Global Goss: An Airline Slam Book

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I have a not-so-age-appropriate love for Mean Girls. I can’t get enough of the Toaster Strudel zingers, the hip mom and the overuse of “I know, right?”. Maybe it’s the fact that my doppelganger Tina Fey wrote and starred in it, but in all honesty, it’s the movie’s realistic approach to the dreaded Burn Book that really makes me appreciate it all. In my Judy Bloom-reading youth we called such thing a Slam Book; these days it’s hello(!) internet. TripAdvisor is a site that relies on reader criticism to rate destinations, hotels, restaurants and spas. A lot of travelers just won’t book anything unless they’ve gone to the site first. I’m so not one of those people, JS. And I always looked at the site as a sort of travel Slam Book. But I’m about to change my tune on the announcement of TripAdvisor’s latest venture—an airline-rating feature. The system, which launched last week, is a bit more structured than the free-for all on the lodging and destination side. And asks for contributors to rate carriers in various predetermined categories including baggage handling, value, seat comfort and in-flight service. Doesn’t it sound just so fetch?

—Jenna Mahoney