The Consumerist, which we follow, has an article pointing out how while baggage fees are being more stringently enforced…when a news crew accompanied an official from the Arizona Department of Weights and Measures to inspect United Airlines scales, they found all but one to be off. Airport scales, subject to a lot of use, are…
Virgin America has been certified for service in the United States and has been authorized to begin selling tickets. Despite the fact it is already July, Virgin plans to start flying in August from its hub in San Francisco. Virgin America also announced it has signed with NBC Universal, to feature its TV and film…
Last weekend, a 47-year old gas station owner named Kent Couch flew from Bend, Oregon to Union…a distance of 193 miles. The unique thing is that Mr. Couch did so without benefit of plane. He flew on a lawn chair tied to 105 helium balloons. Couch carried a GPS in his pocket, five gallons of…
The Ithaca Journal reports that Delta Airlines is cutting all service to Binghamton, New York. The county was informed that service would end September 6th, surprising airport officials. Boardings are up 43 percent so far this year and Delta had just started service to Kennedy Airport. Flights to Atlanta and Kennedy have been running mostly…
On the lighter side of travel…teacher Dave Barclay flew from Toronto, Canada to Cardiff, in Wales to attend a wedding, only to discover that the wedding was scheduled for next July. Barclay, who spent $1015 on his flight, commented that on the bright side, his error has assured him a mention in the speech next…
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…
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…
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…
Aeromexico today began offering flights from Austin, Texas to Mexico City daily, increasing from four times weekly. Service will now be operated by an Embraer 145 regional jet. L’Avion, the all business French airline, will be offering a second flight from Newark to Paris Orly using a 757-200 with 90 seats starting for the winter…
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…
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…
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…
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…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…
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…
London Heathrow reopened Terminal 4 after a security scare due to a suspicious bag led to the cancellation of over 100 flights. British Airways said it had cut 108 flights after cancelling all its European departures from the terminal for the day, as well as all long-haul flights for six hours. At least seven transatlantic…
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!”…
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…
Since when is Orlando in California? We appreciate promotion as much as the next person…but…this may be just a little too cute.
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…
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.”…
Lufthansa announced it would begin nonstop service from Orlando to Frankfurt on October 30th, using an Airbus 330-300 aircraft in a three class configuration. The flight will operate from Tuesday through Sunday. American Airlines announced it will apply for the right to operate from Chicago O’Hare to Beijing effective March 25th, 2009. American had previously…
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…
Jetblue is looking for more support in Pittsburgh. We happen to like Jetblue, and took advantage of their service to Pittsburgh in December to check out our first Embraer 190 aircraft and found the 100-seat aircraft less than full. At a breakfast on Tuesday, Jetblue’s new CEO urged local businessmen to support Jetblue’s efforts to…
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…