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 their critics unless there is an opportunity to belittle those critics. On June 19th, John…
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, 2006. We started out wanting to do an information site with a blog attached, which…
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 do not represent the passenger’s relationship with the airline. For that, in the 80s, airlines…
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 new program by Wizz Air. Passengers who try to sneak bags past onto the plane…
Ikea has set up shop in several interesting places over the years. Â 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 at Paris’s Charles de Gaulle Airport(CDG). In Terminal 3, you can tour nine bedrooms, a…
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 is for the TSA to congratulate itself on its detection of contraband, and belittle or…
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 for wishing that Delta had eliminated meal service prior to their flights. Two passengers, on…
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 unsafe plane? But it took that many days for replacement parts to arrive, which is…
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 before the airline can fix it. In January, the DOT prohibited airlines from increasing the…
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 the fuselage design of the 737. Specifically, he says that the skin is too thin.…
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 the Dulles Airport after numerous flight cancellations and delays. Wounded in battle, Staneck suffers from…
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 medical appointment. Nothing to worry about though. The TSA has already completed its thorough investigation…
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 fact, to many people, it is a customer service failure if automation prevents them from…
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 Yorker named Azriel “Al” Blackman took a job as a mechanic for American Export Airlines.…
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 our response to it as a society is that we have a tendency to sacrifice…
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 have linked to us over the years, Any links to pages on blog.flightwisdom.com will still…
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 aircraft type that many carriers are scaling down. Comair was founded in 1977. It became…
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 arrived at Logan Airport in Boston. Emergency Medical Services are on site. Update: 9:32PM -…