Yearly Archives: 2011

Are the Travel dotComs on their way out?

It was over ten years ago that online ticket purchases were in their infancy. We remember ordering tickets from these new online travel agents and having the tickets mailed to us, even a few years into the e-ticket revolution, when it was still advised that paper was safer. Now, it is starting to look as if the age of online travel agents may come to an end. Maybe that is overly pessimistic, but airlines are looking to cut out the high cost associated with selling tickets through a Global Distribution System(GDS).

Brief: Shift in Earth Causes Change in Runways

Gadling reports that the shifting in the Earth’s magnetic north pole has forced Tampa Airport to close one of its runways to repaint its designation. Runway 18R/36L will be redesignated 19R/1L when it reopens on Thursday. The other runways will change over later this month. The magnetic north pole has been shifting toward Russia at a rate of forty miles per year for the past decade.

2nd Anniversary of the Miracle on the Hudson

Two years ago, US Airways Flight 1549, outbound from New York’s LaGuardia Airport to Charlotte’s Douglas Airport, suffered a bird strike, which disabled its engines. The flight, operated by an Airbus A320, was piloted by now legendary Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, and first officer Jeffrey B. Skiles.

Boeing Rolling Out the New 747

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Image via Wikipedia"][/caption] While the 787 Dreamliner is still experiencing serious delays, the latest iteration of the Boeing 747, the 747-8, is set to roll out today. The 747-8 Intercontinental boasts new wings, a new tail, a sharper nose, state of the art engines, and a new cockpit. The Boeing 747…

FAA Adds Controllers after Napping Incidents

The FAA announced it intends to add more air traffic controllers to the midnight shift at 27 airports that are currently staffed by a lone controller. This follows the suspension of controllers at Washington National, Reno, Lubbock, and Seattle for falling asleep on the job. The situation prompted Henry Krakowski, who oversaw the ATC system, to resign over the situation.

DOT Institutes More New Rules

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="120" caption="Image via Wikipedia"][/caption] The US Department of Transportation announced today that they were implementing new policies designed to protect airline passengers. The rules will take effect this summer and include: Tarmac Contingency rules are now extended to foreign carriers operating at U.S. airports. They must adopt and adhere to contingency plans…

JetBlue Offers 20% Off for Fall Travel – Today Only

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Image via Wikipedia"][/caption] JetBlue announced a 20% off sale on many routes for travel from September 7th through October 29th, 2011. Travel must be purchased today. For Boston – Use the promo code FALLBOS11 For Los Angeles – Use the promo code FALLLA11 For Long Beach – Use the promo code…

Why we Like JetBlue Airways

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Image via Wikipedia"][/caption] SmarterTravel.com awarded its 2011 “Best Coach Class Experience” to JetBlue Airways. We may be biased, as JetBlue is big in our part of the country, the Northeastern United States. There are many advantages to JetBlue travel that we wish other airlines would adopt. For example, JetBlue operates A320s…

Man Flies with Invalid Boarding Pass – We Question

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Image via Wikipedia"][/caption] We’ve been thinking about the issues with the airport check-in and security process for  a long time. We approved of the government insisting that higher standards be applied to security screening, although we remain unsure if it was necessary for this to be done by government workers. Up…

The Case Against Codesharing

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Image via Wikipedia"][/caption] Last week, the Cranky Flier, in an article on CNN entitled “This isn’t the Airline I signed up for”,  covered the issues of codesharing. Namely… People often don’t realize what airline they are actually flying on… We put that in bold letters, because it is a big issue.…

Do you want an Airline Experience without Humans?

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Image via Wikipedia"][/caption] It is a sad fact of life that more and more human interaction is being replaced by computers. Or perhaps it isn’t in some cases, where we’d rather not talk to a human being. But Paris’ Orly Airport is experimenting with a virtual boarding agent. They recorded several…

Remembering Pan Am

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="180" caption="Image by Telstar Logistics via Flickr"][/caption] On Sunday, September 26th, a new show begins, Pan Am, which will use the legendary airline as it was in the 60s as a backdrop. Pan Am, or Pan American World Airways, ceased to exist as an airline on December 4, 1991. The spirit of…

JetBlue Fails to Learn From History and They Aren’t the Only Ones

When the so-called Valentine’s Day Meltdown happened in February of 2007, JetBlue issued a public apology in the form of its then Chief Executive and Founder, David Neeleman. “Words cannot express how truly sorry we are for the anxiety, frustration and inconvenience that we caused. This is especially saddening because JetBlue was founded on the…

JetBlue Apologizes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=l9ZEsOwyDqk Just yesterday, we commented briefly on JetBlue’s response to their 2007 Valentine’s Day meltdown. Today, JetBlue’s Chief Operating Officer took to the Youtubes to issue a public apology. As we said yesterday, everyone failed in this, not just the airlines. Blame should be apportioned evenly and fairly. JetBlue and American Airlines face millions in…

American Airlines Declares Bankruptcy

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="116" caption="Image via Wikipedia"][/caption] AMR Corporation, the parent company of American Airlines and American Eagle, filed for Chapter 11 reorganization today. Their stated goal for this bankruptcy reorganization was to achieve industry competitiveness….or “All our competitors have been through Chapter 11, why shouldn’t we?” The corporation has $24.7 billion in assets and…

Hug a Pilot…But Not Too Much

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Image via Wikipedia"][/caption] Giving up the Ship just recently wrote on a new morale program at British Airways. The program, nicknamed Hug a Pilot, urged pilots to socialize with crew. Apparently, socialization led to something more. A teenage stewardess ended up pregnant, courtesy of a married pilot. It reads like an episode…

Own A (Big) Piece Of Concorde History

Is there an 18 foot hole in your air travel collection?  If so, you won’t want to miss an auction currently underway.  For only 1.25 million Pounds, you can own an 18 foot long 3.5 ton engine, together with operating manual and certificatw of authenticity.  The engine was used on one of British Airway’s Concordes,…

Alec Baldwin vs the Flight Attendant

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=p24WCHJgMTs Unless you’ve been out of touch, you probably heard about Alec Baldwin’s behavior onboard an American Airlines flight. We’ve been thinking about this for a few days now. By most accounts, Alec Baldwin was onboard an American Airlines flight. The Flight Attendants had instructed passengers to discontinue the use of portable electronics. Mr. Baldwin…