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…
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…
NYCAviation is reporting that United flight 956, Newark to Geneva, was off the coast of Nova Scotia when it turned back toward the United States, due to a suspicious package. Update: 9:26PM – According to @crimeboston, the United flight has arrived at Logan Airport in Boston. Emergency Medical Services are on site. Update: 9:32PM -…
Life With Dogs reports that disabled veteran Jim Stanek was called ‘retarded’ and his service dog kicked during a 48 hour ordeal when they were stranded in Dulles airport. Staneck and his service dog Sarge spent 48 hours stranded in the Dulles Airport after numerous flight cancellations and delays. Wounded in battle, Staneck suffers from…
Fare mistakes are very dangerous. At least once every few months, some airline makes a typo, and sells tickets at a price no rational person could think was correct. Yet they jump on it, post it to forums and blogs before the airline can fix it. In January, the DOT prohibited airlines from increasing the…
Apparently, the TSA is so embattled and the reputation of its employees in such low regard, that when a TSA agent behaves in a normal, responsible manner, as anyone would be expected to do, it becomes news and he is heaped with lavish praise. We don’t mean to take away from TSA supervisor John Deschamp. …
Strong headwinds have led to sharp increase in the number of transatlantic Continental Airlines flights forced to make unscheduled stops to refuel, the Wall Street Journal reports. The airline, owned by United Continental Holdings, has pushed the envelope by aggressively using the Boeing 757 on transatlantic flights. The plane is smaller and cheaper to operate…
On December 16, 1960, United Airlines Flight 826 crashed into a church in Park Slope, Brooklyn. While no memorial marks the spot, it was, at the time, the worst aviation disaster in American history. The crippled plane set fire to ten apartment buildings, the ironically named Pillar of Fire church, a funeral home, a Chinese laundry, and a deli. Six persons on the ground died as a result.
United announced some new routes for 2011 that will start the process of optimizing their combined networks. They will add:
United and Continental are…on paper, no more. They are now wholly owned subsidiaries of United Continental Holdings Incorporated. It will take until 2012 for them to combine into one airline. Until then, they will run as separate companies, despite the fanfare. That means separate websites, check-in operations, etc. The synergy will not even start till spring.
Shareholders of United and Continental are set to vote on September 17th on combining the two companies.
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This is a Special Briefing…We like to open up the Briefing for those to provide their opinion and to hear some new voices. Both of our guests did talk more than you hear, but were edited for time. Thanks to Dan Webb, of Boarding Area’s Things in the Sky blog. Dan is also a regular on the Airplane Geeks podcast and will be back with another piece soon. Our second guest, with a brief opinion, is Marisa Green. Remember, you too can give your two cents on the Briefing. Just contact us.
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Our editor will be going on the road for a few days, as a roving reporter for our sister project, Transit Wisdom, reviewing Amtrak’s Autotrain. Until then, here’s all the news that fit to podcast.
The New York Times reports that Continental and United Airlines agreed today to a merger that would create the world’s biggest airline. United is buying Continental, and the new company will be based in Chicago, and will have Jeffrey Smisek, Continental CEO, as the Chief Executive.
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This is Briefing 18. We’re still eager to get guest editorials. Those of you interested, please contact us. A guest editorial would be a 1-3 minute opinion on a relevant topic of your choice. It can be recorded over Skype or alternate digital means. We’re sure, while you aren’t tired of the Flight Wisdom Guru, you’d welcome additional variety.
Senator Charles Schumer, who publicly criticized Spirit Airlines for their announcement that they would begin charging for carry-on bags, has secured the commitment of five airlines that they will NOT follow Spirit in this practice.
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Our parent, the Weneca Media Group, unveiled its own custom URL shortener for our blogs, n9n.us. All of our posts will now feature n9n.us URLs. We are looking for bloggers wishing to do editorials on the briefing. If you are interested, please contact us.
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This week, Flight Wisdom and the entire Weneca Media Group family are celebrating National Library Week. Support your local library.
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Helper Monkeys, new site developments, and a Fly Girls editorial….this time on the Flight Wisdom Briefing
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Lots of exciting new service in this briefing. We have tried a few different variations of our opening and closing. We’ll continue to mix it up a bit, but if you have any suggestions on how to improve the Briefing, please contact us.
Canadian musician Dave Carroll released the final part of his United Breaks Guitars Trilogy this evening, with a live webcast. United Breaks Guitars was an Internet phenomenon, showing that someone, after making a legitimate effort to settle his problems with a company, can call them out in a public forum.
This week in Routes…Southwest to start Philly-Boston, United adds service in 13 markets, and more.
Last week, the Airline Industry Examiner asked the question Whatever Happened to United’s Friendly Skies? We wonder about that too, although not always specifically in relation to United. For years, United Airlines was the free world’s largest airline. Now they are third.
This week’s latest in route developments.
The singer, who is Canadian, was flying to Colorado Springs, was forced to fly United again because they were the only carrier he could. For more than an hour on Sunday, he was told he could not leave the international baggage claim area at Denver International Airport, where he had flown from Saskatchewan, because his bag was delayed, not lost, and he had to claim it.