Image via Wikipedia A husband and wife are suing United Airlines for negligence, saying the drinks served them on a flight from Osaka, Japan to San Francisco fueled their subsequent actions. “Fortified with Burgundy wine allegedly supplied at 20-minute intervals by United crew members during the December 2006 trip, Yoichi Shimamoto became so inebriated “that…
Image by Getty Images via Daylife Ryanair has made another bid for Irish competitor, Aer Lingus. Aer Lingus is preparing its defense plan and wishes to remain independent. Continental announced it has completed installation of an Audio/Video on demand system on its fleet of 757-200s aircraft, with the last two reentering service by December 23rd.…
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="150" caption="Image by Getty Images via Daylife"][/caption] For the first time in the United States, an airport is being built for commercial service completely without government funding. This new airport will be in Branson, Missouri, which receives 8.4 million visitors a year for its shows and conventions. The nearest airport is over…
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="240" caption="Image by Eric E Johnson via Flickr"][/caption] For years, Southwest Airlines has been known for going outside the box. They flew to secondary airports, provided service where other carriers could not sustain a turboprop with sheer volume, and did not work with other carriers. Southwest has made moves away from that…
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="202" caption="Image via Wikipedia"][/caption] Obese people have the right to two airline seats for the price of one on flights within Canada…because they are “functionally disabled.” The decision, made by the Canadian Transportation Agency, was appealed by the major Canadian carriers, who lost their final appeal last week. The question is what…
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="202" caption="Image via Wikipedia"][/caption] While the runways at Indianapolis Airport have remained the same, the airport experience for passengers is now completely different. They have a new terminal, completely replacing the old, as well as new approach from the local highways, and new parking facilities. The old terminal will be knocked down.…
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="240" caption="Image by Jonathan Caves via Flickr"][/caption] We thought we’d clear our backlog of interesting news out before the weekend. Enjoy! JetBlue set a world performance record with one of its Embraer 190s as the regional jet was returned to JetBlue’s home base at JFK from its time as Sarah Palin’s plane…
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="202" caption="Image via Wikipedia"][/caption] Here we are, once again discussing baggage and its associated costs. Usually, when we discuss baggage, we’re discussing weight and number of pieces. But what about size? It was reported that on November 1st, Continental reduced the maximum size allowed for carry-ons to 45 linear inches from 51.…
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="150" caption="Image by Getty Images via Daylife"][/caption] Delta Air Lines announced today it will revise its baggage fees effective immediately for all tickets sold for travel on or after December 5th, it will charge a $15 fee for the first bag and a $25 fee for the second. Most Northwest policies and…
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="202" caption="Image via Wikipedia"][/caption] In a post earlier, we advised that BBC News had reported that European discount carrier Ryanair was poised to live up CEO Michael O’Leary’s public statements about transatlantic service. However, the Associated Press, reporting on Ryanair’s quarterly report, advised the airline has discounted the report that this service…
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="202" caption="Image via Wikipedia"][/caption] BBC News reported Sunday evening that Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary will announce plans for his budget carrier to the United States on Monday, with fares to start at 10 Euro in Economy. A luxury business class will be offered. O’Leary is expected to announce plans to buy 50…
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="240" caption="Image by matt.hintsa via Flickr"][/caption] We knew this was coming, but the day is finally here. This evening, Skymiles account holders that we are, we received an email from Richard Anderson, CEO of Delta Air Lines, announcing that Northwest Airlines was now part of Delta, but it would be business as…
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="150" caption="Image by Getty Images via Daylife"][/caption] We stole the title for this post from Chris Elliott, whom we admire as the champion of fair disclosure and fees, although we admit to disagreeing with him at times. USA Today reported that while jet fuel is down, fuel surcharges have stuck. And this…
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[caption id="" align="alignright" width="240" caption="Image by Kaptain Krispy Kreme via Flickr"][/caption] Now, we’ve mentioned before a bit of this, but we thought we should devote a another specific post to the issue. Fuel is down, but many airlines weren’t doing wonderfully before it went up, and this put them over the edge. Fuel is down,…
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="202" caption="Image via Wikipedia"][/caption] TAM will begin daily flights from Sao Paulo to Orlando on November 21st. TAM and Air Canada will be codesharing and expanding an effort to provide increased services between Brazil and Canada. A new partnership between Irish carrier Aer Lingus and United Airlines is available for sale on…
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="202" caption="Image via Wikipedia"][/caption] Chicago’s Midway Airport was privatized last week. A consortium consisting of Citi Infrastructure Investors, YVR Airport Services, and John Hancock Life Insurance bought the airport. YVR Airport Services, which is partly Vancouver(YVR) airport itself, will operate the airport for the consortium. The final price was $2.5 billion, and…
Those interested in mapping the schedule reductions at U.S. airports this fall should check out USA Today’s interactive map here. It incorporates what airlines had advised of their schedule on November 1st and will be updated periodically. Honolulu and Oakland Airports are the biggest losers, at 27.7% and 27.4% respectfully. Airlines are reducing service in…
Well, October is nearly here, and JetBlue will be opening its new state of the art terminal at its JFK home hub. The airline issued a series of press releases last week about this momentous occasion. Terminal 5 has 50 percent more concession space than its current Terminal 6 operation. It will include nine full-serve…
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="240" caption="Image by Luigi Rosa via Flickr"][/caption] For those of you who have noticed a change in our style over the last few entries, we’ve added Zemanta support to our blog. Zemanta is a blogging service that provides recommended articles and public domain imagery to a blog entry, giving you, our readers,…
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="202" caption="Image via Wikipedia"][/caption] Air Canada has announced it will roll back some previously imposed fees. It is nice for an airline actually repeal something it claimed to impose due to high fuel costs. Air Canada announced last week it would stop charging the $25 second bag fee it established in May.…
When it comes time to secure the Homeland, who better to call than Grover? The Department of Homeland Security has partnered with Sesame Street and the Children’s Television Workshop to teach children about creating family preparedness plans in case of emergencies. “I, your furry, blue friend Grover, have a story to share. Are you wondering…
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="240" caption="Image by vnvlain via Flickr"][/caption] The Cranky Flier brought to our attention a new push by Spirit Airlines to sell more ad space on their aircraft. They will now sell ads on overhead bins, seat backs, tray tables, the area above the windows, bulkheads, napkins, cups, menus, boarding passes, soap dispensers,…
We follow several different blogs in search of stories. Recently, BNET’s Travel Industry blog, which is written by the same person who writes the Cranky Flier, commented on Travel Insurance in the current environment. Edit: During our initial read, we failed to notice that the post in question, while on Brett Snyder’s Blog, was actually…
United Airlines will double its fee to check a second bag to $50 one-way. The airline estimated this change will affect only one out of seven customers and that its ancillary revenue, including bag fees will be $700 million in 2009. We searched around to see what our fellow bloggers were saying on the issue…