The areas included

• average age of the aircraft in use
• homogeneity of the fleet
• organizational elements
• accident figures
• technical and human elements
• etc

The purpose of the study was to provide valid information and  to spur on  airlines to track and discuss the areas in which they can contribute to airline safety.

The Top 10

1. Air France-KLM
2. AMR Corporation (American Airlines, American Eagle)
3. British Airways
4. Continental Airlines
5. Delta Airlines
6. Japan Airlines
7. Lufthansa
8. Southwest Airlines
9. United Airlines
10. US Airways

• appearance of their hotels
• the quality of room amenities
• business amenities in the rooms
• the quality of business centers
• their overall price and value.

Four Season Luxury Hotel

Designed to offer a mansion away from the mansion, the series com

Luxury Travel RV Bathroom

es in three, fully configurable flavors and offers everything you'll never need on the road, including automatic boarding stairs, a flybridge and an operational fireplace. "Only the finest companies and partners have been chosen to contribute to this masterpiece of German craftsmanship," the company's website reads. (Marchi Mobile)

http://www.marchi-mobile.com/en/world-of-elemment/luxury-rvs/

Luxury Travel RV Seating Area

The luxury RV can be configured with everything from mobile internet, streaming video surveillance, heated flooring, rainfall shower, satellite TV and a working fireplace recommended for use only when it's parked.  Powered by a 500+HP engine the  design will apparently reduce fuel consumption by up to 20 percent, compared other large luxury rvs.

Scanners at Daytona Beach airport use generic outline to help solve privacy concerns

If you're among the many airline passengers who have found full-body scans at security checkpoints to be embarrassingly graphic, here's some relief: A new type of scan being rolled out at some airports, including Daytona Beach International, produces a picture that's far less revealing.

The new scans, which are not yet in use at Orlando International, show a generic human-body outline for Transportation Security Administration agents to review. Any questionable item a passenger might be carrying is flagged on the outline with a yellow box.

"The images are essentially Gumby images — the same for each passenger," said TSA Federal Security Director Ed Goodwin, referring to the clay animated character.

"It greatly enhances our ability to detect any item, metallic or not, under layers of clothing," Goodwin said Tuesday during a demonstration at the Daytona airport. "In addition, this technology takes into account some passenger-privacy issues."

Passengers who use OIA, however, will have to wait a while for the new system.

In early 2010, the TSA installed new body-imaging technology at 80 airports, including OIA, to improve detection of explosives and other dangerous objects. The scanning technology was able to penetrate clothing to reveal highly graphic images of the body.

Federal officials installed two types of scanners: The Orlando airport uses "backscatter" technology, which is essentially a low-grade X-ray. Other airports, including those in Jacksonville, Miami and Tampa, got millimeter-wave technology, which uses electromagnetic waves, similar to cell phones. The Daytona airport didn't get scanners at the time.

The American Civil Liberties Union and other groups concerned about privacy criticized the use of both types of scanners because the images were detailed enough to show genitalia. The scans were monitored by a TSA officer in a closed room.

Now the millimeter-wave scanners, which have been installed at Daytona, have new software that addresses those privacy concerns, Goodwin said.

On Tuesday, TSA agents demonstrated the new scanner — essentially a glass cylindrical booth. As part of the demonstration, a woman who had left her cell phone in the left pocket of her pants walked through the scanner. The resulting scan, visible to both the TSA agent and the woman, showed the body outline with a yellow box over the left hip.

The new system offers key improvements for passengers, Goodwin said: The scan is faster, taking between two and four seconds, and can help speed security lines.

This version of the scanner also doesn't flag people who have artificial joints. Passengers with hip or knee replacements, for example, can walk through the scanner without setting off the machine or going through the pat-down procedure required at most airports.

Daytona Beach is one of 29 airports that have been outfitted with the new millimeter-wave machines during the past month. The Tallahassee and Gainesville airports were also part of this new batch of 300 millimeter-wave units, each costing $130,000 to $140,000.

Other Florida airports that already had millimeter-wave technology are being upgraded with the new software, TSA officials said. This group includes airports in Miami, Palm Beach, Jacksonville and Melbourne.

But there's no timetable yet for upgrading the backscatter scanners at the Orlando and Fort Lauderdale airports so that they produce the less-graphic images, TSA spokeswoman Sari Koshetz said. She added that the agency hopes to begin testing a software upgrade later this year. And for now, Orlando Sanford International Airport won't have scanners at all. It will use just traditional metal detectors.

Some passengers at the Daytona airport Tuesday said they weren't troubled by scanners — even those that produce the more personal images.

Larry Warner, of Greenville, S.C., flies three times a week for business but said he wasn't bothered by revealing images produced by the technology.

"A lot of people had privacy concerns, but if it is necessary for security, what's the point in worrying about it?" he said. "You have to do it, so just do it."

Lisa Sterner, a former Volusia County resident who recently moved to Kentucky, agreed. "Security should be the issue. Nothing else matters," she said. "As long as the scanner is capable of finding the security threats, that is what matters."

She added: "I think many of the complaints were from people who had their own personal body-image issues."

llelis@tribune.com or 386-253-0964

Melissa Preddy

Innovations breathe life into hearse industry

Commuting can be inconvenient and parking a pain, but like they say about birthdays: better than the alternative.

Which for most of us — whatever our brand loyalty in life — will be a final journey to the edge of eternity in a Cadillac or Lincoln. That's because those two marques have the market cornered on American funeral livery, even if it's not a line of business the Detroit automakers spend much time promoting.

At this somewhat macabre time of year, curiosity about the hearse business led me to Bob Mazzarella, a second-generation livery dealer at American Coach Sales in Cleveland whose territory covers Michigan, including a satellite office in Grand Rapids. Some 70 years into the family business of limousines for the living and various modes of transport for the deceased, he is steeped in the lore of funeral cars and their history.

Ohio has been the epicenter of the funeral coach industry for more than 100 years now, he told me, with most major manufacturers headquartered there. I guess historically we of the Motor City focused on the live clientele, while Ohio picked up the torch and focused on those who wanted to go out in style.

Another fun fact: Back before cars were commonly owned, most people could get around the neighborhood and urban areas via foot, bike or streetcar. But a trip to a far-flung cemetery posed problems. In the 1940s, when Mazzarella's dad bought his first limo right out of high school, undertakers would sell seats in hired cars to mourners for 20 or 30 cents apiece, filling out the funeral procession with paying customers.

Fast-forward more than half a century and most of us own cars, but few grand enough for the pomp of a final farewell. There's something about the dignity and tradition of a hearse that seems to comfort people, Mazzarella said.

"We could back up a pickup truck and haul off the box," he said. "Or we can make a person's last trip with great respect and tribute. People still want that sense of formality."

But that's not to say that the modern hearse is a staid and stodgy affair. The 2012 Lincoln MKT hearse, which replaces the venerable Town Car version, is downright rakish, with its grinning grille and sloped lines; there even are YouTube videos that pay it homage.

"It's a whole new look for the funeral industry," Mazzarella said. "A pretty exciting and fresh design.

"Another thing that has really gained popularity — in a comeback from days gone by — is a lot of glass. It really looks nice if the casket is draped in an American flag."

Changing patterns

Online hearse sales to overseas patrons are picking up, and while cremation is on the rise, it need not preclude a decorous last ride: The "urn enclave," a sort of display option that mounts in the casket area of a traditional hearse, will secure cremains so the deceased and mourners are not deprived of the pomp of a procession.

While black and white are the top-selling hearse colors, Mazzarella said, options like silver, burgundy, gray and even gold are available. Other members of a funeral fleet might include passenger limousines, flower cars (reminiscent of the El Camino or Ranchero, but classier) and "service vehicles" — built on a minivan platform but with elegant touches like the landau bow, they're used for picking up bodies and transporting them to mortuaries or crematoria.

It's not a huge industry — only about 1,100 new coaches are produced each year at an average cost of $94,000 to $108,000, Mazzarella said. Beefed-up engine cooling, brakes, suspensions and other components handle the extra weight of the casket and occupants. But hearses are a good investment, with many making two, three or more laps around the leasing track, and older models are in hot demand by smaller mortuaries.

In addition to the common landau, coach makers advertise hybrids like an Escalade SUV coach and a stretch hearse with seating to accommodate family members wishing to travel with the casket.

"That one didn't go over so well," said Mazzarella. "It's not a very comfortable ride."

Riding in style

Indeed. I think most of us can wait till the last minute for a trip in a funeral coach, thanks anyway. Still, books are written about the history of funeral vehicles, collectors snap up vintage hearses, and modern industry innovations continue. Mazzarella and collaborators introduced a Mercedes-Benz version at this week's National Funeral Directors Association expo in Chicago; the first nondomestic hearse he'll be selling.

"There is a certain segment of customers that will really appreciate a Mercedes platform," said Mazzarella. "So we're stepping outside the box, if you will."

Melissa Preddy is a Michigan-based freelance writer. Reach her via mpreddy@aol.com.

By Keith Coffman

DENVER | Wed Oct 26, 2011 3:44pm EDT

DENVER (Reuters) - A heavy, wet snowstorm descended on the Denver area early on Wednesday morning, causing widespread power outages and numerous car crashes and minor injuries in the Centennial State, officials said.

Just two days after record high temperatures, six inches of snow fell in the Denver area forcing the closure of roads in the mountains and eastern plains. Another two to five inches is expected before the storm moves out on Wednesday evening, according to the National Weather Service.

There were no fatalities but numerous car crashes and slide-offs causing minor injuries, the Colorado State Patrol said.

Eighty-seven-thousand customers east of the continental divide and north of Denver were without power, public utility company Xcel Energy, Inc. said in a statement.

Most of the outages were due to snapped tree limbs falling into power lines. The heavy, wet snow piled onto trees still full of their fall foliage. The weight of the snow snapped tree limbs which severed power lines.

The snowstorm did not stymie a trip by President Barack Obama to Colorado, where on Wednesday he laid out plans to ease the burden of student loans. The President stopped in Denver as he wrapped up a swing through western U.S. states that will be vital to his reelection campaign in 2012.

Denver had reached a record high temperature of 80 degrees on Monday. The storm started out as rain Tuesday night but turned to snow as the temperature plummeted overnight.

Denver International Airport reported no significant delays as snow removal crews worked overnight clearing runways, airport officials said in a statement.

As temperatures continued to drop during the day, some flights might be delayed as planes are de-iced, airport officials said.

Interstate 70 over Vail Pass was closed on Wednesday morning as snowplow drivers cleared the icy and snow-packed highways, said Mindy Crane, spokeswoman for the Colorado Department of Transportation.

A state highway north of Fort Collins, Colorado, was closed to the Wyoming state line, she said.

Display open to public Nov. 1-5; Interactive exhibit previews Nissan's NV200 Taxi, New York City's exclusive Taxi of Tomorrow

Business owner driven to honor sister's memory

AIG Hosts Event at ‘Ultra Luxury’ Resort

Jeremy Bales/Bloomberg

A man enters the American International Group Inc. building in New York.

A man enters the American International Group Inc. building in New York. Photographer: Jeremy Bales/Bloomberg

American International Group Inc. (AIG), the insurer majority owned by the U.S. after a 2008 bailout, is hosting an event at a California facility that advertises “the amenities of an ultra luxury hotel.”

The American General unit assembled about 65 people who distribute its products for a two-and-a-half-day stay this week at the Resort at Pelican Hill in Newport Beach, California, said Larry Mark, a spokesman for AIG’s life insurance division. Nine AIG managers were also sent to the resort to make presentations, Mark said in a e-mail. He declined to say the cost of the event for the insurer.

“It is important for these speakers, as well as the eight field representatives in attendance to spend quality, one-on-one time with our key distribution partners to ensure they understand our offerings,” he said. “It is standard practice in the financial-services industry to hold such business development, leadership meetings.”

AIG Assembles at Ultra Luxury Resort

 

AIG resumed such conferences about two years ago, after being rebuked by lawmakers in 2008 for spending $440,000 to send about 100 advisers to the St. Regis resort in Monarch Beach, California. Chief Executive Officer Robert Benmosche is working to expand sales as he seeks private investors to replace government capital.

“We are back to the business of being in business and we’re in the marketplace competing,” said Mark.

Senator Max Baucus, a Democrat from Montana, in October 2008 called AIG’s event that year an “insult to taxpayers.”