The New York Daily News reports that during last month’s terror alert in the United Kingdom, author J.K. Rowling was not forced to check all of her belongings as her fellow passengers were. They were only allowed to carry their essential ID, medications, and keys. Rowling, author of the popular Harry Potter series of books,…
The Cranky Flier blog focuses on the customer service experience of air travel, among other things. On Sunday, he posted a story about fighting USAirways on a fare downgrade. A fare downgrade is the situation in which, after a fare is purchased, a lower fare becomes available, and you downgrade to that fare on your…
Recently, Mary Jo Manzaneres of Fly Away Cafe, caught our attention while commenting on our post on a United Flight Diversion. She is a Flight Attendant and her blog is not just about air travel, our focus, but places to go on the ground as well. In a post earlier, she reports on Miami International…
According to the Star-Tribune, Minnesota based Mesaba Airlines has suffered a major setback. Mesaba operates exclusively under contract with Northwest’s commuter arm, Northwest Airliink. It is a subsidiary of MAIR Holdings, which also owns Big Sky Airlines, which operates 19-seater Beechcraft Turboprop Airplanes in the Pacific Northwest. It codeshares with Northwest, Alaska, USAirways, and Horizon…
We read through USAToday’s Today in the Sky blog this afternoon and paused with some amusement when we came across this post. Flybe, a low-cost carrier in Europe, could start charging people for checking in at the counter. They believe the cost would be justified since most of the passengers can check in free online.…
Delta announced today in a press release that they would become the first and only U.S. carrier to offer two classes of service with digital video on demand at every seat. We aren’t particularly shocked at this development. All they did was replace the economy seating in the front cabin of the former Song aircraft…
The Associated Press reports a passenger on United Flight 890 Tuesday night from Los Angeles to Washington Dulles tried to open the door of the aircraft and had to be restrained by other passengers and air marshals. Unlike some previous cases, after the passenger was subdued, the plane did continue on to Dulles. Airport police…
When the ban on liquids and gels came out, we wondered what ever had happened to tooth powder and if it would make a comeback. Some research indicated Arm and Hammer had discontinued a tooth powder product not long before due to lack of sales. Yesterday, Harriet Baskas of USA Today commented on alternatives for…
We were recently prompted to think about issues of health and relaxation and wondered what had happened to Jetblue’s attempt to improve our inflight experience. In this press release from 2002, Jetblue announced the launching of their Airplane Yoga program. A special card, available in PDF format here, would be available in the seatback pocket…
We have been focusing a lot on security issues of late, considering how much they concern everyone. But we fear we have been neglecting the more significant thrusts of airlines, fares, and overall smart travel. We will be attempting to focus more on that in the coming days.
We regularly check in with the Upgrade Travel Blog. In their post yesterday, entitled Come Fly the Safety Skies, they ponder the idea of an airline that puts safety first. With our recent posts on security measures and hijack-proof aircraft, we thought we would ponder this seriously, although perhaps to a bit of an extreme.…
In our recent post, we reviewed the depiction of American Airlines in the recent ABC docudrama. American executives have responded to this with the following message to anyone who asks about the miniseries. “We are outraged by how American is portrayed in ABC’s program. It is not factual, and very unfortunate.” The Star-Ledger reported on…
Bruce Schneier, the security expert we referenced in a post earlier today, was one of several experts asked by the New York Times op-ed section along with other experts to explain the major reason why the United States hasn’t suffered a major attack since 2001 and what recommendations they would have for avoiding attacks in…
Passengers on Allegiant Air Flight 436 from Las Vegas to Cedar Rapids, Iowa Sunday night were evacuated on the plane’s emergency slides. The plane was taxiing to the terminal when smoke began to fill the cabin. The slides were deployed only 250 yards from the terminal due to the unknown nature of the situation, and…
The Boston Globe reports that an antiterrorism drill went awry Wednesday night. In a training exercise at Boston’s Logan Airport, the State Police hid 8 ounces of plastic explosive on the rear bumper of a Massport pickup truck to test bomb-sniffing dogs and handlers. However, a Massport employee, unaware of the drill, moved the truck…
A suspicious package was found around 8:30AM local time Monday morning inside a rental lot across from the terminal at Long Beach Airport. The investigate shut down the terminal until members of the LA County Sheriff’s department Bomb Squad detonated the package, described as a carrying case, about two hours later. About eight departures were…
A United Airlines flight from Atlanta to San Francisco was diverted to Dallas after finding an unclaimed Blackberry on board. According to a TSA spokesman, it was diverted “out of an abundance of caution.” In simple layman’s terms…that is called overreacting. Authorities didn’t send military fighter aircraft to escort the plane down, as the Associated…
Regional Jets currently operate approximately one-third of US domestic flights. The use of these jets has only increased over the last 5 years. While most regional jets in use today, such as the CRJ-100, the aircraft involved in the recent Comair disaster, and the ever popular Embraer 135 and 145 jets, both of which are…
Trials have begun on the first hijack-proof airplane. The plans are being developed in Europe by a consortium of interests including French-based Airbus. The Project, called Security of Aircraft in the Future European in the Future European Environment(We assume that is to form the acronym SAFE). This new aircraft supposedly would include microphones that will…
In an effort to avoid giving our readers the impression everything in air travel news is depressing, we bring you this report from USAToday. Various enterprising pilots around the country are hiring out their planes as lovenests, taking couples up in planes with curtains and mattresses for a rendezvous at 40,000 feet. This particular report…
The Associated Press reports that an Air Canada flight clipped wings with a Shuttle America plane while taxiing to the runway on Saturday, causing a brief traffic delay. Air Canada Flight 723 was bound for Toronto when it impacted a Shuttle America flight bound for Chicago operated on behalf of Delta. LaGuardia Airport traffic was…
A Cessna was forced to make an emergency landing on Parc Avenue in Montreal this afternoon. The pilot and his passengers were on an aerial tour of the city when their engine cut out. There was no damage fortunately, save to a single street sign. The Canadian Press reports here. It is one way to…
Mohammed Ghanem, a legal permanant resident of the US and a native of Yemen, was stopped on Thursday, the Detroit Free Press reports, with a knife hidden in a phone book. The inside of the book had been carved out, and the knife was inside. Despite that, his lawyer, who spoke with the Detroit Free…
Americablog.com comments here on how American Airlines is portrayed in ABC’s docudrama, The Path to 9/11. Here is what they have to say: Here’s what the “Path to 9/11” claims American Airlines did on the morning of September 11. According to Disney/ABC, American Airlines at Boston Logan had Mohammad Atta at its ticket counter and…
Northwest has recommited itself to Indianapolis as a focus city, or hublet with its latest announcement of service expansion in a press release on Thursday. Northwest announced for one it is expanding its service to New York’s LaGuardia Airport. When it began this service with its regional partner, Pinnacle Airlines, Indy’s hometown airline, ATA, was…