Final assembly of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner began today with a ceremony. The Dreamliner has 568 firm orders from 44 airlines, and is the fastest-selling new airplane in aviation history. The first 787 is due to roll off the assembly line on July 8th. Eos has increased its fleet to four 757-200ER aircraft in preparation…
The Coalition for Luggage Security commented the other day on the recent survey that determined customers are generally dissatisfied with their airline service. As they put it… Betsy Talton, a spokeswoman for Delta, said, “We know the service is not where it should be as far as baggage delivery, we’re concentrating on that this year…
The organization that runs LAX Airport(LAWA) has lost the lawsuit brought against them by several airlines involving the increasing of maintenance and operation fees to airlines not under a long-term lease. The Cranky Flier has a great synopsis of the situation. “Sounds like they’re just trying to get the airlines in T1/T3/TBIT to cover some…
We’ve never hid our disdain for Skybus…but since they launched the other day…we thought it was time to review… Perhaps ABC News’s Scott Mayerowitz has it the best…with his article…”The Greyhound Bus of the Skies – Skybus Airlines: where Lunch Costs More Than a Plane Ticket.” To compare Skybus to Greyhound is to insult Greyhound.…
A man desperate to keep his girlfriend from boarding a flight from Ft. Myers to New York called in a bomb threat for her airplane Wednesday afternoon. Christian G. Mejia, age 23, was arrested after he dropped off his girlfriend and her travelling companion to an airport and drove to a pay phone and called…
Northwest has exited bankruptcy…its shares have started trading on the New York Stock Exchange Thursday morning. Unlike Delta, Northwest has kept a low-profile during bankruptcy and is moving forward with plans to eliminate its oldest and most costly planes now that it has exited. However, Northwest employees are less than happy with the situation…as new…
A Georgia man was infected with XDR-TB, which is a form of turberculosis that is resistant to almost all antibiotics was able to leave the United States, travel around Europe, fly to Montreal, then drive back to the United States unimpeded. Andrew Speaker, the man, was held in Atlanta under federal isolation order and transferred…
Friday marked the inauguration of seasonal service from Montreal to Rome on Air Canada…with connecting flights on Air One out of Rome to onward destinations. Air Canada Jazz launched two nonstops on Friday from Calgary to Prince George, British Columbia and Seattle, Washington, operating both with 50-seat CRJs… American Eagle has added a weekly flight…
Air Canada will introduce daily nonstop service from Vancouver to Yellowknife with seasonal service from December 1st through April with a 50-seat CRJ. Flights are timed to connect with service to Tokyo, Osaka, and points within British Columbia. Airtran launched service today from Portland, Maine to BWI. The first flight from BWI brought a delegation…
Dohop.com has upgraded its flight search engine at www.dohop.com. Farecast launched new tools last month including Alerts that help consumers track their trip and save money. Farecast is also no longer considered a beta. As for Alerts, as they put it…”more than 50 percent of price drops disappear within 50 hours, illustrating the need for…
There’s a lot to catch up on… Qantas is expanding its flight schedule to the United States, effective March 2008, bringing total flights to 46 flights per week. The increased schedule includes daily service between Los Angeles and Brisbane effective March 27th; Increasing to 17 weekly flights between Los Angeles and Sydney, effective March 30th;…
Easyjet is promoting its vision of a shorthaul aircraft that will generate half as much carbon dioxide and can be delivered by 2015. They are working with aircraft manufacturers to make their dream a reality. US Airways won’t be allowed to serve alcohol once again in New Mexico, after being refused an extension on its…
USA Today has a good article today about very unhappy United Airlines passengers. United’s customer satisfaction rating dropped more than any other big US carrier this year. Check out the horror stories here. We think it is depressing it takes USA Today investigating to get United to do right by these people… In a positive…
For the first time, this Roundup was written while our editor was sitting at an airport, awaiting a flight. Hmm…perhaps a story on Airport Wifi is in order? The Coalition for Luggage Security….don’t you love their press releases as much as we do? They reported(and we use the term lightly) on the 13th about a…
Well, the flight still hasn’t left…It happens sometimes….so here we are for part two of today’s roundup…Let’s see what the other flight bloggers are up to… Upgrade, Travel Better has a response to their recent query about United-US Airways codeshares…The codeshare program includes 2000 US flight numbers on UA, and an equivalent number of UA…
Jetblue is looking for more support in Pittsburgh. We happen to like Jetblue, and took advantage of their service to Pittsburgh in December to check out our first Embraer 190 aircraft and found the 100-seat aircraft less than full. At a breakfast on Tuesday, Jetblue’s new CEO urged local businessmen to support Jetblue’s efforts to…
Amadeus has signed an international rail distribution agreement with Wandrian, a global rail specialist, to distribute rail content to travel agents outside Europe who want to book rail globally. Through the web-based Amadeus RailAgent, travel agents outside Europe will have online connectivity and tools enabling them to book global rail passes and point-to-point tickets for…
Lufthansa announced it would begin nonstop service from Orlando to Frankfurt on October 30th, using an Airbus 330-300 aircraft in a three class configuration. The flight will operate from Tuesday through Sunday. American Airlines announced it will apply for the right to operate from Chicago O’Hare to Beijing effective March 25th, 2009. American had previously…
We don’t appreciate the media reporting airline delays as Flights from Hell. It seems too much hype as opposed to more useful reporting. Reuters comments that if airlines “want to ensure long-term survival, they say they have no choice but to restrain capacity, fill as many seats as possible and cut costs wherever they can.”…
Oh, no….The Simpsons have taken over Jetblue…Not only are the characters advertising Jetblue destinations in honor of the upcoming Simpsons movie…Someone has taken over Jetblue’s David Neeleman Flight Log… Hi I’m Montgomery Burns, Check back each week as I’ve take over David Neeleman’s Log. Over the next few weeks I would like to share with…
Since when is Orlando in California? We appreciate promotion as much as the next person…but…this may be just a little too cute.
Bloomberg reports that increased security measures will delay summer travel for some passengers during this Independence Day week. Police arrested two men at Glasgow airport yesterday after their Jeep Cherokee crashed into the terminal entrance and caught fire. They arrested five additional people since. The Glasgow attack came as police were conducting one of their…
As we mentioned in previous posts, and now available in a press release from Jetblue…JetBlue, in Partnership With Twentieth Century Fox, was named ‘The Official Airline of Springfield’ in Celebration of The Simpsons Movie. In addition to Mr. Burn’s wresting control of Neeleman’s blog, the airline will unveil its first-ever specialty aircraft, christened “Woo-Hoo, JetBlue!”…
London Heathrow reopened Terminal 4 after a security scare due to a suspicious bag led to the cancellation of over 100 flights. British Airways said it had cut 108 flights after cancelling all its European departures from the terminal for the day, as well as all long-haul flights for six hours. At least seven transatlantic…
Brandweek reports that Jetblue will unveil onboard Internet access sometime this year, delivered by LiveTV, which is a Jetblue subsidiary company that not only provides IFE to it, but to other airlines. Cell phone calls will be blocked…due to overwhelming customer opposition to the ability…but text messaging is an acceptable alternative in the air for…