In the face of the recent storm in the Northeast, many travelers are claiming that the airline’s customer service outlets failed. The trouble with customer service is that most businesses, not just airlines, see it as a money-losing proposition. They do not see it as an investment in customer loyalty and brand reputation.
Yearly Archives: 2010
Europe Recovers from Snow Just in Time for it to Hit the Northeast
by Guru •
Like a Virgin Atlantic
by Guru •
Are Flight Amenities Returning?
by Guru •
Fifty Years Ago – Two Planes Collided Over Brooklyn
by Guru •
On December 16, 1960, United Airlines Flight 826 crashed into a church in Park Slope, Brooklyn. While no memorial marks the spot, it was, at the time, the worst aviation disaster in American history. The crippled plane set fire to ten apartment buildings, the ironically named Pillar of Fire church, a funeral home, a Chinese laundry, and a deli. Six persons on the ground died as a result.
FareLock: Fare or Unfare?
by Guru •
Kevin Smith Flies Again…Or Rather Fails to Fly Again
by Guru •
We here at Flight Wisdom are not big fans of Kevin Smith. This has nothing to do with his movies. Last year, Kevin Smith went on the offensive against Southwest Airlines over its long-standing customer of size issues, and we were not pleased with many of his comments. Now he’s on against Virgin America and the ten minute rule.
JetBlue Less Is More Sale
by The Infrequent Flier •
American Airlines Sale To/From New York
by The Infrequent Flier •
American Airlines is offering flights to and from New York from 30 cities starting at $49/each way in January and February. Tickets must be purchased by December 13. $49 fares are availaible to/from Washington, Boston, Baltimore, and Pittsburgh. Want to visit New York? Live in New York and want to get away. Go to American Airlines website, and save.
Wi-Fi Has Beat out IFE Onboard
by Guru •
Last week, Delta, the most expansive installer of wi-fi enabled planes in the United States, announced it would add onboard wi-fi to 223 Regional Jets configured in a two class configuration. This includes Embraer 175, Bombardier CRJ700 and Bombardier CRJ900 planes. Installations will begin in January and will be complete by the end of next year.
With Fewer Bags Checked, Fewer Bags Lost
by The Infrequent Flier •
Though 1.5 million bags have been lost by American Airlines through September of this year, that’s 900,000 fewer than in the same period of 2008, according to a recent article by Scott McCartney at the Wall Street Journal. While this sounds impressive, it is impossible to assess how much improvement there has been without knowing the total number of checked bags during each period.
Find People on Your Flight, With Planely
by The Infrequent Flier •
Tired of getting stuck sitting next to totally uninteresting people on your flights? Want to share a cab to your conference? Using Planely, you can. Planely calls it “the social flying revolution”. Simply register your flights, and planely will let you know what other users are on the same flights or at the same airports. Sit next to people with like interests. Enjoy a date while you wait for your plane(quick, trademark the term “Gate Date”). Pitch your new startup. The possibilities are endless. Could Planely make flying fun again? We haven’t tried this yet, but it sounds interesting. Have any of you tried it? We’d love to hear your feedback.
Southwest Pilots Tentatively Agree to Fly the Boeing 737-800
by Guru •
Southwest Airlines announced a tentative agreement by its pilots to add the Boeing 737-800 to its contract. Southwest currently expects to take delivery of its first 737-800 in the first quarter of 2012. The Southwest Flight Attendants have already had a tentative agreement of their own.
Leslie Nielsen Passes
by Guru •
Leslie Nielsen, known to aviation enthusiasts as Dr. Rumack from the classic aviation spoof, Airplane, according to reports, has died at the age of 84. Airplane launched a second career for Nielsen as a comedic actor, delivering comedic lines with a deadpan expression.
Don’t Touch My Junk
by Guru •
That isn’t the junk we’re talking about. The TSA has a new multi-pronged security measure. If you’ve been missing the news, it has to do with the enhanced pat-down. We’ve spent a few days over here at Flight Wisdom wondering what to say about it.
Secure Flight Changes November 1st
by Guru •
Tomorrow, November 1st, is a key date in the TSA’s Secure Flight program. In short, the Secure Flight program requires the TSA to assume responsibility for watch lists from the individual airlines. which seems a good idea, if we much have watch lists.
The New United shows first signs of synergy
by Guru •
United announced some new routes for 2011 that will start the process of optimizing their combined networks. They will add:
LaGuardia to Open New Tower This Weekend
by Guru •
The new control tower that has been rising up over New York’s LaGuardia Airport will begin operations midnight Sunday morning. The old tower will be turned off and decomissioned.
The New United Airlines
by Guru •
United and Continental are…on paper, no more. They are now wholly owned subsidiaries of United Continental Holdings Incorporated. It will take until 2012 for them to combine into one airline. Until then, they will run as separate companies, despite the fanfare. That means separate websites, check-in operations, etc. The synergy will not even start till spring.
More on the Southwest-AirTran News
by Guru •
We were bowled over when we heard that Southwest is going to acquire AirTran. Even more shocking is that Southwest and AirTran apparently started discussing this acquisition in the spring, which means they’ve kept this under wraps for a surprisingly long time.That is surprising in this modern world. Everything seems to leak out.
Southwest to Acquire AirTran
by Guru •
We started the day this morning with surprising news. Southwest Airlines is going to acquire AirTran Airways. It is going to take us a bit to really think about this, and we’ll have more later in the day, but let’s go over the big points now.
Flight Wisdom Announces the Beta Launch of AirportHistory.com
by Guru •
After a lot of consideration(we started fiddling with this a few months back), we here at Flight Wisdom are proud to announce the beta launch of our latest spinoff site…Airporthistory.com.
The ATR Turboprop
by Guru •
Earlier today, September 13th, an ATR-42 turboprop crashed in Venezuela(More on that here). It seemed like a good time to share a few facts about the aircraft.
ATR42 Turboprop Crashes in Venezuela
by Guru •
An ATR-42 twin-engine turboprop operated by Conviasa has crashed about twelve minutes after takeoff from the airport in Guayana, Venezuela. The plane had at least forty-seven people onboard, and twenty-three passengers were taken to local hospitals. Of those, up to eleven have died. There are some conflicting reports about the number onboard, injured, and deceased, and we will update as more definite numbers come in.
Airlines Finally Figure Out People Hate 50-seater Regional Jets
by Guru •
We’ve never been particularly fond of fifty seater regional jets. They don’t have the comfort that we desire in an airline experience. It is not that we object to a smaller aircraft, but merely the idea that a smaller aircraft has to be a significantly less pleasant experience than a larger one.