DOT Issues New Regulations for Tarmac Delays

This morning, the DOT announced a new rule that will take effect in 120 days which would address tarmac delays. The new rule prohibits U.S. airlines operating domestic flights from permitting an aircraft to remain on the tarmac for more than three hours without deplaning passengers, with exceptions allowed only for safety or security or if air traffic control advises the pilot in command that returning to the terminal would disrupt airport operations.

Stuck at the Airport

Today, while we are stuck in our homes in the snow, our thoughts are with those stuck at the airports. In preparation for this storm, airlines around the Northeast United States preemptively cancelled flights, airports were closed for hours, and some people are being told it might be days before they get home. At least 800 flights were cancelled in the New York Area alone. We don’t have the magic bullet that will solve all of these problems.

Video: Inside American Airlines

Last night, we upgraded the software that runs this blog to the latest version, which now supports embedded video from a variety of sites. We figured we’d see what sorts of things we could now embed. We’ve been posting Youtube videos for some time, but we’ve never tried some of the other sites. So, courtesy of Hulu, we now are offering you a chance, if you missed it, to experience the CNBC documentary, Inside American Airlines. It is a good documentary that shows a lot of interesting aspects of the industry in general, and American in particular. To those of you outside the U.S., unfortunately, Hulu is U.S. only.

The 787 Dreamliner Takes to the Skies

Today is a historic day in the history of flight, one of many, but one we are happy to share with our fellow aviation enthusiasts. We couldn’t be there, so we have sourced some of these pictures from David Parker Brown at AirlineReporter.com.

Do Earplanes Work?

Earplanes are Air Pressure Regulating Earplugs that help with pain causes by pressure changes. Our editor bought a pair of them a while back, after flying with a cold and spending two days afterward barely hearing anything, and have been waiting to try them out.

Interview: CheapOair

CheapOair is, as we define it, an online travel agency. To be precise, CheapOair is the brandname, Fareportal, Inc. is a Technology Company and Travelong, Inc. is an accredited ARC/ Travel Agency. As they put it, Fareportal, Inc. is the operating fulfillment company for CheapOair, and Travelong, Inc. is the travel agency.

Air France A380 Arrives in New York

The first Air France flight to New York using the Airbus A380 landed today. The flight included the 380 winning bidders in an auction that raised 300,000 euros for five humanitarian projects for children in need. The plane will begin daily service on the route from New York-JFK to Paris-Charles de Gaulle on Monday.

What’s New in Aviation

We haven’t been writing enough lately. That does happen sometimes when real life interferes with this(which is unfortunately a hobby). Here’s what we’ve been reading about. If Pat Kiernan of New York City based station NY1 can make a name for himself reading the newspaper and running Pat’s Papers online, we can try to see if people like such a feature.

How We Preserved Our Skymiles for Another Day

We’re sad to say that we haven’t flown on Delta much lately. For years, Delta was almost all we flew. We have a bunch of Skymiles, enough for a flight. But, then, other airlnes came to town, with new options, and we didn’t spend as much time with Delta. And our Skymiles were set to expire before we could enjoy our 50,000+ miles.

JetBlue to Expand in Boston

Image via Wikipedia JetBlue Airways announced a major expansion in Boston’s Logan Airport. The full schedule of expansion has yet to be announced, but the following highlights are available and will be available for purchase on November 4th. Two Additional Flights to Chicago-O’Hare(Total 3) Two Additional Flights to Raleigh-Durham(Total 3) One Additional Flight to BWI(Total…

US Airways Cuts off Some Limbs

Image via Wikipedia US Airways announced it would lay off 1000 people, approximately 3 percent of its workforce, and focus on four cities and the shuttle service. Here are the details: Reducing Las Vegas from 64 to 36 daily departures – No one is really surprised by this. Las Vegas was a big hub for…

What Happened on Northwest Flight 188?

The Twin Cities Pioneer Press reports that the two pilots who overflew Minneapolis last week have advised the NTSB that the reason they lost track of time they were “discussing the new monthly crew flight scheduling system.” The system was put in place as part of Northwest’s merger with Delta Air Lines. They both admitted accessing their personal laptops while they discussed this, something which is in violation of company policy.