Image via Wikipedia On Saturday morning, an emotionally disturbed man named Scott McGann showed up at LaGuardia Airport with a ticket on United to Chicago and onward to Oakland, purchased by family. He also showed up with a duffel bag contained an item that was not, but appeared to be a bomb. The Central Terminal,…
Image by caribb via Flickr An Israeli woman, unwilling to travel without her dog by her side, purchased the entire business class section on an El Al flight from Paris to Tel Aviv. It is the first time she and the dog have flown since 2006. The dog suffered severe anxiety after flying alone in…
We’re not a hoarder of frequent flier miles. We have them, of course. But, we’ve never been aggressive about it. The credit-card programs only seem to devalue the miles or points in these systems. JetBlue, however, has made several improvements to its frequent flier program. TrueBlue had some serious limitations under the old system. For…
Image by Getty Images via Daylife We previously reported that Republic Airways had put down a bid to buy out Frontier Airlines. Today, another airline put down a bid, Southwest Airlines. Southwest announced it was preparing a bid to compete with the Republic bid, which had been given tentative approval. If it is successful, Southwest…
Image via Wikipedia New York City has implemented a program to buy one-way airline tickets for homeless families to leave the city. More than 550 families have left the city since 2007. The program requires a relative elsewhere willing to take them in. A travel agency is employed to book the tickets and there are…
Image by caribb via Flickr Charleston International Airport is having some major repair work done on its 7000 foot runway, which last received major repairs forty years ago. The airport will be closed from 12AM to 6AM till August 9th. The work has been going on since June 9th, and the airlines were well aware…
Image via Wikipedia Republic Airways is a holding company that owns Chautauqua Airlines, Republic Airlines and Shuttle America. They fly under contact for various airlines, including American, Continental, Delta, United, US Airways, Midwest, and Mokulele Airlines. As a contractor, Republic has just flown the planes, leaving routes, marketing, sales and ground operations to its other…
Image via Wikipedia Today in the Sky reports that despite prayers and hopes, JetAmerica might not be dead. While the carrier, which operated no planes and thus existed only on paper, folded on Friday, the chairman of the nonexistent airline wants to return this fall, basing service out of Melbourne, Florida, one of its previously…
Image via Wikipedia About two weeks ago, The Department of Transportation fined Delta Air Lines $375,000 for failing to follow the proper procedures for bumping passengers from flights. The problem is that most people don’t know what their rights are, and Delta failed to ensure they did, which is to their advantage. Did you know…
Image by mattbatt0 via Flickr Jaunted reports that JetAmerica, the fly-by-night airline is apparently not going to fly at all. The airline, which did not actually fly its own planes and never really existed, has ceased to exist. Fortunately, as a public charter airline, all monies are held in trust for passengers. “We are reluctantly…
[caption id="attachment_1408" align="alignleft" width="256" caption="NTSB Interior Shot"][/caption] Earlier in the week, we reported on Southwest Airlines 2294, which made an emergency landing in Charleston, WV with a hole in the fuselage(pictured left). The NTSB continues to investigate. The section was removed from the aircraft and examined in the NTSB Materials Laboratory. The damage left a…
Image via Wikipedia [caption id="attachment_1397" align="alignleft" width="138" caption="The Last Timetable issued by Southwest Airlines 6/28/09"][/caption] Southwest announced the end of the paper timetable. The current timetable(pictured left), effective June 28th, the first one featuring LaGuardia, will be the airline’s last timetable. Like many people, we have collected and hoarded timetables as a snapshot of the…
[caption id="attachment_1329" align="alignnone" width="384" caption="Hole in Southwest 2294 - 7/13/09 (AP Photo/The Charleston Gazette, Chris Dorst) "][/caption] We’ve had mixed feelings in the past about reporting on airline incidents. We were tempted to take the high road and say nothing until the NTSB issued a report, which is months later. We decided that since it…
Southwest Flight 2294 made a safe landing at Yeager Airport in Charleston, West Virginia after a hole appeared in the fuselage of the aircraft, causing the plane to decompress. The flight, heading from Nashville to Baltimore, diverted to Yeager after the hole appeared in the ceiling of the cabin. No one appears to have been…
Image by Eric Bégin via Flickr We haven’t said anything about the JetAmerica situation, and we think the title says it all. JetAmerica began taking bookings in May. At the time, the Cranky Flier commented, “Something tells me that the chance of this working is very, very slim. And that’s being kind.” We can’t say…
Image by ATIS547 via Flickr The longest runway at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York will be closed for about four months next year as part of a renovation, and airlines have been asked to revise their schedules. The runway, 13R-31L is more than 2.75 miles long, is the second longest in North…
Image via Wikipedia Now, we recently got some interesting comments on our post on Fastening Seatbelts. Hi! Flight Attendant here: ) You’re right, FAs are informers not enforcers, but as you said it is a federal offense not adhere to FAs instructions. Although, I have never seen a FA call the authorities over a passenger…
In a final note on the impact of United Song #1, which we previously reported on, United Airlines has decided to donate $3000 to the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz for music education for children. Taylor, the manufacturer of the guitar, did give Dave Carroll, the artist responsible a gift. They are giving him a…
[caption id="attachment_1224" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Yemenia Airbus A310, a day before its crash."][/caption] In the face of protests, Yemenia will be canceling its flights from Marseille to Sana’a indefinitely after a second day of protests by Comorans at Marseille Airport. The Yemenia flight that went down originated in Marseille on an Airbus 330. Passengers changed in…
Image via Wikipedia In a recent conversation we heard of, a woman talking to an airline representative in regards to a delayed flight due to a mechanical problem with an Airbus aircraft told the airline they should buy Boeing. We found that rather amusing. Boeing and Airbus are both companies that produce good products. No…
We are continuing our series of posts on our Southwest Experience. We got a lot of wonderful material and pictures, and we haven’t even talked about our time onboard yet. To any other airline tempted, if you send us somewhere, we’ll take just as many pictures and talk to as many people as we can…
[caption id="attachment_1224" align="alignleft" width="372" caption="Yemenia Airbus A310, a day before its crash."][/caption] The Yemenia flight is the fifth passenger airline accident this year. In addition to the Air France crash, there was the Colgan Air crash in Buffalo, an accident in Brazil, and another in the Netherlands. The Yemenia plane(the picture is of the exact…
View Larger Map An Airbus 310 operated by Yemenia, the national airline of Yemen, crashed in the Comoros Islands with at least 150 onboard. The plane, Yemenia Flight 626(IY626), en route from Sana’a, the capital of Yemen, to Prince Said Ibrahim airport in Moroni, the capital of Comoros, crashed about an hour from its destination,…
Image by Getty Images via Daylife For those of you who haven’t heard, our Twitter account, @FlightWisdom won a trip on the inaugural flight out of New York’s LaGuardia Airport to Chicago’s Midway Airport. Southwest was even shocked they drew our name…to quote their tweet… “wow, can’t believe I just drew @flightwisdom you have 2…
Image via Wikipedia The National Transportation Safety Board revealed within the last five weeks two Airbus 330s have had incidents involving speed sensors. A TAM flight on May 21st from Miami to Sao Paulo, Brazil and a Northwest flight from Hong Kong to Tokyo on June 23rd both lost speed and altitude information. Details are…