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…
We are usually apolitical here, but we’re impressed Obama actually has a transportation agenda. McCain, by comparison, is known for killing funding for Amtrak. We tried to find a policy on his website and failed. We’d love to see it though and analyze it similarly. We found a good analysis of the Obama policy on…
In a comment to a previous post on the Contract of Carriage of ExpressJet, the following was posted by Cecil Guerrero: I have vouchers worth $390 and I cannot take a flight anywhere! All flights are suspended. Can someone help me get a refund? I canceled flight to Spokane and was not informed flights to…
Effective today, September 11th, 2008, transportation security officers at airport checkpoints all over the country will be wearing new uniforms and badges. The new uniform will be blue, and a gold badge will replace the patch. Plans for this were announced over a year ago, and have finally been implemented. At the time, it was…
Infrequent Flier, our sister blog, has posted some useful tips for travelers. Why not check them out? Print Your Own Passport Photos – Why Settle for the Low Quality Photos often available at local stores? Why not do it yourself? Airline Fee Chart – Easily Compare Airline Fees of various types with a handy Airline…
American Airlines is being sued by a man for allegedly misplacing his wife’s body for four days. According to the lawsuit, the body was so badly decomposed when it finally arrived that they had to forego a traditional open-casket funeral. Shares of United Airlines stock tanked on Monday(Forbes reports) when a six-year-old Chicago Tribune story…
Continental Airlines will charge a $15 fee for the first checked bag. This fee applies immediately to tickets bought for destinations in the United States and to flights between the U.S., Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and Canada for travel on or after October 7th. Remember, those of you who purchased before Friday, September 5th…
In light of the news that US Airways would not longer provide even water on aircraft to passengers, we have been looking for ways to get around this. You can’t bring water from home because you are limited to 3oz or less of liquid. We began to think about some of the travel gear we’d…
Virgin America and HBO today launched the airline’s new nonstop service from New York’s JFK airport to Las Vegas, Nevada and will unveil “Entourage Class” on the airline as well as the advance screening in flight of Season 5 of the HBO original series Entourage. Virgin America flies to seven cities, including: SFO to LAX,…
Supposedly in response to customer feedback, United has reversed its decision to switch to Buy on Board Meals for most international flights. Mark Ashley over at Upgrade Travel has heard the change might actually have been due to pressure brought on United by its Star Alliance partners. For now, the idea of paying for international…
As we have reported before, one of the first casualties of airline cutbacks is service to secondary cities. Early this summer, AT&T announced it was moving its headquarters from San Antonio to Dallas, stating that the lack of direct flights to other cities was a primary reason. Though there is some question whether this is…
We’re curious when this idea will be ripped off by US television. Monach Airlines has trained eleven celebrities as flight attendants to be part of a reality show called CelebAir, which will begin airing tomorrow. If you are familiar with European celebrities, check out their dossiers here. One wonders how passengers will react to flying…
A Ryanair plane flying from Budapest to Dublin was forced to divert to Frankfurt Hahn Airport(nowhere near Frankfurt) when a “vegetable oil/mushroom soup type mixture” leaked from a jar in an overhead compartment onto a man. The man suffered an allergic reaction, his neck swelled up, and the plane was diverted. It remains to be…
This past weekend, JetBlue held a practice run of operations at its new terminal at JFK. We did so want to go, but by the time we heard about it, it was full. So we are going to summarize Jaunted’s coverage of the event, which can be found here. First of all, the new terminal…
Jazz, Air Canada’s regional airline, plans to reduce fuel consumption by dropping life vests from its flights, which equal about fifty-five pounds less on its 50-seater Dash-8s. Canadian regulations allow airlines to use floatation devices, such as the seat cushions, as long as the planes remain within 56 miles of shore.and a number of its…
United Airlines concerns us. In a time when many airlines are trying to get their act together, United seems to be making decisions to decrease the quality of their customer service. We’ve previously stated that we understand cuts are sometimes necessary, but there is a good and a bad way to approach them. They’ve even…
Are shoulder restraints coming to an airplane near you? On the Freakonomics blog, Steven Levitt reported that he encountered shoulder restraints on a recent United Airlines flight. Dr. Levitt, who has previously reported on the lack of data supporting the assertion that child booster seats increase safety beyond seat belts alone, was skeptical of their…
Today is the fifth anniversary of 2003 Blackout, the worst in U.S. history. JetBlue will be adding daily nonstop service from Washington-Dulles to Tampa on December 18th and Saturday service to Cancun on December 20th. JetBlue will be launching twice daily service using its 100-seat Embraer 190s on October 18th between Long Beach and San…
Reuters reports that American Airlines has accelerated its 737 delivery schedule, accepting six additional 737-800s in 2010, allowing more rapid replacement of its fuel-inefficient MD-80 fleet. The new schedule means American will get 76 of the new aircraft, 36 next year and 40 in 2010. We applaud them for putting money into renewing their fleet,…
The Bargainist reports that when two or more travellers book a trip, you can save up to 20%. Coupon code JETTWO10 cuts 10% off each way for 2 travelers Code JET15THREE cuts 15% off each way for 3 travelers Code JET20FOUR cuts 20% off each way with 4 travelers. Book now for travel between September…
Reuters reports that JetBlue is looking for 1000 of its frequent fliers to show up at JFK on August 23rd for a trial test of its new terminal, set to open next month. The volunteers would be expected to check bags given them by the airline, go thorugh security, and wait at the assigned gate…
Time to catch up with what Delta has been up to since we slowed our weekly roundups. Delta is adding a fifth daily flight between Atlanta and San Juan from November 22 Starting December 20th, Delta will add additional nonstop service from Atlanta to the Caribbean. A second daily flight to Aruba, a second Saturday…