We were reading The Consumerist and discovered this story, about a man who tracked down a baggage handler who stole a digital camera out of his checked luggage, had him prosecuted, and received a less than pleasant response from Delta. Delta’s position is that since he did travel…they will not compensate him for the actions…
Effective on Saturday, Spirit Airlines will charge passengers ten dollars for a second checked bag. Spirit will now have the strictest baggage policy in the industry…although ten dollars for an extra fifty pounds is not bad. A third bag will be one hundred dollars. Industry average in the U.S. is now at two bags, fifty…
Expressjet’s(Stock Ticker: XJT) move to start its own service is a rather controversial one. The question so many people are asking is if they will go the way of Independence Air. Independence Air had operated as a regional carrier for various airlines until United withdrew its contract and the airline went independent. Independence was unique…
The New York Daily News reports that a 73-year old Manhattan woman, Phyllis Gershon, is suing Jetblue for $5.5 million after she was removed from a flight for asking for a large air sickness bag in case she got a case of air sickness. Gershon charges she was the victim of “hysterical and unjustified actions”…
It was with great amusement we read the above title as a press release earlier today. “Professional, well-connected and experienced travel agents score high marks when it comes to making complex travel arrangements for luxury vacation customers,” says Nancy Yale, President, Cruise Resort & World Travel, Inc. We tend to agree with the above statement…although…
We’ve been a fan of the Embraer 190 regional jets since long before we had the pleasure of flying on them. Recently we decided to take a few regional jet trips with Embraer products, so see how the experience rated. We hopped a US Airways Express flight on an Embraer 145, and then a Jetblue…
United Airlines has stopped offering snacks on flights of less than two hours in duration. The move is expected to save the carrier around $650,000 each year. American did the same thing on flights of less than an hour and a half in 2005.
On Friday, we picked up and posted on the Consumerist’s coverage of an unfortunate situation occurring on Southwest. Fortunately there has been an update on that story. Richard Brown, who was suffering from water retention caused by liver failure, was forced to buy an extra seat on a flight not even full, on the insistence…
We usually think of Southwest as having a reputation for good customer service, even when dealing with difficult situations. However, this story from the Consumerist shocks us on many levels. Richard Brown nearly died because of Southwest Airlines. A ticket agent refused to let him fly because of his size. His weight gain is due…
With the creation of kiosk-based check-in, and the relegating of all but one or two check-in counters to bag-checks…we wondered how long it would be before such a facility vanished entirely. On the 10th of January, Alaska and Horizon Air unveiled a $18 millon plan to transform customer check-in at Seattle Airport. The concept, which…
In 1999, regulation of the airline industry with a Passenger Bill of Rights was by public agreements by airlines to change their practices…thus avoiding federal regulation. But now, studies indicate perhaps they’ve not only failed to live up to that, but they are lacking in many areas. A group of passengers who were stranded for…
We’ve been following a story on the Consumerist for the last few weeks on one family’s issues with United. First of all, if you’ve had some major issues with United, and been unable to get satisfaction from their line agents, talked to supervisors, and written letters, try their Executive Customer Service. The Consumerist reported on…
Bay Area Rapid Transit(BART) reported record ridership during Christmas week. Currently, the extension and airport station operates at a loss. We don’t understand why…with moderately convenient public transportation to the airport, why people would not take advantage of it to avoid the hassles of driving to the airport. Cities have invested money in these buses…
Oneida County Airport in Utica, NY has closed. The county airport will now be operated out of the former Griffiss Air Force Base in Rome, which closed as a military base in 1993. Griffiss is now a business and technology park. As part of the move, the airport has been refurbished. Empire Aero Center, which…
We just love that title, which is the title of a blog entry on cosmicvariance.com. Cosmic Variance is a blog by four physicists with their perspective on not just their jobs, but their time outside them. We also have no love for Orbitz and the other online consolidators. They are not interested in helping the…
The Consumerist brought to our attention a story of schedule changes. in this case, American contacted the passenger to rebook due to a schedule change. The new itinerary caused a change of airline from Swiss to SN Brussels. The passenger asked if they needed new paper tickets and were told no. When they arrived for…
Today in the Sky reports that Air France is being sued by a passenger who says he was “shocked” and “humiliated” after the airline told him he was too big to fit in one seat and would have to purchase another. Many airlines have policies for overweight passengers that require the purchase of such a…
Is merging a good thing? In some cases, yes, some cases no. But now everyone is on the merger bandwagon. When one thinks about the Ma Bell breakup, and the fact that Ma Bell seems to be rising from the grave…one wonders about the future and megacorporations. For airlines, the experts say that the airlines…
The Herald reports that John Wilkie, a lecturer teaching stage management at the Royal Scottish Academy of Drama and Music in Glasgow, was arrested on the orders of Ryanair for trying to disembark an aircraft. The plane from Paris Beauvois to Glasgow’s Prestwick Airport was diverted to Edinburgh after a terror alert. Mr. Wilkie and…
Effective February 15, Delta is increasing its service between Chicago and New York. Delta’s domestic routes of late seem to be paralleling their competition. Jetblue expands to Chicago, Delta follows. US Airways makes a bid for Delta, they announce first New York to Phoenix service and then Salt Lake City to Charlotte service. Delta will…
Pierre Beaudoin, president of Bombardier Aerospace, said the company, known for its Canadair Regional Jets, the Learjet, and its Q400 Next-Generation Turboprop, seat the company expects to decide by January 31st whether it will go ahead with a $2 billion project to develop its CSeries passenger jet. Last January, Beaudoin announced it would not develop…
Earlier this week, we reported on an incident with several Muslim imams…religious leaders…being denied boarding on a US Airways flight from Minneapolis to Phoenix. Passengers, police, and flight crew continue to insist the group raised the security warning flags…that it was a combination of factors that caused them to remove the group. They were praying…
Today in the Sky reports that Spirit Airlines has filed an application with the DOT to serve Caracas, Venezuela from Ft. Lauderdale. It hopes to start selling tickets as soon as possible for an April 1st inauguration of service. Spirit serves multiple destinations in the Caribbean from Ft. Lauderdale, but this would be its first…
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…
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…