NYCAviation is reporting that United flight 956, Newark to Geneva, was off the coast of Nova Scotia when it turned back toward the United States, due to a suspicious package. Update: 9:26PM – According to @crimeboston, the United flight has…
Monthly Archives: July 2012
Comair to Cease Operations
by Guru •
It is always sad when we lose another airline. Delta will shut down its subsidiary Comair as of September 30th. The writing has been on the wall for a long while. Comair primarily operates 50-seat regional jets, an…
Flight Wisdom is Now Flight Wisdom – Update Accordingly
by Guru •
As part of our six year anniversary…our first post was launched on July 29, 2006, we’re proud to announce another aspect of our six year revamp. Effective immediately, we are dropping blog.flightwisdom.com in favor of www.flightwisdom.com. Those of you who…
And it isn’t Theater? Security defeated by Eleven Year Old
by Guru •
In the end, security is an illusion. Nothing is one hundred percent secure. The idea is to make wise choices that have the best effect while not impacting our standard of life. The most unfortunate part of terrorism is that…
Al Blackman Celebrates 70 Years As An Aircraft Mechanic- And Still Going Strong
by The Infrequent Flier •
In July 1942, Hitler continued to gain ground against the Soviet Union. The United States was only seven months into its participation in World War II. The Manhattan Project had not yet even begun. And a 16 year old New…
Welcome to the Self-Service World
by Guru •
Everything in this world changes. As time goes by, we discover that more and more business interactions are being automated. This is simply the way things are going. Talking to a human being is now a perk, a frill. In…
Yet Another TSA Investigation Absolves The TSA Of Any Wrongdoing
by The Infrequent Flier •
Earlier this week, Melinda Deaton and her family filed a complaint claiming that TSA agents had strip-searched her, mocked her feeding tube, and physically handled, it, putting her at risk for infection as she traveled from Dallas to a Minnesota…
Did United Airlines Call A Brain-Injured Veteran ‘Retarded’, and Kick His Service Dog?
by The Infrequent Flier •
Life With Dogs reports that disabled veteran Jim Stanek was called ‘retarded’ and his service dog kicked during a 48 hour ordeal when they were stranded in Dulles airport. Staneck and his service dog Sarge spent 48 hours stranded in…
Boeing 737- Unsafe At Any Altitude?
by The Infrequent Flier •
Clive Irving is an expert on Boeing. He wrote a 1993 book on the history of the 747. The 737 is the bestselling commercial airliner. Nearly 10,000 have been produced over 40 years. Irving says there are serious issues with…
DOT and Customers Impose Double Standard on Airlines
by Guru •
Fare mistakes are very dangerous. At least once every few months, some airline makes a typo, and sells tickets at a price no rational person could think was correct. Yet they jump on it, post it to forums and blogs…
Long Stranded Passengers Revolt – Is United at Fault?
by Guru •
A United Airlines flight was scheduled to leave Shanghai on Wednesday, but its passengers ended up stranded till Saturday. Maintenance problems ground airplanes all the time. To be realistic, what is the alternative? Would any passenger rather fly on an…
Airline Food Gets Even Worse With Addition Of Sewing Needles
by The Infrequent Flier •
Airline food has a deservedly bad reputation, though as meals are decreasingly available, some travelers may be pining for the old lump of mystery meat in bland sauce. Passengers on Delta flights out of Amsterdam are to be forgiven…
Alleged Competence at the TSA
by Guru •
The Transportation Security Administration exists. The TSA has a blog at blog.tsa.gov. The stated purpose of the blog is to “facilitate an ongoing dialogue on innovations in security, technology and the checkpoint screening process.” The demonstrated purpose of said blog…
Test Out an Ikea Bedroom at the Airport
by Guru •
Ikea has set up shop in several interesting places over the years. It was only a few years ago that Ikea set up shop at Washington’s Union Station to make its bid to redecorate the Oval Office. Now, Ikea is…
Solving the Oversized Carryon Bag Problem
by Guru •
One of the side effects of increased checked bag charges is that more people are trying to cram all of their items into their carry-ons. Spirit Air tried to address this by charging for carry-on bags, but we like a…
Moving from the PNR to the Customer Record
by Guru •
In the airline industry, the passenger name record(PNR), is a single record in a computer reservation system that contains a single reservation for one or more passengers. The problem is that PNRs have no memory. They represent one trip. They…
Six Years of Flight Wisdom
by Guru •
From the Editor When I first started with Flight Wisdom, we had a very different conception of what it would be. At the end of this month, we celebrate our six year anniversary. The first post was dated July 29,…
TSA Blog Issues Non-Response to Their Officer Spilling Human Remains
by Guru •
On Friday, June 29th, the TSA issued another of their blog posts, entitled Travelling with Crematory Remains. It seemed like an innocuous, yet random blog post. But it was yet another example of the TSA sidestepping controversy and not addressing…
