A Georgia man was infected with XDR-TB, which is a form of turberculosis that is resistant to almost all antibiotics was able to leave the United States, travel around Europe, fly to Montreal, then drive back to the United States unimpeded. Andrew Speaker, the man, was held in Atlanta under federal isolation order and transferred…
Monthly Archives: May 2007
Roundup – A Snake Swallowed My Suitcase and More
Northwest has exited bankruptcy…its shares have started trading on the New York Stock Exchange Thursday morning. Unlike Delta, Northwest has kept a low-profile during bankruptcy and is moving forward with plans to eliminate its oldest and most costly planes now that it has exited. However, Northwest employees are less than happy with the situation…as new…
Roundup – Snakes on a Plane, Bees, Lightning, New Routes and More
A man desperate to keep his girlfriend from boarding a flight from Ft. Myers to New York called in a bomb threat for her airplane Wednesday afternoon. Christian G. Mejia, age 23, was arrested after he dropped off his girlfriend and her travelling companion to an airport and drove to a pay phone and called…
Skybus – Day One
We’ve never hid our disdain for Skybus…but since they launched the other day…we thought it was time to review… Perhaps ABC News’s Scott Mayerowitz has it the best…with his article…”The Greyhound Bus of the Skies – Skybus Airlines: where Lunch Costs More Than a Plane Ticket.” To compare Skybus to Greyhound is to insult Greyhound.…
Roundup – Delta Upgrades Regional, New Service, New Planes
The organization that runs LAX Airport(LAWA) has lost the lawsuit brought against them by several airlines involving the increasing of maintenance and operation fees to airlines not under a long-term lease. The Cranky Flier has a great synopsis of the situation. “Sounds like they’re just trying to get the airlines in T1/T3/TBIT to cover some…
Coalition of Luggage Security Can’t Keeps its Mouth Shut
The Coalition for Luggage Security commented the other day on the recent survey that determined customers are generally dissatisfied with their airline service. As they put it… Betsy Talton, a spokeswoman for Delta, said, “We know the service is not where it should be as far as baggage delivery, we’re concentrating on that this year…
Roundup – Dreamliner Final Assembly, 25th Anniversary of London Service…
Final assembly of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner began today with a ceremony. The Dreamliner has 568 firm orders from 44 airlines, and is the fastest-selling new airplane in aviation history. The first 787 is due to roll off the assembly line on July 8th. Eos has increased its fleet to four 757-200ER aircraft in preparation…
Contract of Carriage – ExpressJet
This begins the first of our continuing series…dissection of a Contract of Carriage and general rules. We previously reviewed Jetblue’s Contract after its Bill of Rights amendment. We will revisit that in a later installment. Today we tackle ExpressJet. Their contract of carriage can be found here. Here are some interesting notes. The change fee…
Roundup – Virgin America, Atlanta’s Second Airport, Save the Cookies and More
Virgin America has been approved to launch service. Now that the company has been formally approved, the next step will be to seek a waiver to start selling tickets. The company is planning a mid-summer launch. Virgin America’s first flights will be between its home base of San Francisco (SFO) to New York (JFK). The…
US Airways to Downgrade Pittsburgh Further
US Airways plans to eliminate more than 20 daily flights out of Pittsburgh this summer. US Airways has been Pittsburgh’s dominant carrier for many years. It downgraded Pittsburgh’s hub status after Southwest went into its fortress hub at Philadelphia. The airline will cancel service to: Baltimore Altoona Seattle San Diego. It will reduce to one…
Southwest Signs with Galileo
Southwest, which has long been a holdout on working with global distribution systems(GDS), and only maintained the most limited participation in them…today announced a 10-year content distribution agreement with Galileo. Kevin Krone, Southwest’s VP of Sales, Marketing, and Distribution, commented that the GDS environment has evolved to the point where it has become cost effective…
Roundup
American Airlines will increase its service to Colombia effective December 13th. This includes new daily service between Miami and Barranquilla. In addition, American would add a second daily flight from Miami to Medellin on Monday, Thursday, and Saturday. American will also add service from JFK to St. Lucia three times weekly beginning November 15th. American…
Weekend Roundup
Southwest has announced its schedule for the return of service at San Francisco International Airport. It will begin service August 26th, with 18 nonstop daily departures. Service will begin with three daily flights to Chicago Midway, eight to San Diego, and seven to Las Vegas. Through these flights, it will offer connecting or direct service…
Neeleman Steps Down as Jetblue CEO
Jetblue announced today that David Neeleman…Jetblue’s founder and CEO, will step down as Chief Executive immediately, a position he has held since he founded the airline. He will remain as non-executive Chairman of the Board and plans to focus on issues like developing JetBlue’s Live TV unit, alternative sources of jet fuel, new forms of…
Roundup
Qatar Airways will be launching a national advertising campaign in the United States today, with service to New York on June 26th, and to Washington on July 19th. Continental Airlines will be moving up the start of Newark to Mumbai service to October 1st due to positive market response to the proposed flights. Aer Lingus…
Roundup
American Airlines announced service from New York’s JFK Airport to St Kitts and Nevins..which they describe as a twin island paradise. Service will start Wednesdays and Sundays effective November 18th…with a Boeing 757 aircraft. American is also recalling 200 flight attendants it furloughed. Former TWA flight attendants, who were the first to be furloughed due…
American Airlines Takes Prisoners Again
On April 24th, American Airlines suffered diversions and cancellations as thunderstorms hit the Dallas Area. American and American Eagle diverted 129 flights. The most they have ever diverted were 133…on September 11, 2001. Of the 13 flights diverted that sat at various airports for more than four hours, only the passengers of Flight 556, from…
Cinco de Mayo News
Yesterday, Continental, American and Delta raised fares systemwise in the continental US by $5 each way. Northwest matched…although United and US Airways did not. Continental, which initiated the increase, said it was due to fuel increases. Airlines has warned of sluggish revenue and bookings for the summer. Frontier launched once daily service between Denver and…
US Airline CEO’s Contact Numbers
The Consumerist pointed us to this list of contact information for the CEOs of US Airlines. Good place to direct complaints…Try to use them as a last resort. We hope lower-level staff will help you long before this becomes needful. The List
Second May Roundup
Airtran will be the first to serve Cherry Coke and Cherry Coke Zero onboard all flights effective this month. We just love the fact that it is big news which soft drinks an airline has…probably bigger for the airlines that don’t give you any. United raised fares on popular business routes by up to $50…
First May Roundup
American Airlines is insisting it needs gynecological records, as well as psychological records of the daughter a woman killed on American Airlines 587, which crashed on November 12, 2001 in Queens. A hearing has been scheduled for tomorrow. Only six passenger cases from the crash are left unsettled and there seems to be no reason…