In a recent podcast, Jeff Hoyt put it best when he asked why it is marketing departments spend all their money to reach customers and call centers spend all their money avoiding customers. We have probably all heard Mr. Hoyt numerous times in his capacity as a voiceover artist, and he admitting to doing voice…
The Associated Press reports an Air India flight from Toronto back to India via Birmingham, England returned to Toronto an hour into its flight after a passenger found a suspicious package was found in one of the lavatories. Packages on Air India flights are of particular concern. A bomb exploded on an Air India flight…
Ben Murtzabaugh at Today in the Sky reported earlier today that a passenger named Mark Coshever was able to board a London to Amsterdam flight using his two-year old daughter’s passport for ID. Despite going through two passport checks at Luton Airport in London, he boarded Easyjet and was in Amsterdam before he noticed the…
As the Arizona Republic reports, not everyone is pleased with the new USAirways. Sure, it means that passengers in America West Cities have greater services to the Eastern U.S., which is where USAirways is strong, as well as international service to Europe. And passengers in USAirways cities now have better access to the west. However,…
In a post last week, the Upgrade Travel Blog, a guide to living the first class life at coach prices, posted on two useful directories. First is Travelpost.com, which has compiled this directory of wireless airport hotspots and their pricing. The second is the Air Power Wiki, dedicated to helping people find power outlets at…
On Saturday, the Cranky Flier posted some advice on delays, misconnections, and cancellations. We thought we would add our two cents on the subject. Delays are not anything you can do anything about. Most of the time it is weather causing delay of the inbound aircraft or weather causing a ground delay out to your…
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that Delta will terminate its interline agreement with Airtran. The two airlines, who both maintain a hub at Atlanta, have had an agreement since 2001. Interline agreements usually cover the transfer of baggage in between carriers, as well as allowing each carrier to ticket flights on the other. Less commonly noticed…
The US Travel Insurance Association issued a press release reporting the results of a new consumer survey. This survey reveals that people who buy travel insurance tend to be more well-educated, travel more frequently and have higher household incomes than those who don’t. Travellers going overseas are three times more likely to buy insurance than…
We came across this item from last week on a blog entitled Six Kids and a Full Time Job. The author has noticed ads on the bottom of security bins. Already, we posted on the subject of confiscated items being sold on Ebay and at auction. Now, ad revenue from security checkpoints. As more and…
Last month, we questioned why we could take a laptop with a potentially dangerous battery on a plane but not a simple bottle of water. Obviously, the airlines have been following our blog, Techfreep reports that yesterday, Virgin Atlantic announced that passengers with any Dell or Apple laptops will not be allowed to use the…
Compass Airlines, a new subsidiary of Northwest, plans to launch service in October by flying a 50-seat regional jet from Minnaeapolis to Washington Dulles Airport, as the Star Tribune reports. That plane and route was previously operated by Mesaba Airlines. While Compass is a subsidiary, it will be paid in the same manner as Mesaba…
Jetblue announced Thursday that they have been granted DOT approval to operate service from New York to Cancun, Mexico beginning November 30th. With this expansion, Jetblue operates service on many of the high-demand winter routes out of the Northeast to warmer climates, and complements their Aruba, Bermuda, and multiple Floridean routes for getting passengers from…
The New York Daily News reports that during last month’s terror alert in the United Kingdom, author J.K. Rowling was not forced to check all of her belongings as her fellow passengers were. They were only allowed to carry their essential ID, medications, and keys. Rowling, author of the popular Harry Potter series of books,…
The Cranky Flier blog focuses on the customer service experience of air travel, among other things. On Sunday, he posted a story about fighting USAirways on a fare downgrade. A fare downgrade is the situation in which, after a fare is purchased, a lower fare becomes available, and you downgrade to that fare on your…
Recently, Mary Jo Manzaneres of Fly Away Cafe, caught our attention while commenting on our post on a United Flight Diversion. She is a Flight Attendant and her blog is not just about air travel, our focus, but places to go on the ground as well. In a post earlier, she reports on Miami International…
According to the Star-Tribune, Minnesota based Mesaba Airlines has suffered a major setback. Mesaba operates exclusively under contract with Northwest’s commuter arm, Northwest Airliink. It is a subsidiary of MAIR Holdings, which also owns Big Sky Airlines, which operates 19-seater Beechcraft Turboprop Airplanes in the Pacific Northwest. It codeshares with Northwest, Alaska, USAirways, and Horizon…
We read through USAToday’s Today in the Sky blog this afternoon and paused with some amusement when we came across this post. Flybe, a low-cost carrier in Europe, could start charging people for checking in at the counter. They believe the cost would be justified since most of the passengers can check in free online.…
Delta announced today in a press release that they would become the first and only U.S. carrier to offer two classes of service with digital video on demand at every seat. We aren’t particularly shocked at this development. All they did was replace the economy seating in the front cabin of the former Song aircraft…
The Associated Press reports a passenger on United Flight 890 Tuesday night from Los Angeles to Washington Dulles tried to open the door of the aircraft and had to be restrained by other passengers and air marshals. Unlike some previous cases, after the passenger was subdued, the plane did continue on to Dulles. Airport police…
When the ban on liquids and gels came out, we wondered what ever had happened to tooth powder and if it would make a comeback. Some research indicated Arm and Hammer had discontinued a tooth powder product not long before due to lack of sales. Yesterday, Harriet Baskas of USA Today commented on alternatives for…
We were recently prompted to think about issues of health and relaxation and wondered what had happened to Jetblue’s attempt to improve our inflight experience. In this press release from 2002, Jetblue announced the launching of their Airplane Yoga program. A special card, available in PDF format here, would be available in the seatback pocket…
We have been focusing a lot on security issues of late, considering how much they concern everyone. But we fear we have been neglecting the more significant thrusts of airlines, fares, and overall smart travel. We will be attempting to focus more on that in the coming days.
We regularly check in with the Upgrade Travel Blog. In their post yesterday, entitled Come Fly the Safety Skies, they ponder the idea of an airline that puts safety first. With our recent posts on security measures and hijack-proof aircraft, we thought we would ponder this seriously, although perhaps to a bit of an extreme.…
In our recent post, we reviewed the depiction of American Airlines in the recent ABC docudrama. American executives have responded to this with the following message to anyone who asks about the miniseries. “We are outraged by how American is portrayed in ABC’s program. It is not factual, and very unfortunate.” The Star-Ledger reported on…
Bruce Schneier, the security expert we referenced in a post earlier today, was one of several experts asked by the New York Times op-ed section along with other experts to explain the major reason why the United States hasn’t suffered a major attack since 2001 and what recommendations they would have for avoiding attacks in…