Image by James Willamor via Flickr Our friend, Chris Elliott announced the news, to be reported by press release tomorrow, that it will bring back complimentary sodas, juices, tea, water and coffee to its flights starting next month. Charging for water especially, considering the dry atmosphere onboard airplanes and the liquid restrictions, seemed especially unfair.…
Image via Wikipedia Delta announced it would be phasing out full-sized jets on its shuttle routes between New York-Laguardia Airport and Washington-National Airport in March. It will replace 148-seat MD-88 aircraft with 76-seat Embraer regional jets operated by Shuttle America, configured with 12 first class seats. Delta insists that otherwise, the product will remain the…
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="202" caption="Image via Wikipedia"][/caption] Airlines are constantly looking at new forms of technology. How they can automate processes, how theycan add features to increase their competitiveness… Brett Snyder, the Cranky Flier himself, visited LiveTV, the In-Flight Entertainment company which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of JetBlue Airways. They are preparing to start installing…
Jazz, Air Canada’s regional airline, plans to reduce fuel consumption by dropping life vests from its flights, which equal about fifty-five pounds less on its 50-seater Dash-8s. Canadian regulations allow airlines to use floatation devices, such as the seat cushions, as long as the planes remain within 56 miles of shore.and a number of its…
Delta is teaming up with Air Cell, one of the companies working to put Internet back on planes post Boeing Connexxion. The system, Gogoâ„¢, will enable Delta customers traveling with Wi-Fi enabled devices, such as laptops, smartphones and PDAs, to access the Internet, corporate VPNs, corporate and personal e-mail accounts, as well as SMS texting…
LiveTV, the JetBlue subsidiary that handles the in-flight entertainment for the airline and several other airlines is buying Airfone, Verizon’s now-defunct air telephone division. Elsewhere, Jaunted reports that its BetaBlue test internet platform is expanding its offering to allow passengers to check their Gmail, AOL, Hotmail, Windows Live, or Microsoft Exchange mail, as well as…
We were intrigued when Southwest announced it will be testing inflight internet access hopefully this summer on four aircraft. The service, in partnership with Row 44 will give its passengers full access to Internet including e-mail, music, shopping, and work through a virtual private network(VPN). But why is Southwest doing this? Their press release on…
We remained quiet about the issue of in-flight internet of late. Certainly, it is controversial. We think it is a better alternative than allowing voice communication on aircraft. Let people quietly text away, send email, etc. Of course, people will abuse this service. We recently heard of a problem on a coach bus that provided…
The FAA has ordered the inspection of all wing slats on newer Boeing 737s based on findings about a fire that destroyed a China Airlines plane in Japan last week. Investigators have discovered that a bolt from a right wing slat had pierced the fuel tank. Thus, within 24 days, all US planes must have…
In a late breaking news story, ABC news in Salt Lake City has reported that sources has reported that Delta will unveil new service from Salt Lake City to Paris. Paris, unlike London, the focus of planned Delta expansion in Europe, is the hub of Air France, a Delta Skyteam Partner, which would give it…
American Airlines has announced it will team up with AirCell to test in-flight internet across the United States beginning in 2008. The test will be conducted on their Boeing 767-200 aircraft that mainly fly transcontinental service, and if successful…will be extended to other aircraft. The service will include nationwide in-flight service, usable via wi-fi connections,…
Brandweek reports that Jetblue will unveil onboard Internet access sometime this year, delivered by LiveTV, which is a Jetblue subsidiary company that not only provides IFE to it, but to other airlines. Cell phone calls will be blocked…due to overwhelming customer opposition to the ability…but text messaging is an acceptable alternative in the air for…
Jetblue is looking for more support in Pittsburgh. We happen to like Jetblue, and took advantage of their service to Pittsburgh in December to check out our first Embraer 190 aircraft and found the 100-seat aircraft less than full. At a breakfast on Tuesday, Jetblue’s new CEO urged local businessmen to support Jetblue’s efforts to…
There’s a lot to catch up on… Qantas is expanding its flight schedule to the United States, effective March 2008, bringing total flights to 46 flights per week. The increased schedule includes daily service between Los Angeles and Brisbane effective March 27th; Increasing to 17 weekly flights between Los Angeles and Sydney, effective March 30th;…
Airtran will be the first to serve Cherry Coke and Cherry Coke Zero onboard all flights effective this month. We just love the fact that it is big news which soft drinks an airline has…probably bigger for the airlines that don’t give you any. United raised fares on popular business routes by up to $50…
American Airlines is insisting it needs gynecological records, as well as psychological records of the daughter a woman killed on American Airlines 587, which crashed on November 12, 2001 in Queens. A hearing has been scheduled for tomorrow. Only six passenger cases from the crash are left unsettled and there seems to be no reason…
US Airways and Northwest Airlines have received temporary liquor licenses from the state of New Mexico and are once again selling alcohol on flights to and from the state. Expressjet, which just opened its service, plans to sell alcohol in the air before it gets its license, taking the same view as other carriers that…
When we are on a plane, we enjoy reading through the Skymall catalog, which is full of interesting things we have to admit we’ve drooled over, but never gotten around to purchasing. Try this coupon for them… SkyMall – Save $5 no minimum. Some restrictions apply. We’ve placed a Skymall button on the site for…
Southwest Airlines has reupped for another three years of serving Coca-Cola company products, which will extend their offering through 2011. Under the terms of the agreement, Coca-Cola North America will continue to be the beverage provider for Southwest, supplying soft drinks including Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite and Sprite Zero, Seagram’s mixers, and Minute Maid juices…
The Wall Street Journal reports that U.S. Airlines are expected to start making announcements this summer about the offering of in-flight internet connections. While Aircell is temporarilly out of the game for in-flight cellular communications due to the recent FCC decision not to adjust its ban, Aircell plans to install equipment to establish a wi-fi…
USA Today reports that FCC Chairman Kevin Martin is recommending the agency drop its plan to lift the ban on cellphone use on aircraft. We went on record as against it, cellphones being disruptive to the environment of the aircraft. Cellphones are disruptive enough when everyone uses their normal voice to talk on them in…
We’ve been checking Neeleman’s flight log waiting for the announcement of a new Contract of Carriage. It is finally up and we reviewed the new Contract of Carriage…and Controllable Irregularity is finally defined. “Controllable Irregularity as used in Section 36, means a delay, cancellation, or diversion that is not caused by Force Majeure Event. For…
The Associated Press reports that beginning tomorrow, coach passengers can use the front lavatory on American Airlines planes. The airline restricted it to first-class fliers on 2003. American had the only such rules. A Boeing 757, for example, has 22 seats in first-class, 160 in coach. It has two bathrooms in the front, and two…
USA Today has a good article on some new products coming out in response to TSA carry-on restrictions. Manufacturers are seeking to profit off of the rules in the best example of market demand spurring innovation. We recommend you have a look at the article, but here is our summary. 02Hide.com offers a line of…
Seat Guru is a website that shows maps of the airplane configuration of many different airlines. It provides advice on the best seats and features of various aircraft. It is much more detailed than the websites of the various carriers its references. Thus, it is a very useful resource.