US Airways had agreed to buy the Airbus 350 as part of an agreement for financial assistance during its merger. However, with it behind schedule, Today in the Sky reports that they are looking at the possibility of going with Boeing. Also from Today in the Sky, on June 3rd, Alitalia will add three flights…
Spirit Airlines, along with its new bag policy, has opted to go a step further with its pay for everything platform. You can join the $9 Fare Club…which gives you… Guaranteed Exclusive Member-Only Low Fares(at least once every six weeks) On-site and e-mail access to deals Automatic enrollment in the “innovative” FREE SPIRIT frequent flyer…
We keep an eye on David Neeleman’s blog to see what he has to say about things. He acknowledged that people have some issues with the term Controllable Irregularity and clarified them himself… What are some examples of Controllable Irregularities? “Controllable” means “within JetBlue’s control.” Some examples include: gate unavailability upon arrival; flight delay or…
American Airlines is setting aside money to pay its employees their first profit-sharing payments since 2001. This is subsequent to their ongoing labor issues. American avoided bankruptcy in the last decade through cost-cutting and concessions made by labor, and as the employees watch management receiving bonuses…they feel entitled to their fair share after the sacrifices…
Boeing took the first step Friday in ending production of C-17 military cargo planes in 2009, by notifying suppliers it will no longer buy parts for the jet not under contract or firmly committed. Unless the U.S. or other government expresses interest in additional aircraft, Boeing will shut the production line. Embraer delivered the first…
Jetblue can’t seem to stay out of the news. We’d love a good Northwest story right now. We’ve always admired them, and continue admire them even after this…but our patience wears thin. So…we’re going to consolidate them. This in no way belittles the seriousness of the situations. An accidental fuel spill at Kennedy Airport left…
Reuters reports that according to the EU Council’s legal service, the Open Skies vote must be unanimously backed by all 27 EU member states. While the EU decides on transport issues by qualified majority voting, the open skies agreement is a ‘mixed agreement’ involving the competences of both the Union and the member state…thus requiring…
Bloomberg reports that Jetblue is grounding their Embraer 190 aircraft starting on Thursday, March 8th to fix persistent software problems. Jetblue will be contracting with Expressjet to operate four ERJ145 50-seater regional jets to replace the 190s as they are grounded two at a time. All passengers will have the option of changing their flight…
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…
Alaska Airlines has announced it will offer seasonal service once-daily from Anchorage to San Francisco from June 3 through August 20th. Alaska Airlines’ summer schedule also offers daily nonstop service between Anchorage and Chicago; Denver; Los Angeles; Portland, Ore.; Seattle; and Vancouver, British Columbia. The service will be operated using 737-700s. Airtran Airways will introduce…
This morning, we found out about the Spirit policy, which is set to take effect June 20th, and we were completely shocked. No one had taken notice of it yet, so we forwarded the news, which has widepsread implications, to some of our fellow travel bloggers, to get their two cents in. Upgrade Travel Better…
Spirit has taken the first step to bringing Ryanair-like structures to the United States. In a press release entitled ‘Great News!!!’, Spirit is now offering the opportunity for passengers to ‘customize their travel experience and save’. While we understand the idea of “liberates customers from being forced into paying for services they do not desire…
Ben Mutzabaugh of Today in the Sky asked whether or not Southwest is trying to change its no-frills image. Now, Southwest’s product has remained consistent since the beginning. It has been consistent quality and customer service…not luxurious, but not what people come to think when they think no frills. For Europeans familiar with the likes…
With the recent Open Skies initiative referring to Fifth and Seventh Freedom rights, we decided it was time to review…courtesy of the Cranky Flier. Six through Nine though, according to him, are mostly unofficial. First Freedom – Airlines from Country A may fly through Country B’s airspace without landing Second Freedom -Â Airlines from Country…
Reuters reports that BA Chairman Martin Broughton said today that the new Open Skies agreement risked ceding benefits to U.S. Airlines in return for only “miniscule concessions” from Washington. We can’t disagree with them, although we hope Open Skies comes to be. European carriers would not be allowed to fly domestically in the U.S., which…
David Neeleman’s flight log reported on Saturday that they are working on producing the revised Contract of Carriage, which will include its revised Customer Bill of Rights. Originally, he intended to have it done by March 2nd, but it has apparently been delayed by weather issues that needed to be addressed first. The new Contract…
The Arizona Republic reports that the hope that the US Airways reservations system transfer would be seamless were dashed this morning. Due to the failure of self check-in kiosks, there were long lines in Charlotte, Philadelphia, and Las Vegas. The Charlotte Observer reported that conditions at Charlotte Airport were improved by the afternoon, but lines…
On Wednesday, an American Airlines employee allowed the former vice president and two aides to circumvent security by taking Gore from the airline’s ticketing counter through a door in the baggage claim area where only “badged employees” can enter. The door led to a tunnel and then a ramp that got them to an American…
The last customer for the freight version of the Airbus 380, the United Parcel Service, has said it planned to cancel an order for 10 Airbus 380 freighters. It had considered waiting until 2012 for the aircraft, but when it learned that Airbus is diverting employees from the freighter version to work on the passenger…
The European Union and the United States agreed yesterday on the outline for an Open Skies treaty. The provisional agreement will be presented to the EU transport ministers on March 22nd. The first-stage deal, if approved, would go into effect October 28th. The pact would allow European Airlines to fly from any EU city to…
The Chicago Tribune reports that on Saturday, a United flight, UA907, bound from Chicago to San Francisco, was left on the ground for seven hours before the pilots finally cancelled the flight. This comes after the Jetblue meltdown and in the midst of pressure and threat of federal action. At the last minute, the plane…
Reuters reports that Expressjet has reached a two year deal to use operate ten of its aircraft out of Delta’s LAX hub starting in June to and from Western ski markets. Last year former parent Continental Airlines cancelled a capacity purchase agreement that covered 69 of its 274 planes. Expressjet is using 44 of these…
Jetblue announced service from Boston to Charlotte and Washington-Dulles to Orlando beginning May 1st. The Boston flight will be once daily, the Dulles flight twice daily. It will also add once additional flight from Long Beach to Las Vegas, JFK to Portland ME, JFK to Charlotte, and JFK to Raleigh-Durham. Jetblue also announced increases in…
Reuters reported yesterday that the DOT will review this month’s service meltdown at Jetblue and December’s incident at American. The review will include the airlines’ customer service contracts and policies on ground delays and any recommendation could extend to airlines as a whole as well as the air traffic control system, and its operator, the…
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…