Irish woman strips off after getting frustrated with airport security
Eimear Ni Ghiallgairrh, 29, suffered a broken bone when officers arrested her for taking off her skirt, and later hit out at ‘police brutality’
Category Archives: News
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…
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…
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…
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…
‘Suspicious Activity’ Leads To Suspension Of Operations At Chicago O’Hare’s Terminal 2
Another day, another airport shut down. Following yesterday’s evacuation of San Antonio’s airport, Chicago O’Hare’s Terminal 2 has had all operations suspended and passengers have been ordered out of the ticketing level due to ‘suspicious activity’. UPDATE(FINAL): The terminal reopened at 4PM local time. A TSA dog had identified a suspicious package which was determined…
San Antonio Airport Evacuated After Specific Threat; Bomb Dogs Have Identified Three Suspicious Cars
Both terminals at San Antonio Airport have been evacuated after a specific bomb threat was received. Passengers were removed from planes and lined up on the tarmac. Bomb-sniffing dogs have identified three suspicious cars and police are investigating their contents. UPDATE(5:03PM EST): @NYCAviation reports: UPDATE: Two of the three suspicious cars at San Antonio Airport…
Spirit Airlines Apologizes to Dying Veteran Under Public Pressure
Last week, we reported on how Spirit Airlines would not even refund the money of a dying veteran. After a week of criticism, Ben Baldanza, CEO of Spirit Airlines, issued a press release. He didn’t apologize for the company’s policy so much as apologize for failing to explain why being rigid and inflexible allows them…
Spirit Airlines Tells Dying Man…No Refund
Jerry Meekins is on a mission to change the No Refund Policy of Spirit Airlines. Meekins recently purchased a ticket on Spirit, and subsequently was diagnosed with Terminal Cancer. It was his expectation, that under the circumstances, Spirit might make an exception of return his money. Spirit responded that it wouldn’t be fair to bend…
That’s the Way the Cookie Crumbles
The last vestige of the Cookie, Midwest Airlines, is dying. Bad enough that Frontier Airlines, which swallowed Midwest, is slowly eliminating their routes, their hubs in Milwaukee and Kansas City, but now the most unique thing about Midwest…the symbol of care…a cookie baked fresh in the back of the plane, dies May 1st. “The company…
TSA Agent Finds Ecstasy In Man’s Underpants
Blogger Bob Burns of the TSA reports that an unnamed intrepid agent successfully utilized the TSA’s enhanced pat down procedure to discover between 1000 and 2000 Ecstasy pills that had been secreted in the traveler’s underwear. The explosive discovery was made at LAX. No doubt, the discovery of a hidden, illegal, but not dangerous object,…
PEOPLExpress is Back
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="240" caption="People Express Airlines (1986) (Photo credit: Hunter-Desportes)"][/caption] PEOPLExpress is back…well, the name is, at least. The new PEOPLExpress is a low-cost carrier with a mission statement to serve markets currently underserved by major carriers. Despite the fact it has not even filed with the DOT to become a scheduled airline, they…
Kayak Stares Into The Face Of New Competition From Google, Fights Back With New Design
We’ve long been fans of Kayak.com, though we have to admit that as of late, increased clutter and unreliability or lack of JetBlue results have had us using the site less often. Like most comparison sites, Kayak uses ITA software’s technology. ITA was purchased by Google last year, amid much fear that Google would use…
God No Longer On Board Alaska Airlines
Having never flown Alaska Airlines, it was news to us that for 30 years, together with their meals, the airline has distributed prayer cards featuring serene color pictures and verses from the Book of Psalms. Now we’ll never have a chance to get one, as the airline announced that it will stop distributing the cards…
Construction Begins on Overpriced $791 Million 65 Foot High Fort Lauderdale Runway Expansion
The Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport is the 22nd busiest in the United States- and it’s about to get busier. On Monday, a ground-breaking ceremony was heldat the airport, marking the beginning of a $791 million runway expansion project. A princely sum, indeed, but the project which will lengthen an existing secondary runway from 5,276 to…
Angry Sun Erupts, Sending Planes South
For the second time in a week, the Earth has been hit by a coronal mass ejectionin the most severe solar storm since 2003. The increased radiation from the charged particles of the storm which can interfere with communications is strongest near the poles where the ozone layer is thinnest. The additional radiation poses little…
California Man Changes Flight 510 to Flight 420
43 year old Adam Blumenkranz of Los Angeles was arrested at Newark’s Liberty Airport Monday after he was discovered smoking marijuana in airport restroom on JetBlue flight 510 from Fort Lauderdale to Newark. Blumenkranz, who was somehow unaware that smoking of any kind is prohibited on aircraft, tried to show his medicinal marijuana card to…
Heavy Turbulence Sends 5 American Airlines Crew To Hospital
All was normal aboard American Airlines Flight 980 from Brazil to Miami. Then, two hours into the eight hour flight, with food service underway, the plane suddenly lurched violently. The unexpected turbulencesent a food cart flying, damaging the ceiling and landing on and injuring a flight attendant. In all, six members of the flight crew…
What Did US Airways Do With Angeline O’Grady’s Husband?
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="150" caption="Image by Getty Images via @daylife"][/caption] Angeline O’Grady wants to know what happened to her husband. On November 1, she was traveling through Philadelphia International Airport with the ashes of her late husband, Brian. She was told by TSA agents that she could not bring the ashes through security with her.…
FAA Grounds Migrating Whooping Cranes For One Month In Alabama, Grants Them One Time License To Continue
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="240" caption="Image by wolfstad via Flickr"][/caption] Nine endangered whooping cranes, migrating from Wisconsin to Florida, recently spent a month grounded in Alabama, after the FAA decided that their “pilot guides” were operating in violation of a regulation which prohibits them from receiving pay for their services. The pilots, who work for Operation…
Terror At 35,000 Feet- Pre-Recorded Message Tells Frightened Passengers They’re About To Crash- In Error!
At 3am last night on British Airways Flight 206 from Miami to London’s Heathrow Airport, we imagine most passengers were comfortably sleeping. That changed in a hurry when flight crew inadvertently twice triggered a recorded message declaring that the plane could be about to crash. Passengers began crying and screaming, and were still on edge…
TSA Agent Lavishly Praised For Doing The Right Thing, While Greedy Airline Reaps Benefits
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. …
Did They Eat The Fish? British Airways Flight Makes Emergency Landing After Pilots Feel ‘Unwell’
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="183"] Cover via Amazon[/caption] Where’s Ted Striker when you need him? A British Airways flight from London to Glasgow was forced to make an emergency landing on December 20 after both pilots reported feeling unwell and lightheaded. “Approximately 20 minutes into the flight, a very abrupt and panicked message came over the…
In-Flight Wifi Safe For Airline Profits
When they’re not busy spuriously telling you to turn off your electronics during takeoff and landing, airlines are busy trying to get you to turn them back on- and open your wallet- to buy their pricey in-flight wifi. Apparently, wifi is safe [caption id="" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Image via Wikipedia"][/caption] enough in flight if the airlines…
Frontier Airlines Fails To Deliver Unaccompanied Minor, Threatens To Turn Him Over To Child Protective Services
Paying a fee to check your bag doesn’t guarantee that your bag arrives on time. So why should paying an unaccompanied minor fee guarantee that your child is treated properly? 10 year old Adrian Opsahl was returning from visiting his father in Denver to San Diego on Frontier Airlines when his plane made an unscheduled…