[caption id="attachment_1329" align="alignnone" width="384" caption="Hole in Southwest 2294 - 7/13/09 (AP Photo/The Charleston Gazette, Chris Dorst) "][/caption] We’ve had mixed feelings in the past about reporting on airline incidents. We were tempted to take the high road and say nothing until the NTSB issued a report, which is months later. We decided that since it…
Southwest Flight 2294 made a safe landing at Yeager Airport in Charleston, West Virginia after a hole appeared in the fuselage of the aircraft, causing the plane to decompress. The flight, heading from Nashville to Baltimore, diverted to Yeager after the hole appeared in the ceiling of the cabin. No one appears to have been…
Image by Eric Bégin via Flickr We haven’t said anything about the JetAmerica situation, and we think the title says it all. JetAmerica began taking bookings in May. At the time, the Cranky Flier commented, “Something tells me that the chance of this working is very, very slim. And that’s being kind.” We can’t say…
Image by ATIS547 via Flickr The longest runway at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York will be closed for about four months next year as part of a renovation, and airlines have been asked to revise their schedules. The runway, 13R-31L is more than 2.75 miles long, is the second longest in North…
Image via Wikipedia Now, we recently got some interesting comments on our post on Fastening Seatbelts. Hi! Flight Attendant here: ) You’re right, FAs are informers not enforcers, but as you said it is a federal offense not adhere to FAs instructions. Although, I have never seen a FA call the authorities over a passenger…
In a final note on the impact of United Song #1, which we previously reported on, United Airlines has decided to donate $3000 to the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz for music education for children. Taylor, the manufacturer of the guitar, did give Dave Carroll, the artist responsible a gift. They are giving him a…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ay7hFIYQFnw Artist Dave Carroll(appears above) thanked the Internet community for its support of United Song #1(remember there are two more). United has offered compensation to Carroll, but he has declined, asking them to donate the money to a charity of their choice, and share that news with the public. We hope they take him up…
Image via Wikipedia Yesterday, we reported on one musician’s unique way of dealing with poor customer service. The L.A. Times travel blog reports there has been a quick response to his song. United Airlines has made contact with the musician, Dave Carroll. We’re not surprised, with a video that has had over 100,000 views and…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOqozo We love any excuse for a musical interlude, or a classic Youtube video. In this latest one, musician Dave Carroll comes up with a creative way to protest United’s refusal to take responsibility for the guitar they broke. Carroll spent nine months trying to get United to do so. They admitted they had broken…
We’re going to try to start posting some notice of fare sales when they become available and see how that goes. We’ll be limiting it to large sales of note. Southwest is offering a massive seat sale, where all routes are on sale for $30/$60/$90(depending on distance), with the following caveats: Purchase by July 8,…
Image via Wikipedia We’re slowly inching toward our goal of reaching 1000 posts. We hope you’ve been enjoying our increased efforts. Air Canada yesterday inaugurated service from Montreal to Fort-de-France, Martinique. The service will be offered on Saturdays until August 29th, and then will recommence on a year-round basis on December 5th. Alaska Airlines inaugurated…
In the final installment of our series on our time on Southwest, we explore the process onboard. Southwest is known for its friendly and enthusiastic in-flight crew. The flight crew was very cooperative with our obsessive picture taking. The flight itself was uneventful. We had a free seat next to us, which allowed us to…
Image by Creativity+ Timothy K Hamilton via Flickr This weekend, Americans take to the skies, cars, buses, etc to join in celebrating July 4th. In fact, as any holiday requires a three-day weekend, today is Independence Day(Observed). People have already taken to the skies to visit their families. For those of you concerned with flying…
[caption id="attachment_1224" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Yemenia Airbus A310, a day before its crash."][/caption] In the face of protests, Yemenia will be canceling its flights from Marseille to Sana’a indefinitely after a second day of protests by Comorans at Marseille Airport. The Yemenia flight that went down originated in Marseille on an Airbus 330. Passengers changed in…
Image via Wikipedia In a recent conversation we heard of, a woman talking to an airline representative in regards to a delayed flight due to a mechanical problem with an Airbus aircraft told the airline they should buy Boeing. We found that rather amusing. Boeing and Airbus are both companies that produce good products. No…
We are continuing our series of posts on our Southwest Experience. We got a lot of wonderful material and pictures, and we haven’t even talked about our time onboard yet. To any other airline tempted, if you send us somewhere, we’ll take just as many pictures and talk to as many people as we can…
[caption id="attachment_1224" align="alignleft" width="372" caption="Yemenia Airbus A310, a day before its crash."][/caption] The Yemenia flight is the fifth passenger airline accident this year. In addition to the Air France crash, there was the Colgan Air crash in Buffalo, an accident in Brazil, and another in the Netherlands. The Yemenia plane(the picture is of the exact…
Flight #614 was scheduled to depart New York’s LaGuardia Airport to Chicago-Midway Airport at 8:45AM with an arrival time of 10:40AM. Customers lined up in typical Southwest fashion, by boarding letter and number in front of spaced steel columns. The first passenger, holding Boarding Group A, Position 01, was Darrell Johnson, who had purchased a…
View Larger Map An Airbus 310 operated by Yemenia, the national airline of Yemen, crashed in the Comoros Islands with at least 150 onboard. The plane, Yemenia Flight 626(IY626), en route from Sana’a, the capital of Yemen, to Prince Said Ibrahim airport in Moroni, the capital of Comoros, crashed about an hour from its destination,…
One of the things we’ve always loved about Southwest is the spirit. In fact, Southwest’s mascot, we understand, is even named Spirit. Pictured right, two happy Southwest employees in Spirit costumes. Southwest was ready when we arrived to offer us bagels and a goody bag for being on the inaugural flight. The bag, an insulated…
In Part I, we discussed the new Southwest Airlines check-in counters at New York – LaGuardia, and their unique(for LaGuardia at least). We had a lot of fun in Chicago. Southwest has taken over Gate B4 at LaGuardia. We use the word take over because of the modifications necessary to operate a gate as Southwest.…
We arrived at LaGuardia two hours before our flight. We wanted to see off the Baltimore flight as well. Southwest had generously awarded us a free roundtrip flight to Chicago and an overnight at a downtown hotel. Everything at LaGuardia airport from Southwest is different than what we see from any other airline using the…
Image by Getty Images via Daylife For those of you who haven’t heard, our Twitter account, @FlightWisdom won a trip on the inaugural flight out of New York’s LaGuardia Airport to Chicago’s Midway Airport. Southwest was even shocked they drew our name…to quote their tweet… “wow, can’t believe I just drew @flightwisdom you have 2…
Image via Wikipedia The National Transportation Safety Board revealed within the last five weeks two Airbus 330s have had incidents involving speed sensors. A TAM flight on May 21st from Miami to Sao Paulo, Brazil and a Northwest flight from Hong Kong to Tokyo on June 23rd both lost speed and altitude information. Details are…
Image by ficusrock via Flickr We’ve discussed this before, but a recent article in Gadling prompted us to revisit the issue of the Fasten Seatbelt sign. Flight Attendants are not required to force passengers into seats when . They are required to make them aware of this. Passengers should be up to go to the…