Passengers on a Virgin Atlantic flight from London to Newark, New Jersey had one hell of a flight yesterday after their plane was delayed and diverted. First, bad weather forced the flight to land at Connecticut's Bradley International Airport instead of scenic, convenient Newark. After the plane landed at 8:20 p.m., passengers had to stay on the plane until 1 a.m. this morning, reportedly without food or water, because the airport doesn't have customs officials in its employ. What about that law that passed in April placing a three-hour time limit on keeping passengers waiting on the tarmac? Well, that doesn't apply to foreign airlines or international flights on U.S. carriers.

Taxis have a long tradition of gouging passengers on the ride to and from the airport. It's one of the only times when even the most economically minded traveler might balk at public transportation, given the dreary prospect of hauling luggage onto a subway or bus. So far, that's left the terrible options of Super Shuttle, where you'll inevitably be dropped off last, or a pricey cab ride. In New York, that taxi ride will cost you $45 + tip, and in San Francisco (where SFO and OAK are located outside the actual city) you're looking at closer to $50-$70 for anywhere that's farther than a few miles away. Enter Virgin Atlantic's taxi program, run in conjunction with Taxi2.

Sir Richard Branson is hopping mad about regulations coming down the pike courtesy of the UK Parliament, and he's not sitting around bitching about it idly. The issue at hand is the Air Passenger Duty (APD), scheduled to rise by an ungodly 113 percent by November 2010, with the next phased increase due in November of this year. It means, for example, that the APD tax on a flight from Heathrow to Dubai will go up from £40 to £60; the tax on a Premium Economy ticket from Gatwick to Barbados will go up from £80 to £150 and the tax on an Upper Class flight from Heathrow to Sydney will increase from £80 to £170. In his own words, Sir Branson trashed the measure:

Today is a good day for buying a plane ticket. JetBlue has a one-day sale going on, with $29 flights (each way) from Burbank and Long Beach to Las Vegas and San Francisco. That's cheaper than bargain-basement carrier Southwest. With taxes and fees, your round-trip flight will set you back $79.