As we reported many months ago in a post, a Florida man, Yechezkel Wells acknowledged that he made the hoax threat at Long Beach Airport to try to keep a Aug. 26 evening flight to Fort Lauderdale from leaving before he could board. He admitted making a 911 call from an airport pay phone sometime…
Pilots found the body of a South African teen yesterday in the wheel well of a British Airways flight at LAX during a routine inspection shortly before it was scheduled to return to London. British Airways 283, a 747-400, had arrived at LAX from London Heathrow. Before that, the plane had made trips to Hong…
In a press release today, American Express offered some tips for those who want to protect themselves from lost luggage. Â Tag your Bags – Many people forget to put their name and contact info on a tag outside the bag. Even more forget to add it inside. You can also leave a copy of your…
It was with great amusement we read the above title as a press release earlier today. “Professional, well-connected and experienced travel agents score high marks when it comes to making complex travel arrangements for luxury vacation customers,” says Nancy Yale, President, Cruise Resort & World Travel, Inc. We tend to agree with the above statement…although…
British Airways has reinstated the flights it cancelled for tomorrow in anticipation of a cabin crew strike. The Transport and General Workers’ Union has called off the strikes, as their issues with BA have been resolved. Customers wishing to take the reinstated flights must contact British Airways or their travel agents as soon as possible.…
We’ve been a fan of the Embraer 190 regional jets since long before we had the pleasure of flying on them. Recently we decided to take a few regional jet trips with Embraer products, so see how the experience rated. We hopped a US Airways Express flight on an Embraer 145, and then a Jetblue…
Would people really be willing to take a ten-mile boat ride to catch a plane? As the San Diego Union-Tribune reports, Adam Englund has been fixated for decades on the idea of a floating airport, and thinks San Diego, which needs a bigger airport…would be a good place to try it. Lindbergh Field in San…
United Airlines has stopped offering snacks on flights of less than two hours in duration. The move is expected to save the carrier around $650,000 each year. American did the same thing on flights of less than an hour and a half in 2005.
Reports that Airbus had solved the wiring problems for the Airbus 380 were apparently premature, as Airbus announced on Friday that the problems had been solved for the first aircraft only. Work is still going on to solve the long-term issues. Airbus expects to start building a common design platform between its various plants…the variance…
On Friday, we picked up and posted on the Consumerist’s coverage of an unfortunate situation occurring on Southwest. Fortunately there has been an update on that story. Richard Brown, who was suffering from water retention caused by liver failure, was forced to buy an extra seat on a flight not even full, on the insistence…
On January 14th, Julie and Gerry Kulesza and their daughter Ella were removed from an Airtran flight from Ft. Myers to Boston. Ella refused to take her seat before takeoff, and the flight was delayed fifteen minutes already and the crew made an operational decision to remove the family. The Kuleszas think that Airtran went…
Over the next few weeks, you may notice some improvements in our categorization. In order to help our users keep track of things, we are adding new categories…most notably categories for Airlines and Airports…allowing users to look for all stories we’ve posted on an individual airport. It will take some time for us to categorize…
The Seattle Times has a good compilation of policies on getting a credit for future travel if the price goes down on your ticket. Here is the summary from that article. Alaska Airlines/ Horizon Air: Travel voucher good for one year for the difference in fares, minus a $10 service charge. Northwest Airlines: Two options:…
We usually think of Southwest as having a reputation for good customer service, even when dealing with difficult situations. However, this story from the Consumerist shocks us on many levels. Richard Brown nearly died because of Southwest Airlines. A ticket agent refused to let him fly because of his size. His weight gain is due…
With the creation of kiosk-based check-in, and the relegating of all but one or two check-in counters to bag-checks…we wondered how long it would be before such a facility vanished entirely. On the 10th of January, Alaska and Horizon Air unveiled a $18 millon plan to transform customer check-in at Seattle Airport. The concept, which…
After hearing so many negative stories, when we find a story of an airline doing something nice without being asked…or threatened, we just have to write about it. Perhaps related to their big blunder the same day, a reader of the Consumerist was delayed with his wife for several hours due to the lack of…
In 1999, regulation of the airline industry with a Passenger Bill of Rights was by public agreements by airlines to change their practices…thus avoiding federal regulation. But now, studies indicate perhaps they’ve not only failed to live up to that, but they are lacking in many areas. A group of passengers who were stranded for…
There was no discussion or dissent as the board running the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey voted to purchase the remaining 93 years of the operating lease for Stewart Airport. The National Express Group paid 35 million for the lease, and is selling it for 78.5 million. The agency hopes to take…
Frontier is expanding service on 29 Routes – Frontier will inaugurate Denver-Hartford(March 3), Louisville(April 1), Vancouver BC(May 5), and resume seasonal service to Anchorage(May 6-October 14). On May 4, Frontier will upgrade both its Dayton flights to Airbus aircraft. Frontier will offer the first daily summer nonstops to Ft. Myers, Indianapolis-Cancun service with Wednesday, Saturday,…
British Airways will be canceling all of its flights from London Heathrow airport on Tuesday and Wednesday of next week due to a strike by cabin crew. The Transport and General Workers Union has set walkouts for January 30-31st; February 5-7, and February 12-14. While Willie Walsh, head of British Airways, insists their door remains…
We’ve been following a story on the Consumerist for the last few weeks on one family’s issues with United. First of all, if you’ve had some major issues with United, and been unable to get satisfaction from their line agents, talked to supervisors, and written letters, try their Executive Customer Service. The Consumerist reported on…
An Australian man, Allen Jasson, is considering suing Qantas, which denied him boarding because he would not remove his t-shirt, which called President George W. Bush the “World’s #1 Terrorist.” He is currently unsure under what law, although he was aware beforehand that Qantas would take offense. Qantas said in a statement, “Whether made verbally…
Mesaba Airlines, which has suffered from financial difficulties and bankruptcy, has signed an agreement with Northwest Airlines. Under its new reorganization plan, it will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Northwest. Since Mesaba operates Northwest Airlink flights using forty nine Saab 340 turboprops, bailing out the airline allows it to keep operating those flights on…
Spirit Airlines has purchased thirty additional Airbus 319s, to be delivered from 2009 through 2013. This will, when complete, bring Spirit’s fleet to seventy aircraft. Airtran Airways announced service to St. Louis’s Lambert Airport, effective May 8, 2007, with nonstop service four times daily to Atlanta, and once daily to Orlando. Airtran Airways also announced…
Beginning in September 2007, Continental will inaugurate the first ever nonstop service from Jackson, Mississippi to the New York area. A single flight will operate daily from Newark’s Liberty Airport to Jackson. Continental already operates service from Jackson to Houston. American Eagle will add summer service from Dallas/Fort Worth to Montrose, Colorado operating once daily…