An American Airlines plane enroute from Tokyo-Narita to Dallas-Forth Worth diverted to Honolulu, Hawaii. The airline blamed the diversion of the Boeing 777 on a squirrel that stowed away on the flight. Pilots feared the squirrel would chew through wiring or cause other problems. The squirrel may have boarded in New York, the plane’s previous…
ABC News reports that Kate Hanni, one of the passengers of the American Airlines flight that was held in Austin in December for an excessive period and has been advocating a Passenger Bill of Rights will be in Washington next week to do just that. Hanni will be pushing a bill that Representitive Mike Thompson(D-Ca)…
Coming on the same day the news announced passengers were trapped on planes at JFK for hours on end, the FAA’s press release on the subject records, the Next Generation Air Transportation System Financing Reform Act of 2007 would “replace the decades-old system of collecting ticket taxes with a cost-based, stable and reliable funding program…
CBS New York reports that two seventeen year old girls from Queens, Cally Nikolis and Alexandra Moshouris, shot a video documenting their isolation stuck on the ground at Kennedy on a Delta flight to Greece that they never took that night. They insist they were stuck on the plane for 11 hours with little food,…
Air Canada is launching seasonal nonstops from Halifax to Holguin, Cuba. Air Canada operates twenty-seven flights to Cuba each week, including five to Holguin. For US Residents, visiting Cuba is illegal. Airtran announced effective May 8, they will introduce new nonstop service between Orlando and both Memphis and Kansas City, and will launch a second…
We received unprecedented response to the Jetblue post of yesterday, detailing Jetblue’s failure to care for its passengers. Jetblue itself issued the following statement: “JetBlue apologizes to customers who were impacted by the ice storm at our home base of operations in New York, specifically at John F. Kennedy International Airport. Of the 505 daily…
Spirit announced nonstop once-daily service from Atlantic City to Las Vegas beginning May 3rd. Also, on May 1st, Spirit will resume connecting service through Detroit to Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Frontier asked today: “What is better than roses or chocolates or jewelry on Valentine’s Day? Low fares and new air service!” Frontier has…
This evening, we reported that Jetblue had stranded passengers on several planes for more hours than even they thought were accepted, and followed up on American’s response to their similar situation. Our counterpart at Upgrade Travel reported on their attempt to take the wind out of the sails of the Passenger Bill of Rights…the way they…
ABC 7 New York reports that at least four Jetblue planes were stuck on the runway fully loaded with passengers and children for hours. JetBlue said the passengers were held on the flight because “we were operating as if the aircraft would be able to fly.” The airline says it was relying on forecast models that indicated…
Jetblue announced today it has entered into a marketing partnership with Cape Air. Cape Air will provide connecting service from Boston…a Jetblue hublet, to Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard, Provincetown, and Hyannis. Cape Air operates this service using small Cessna 402 aircraft. The alliance will begin March 19, 2007. Cape Air might not seem like a good fit…
A German court rejected an attempt to prevent the closure of Berlin’s historic airport. The closure is part of a plan to build a new international airport. The closure for Tempelhof airport is scheduled for October 2008. Tempelhof Airport was the site of the Berlin airlifts. Tempelhof’s terminal is known as the largest built structure…
Delta’s return to Stewart Airport in Newburgh produced this newsbrief on Today in the Sky. In response to Delta’s plans to expand to New York’s Stewart International Airport near Newburgh, AirTran spokesman Tad Hutcheson offered this response: “We apparently do the route planning and scheduling for two airlines — AirTran Airways and Delta Air Lines. …
This week brings a bunch of new service offerings. American Eagle will add nonstop service between Chicago O’Hare International Airport and Shreveport, Louisiana beginning April 10 using a 50-seater Embraer regional jet once daily. Delta is adding five new nonstop destinations this summer from Atlanta: Fort Smith, Arkansas(June 7); Halifax, Nova Scotia(June 7); Kalispell, MT(June…
We commented last week on the Spirit Airlines plan to charge $10 for the second bag, $100 for each additional bag above that. The Coalition for Luggage Security had even more interesting things to say than we do. The coalition is in favor of further separation of the cost of the ticket and the cost…
Not to be outdone by Jetblue’s recent Bay Area Trifecta, Southwest has announced its intention to resume service to San Francisco International Airport. Southwest operated at SFO from 1982 to 2001. At the termination of service, Southwest offered 14 daily departures to San Diego and Phoenix. Southwest credits its return to the airport to the…
USA Today’s Today in the Sky blog has a good roundup on the new British Airways luggage fees. Many will be surprised about these fees, as the press confirms that BA actually failed to instruct its sales staff to advise customers of the new baggage policies when they booked their tickets. Thus, those who didn’t…
Delta has ordered 30 Bombardier CRJ900 Aircraft at a value of $1.1 billion. Delta operates 350 out of the 1395 CRJ series aircraft. US Airways is in talks with Boeing and Airbus about buying sixty new aircraft to replace its aging 737 and 757 aircraft. UPS has ordered 27 new Boeing 767-300ER cargo planes to…
The Belligham Herald reports new Bellingham airline, Western Airlines, has apparently cancelled all service. Certainly a short time for an airline to be in business. Delta is offering an expanded summer schedule to Alaska. On May 23rd, it will offer daily service from Anchorage to Atlanta and to Cincinatti. On June 3rd, it will offer…
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…
Beginning May 1st, Midwest will launch new service from Kansas City to Columbus. In addition, Midwest Connect flights out of Milwaukee to Flint, Dayton, Duluth, Louisville, and Pittsburgh will be upgraded to larger aircraft. This will eliminate 19-seater turboprops from these routes. All routes will be operated by Midwest Connect with either 32-seater Fairchild 328…
Frontier and Northwest Airlines have been issued cease and desist orders on the serving of alcohol on flights to and from New Mexico. This follows an earlier order against US Airways, issued after its lack of state license was discovered during an investigation, as we mentioned last week. US Airways has filed an application for…
Negotiators began a new round of talks today on the Open Skies treaty between the European Union and the United States. These negotiations have failed in the past. The main sticking point has been foreign ownership in U.S. airlines…which the EU expects to be resolved before they will complete the agreement. Open Skies would allow…
Jetblue will form its first formal international alliance with Irish flag carrier Aer Lingus. Aer Lingus, which reformulated itself as a low-cost carrier in the aftermath of 9/11, operates service from two Jetblue cities…Boston and New York, to Shannon and Dublin, Ireland. From Dublin, it offers service into Europe. Jetblue currently does not offer interline…
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…