[caption id="" align="alignright" width="150" caption="Image by Getty Images via Daylife"][/caption] We stole the title for this post from Chris Elliott, whom we admire as the champion of fair disclosure and fees, although we admit to disagreeing with him at times. USA Today reported that while jet fuel is down, fuel surcharges have stuck. And this…
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[caption id="" align="alignright" width="240" caption="Image by Kaptain Krispy Kreme via Flickr"][/caption] Now, we’ve mentioned before a bit of this, but we thought we should devote a another specific post to the issue. Fuel is down, but many airlines weren’t doing wonderfully before it went up, and this put them over the edge. Fuel is down,…
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="202" caption="Image via Wikipedia"][/caption] TAM will begin daily flights from Sao Paulo to Orlando on November 21st. TAM and Air Canada will be codesharing and expanding an effort to provide increased services between Brazil and Canada. A new partnership between Irish carrier Aer Lingus and United Airlines is available for sale on…
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="202" caption="Image via Wikipedia"][/caption] Chicago’s Midway Airport was privatized last week. A consortium consisting of Citi Infrastructure Investors, YVR Airport Services, and John Hancock Life Insurance bought the airport. YVR Airport Services, which is partly Vancouver(YVR) airport itself, will operate the airport for the consortium. The final price was $2.5 billion, and…
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="202" caption="Image via Wikipedia"][/caption] Kip Hawley, head of the Transportation Security Administration, said in an interview last week that in a year, the organization and its foreign counterparts would be in a position to relax the restrictions on liquids. The X-ray machines capable of detecting liquids used in bomb making are already…
Those interested in mapping the schedule reductions at U.S. airports this fall should check out USA Today’s interactive map here. It incorporates what airlines had advised of their schedule on November 1st and will be updated periodically. Honolulu and Oakland Airports are the biggest losers, at 27.7% and 27.4% respectfully. Airlines are reducing service in…
Well, October is nearly here, and JetBlue will be opening its new state of the art terminal at its JFK home hub. The airline issued a series of press releases last week about this momentous occasion. Terminal 5 has 50 percent more concession space than its current Terminal 6 operation. It will include nine full-serve…
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="93" caption="Image via Wikipedia"][/caption] One of our affiliate blogs, Gadget Wisdom, posted an article today on taking your laptop on the airplane. We checked out Targus, one of the best known creators of laptop bags. They are advertising for pre-order a Zip-Thru 15.4″ Corporate Traveler Laptop Case for $99.99. It splits down…
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="240" caption="Image by Luigi Rosa via Flickr"][/caption] For those of you who have noticed a change in our style over the last few entries, we’ve added Zemanta support to our blog. Zemanta is a blogging service that provides recommended articles and public domain imagery to a blog entry, giving you, our readers,…
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="202" caption="Image via Wikipedia"][/caption] Air Canada has announced it will roll back some previously imposed fees. It is nice for an airline actually repeal something it claimed to impose due to high fuel costs. Air Canada announced last week it would stop charging the $25 second bag fee it established in May.…
When it comes time to secure the Homeland, who better to call than Grover? The Department of Homeland Security has partnered with Sesame Street and the Children’s Television Workshop to teach children about creating family preparedness plans in case of emergencies. “I, your furry, blue friend Grover, have a story to share. Are you wondering…
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="240" caption="Image by vnvlain via Flickr"][/caption] The Cranky Flier brought to our attention a new push by Spirit Airlines to sell more ad space on their aircraft. They will now sell ads on overhead bins, seat backs, tray tables, the area above the windows, bulkheads, napkins, cups, menus, boarding passes, soap dispensers,…
We follow several different blogs in search of stories. Recently, BNET’s Travel Industry blog, which is written by the same person who writes the Cranky Flier, commented on Travel Insurance in the current environment. Edit: During our initial read, we failed to notice that the post in question, while on Brett Snyder’s Blog, was actually…
United Airlines will double its fee to check a second bag to $50 one-way. The airline estimated this change will affect only one out of seven customers and that its ancillary revenue, including bag fees will be $700 million in 2009. We searched around to see what our fellow bloggers were saying on the issue…
We are usually apolitical here, but we’re impressed Obama actually has a transportation agenda. McCain, by comparison, is known for killing funding for Amtrak. We tried to find a policy on his website and failed. We’d love to see it though and analyze it similarly. We found a good analysis of the Obama policy on…
In a comment to a previous post on the Contract of Carriage of ExpressJet, the following was posted by Cecil Guerrero: I have vouchers worth $390 and I cannot take a flight anywhere! All flights are suspended. Can someone help me get a refund? I canceled flight to Spokane and was not informed flights to…
Effective today, September 11th, 2008, transportation security officers at airport checkpoints all over the country will be wearing new uniforms and badges. The new uniform will be blue, and a gold badge will replace the patch. Plans for this were announced over a year ago, and have finally been implemented. At the time, it was…
Infrequent Flier, our sister blog, has posted some useful tips for travelers. Why not check them out? Print Your Own Passport Photos – Why Settle for the Low Quality Photos often available at local stores? Why not do it yourself? Airline Fee Chart – Easily Compare Airline Fees of various types with a handy Airline…
American Airlines is being sued by a man for allegedly misplacing his wife’s body for four days. According to the lawsuit, the body was so badly decomposed when it finally arrived that they had to forego a traditional open-casket funeral. Shares of United Airlines stock tanked on Monday(Forbes reports) when a six-year-old Chicago Tribune story…
Continental Airlines will charge a $15 fee for the first checked bag. This fee applies immediately to tickets bought for destinations in the United States and to flights between the U.S., Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and Canada for travel on or after October 7th. Remember, those of you who purchased before Friday, September 5th…
In light of the news that US Airways would not longer provide even water on aircraft to passengers, we have been looking for ways to get around this. You can’t bring water from home because you are limited to 3oz or less of liquid. We began to think about some of the travel gear we’d…
Virgin America and HBO today launched the airline’s new nonstop service from New York’s JFK airport to Las Vegas, Nevada and will unveil “Entourage Class” on the airline as well as the advance screening in flight of Season 5 of the HBO original series Entourage. Virgin America flies to seven cities, including: SFO to LAX,…
Supposedly in response to customer feedback, United has reversed its decision to switch to Buy on Board Meals for most international flights. Mark Ashley over at Upgrade Travel has heard the change might actually have been due to pressure brought on United by its Star Alliance partners. For now, the idea of paying for international…
As we have reported before, one of the first casualties of airline cutbacks is service to secondary cities. Early this summer, AT&T announced it was moving its headquarters from San Antonio to Dallas, stating that the lack of direct flights to other cities was a primary reason. Though there is some question whether this is…