Image by jasonEscapist via Flickr Effective today, the people at Virgin America announced changes to their fee structures. Their fee for changes will be reduced from $75 to $50. We’re hoping other airlines reduce their change fees as well. A $150 average fee for changes on reservations valued much less is ridiculous and hard to…
Image by Getty Images via Daylife Michael Russnow over at the Huffington Post commented today that airline service is a sham. He maintains that first was a fee for a second bag, then a first, then for drinks on US Airways(which they recently reversed), then blankets and pillows, and movies. We’re not sure we agree…
Mr. T, we’re sure, would say, “I pity the fool airline who mistreats their passengers.” Once again, here are some recent tales we’ve noticed of travel experiences. When a man tried to check in for his flight on Spirit, he was told the flight was oversold. When he tried to fly the next day, Spirit…
Image by Getty Images via Daylife A Yale student is suing US Airways, claiming that they stole an Xbox 360 from his luggage. He is requesting $1 million in compensation. Jesse Maiman claims that when he took a Dec. 17, 2008, flight from New Haven, Conn., to Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, he checked his Xbox…
We got a note of this over Twitter…check us out there… Ryanair today invited passengers to suggest the next ancillary revenue idea after their CEO confirmed that they might institute pay toilets. Ryanair’s Stephen McNamara said; “Ryanair is Europe’s largest low fares airline and we plan to continue to reduce costs and fares by stimulating…
Delta has been up to a lot lately, and we’ve decided to devote an entire post to talking about several significant things they’ve done in the last week. Delta is expanding a marketing alliance with Midwest Airlines, best known for its fresh-baed cookies. The agreement extends Midwest’s marketing agreement with Northwest Airlines to Delta, which…
Here’s yet another roundup. Some interesting stuff. And check out this video we found showing Chicago’s Midway Airport in 1954. A little bonus in case the new service doesn’t benefit you. The Dulles Rail Link may start construction any day now.. An agreement has been signed to commit $900 million in federal funds to the…
Image via Wikipedia Two weeks ago, a captain of an El Al flight flying to Israel from an undisclosed city in Europe ordered the removal of a number of suitcases to allow two El Al employees to get on. Airline employees and their families are allowed to travel for a discounted or even free rate,…
Image by guspim via Flickr Budget Travel had an interesting report earlier today on new metatravel search sites run by Tripadvisor and Fly.com. Both sites use a layout almost identical to Kayak.com, the largest and most well known of these sites. Neither site is licensing anything from Kayak. They asked the CEO of Kayak, Steve…
As airlines fight for a shrinking number of first-class passengers, they’re prepared to lay out even more money to win their loyalty…which seems a risky business move to us. This week, Lufthansa unveiled a 12,000-square-meter first-class lounge at Frankfurt Airport, featuring a full-service spa, spacious bathrooms with whirlpool tubs, and a bar offering 84 different…
Image via Wikipedia We just posted on Spirit Airlines adding a convenience fee, and we thought there was more to say. And lo and behold, in searching for something relevant, we found another post by Cranky, on the subject of Tripadvisor’s new metasearch site. Now, we use Tripadvisor for checking on hotel reviews. Nothing like…
Image via Wikipedia The Cranky Flier noted today that Spirit Airlines, known for its lack of taste and ultra-low-fares philosophy is instituing a Passenger Usage Fee of $4.90 per person per sector for anyone who doesn’t book their ticket at a ticket counter. Spirit tried charging a $7.90 passenger usage fee last year, along with…
Image via Wikipedia We dislike Ryanair for their approach to business. We like hearing frm them though, as nothing is as amusing, or produces as much outrage. One in the United States, where we are, might choose to believe they are a joke…a fake airline people tell stories about, the way one does the Boogeyman.…
Image via Wikipedia Last week, Ryanair announced it was eliminating check-in desks, and we oddly enough, thought it would end at that for a bit. Michael O’Leary, Ryanair’s CEO, told BBC Television that they are considering pay toilets. “One thing we have looked at in the past and are looking at again is the possibility…
B.net has an interesting report on Delta taking over a Northwest route from Los Angeles to Las Vegas, reducing the plane operated from 148 to 76 seats and breaking the flight’s connection to Tokyo service, the original reason for putting the flight on in the first place. The new Delta Connection service connects with service…
View Larger Map A Boeing 737-800 crashed into a field on approach to Amsterdam today, killing at least nine people and injuring fifty. The plane did not catch fire, but broke into three pieces. Flight TK1951 left Istanbul 8:22AM Wednesday with 128 passengers and 7 crew onboard. Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport was the focus of an…
Image via Wikipedia Looking for things to rid themselves of, European low-cost carrier Ryanair, which we never had a particularly high opinion of, is planning to eliminate all its check-in desks by year’s end. Ryanair spokesman Stephen McNamara said the airline saw the move as the “logical next step” in its effort to slash costs.…
Image by James Willamor via Flickr Our friend, Chris Elliott announced the news, to be reported by press release tomorrow, that it will bring back complimentary sodas, juices, tea, water and coffee to its flights starting next month. Charging for water especially, considering the dry atmosphere onboard airplanes and the liquid restrictions, seemed especially unfair.…
The people at JetBlue sent us a lovely message yesterday… We understand it’s not easy being a high flyer these days. The CFO is picking apart your expense reports. Congress is mad about your bonus. And you can’t even hop on a private jet to the Cayman Islands without freaking out the shareholders. But even…
Image by Jim Frazier via Flickr The Boston Globe reports that low cost carrier Southwest Airlines will be serving Boston’s Logan Airport beginning sometime in the fall. The launch will apparently be somewhat conservative, with 8 to 12 daily departures to just a few destinations to start. The airline will be unveiling details sometime in…
Allegiant Airlines, known for its service from various smaller markets to leisure destinations on a bi or tri weekly basis has announced new service from Los Angeles International Airport beginning May 1st. The news comes as no surprise, as rumors of it have been floating around for almost a week now. We chose to wait…
View Larger Map A state delegate has introduced a bill to place slot machines inside BWI Airport. Voters would have to approve it as an amendment to the Maryland Constitution. The bill is sponsored by Democratic Delegate Eric Bromwell of Baltimore County. It has 10 co-sponsors, all of but one from Baltimore County. The airport…
Delta Air Lines has announced plans to consolidate some of the functions of the regional airlines it owns. Comair, Mesaba, and Compass Airlines will have their customer service and ramp workers merged into one company called Regional Handling Services(RHS). The other parts of the airlines will continue to operate independently, but this may be the…
Image via Wikipedia We held off a few days on this to see what developments came up, so we could do a proper review of the situation. We tend to agree with the Cranky Flier that there is a standard story everyone writes about this sort of issue. Like him, we have nothing of specific…
Happy Valentine’s Day to all those who celebrated it yesterday. Now, let’s give a little love to a few airlines. Israel’s El Al Airlines will add its first new destination in 10 years. On May 2nd, it will begin nonstop service between Tel Aviv and Sao Paulo, Brazil, operating three nonstop flights a week using…