I can not perform sexually and if you don’t believe me I’ll sic my dog on you act and just play it cool; there will be plenty of time to humiliate your wife and sister-in-law off camera. I know that if I were looking for a house in San Antonio, I would not walk, I would RUN away screaming from the Montelongos based on the first impressions I got from that episode. And before you say “well the editing makes it look that way” I took that under consideration, as Anna said those guys are just A-holes.
According to a comment on Anna’s blog, there is hope:

Don’t worry guys. Richard and the crew will have a new show on the Discovery Channel and TLC soon. Trademark is currently in the process of suing A&E over the contract of the show because Richard actually created it (still says so in the credits). He elected to not renew the airing contract because A&E wanted a more “scripted show” (which is EXACTLY how the San Antonio group comes across….seriously, who has a water fight in the middle of a construction site with their spouse?).

And I found it here

Some Comment’s from Anna’s blog (but don’t let that stop you from going over there)

A&E went and ruined a really good show. These people act like they are in high school, how can anyone stand them. The southern guys had good personality and charisma. These people are annoying.

This MTV style ‘drama’ crap is driving me insane and it’s a shame that A&E is airing this trash.

Yeah, the guys are jerks. And the women have some of the whiniest valley-girl-type voices I’ve hear in a while. Not to mention the boy/girl competition came across as something totally scripted by the producers: “Wouldn’t it be great if you hired a bunch of bimbos in a pickup truck to lure away the crew? Let me make a call…”

Really makes me appreciate the South Carolina group. They’ve got class!

I certainly agree the new bunch from San Antonio is annoying! The new guy from Atlanta is also full of himself and gives the impression that the reason these guys are working for themselves is because nobody would keep them as employees. I like the team in SC much better. More house info/details less comedy/drama.

Visit www.flipthislawsuit.com for a letter from Richard C. Davis

And be sure to check out the Flip This House discussion board over at IMDB. (registration required)

And the unofficial Flip This House message board at http://64.177.235.123/FTH/. (registration required)

Original “free” website, I’m sure they stole this template from the guy that created it and moved it to their current site (I’m awaiting confirmation of this from the site developer, stay tuned!). Notice the “Join the Montelongo Get Rich Club.” Smells like late night paid TV programming. Frankly I think the original one looks better than the current one, but I don’t know what’s considered hot for ganster wannabes.

Melina Montelongo’s Modeling Website

One Google cache of message board posting deleted by A&E criticizing the new format and characters.

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Was at Atlanta Bread Company today, getting a late lunch at around 3:45… Got in there and stood around for a bit because the help was cleaning up, no biggie I had time.

After about 7 minutes, I got acknowledged by a lady behind the counter so I waited patiently.

A few more minutes had passed when a man who was cleaning up around the shop saw me waiting and came to take my order. He was cleaning up and empting trash and had on plastic (not rubber) gloves. He left them on as he was taking my order and handling the money.

Seeing this I figured he would naturally return to cleaning after taking my order, if only… Imagine my horror when he proceeded to make my sandwich using the same gloves that he’d used to clean the shop and handle money… Woah! Timeout… I’m no germaphobe, well at least not diagnosed, but that’s just nasty.

(continued)

So, I said:

“Hey, can you do me a favor and not make my sandwich with the gloves you just used to take my money and clean the restaurant with?”

I thought I said it quietly, trying not to make a scene, but I guess I was so disturbed by it; it was a little louder because everyone turned to me. Oh well… He said nothing, took his gloves off and continued to prepare my sandwich (putting it in the microwave). Well his hands are better than everyone’s I guess but really not acceptable.

I kept an eye on my food, because I know people get annoyed when customers point things like that out, for any tampering. Figured the radiation from the microwave would kill anything else. After it was done it was plated by another employee, wearing gloves…

I know there are laws about this, but does there even need to be. It should be common sense.

I know the guy was just trying to help, but people have meant well before and killed just see the Darwin Awards.

In any case, they’re getting a letter… And yes, I ate the sandwich!

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