Fare Pricing for All – Why the Current Flying Situation is All Your Fault
So, to be 100% fair…it’s time to tell the other side of the story. Why are airlines racing for the bottom? According to them, it is all your fault.
Seat Selection is Now a Paid Option at Delta
Following JetBlue giving up on a free checked bag, Delta Airlines has decided to ‘redefine’ their cabin, effective March 1, 2015. “Delta will offer best-in-class options for each of its customer segments with innovative multi-cabin experiences.” That translates to…”you demanded we keep prices low. This is the only way it can be done.” Delta’s lowest…
TSA Pre Check May Not Be the Deal it Appears to Be
Recently, someone who frequently gets TSA Pre-Check(but hasn’t signed up) was commenting to me that they had Pre-Check on their boarding pass, but the Pre-Check was closed. 500 of 2200 TSA security lanes are designated as full or part time for Pre-Check. JL Johnson wrote an article over at AirlineReporter.com that made many of these points…
Best Boarding Procedure May Not Be Rocket Science, But It Might Be Astrophysics
In our travels, we have encountered several different boarding procedures. None of them seem to work particularly well, though all of them do have in common that we are somehow always the last allowed on.
Swine Flew – Emotions Run High
An emotional support pig was kicked off a US Airways flight for being disruptive. The large brown pig allegedly stank up the aircraft before defecating in the aisle. Emotional support animals have become an increasingly common thing, especially since the DOT ruled that emotional support animals qualify as service animals. There are legitimate emotional support…
Nude Man Falls into Woman’s Bathroom at Logan Airport
It could have happened anywhere, but it happened on Saturday at Logan Airport in Boston, a woman using the restroom in Terminal C reported that a naked man had fallen through the ceiling. The man ran out of the bathroom and then assaulted an elderly man, biting his ear and trying to choke him with…
Review: Delta’s “Upgraded” Boston-New York Shuttle Features Far Inferior Product
The Delta Shuttle has always been promoted and priced as a premium product. Even though the product has declined over the years, it still retains some vestiges of its heyday. Free newspapers. Free wine or beer(sometimes). A bagel in the morning. The recent changes to the Boston-New York shuttle service, promoted in signage as “upgraded”…
JetBlue “Enhances” Product By Making It Worse?
(Editor’s Note: It has been a while since we’ve had anything to say, but this move by our beloved hometown airline disappoints) Let’s go back in time to December of 2006. JetBlue Airways decides to change the configuration of its A320 aircraft from 156 seats to 150 seats, allowing them to increase the pitch from…
She Cast A Spell- Emma Watson Asked Where Her Guardian Was By Passport Control At JFK
After spending seven years gallivanting around England largely unsupervised with her friends while fending off the minions of He Who Must Not Be Named, you’d think Emma Watson could handle entering the United States alone. Last month, however, the 22 year old actress, best known for her role as Harry Potter’s friend Hermione Granger, was stopped…
US Government Set Record for Fines in 2012
While 2012 may have been the safest year in decades, the Department of Transportation levied a record number of fines against airlines for consumer rules violations, assessed 49 fines and $3,610,000 in penalties, up from 47/$3,264,000 in 2011, and 27/1,700,000 in 2010. The airlines are not doing business in a significantly different manner,…
Flying was Safer in 2012
Air fatalities worldwide are down to 23 fatal crashes in 2012, down from 28 last year, down from an average of the last decade of 34 fatal crashes per year. Those 23 crashes generated 470 fatalities, down from an average of 770 people over the last decade. The U.S. hasn’t had a fatal accident of…
Times Contributor Blames the FAA for Making Devices Dangerous
We respect Nick Bilton and his writing. We even bought and read his book. His writing on the issues of the ban on portable electronics on airplanes have always made sense to us…till now. We believe his frustration, frustration we share, by the way, at the Federal Aviation Authority is warranted. But the tone seems…
US Ordering Additional Inspections of Boeing 737s
The Federal Aviation Administration said it would seek more detailed inspections for cracks on the tops of Boeing 737-300, 400, and 500 series aircraft. This is a direct result of a hole that tore open in a Southwest Airlines jet back in 2009. They will be expanding rules to include new inspection methods with scanning…
More than 1500 Guns Were Confiscated at Airports in 2012
Skift reported that last week, a TSA screener found the 1500th firearm that a passenger attempted to bring onboard this year. However, once the gun is found, the TSA is no longer involved. They are not the police, and its officers do not have detention authority. But, the question we ask, does this justify the…
New Interline Baggage Rules Make Sense
Earlier this month, Janice Hough at Consumer Traveler wrotethat coming anti-consumer “interline” baggage rules were worse than baggage fees. With all respect to Ms. Hough, who is a travel agent, in this regard, we believe she is wrong, although we can understand her point of view. Let’s go over the issue. Interline baggage refers to…
Airplane Seatbelts are Pointless?
Is there anything Michael O’Leary won’t do for publicity? He’s gone on record claiming that seatbelt rules for aircraft are pointless. Apparently, he’s never heard of something called turbulence, or thinks it doesn’t apply to him…This is surprising. Back in September of this year, for example, turbulence hit a Ryanair flight from Dusseldorf to Palma Majorca,…
Let’s Not Talk about Rule 240
In April of 2007, we wrote on the subject of Involuntary Reroute, in response to an article in the Consumerist. Now, popular advice site Lifehacker has picked up on the Rule 240. They reference our friend over at the Cranky Flier, Brett Snyder, and another short article on the subject. So, let’s revisit the…
Codesharing: Why Bother?
Back in July of 2011, we made the Case against Codesharing. But lately, we’ve seen a few articles that have made us revisit the issue. Codesharing is where the airline that operates a flight(operating carrier), allows a second airline(marketing carrier) to place its flight number on the flight, and sell it as if it was…
TSA Allegedly Refuses Private Screening to Terminally Ill Woman
Once again, the TSA has investigated itself and found it did nothing wrong. There is little that raises our ire more than the way the TSA handles these issues. The Huffington Post reports that a terminally ill woman was not only subjected to an invasive screening, but her requests for a private screening were dismissed. Michelle…
American Airlines Denies Boarding to Teen with Down Syndrome
American Airlines is coming under fire today, and it isn’t just because they allegedlydiscriminated against Glenn Beck. This is for their actions involving a sixteen year old with Down Syndrome and his family. The teenager was booked with his parents in first class from Newark to Los Angeles on Sunday. American Airlines commented that the…
United Reservations System Unsurprisingly Crashes
In December 2010, United announcedit was leaving Apollo, the reservations system it had used for decades, to switch to HP’s Shares, which Continental used. United actually created the Apollo Reservations system in 1971. The airline evaluated Apollo, SHARES and “several other options†and chose HP SHARES as the “best customer and employee alternative and because its…
FAA Seeking Public Comment on Portable Electronics
The FAA announced that they are forming a working group to study current policies related to portable electronic devices(PED). The group will review the FAA’s policies on devices and the procedures for determining whether they can be used during various phases of the flight. This doesn’t mean you’ll be able to use your cell phone…
Family Gets Stranded while Travelling Non-Revenue And This is Apparently News
ABC Salt Lake City reportedthis week on a family of four stranded in the Salt Lake City Airport. The family became stranded because they had no seats on any flight. They were travelling Non-Revenue Standby, also known as a “Buddy Pass”. Standby travel by employees, friends, and family is considered a benefit and a privilege.…
Flight Attendant Sues JetBlue over Dismissal
JetBlue Flight Attendant Roberto Rodriguez is suing JetBlue, claiming he was unfairly dismissed from his job. According to Rodriguez, he and a fellow flight attendant he’d shared a room with arrived late at the airport for a flight due to his hotel not providing the requested wakeup call. Arriving barely in time for the flight,…
United Loses Children
In June of 2009, we reported on how Continental Airlines had lost a young girl who was travelling under its unaccompanied minor program. Another similar situation has arisen with United Airlines, which merged with Continental, to the point that there is a petition on change.org, asking United to either redesign or discontinue its Unaccompanied Minors…