The 787 – First Bidet in the Air

ANA, set to be the launch customer for the 787 Dreamliner, announced that they will install bidet toilets as a standard feature when it begins flying the aircraft. The toilets, made by Toto…will…and we do not joke, “refresh the parts other airlines cannot reach,” ANA’s chief executive said the launch ceremony… Credit for pointing us…

Boeing 787 Unveiled Sunday

We thought we should address the unveiling of the new 787…Fifteen thousand cheering people showed up to the event, giving crowds at the plant in Everett, Washington the first look at Boeing’s first all-new plane in twelve years. The event, hosted by Tom Brokaw, was watched live by thousands at Qwest Field in Seattle and…

Denied Boarding Compensation to be Reviewed

We have long said, on the blog and elsewhere, that the best thing that the Federal government could do to encourage change would be to review involuntary denied boarding compensation…The number, set at $400 for passengers forced to wait for a new flight over two hours, $200 for less….has been unchanged since deregulation in 1979…means…

Summer Security Funtime

Our ‘friends’ at the Coalition for Luggage Security are trying to scare us into giving their sponsors money to transport our luggage separately from ourselves. In a recent press release, ‘Travel Fears Proving to be True’, they comment that “in the wake of these events our nation’s airports have stepped up security, but the threat…

Roundup – New London Service, Women in Dresses, and More

Continental Airlines and Kingfisher Airlines announced a comprehensive partnership, with frequent flyer and airport lounge access reciprocity to start in October. Continental will place its flight number on Kingfisher flights connecting to Continental’s daily flights between New York and Delhi and new service between New York and Mumbai. American will be switching its daily Raleigh-Durham…

787 Dreamliner to be Unveiled

Boeing will unveil the 787 Dreamliner on Sunday…July 8th, 2007(7/8/7)…in a bit of marketing whimsy. Things have been good for Boeing this year, with 544 orders for the year so far…which puts it on track to be the industry leader…a title it stole back from Airbus last year… For a historical perspective, Reuters has a…

New York has a Passenger Bill of Rights…will the rest of the US?

We realized we had neglected to comment on the subject of the New York Airline Passenger Bill of Rights, passed by the state legislature on June 22nd. The bill is limited…as air travel is federally regulated, but takes effect at the start of the new year. We decided to have a look at the bill…we…

See America….by Rail…

See America…by Rail…But wait…this is an air travel site….Elsewhere in the world…rail is a much more popular service…it is faster, more efficient…Unfortunately, it is an often overlooked part of the US transportation system and there is not enough attention put into it to make it the service it should be. As the Grand Rapids Press…

In-Flight Internet May Be Back

Brandweek reports that Jetblue will unveil onboard Internet access sometime this year, delivered by LiveTV, which is a Jetblue subsidiary company that not only provides IFE to it, but to other airlines. Cell phone calls will be blocked…due to overwhelming customer opposition to the ability…but text messaging is an acceptable alternative in the air for…

Roundup – Woo-Hoo Jetblue, New Service, and Pay with Paypal

As we mentioned in previous posts, and now available in a press release from Jetblue…JetBlue, in Partnership With Twentieth Century Fox, was named ‘The Official Airline of Springfield’ in Celebration of The Simpsons Movie. In addition to Mr. Burn’s wresting control of Neeleman’s blog, the airline will unveil its first-ever specialty aircraft, christened “Woo-Hoo, JetBlue!”…

Security Measures Increase Due to European Summer Security Issues

Bloomberg reports that increased security measures will delay summer travel for some passengers during this Independence Day week. Police arrested two men at Glasgow airport yesterday after their Jeep Cherokee crashed into the terminal entrance and caught fire. They arrested five additional people since. The Glasgow attack came as police were conducting one of their…

C. Montgomery Burns takes over Jetblue

Oh, no….The Simpsons have taken over Jetblue…Not only are the characters advertising Jetblue destinations in honor of the upcoming Simpsons movie…Someone has taken over Jetblue’s David Neeleman Flight Log… Hi I’m Montgomery Burns, Check back each week as I’ve take over David Neeleman’s Log. Over the next few weeks I would like to share with…

Flights from Hell

We don’t appreciate the media reporting airline delays as Flights from Hell. It seems too much hype as opposed to more useful reporting. Reuters comments that if airlines “want to ensure long-term survival, they say they have no choice but to restrain capacity, fill as many seats as possible and cut costs wherever they can.”…

Roundup – Retirement, Ohio Bribes Continental, New Service, and More

Amadeus has signed an international rail distribution agreement with Wandrian, a global rail specialist, to distribute rail content to travel agents outside Europe who want to book rail globally. Through the web-based Amadeus RailAgent, travel agents outside Europe will have online connectivity and tools enabling them to book global rail passes and point-to-point tickets for…

On the Ground – Blog Roundup

Well, the flight still hasn’t left…It happens sometimes….so here we are for part two of today’s roundup…Let’s see what the other flight bloggers are up to… Upgrade, Travel Better has a response to their recent query about United-US Airways codeshares…The codeshare program includes 2000 US flight numbers on UA, and an equivalent number of UA…

Booking your Flight

Dohop.com has upgraded its flight search engine at www.dohop.com. Farecast launched new tools last month including Alerts that help consumers track their trip and save money. Farecast is also no longer considered a beta. As for Alerts, as they put it…”more than 50 percent of price drops disappear within 50 hours, illustrating the need for…