Monthly Archives: August 2009

Fewer Flights Mean Fewer Delays

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Image via Wikipedia More than 30,000 fewer flights were canceled in the first half of 2009 than in the same period last year. Fewer planes were delayed more than fifteen minutes as well. But, instead of applauding the air traffic controllers, or the airline operations people for their coup, the real reason is that there…

Yemenia Black Boxes Found

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Image via Wikipedia The Flight Data and Voice Recorders from the Yemenia flight that crashed off the Comoros islands have been recovered. Only one person survived the crash of the Airbus aircraft, and hopefully, the information gained from them will determine the cause of the crash. We will report more on this as it becomes…

New Schedule Up for the 787 Dreamliner

Boeing Delays First Test Flight Of New 787 Again

Image by Getty Images via Daylife Boeing expects to fly the 787 Dreamliner by the end of this year, and deliver the first one in the last quarter of next year. Once the last bugs are worked out, and the process is finalized, they estimate they will be able to produce ten 787s per month…

Sun Tzu’s The Art of War at the Ticket Counter

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Image via Wikipedia Anil Polat, who runs foXnoMad, which is a travel blog for “people who love the journey as much as they enjoy the destination. foXnoMad is a resting point to gather information on the best ways and gadgets vagabonds can use to stay in touch, save money, and make the most out of…

Video: Fun with Southwest Airlines in Boston

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With all of the love we gave Virgin America on our flight back to Flight Wisdom HQ, we were afraid the two airlines that hold a special place in our hearts, Southwest Airlnes and JetBlue Airways, would be jealous. With that in mind, we offer video of Southwest’s triumphant arrival into Boston, in the event…

JetBlue Announces New Service

Passengers Deplaning JetBlue A320

JetBlue announced earlier this week an increase of its service to Jamaica.And we don’t mean Jamaica, Queens. JetBlue has applied to add two new Montego Bay routes, to both Boston and Orlando. The airline will also add service on its existing route from New York-JFK to Montego Bay to eleven flights weekly, and will commence…

More on In-Flight Wi-Fi

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A lot happened while we were away. As we said in our Virgin America trip report, Every Plane should have In-Flight Wi-Fi. But, we felt there were a few things we didn’t mention during the trip report. There was actually a lot we didn’t mention. We wanted to touch on everything, but we’ve left a…

Losing Our Virgin-ity – Virgin America

Interior of Virgin America A320

We have always wanted to try Virgin America. And yesterday, we finally got the chance, flying from LAX to JFK. And we have to say, Virgin America’s technology is something every airline should be aspiring toward, although it is by no means perfect. Every airline we admire has something that stands out about it. Something…

Musical Interlude: United Song #2

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Dave Carroll is back with his promised second United Song, included the promised tuba. It is a much slower tempo than United Song #1, but the video goes a bit farther, and incorporates many more volunteers. The song incorporates some of the same amusing elements. In lieu of three guys in sombreros, this time we…

Republic now owns Frontier and Midwest – Now What?

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Image via Wikipedia The big question for the last few days has been that…Republic Airways now owns Frontier and Midwest, as well as its existing regional airlines. Now what? Certainly reorganization. Republic intends to operate the two airlines under their own brand names, but will be consolidating jobs, airport gates, and real estate. This can…

Southwest Launches in Boston

Southwest Gates at Logan Airport, courtesy Dan Webb

Southwest Airlines launched yesterday its service to and from Boston’s Logan Airport. The service will offer five daily nonstops to Baltimore-Washington International Airport and five to Chicago-Midway. Connections will be available to forty-eight other destinations. Southwest will be operating from gates E1A and E1B in Terminal E, alongside the international service. For the first time,…

So Easy a Child Could do It

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Thomson Airways has begun using a new in-flight safety video using children between the ages of five and nine. People are finding the video much more captivating than its predecessor. It isn’t the first time an airline has tried something new to encourage people to pay attention during an in-flight video. Air New Zealand had…

Swinging Service at Washington-National

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Image via Wikipedia As part of our continuing coverage of Slotgate ’09(just kidding), we’re going to review some of what is going on down at National Airport. US Airways is gaining slots for 42 additional daily roundtrips at the airport. They will be adding new service to fifteen destinations, eight of which are new to…

Cities Losing Service to New York-LaGuardia

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Image via Wikipedia Due to the discontinuance of US Airways Express service(Wilmington, NC excepted) from New York’s LaGuardia Airport, the following routes will be discontinued unless Delta picks them up. Albany, NY Hyannis, MA Raleigh / Durham, NC(Served by Delta and American) Baltimore, MD(Still served by Southwest) Indianapolis, IN(Already served by Delta, soon by Airtran)…

Monopolizing the Fortress Hub

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Image by mtsofan via Flickr So, now Continental has gotten AirTran out of Newark in exchange for slots at LaGuardia and National, where they are hardly a powerhouse. Delta is taking over US Airways extensive regional slots at LaGuardia, and US Airways is getting international route permissions and greater dominance at Washington National. It allows…

AirTran and Continental to Mix and Match as Well

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Image via Wikipedia AirTran Airways made a deal with Continental Airlines yesterday to stop flying to and from Newark Liberty Airport in exchange for slots at Washington National and New York’s LaGuardia Airports. AirTran will cease operations at Newark on October 25th. AirTran will give its 10 slots, its single gate, and a jetway at…

LaGuardia’s Marine Air Terminal

The Marine Air Terminal, circa 1940 (Courtesy Library of Congress)

The saga of LaGuardia Airport began when Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia struck a blow for all proud New Yorkers when he refused to call Newark Airport New York. LaGuardia was flying on a TWA flight which arrived into Newark, and pointing out his ticket said New York, refused to leave the plane until he was flown…

JetBlue to Offer Unlimited Pass

JetBlue will be offering an unlimited pass to fly from September 8th through October 8th, for $599. The pass has the following conditions: On sale till August 21st, or while supplies last. So a limited number will be sold Includes all domestic taxes and fees. International and Puerto Rico taxes and fees not included. Reservations…

Delta and US Airways Swap for Fun and Profit

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Image via Wikipedia US Airways will be transferring 125 pairs of slots currently used to provide US Airways Express service at LaGuardia to Delta Air Lines. They will be getting 42 pairs of slots at Washington National. The plan will allow US Airways to expand service at National Airport and acquire the rights to fly…

Delta Protects the Northwest Brand While Eliminating It

Northwest Airlines insists it has exclusive trademark rights to the word Northwest. The airline is going after GoNorthwest.com, which provides tourist information on the Pacific Northwest. Originally, they insisted owner Jack High shut down, then they moderated their response to merely giving up trademark rights and not expanding. High registered his trademark, which looks nothing…

JetBlue and Virgin America to fly San Francisco to Ft. Lauderdale

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Image via Wikipedia Jetblue and Virgin America decided to announce San Francisco to Ft. Lauderdale service. Jetblue will begin service on November 17th, with a redeye flight leaving San Francisco 11:30PM and arriving 7:50AM, returning at 7:15PM and arriving at 10:35PM. In between, JetBlue can deploy the plane on its east coast network. Connections will…

Passengers Kept Captive on Diverted Plane

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Image by Kevin Boydston via Flickr Passengers on a Continental Express flight from Houston to Minneapolis spent the night on a regional jet parked at Rochester MN Airport. The plane was operated by Expressjet, and Chris Elliott rightly asked who was in charge. The plane is branded Continental, it was sold by Continental, yet operated…

Ripoff Report – Eating at the Airport

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Eating at the airport costs a lot. Prices are significantly higher at the airport than they are in the heart of the cities those airports serve. Many travelers feel the airport eateries have them over a barrel. With flight delays common, and people rushing to get where they need to be, sometimes you have to…

Video Fun: Southwest Airlines

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We love Southwest and are happy to finally see them in our hometown of New York City. We are hoping they expand beyond Baltimore and Chicago to new offerings, which would require additional slots at LaGuardia Airport. One of the most wonderful things about Southwest is their philosophy of People-first. They want to offer a…

Happy Virgin America Day

Virgin America Joins Ranks Of U.S. Low-Fare Airlines

Image by Getty Images via Daylife Tomorrow, Jaunted reminded us, is the two year anniversary of Virgin America. Tomorrow, the Mayor of San Francisco is even declaring it “Virgin America Day.” There isn’t much we can say about Virgin America. They are based in San Francisco, and fly from there to Seattle, Boston, New York-JFK,…