Yearly Archives: 2011

Do Loyalty Programs Encourage Loyalty?

Yesterday, we read in USA Today’s Travel section that airports are starting to add loyalty programs to encourage travelers to patronize them. This is particularly useful for smaller airports, where people might otherwise drive to larger airports in the region. Even…

It’s Time to Rise Up and Shave in Flight

The next time we fly, we’re going to be shaving. Recently, Nick Bilton of the New York Times continued his reporting on the issue of in flight electronics, and how, while there may be reasons for the existing rules, they…

Did US Airways Lose Someone’s Brother?

A woman is seeking answers after she claims US Airways lost track of her special needs brother, who was physically and mentally disabled. He missed his connecting flight in Charlotte, and when she called, they would not give out any…

Happy Holidays from Flight Wisdom

We can’t think of anything more fitting to wish greetings of the Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanzaa, Festivus, New Year‘s season than a chorus of TSA Agents at LAX singing What a Wonderful World. We’d have embedded this one, but the only version…

Man Who Subdued Underwear Bomber Wants Millions

We just can’t believe this… A New York man has named Delta Air Lines and Air France-KLM in a suit that also names Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Underwear Bomber, as a co-defendant. The man, Theophilius Maranga of Wappinger Falls, is…

They Rent By the Hour – Rooms for Rent at the Airport

The New York Times reported today on Minute Suites, a company which began providing small rooms for rent at Philadelphia International Airport in March, and has bee n serving Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson Airport since 2009. The company has already served 18,000…

Delta Grows at LaGuardia

In August of 2009, US Airways announced it would be selling LaGuardia out to Delta Air Lines in exchange for greater power at Washington-National Airport. Two years later, after selling off some of the slots, it is finally time for…

KLM Is Flying The Friendly Skies

There’s nothing worse that a long flight sitting next to a stranger who won’t stop talking about things that are utterly uninteresting to you.  We previously wrote about Planely, a site to help you discover people on your flight with…

Strip the TSA

When the TSA came into existence, their screeners worewhite. Then, they became Transportation Security Officers(TSOs), and got new blue uniforms. Their embroidered badges got replaced with metal ones to “represent the continuing evolution of the officers’ role and responsibilities.” At the…

Alec Baldwin vs the Flight Attendant

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…

Hug a Pilot…But Not Too Much

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…

American Airlines Declares Bankruptcy

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?”…

JetBlue Apologizes

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.…

Remembering Pan Am

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…

New DOT Rules Take Effect Today

The U.S. Department of Transportation rules announced back in April are set to take effect today. However, many of the aspects of the ruling have been postponed at the request of the airlines, due implementation issues. The following come into…

The Case Against Codesharing

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…

Why we Like JetBlue Airways

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…