Southwest Airlines announced today they are coming to the rescue of St. Louis, MO, which lost a great deal of service when American Airlines cut deep into what was once a major hub for TWA, which they absorbed. Beginning in May of next year, they will add the following routes:
[caption id="attachment_1704" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="Leather seats with Headrests"][/caption] Virgin America is testing the idea of letting passengers who are traveling without carry-on luggage board the plane first. Now, we aren’t sure of the exact details. We assume personal items wouldn’t count, and this would be limited to actual luggage. Few people travel with only the…
And that is the question. Do TSA Agents even know the rules their department has enacted? Or do they make them up as they go along? Or perhaps local supervisors impose rules on top of department-wide policy?
Image via Wikipedia Yesterday, feeling a bit whimsical, our editor wrote a somewhat silly poem based on the balloon boy saga. Pushed by our roving correspondent, Dr. Lane(now on Twitter at @infrequentflier), we have posted the complete poem, which we categorize as influenced by Longfellow, Chaucer, and Dr. Seuss. And thus we announce the Balloon…
There have been some interesting developments in In-Flight Entertainment and Wi-Fi this week, many reported by IFE beat reporter, Mary Kirby, aka RunwayGirl, often called the Queen of IFE.
Earlier this week, we reported on the situation known as the Balloon Box Hoax. Six year old Falcon Heene was thought to be trapped in a homemade balloon, but after the authorities scrambled, closing Denver International Airport, the balloon was found empty.
The TSA is truly amazing in its involvement with social media. A lot of things they post on their blog are ones we find a bit hard to swallow, but when they respond to the latest internet anti-TSA story, they go at it full force.
In response to accusations made by a blogging mother that the TSA had separated her and her young child, the TSA released edited CCTV video, showing that the child was not in fact, separated from his mother. She issued a response on her own blog.
Nic, from My Bottles Up, recounted a story of her recent experience at the airport in Atlanta where she claims the TSA separated her from her young son. The story is very details and emotional, and you can read the full text.. We will try to summarize the important facts.
JetBlue Sample Sale Till Midnight Tonight
The Denver Post and ABC News report that the Larimee County Sheriff says the balloon boy, Falcon Heene, was not a balloon boy at all. He was “hiding in a box…a cardboard box in an attic above the garage.”
Jaunted tipped us off to the fact that the balloon/zeppelin/UFO-like object-building family, the Heenes, were also featured on Wife Swap. Now, this family seems a bit off already, what with Dad and his theories on Martian civilization.
Richard Heene, father of Falcon Heene, the 6 year old boy still missing after the flying saucer balloon he was presumed to be on board landed empty, apparently uploaded this video to CNN iReport. Mr. Heene speaks about his belief that evidence of Martian civilization was covered up by the European Space Agency.
Richard Heene and his 6 year old son have apparently been working on a project to make a homemade hot air balloon that looks like a flying saucer. The son crawled in and unhooked the line. Air traffic has been halted and several National Guard and other helicopters are in pursuit. There is no clear consensus on how to rescue him at present.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfETlqvBAeE Air New Zealand had a message for Herb Kelleher and Southwest Airlines. They want Southwest Airlines to participate in a airline safety video musical…which may or may not be performed naked. Should Southwest accept the challenge? We’ll wait for the Airline Safety Video Music Awards.
The idea of a customer loyalty program is a good one. We want to be rewarded for our patronage of any given company, be it an airline, or be it the local supermarket. But there is a serious problem with these programs for their patrons. People forget one word. FREQUENT.
Image via Wikipedia Lufthansa is bringing back in-flight wi-fi. As reported by Upgrade Travel, Lufthansa will be the first transatlantic carrier to put out a comprehensive plan for wi-fi connectivity after Boeing discontinued its in-flight wi-fi offering. Lufthansa’s system, called Flynet, is Panasonic-based, and uses a satellite based network, like Row 44, which is working…
Image by Drewski2112 via Flickr We wanted to link in this video, but unfortunately, we couldn’t figure out how to, so here is a link. BBC Panorama was doing a documentary on Ryanair. There was nothing new or exciting about the documentary, from what we hear. But they did corner Michael O’Leary, who despite his…
Image via Wikipedia Welcome to another additional of roundup. Today we have some continuing news and route developments. Remember, for more details/information, a link appears to a press release or other story inside each notice. This week, AirTran announced increases to its winter Florida schedule. Daily flights will be added to both Orlando and Ft.…
Image by mag3737 via Flickr ANA(All Nippon Airways) has started asking passengers to go the bathroom before they fly, claiming lighter bowels and bladders mean light passengers and thus a lighter plane, which means less fuel. Now, we always go to the bathroom before boarding for other reasons than green concerns. For one, asking people…
Image by Getty Images via Daylife The Premier Baggage program unveiled by United Air Lines yesterday is something of a mixed bag. For $249 a year, you (plus up to eight people traveling with you on the same reservation) get to check up to two bags per person, per flight for free all year. United…
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Earlier today, the Cranky Flier announced he was starting a new business, The Cranky Concierge, a personal travel assistance company. We saw it as a good opportunity to break out the podcasting equipment and interview Brett Snyder, the Cranky Flier. Our Editor, the Flight Wisdom Guru reports:
Image by Nick Chill via Flickr On August 28th, according to Manchester-Boston Regional Airport manager Mark Brewer, JetBlue hinted that a local demonstration of enthusiasm about the company’s arrival would be important. With airlines reducing seats and fewer passengers flying Manchester, airport officials recently offered incentives to attract new airlines and existing airlines to begin…
Image by Getty Images via Daylife Airline Route Updates has a comprehensive list of the new JetBlue-Lufthansa codeshare, found here. The flight numbers will be between LH8500 and 8700 and cover both Boston and New York-JFK routes. Booking are already open for service on or after November 1st. Also effective today, South African Airlines will…
Image via Wikipedia British Airways Flight 001, service from London City to New York-JFK via Shannon(where passenger’s pre-clear US Immigration and Customs), which was operated using an all-business class A318, arrived 10 minutes ago into Kennedy Airport. The service features 32 sleeper beds, a 15-minute check-in, London City’s proximity to key parts of the city,…