We noted with interest the Upgrade: Travel Better blog response to a reader email on seat assignments. Speaking from our experience, we agree that booking your seats any way but directly with the carrier does not guarantee your seating will be confirmed by them. If your seat request comes back unable to confirm…they won’t usually…
A few days ago, we reported El Al had reduced fuel surcharges. Cheapflights.com reports that two additional airlines have reduced the cost of fuel surcharges. It shows that two more airlines are willing to keep fuel surcharges linked to fuel increases and decreases. We salute them in that regard and reiterate…it is not a fuel…
The New York Times reported the other day on the cleanliness of airplanes, focusing on Delta. Delta had let its schedule for deep cleaning its aircraft go to every 15 to 18 months. Essentially, planes are used as many hours of the day as are practical, which means thousands of hours in flight. In a…
Not long ago, a fellow blogger accused us of having a singular point of view in regards to Boeing vs. Airbus. Now, it was not long ago Boeing had its problems, and it has succeeded in turning them around for the most part. Right now, Airbus is in the midst of serious problems, and the…
As Upgrade: Travel Better reported last week, the TSA reserves the rights to fine you in the event you have prohibited stuff in your carry-on luggage. The agency collected over 1.5 million dollars in fines last year, and considering the increasing security measures implemented at airports and proposed, they may opt to levy more fines.…
New York City has recently been involved in a controversy over the possibility of banning trans-fat from restaurants, among other things. Jetblue, New York’s hometown airline, has gotten into the act. Today, Jetblue announced that effective December 15th, Jetblue will offer a 100% trans-fat free selection of snacks and beverages with the addition of Chocobilly…
Bloomburg reports that Airbus plans to increase spending to $12 billion, a 20% increase to develop the A350 jet. The current design is its sixth attempt to come up with serious competition for the 787 Dreamliner. Airbus is seriously behind in the A350 project, partially due to the problems with its A380 project. With the…
As BTOnline reports, last week Jetblue signed an agreement with Amadeus, which gives it representation in all of the major Global Distribution Systems(GDS), including Sabre, Worldspan, and Galileo. Jetblue had left the GDS world and been somewhat successful with 100% direct booking. But, as Jetblue has concluded, opening itself up to GDS bookings has gotten…
The New York Daily News reports that officials at the Port Authority, which runs the three New York area airports, are considering a billion dollar rebuild of LaGuardia Airport’s Central Terminal Building. The building is the second oldest of the terminals, surpassed only by the airport’s original terminal, now known as the Marine Air Terminal.…
Effective today, for all flights originating in airports in the European Union, liquids will be allo wed in limited quantities. The rules match very closely the the US rules. To reiterate the new rules and best practiceseffective both there and in the US: Liquids and gels are permitted in 3oz/100mL bottles. No more will be…
With legroom in coach at a premium, fighting with your neighbor in the adjoining seat for the area you are meant to share may be something you’d opt to do. Wired provided this advice on how to capture the armrest from the person who, due to his or her proximity and the amount of space…
In one of our posts on Customer Service issues, we mentioned the blog of Jeff Hoyt. He does podcasts every few months that are few amusing. We decided on a whim to see what he was up to, and it turns out he has a new podcast about the travel experience. To hear Mr. Hoyt…
We were honored when Jeff Hoyt commented on our post directing people to his podcasts. We hope he continues to entertain us with podcasts relevant to our subject matter(we’ve already referred to him twice). He inquired about the Knee Defender, a device designed to stop the seatback in front of you from reclining. It retails…
In a press release today, the employees of US Airways provided their tips for Thanksgiving holiday travel. We summarize them below with some of our elaborations. Do not bring your turkey or other dishes to the airport. You can make them there. Travel lightly…overhead space is limited. Do not wrap your gifts prior to travel…
As we’ve mentioned before, Farecast is an intriguing product that uses statistics and historical data to predict trends in fares. Now, the company if offering to lock in ticket prices against an increase for one week for $1 during the initial release. It will eventually increase to $10. The product, Fare Guard, guarantees that if…
Reuters reports that airline passengers will soon be able to connect their Ipods to in-flight entertainment systems as Air France, Continental, Delta, Emirates, KLM, and United will offer Ipod seat connections for viewing and charging. Apple’s Ipod dominates the digital music player market, and thus an Ipod charger would be a popular item on planes.…
We awoke this morning to the news that US Airways had proposed to buy Delta out of bankruptcy by paying Delta’s creditors $4 billion in cash and 78.5 million shares of stock, worth approximately another $4 billion. Delta has not accepted the proposal, commenting that it would review it but plans to emerge from bankruptcy…
Delta inaugurated its new service between New York’s JFK Airport and London’s Gatwick Airport this evening at 7:05PM. Delta is the first major U.S. carrier to enter the market since 1991, since United Airlines purchased the route rights from Pan Am. Delta purchased the route rights from United earlier this year. United had been serving…
Perhaps overshadowed by today’s offer by US Airways on Delta…yesterday Airtran and Frontier Airlines announced a marketing alliance. Members of Frontier’s EarlyReturns program will be able to earn mileage points when flying on Airtran and members of Airtran’s A+Rewards Program, which is based on the number of flights taken, can choose to earn credit while…
There is danger in the mergers of airlines for the traveler. Most experts agree that consolidation means a reduction in seats available on many routes, and that usually means higher fares. However, the major airlines are struggling. Rising fuel costs, rising labor costs…competition keeping fares lower than the airlines want in order to make a…
A couple were indicted on charges of interfering with the flight crew on a Southwest Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Raleigh-Durham Airport via Phoenix. The full details on their indictment and relevant documents can be found here. According to the FBI report, while on the ground in Phoenix, the couple moved from the back,…
On October 13th, as USAToday reports, The Gillette family…a couple and their 22-month old, were removed from a flight from Burlington, Vermont to New York. The flight, a Freedom Airlines(ironic name considering the circumstances) flight operated under the banner of Delta, is a relatively short one on a somewhat small aircraft. As they waited to…
Today, American Airlines announced that it is introducing international check-in capabilities to its self-service machines. Now, the difference between an internationally equipped check-in machine and one only suitable for domestic is the introduction of a passport reader, to allow passengers to scan their machine readable passport and thus supply information that is required prior to…
It has been a while since we checked in with the blogging community. Upgrade Travel’s mailbag features yet another reader question…The airline changed my schedule, what are my rights? Airlines waive themselves of liability in the event they change your schedule. That means they don’t consider themselves responsible for secondary fallout from their change…losses caused…
Last month, the Cranky Flier clarified the main reason why people seem to hate airlines. Inconsistency…as he goes on to point, the easiest way to provide consistent service is to keep your rules as simple as possible. We would choose to elaborate on the word simple. Simple in this case is a clear and consistent…