[caption id="attachment_856" align="alignleft" width="224"] USAirways Jet in Hudson River[/caption] AP reports that a USAirways plane has crashed into the Hudson River, sending passengers into the icy water. New York City firefighters are responding. The plane is apparently intact. The plane appears to be an Airbus A320, flight 1549, heading from Laguardia Airport to Charlote, NC,…
Image via Wikipedia Washington’s Dulles Airport will be temporarily closing its newest runway to provide parking for a surge in private planes during the Obama Inauguration. The 9400 foot runway known as 1L/19R will be closed from January 16th through the 23rd. The airport is estimating some 500 private aircraft will arrive at Dulles. Three…
Image via Wikipedia Two years ago, we wrote about one Raed Jarrar, who was told to remove his shirt, which stated “We will not be silent” in both Arabic and English. Here is our synopsis of the time. It is reported that on August 12, Raed Jarrar was about to board a Jetblue flight from…
Image by Getty Images via Daylife To start off the New Year, let’s remember those that are no longer with us…Every year, the Cranky Flier has a summary of airlines we have lost…Here’s his list and our summaries. If you aren’t interested, skip past it. There are more thoughts below. AlpiEagles – Didn’t have much…
Image via Wikipedia Happy New Year to all! We hope you had an enjoyable holiday season. Those of you who braved the airports during the season, we hope you had a relatively uneventful travel experience. We’ve made some New Year’s resolutions, including our continual resolution to post more. We do have jobs, and lives, and…
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…
Happy Holidays to All. Spirit Airlines is adding service from Boston’s Logan Airport to Atlantic City International Airport once daily beginning May 1st. Spirit is also requesting DOT approval for service from Ft. Lauderdale to Armenia, Columbia to begin in Summer 2009. It will complement their approved service to Medellin, Columbia, which launches March 1st.…
Image via Wikipedia In a recent post, we discussed Southwest’s desired expansion into New York’s LaGuardia Airport and its current New York City Area service into Long Island MacArthur Airport, aka Islip. Here’s what we said…. As for Long Island’s Macarthur Airport(Islip), we hope that Southwest maintains its commitment there and considers adding additional capacity,…
Image via Wikipedia A husband and wife are suing United Airlines for negligence, saying the drinks served them on a flight from Osaka, Japan to San Francisco fueled their subsequent actions. “Fortified with Burgundy wine allegedly supplied at 20-minute intervals by United crew members during the December 2006 trip, Yoichi Shimamoto became so inebriated “that…
Image by Getty Images via Daylife Ryanair has made another bid for Irish competitor, Aer Lingus. Aer Lingus is preparing its defense plan and wishes to remain independent. Continental announced it has completed installation of an Audio/Video on demand system on its fleet of 757-200s aircraft, with the last two reentering service by December 23rd.…
[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…
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="150" caption="Image by Getty Images via Daylife"][/caption] There is a lot to be thankful for this holiday season, despite the economic downturn. Here are some tales of people who haven’t done too well of late, and here’s hoping travel experiences improve in the new year. Thanks to Chris Elliott and the Consumerist…
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="150" caption="Image by Getty Images via Daylife"][/caption] For the first time in the United States, an airport is being built for commercial service completely without government funding. This new airport will be in Branson, Missouri, which receives 8.4 million visitors a year for its shows and conventions. The nearest airport is over…
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="240" caption="Image by Eric E Johnson via Flickr"][/caption] For years, Southwest Airlines has been known for going outside the box. They flew to secondary airports, provided service where other carriers could not sustain a turboprop with sheer volume, and did not work with other carriers. Southwest has made moves away from that…
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="202" caption="Image via Wikipedia"][/caption] Obese people have the right to two airline seats for the price of one on flights within Canada…because they are “functionally disabled.” The decision, made by the Canadian Transportation Agency, was appealed by the major Canadian carriers, who lost their final appeal last week. The question is what…
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="240" caption="Image by Jose P Isern Comas via Flickr"][/caption] Responding to “Obama fervor”, AirTran Airways is adding more flights to Washington D.C. for the inauguration. On January 21st, following the inauguration, they will increase service from Baltimore Washington to Atlanta and Milwaukee and Washington Dulles to Atlanta. United is launching service from…
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="202" caption="Image via Wikipedia"][/caption] While the runways at Indianapolis Airport have remained the same, the airport experience for passengers is now completely different. They have a new terminal, completely replacing the old, as well as new approach from the local highways, and new parking facilities. The old terminal will be knocked down.…
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="240" caption="Image by Jonathan Caves via Flickr"][/caption] We thought we’d clear our backlog of interesting news out before the weekend. Enjoy! JetBlue set a world performance record with one of its Embraer 190s as the regional jet was returned to JetBlue’s home base at JFK from its time as Sarah Palin’s plane…
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="202" caption="Image via Wikipedia"][/caption] Here we are, once again discussing baggage and its associated costs. Usually, when we discuss baggage, we’re discussing weight and number of pieces. But what about size? It was reported that on November 1st, Continental reduced the maximum size allowed for carry-ons to 45 linear inches from 51.…
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="202" caption="Image via Wikipedia"][/caption] Time to update all of you on some service updates and enhancements that have been happening. Delta Air Lines announced it would inaugurate service from Paris to Pittsburgh and Raleigh-Durham. The new transatlantic route out of Pittsburgh will be the only transatlantic service offered out of that city,…
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="150" caption="Image by Getty Images via Daylife"][/caption] Delta Air Lines announced today it will revise its baggage fees effective immediately for all tickets sold for travel on or after December 5th, it will charge a $15 fee for the first bag and a $25 fee for the second. Most Northwest policies and…
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="202" caption="Image via Wikipedia"][/caption] In a post earlier, we advised that BBC News had reported that European discount carrier Ryanair was poised to live up CEO Michael O’Leary’s public statements about transatlantic service. However, the Associated Press, reporting on Ryanair’s quarterly report, advised the airline has discounted the report that this service…
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="202" caption="Image via Wikipedia"][/caption] BBC News reported Sunday evening that Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary will announce plans for his budget carrier to the United States on Monday, with fares to start at 10 Euro in Economy. A luxury business class will be offered. O’Leary is expected to announce plans to buy 50…
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="240" caption="Image by matt.hintsa via Flickr"][/caption] We knew this was coming, but the day is finally here. This evening, Skymiles account holders that we are, we received an email from Richard Anderson, CEO of Delta Air Lines, announcing that Northwest Airlines was now part of Delta, but it would be business as…
A while back, we commented on bereavement fares. Despite the popularity of this subject, as it comes upon people urgently, we haven’t revisited it since. USA Today’s Bill McGee recently did, and we decided it was good to update our rundown. Many airlines are not forthcoming about their policies, and require a call and specifics…