The Federal Aviation Administration said it would seek more detailed inspections for cracks on the tops of Boeing 737-300, 400, and 500 series aircraft. This is a direct result of a hole that tore open in a Southwest Airlines jet back in 2009. They will be expanding rules to include new inspection methods with scanning…
Skift reported that last week, a TSA screener found the 1500th firearm that a passenger attempted to bring onboard this year. However, once the gun is found, the TSA is no longer involved. They are not the police, and its officers do not have detention authority. But, the question we ask, does this justify the…
Earlier this month, Janice Hough at Consumer Traveler wrotethat coming anti-consumer “interline” baggage rules were worse than baggage fees. With all respect to Ms. Hough, who is a travel agent, in this regard, we believe she is wrong, although we can understand her point of view. Let’s go over the issue. Interline baggage refers to…
Is there anything Michael O’Leary won’t do for publicity? He’s gone on record claiming that seatbelt rules for aircraft are pointless. Apparently, he’s never heard of something called turbulence, or thinks it doesn’t apply to him…This is surprising. Back in September of this year, for example, turbulence hit a Ryanair flight from Dusseldorf to Palma Majorca,…
In April of 2007, we wrote on the subject of Involuntary Reroute, in response to an article in the Consumerist. Now, popular advice site Lifehacker has picked up on the Rule 240. They reference our friend over at the Cranky Flier, Brett Snyder, and another short article on the subject. So, let’s revisit the…
Back in July of 2011, we made the Case against Codesharing. But lately, we’ve seen a few articles that have made us revisit the issue. Codesharing is where the airline that operates a flight(operating carrier), allows a second airline(marketing carrier) to place its flight number on the flight, and sell it as if it was…
Once again, the TSA has investigated itself and found it did nothing wrong. There is little that raises our ire more than the way the TSA handles these issues. The Huffington Post reports that a terminally ill woman was not only subjected to an invasive screening, but her requests for a private screening were dismissed. Michelle…
American Airlines is coming under fire today, and it isn’t just because they allegedlydiscriminated against Glenn Beck. This is for their actions involving a sixteen year old with Down Syndrome and his family. The teenager was booked with his parents in first class from Newark to Los Angeles on Sunday. American Airlines commented that the…
In December 2010, United announcedit was leaving Apollo, the reservations system it had used for decades, to switch to HP’s Shares, which Continental used. United actually created the Apollo Reservations system in 1971. The airline evaluated Apollo, SHARES and “several other options†and chose HP SHARES as the “best customer and employee alternative and because its…
The FAA announced that they are forming a working group to study current policies related to portable electronic devices(PED). The group will review the FAA’s policies on devices and the procedures for determining whether they can be used during various phases of the flight. This doesn’t mean you’ll be able to use your cell phone…
ABC Salt Lake City reportedthis week on a family of four stranded in the Salt Lake City Airport. The family became stranded because they had no seats on any flight. They were travelling Non-Revenue Standby, also known as a “Buddy Pass”. Standby travel by employees, friends, and family is considered a benefit and a privilege.…
JetBlue Flight Attendant Roberto Rodriguez is suing JetBlue, claiming he was unfairly dismissed from his job. According to Rodriguez, he and a fellow flight attendant he’d shared a room with arrived late at the airport for a flight due to his hotel not providing the requested wakeup call. Arriving barely in time for the flight,…
In June of 2009, we reported on how Continental Airlines had lost a young girl who was travelling under its unaccompanied minor program. Another similar situation has arisen with United Airlines, which merged with Continental, to the point that there is a petition on change.org, asking United to either redesign or discontinue its Unaccompanied Minors…
Frontier has announced it will be launching service from Trenton, New Jersey to Orlando International Airport in Florida. The service will be twice weekly, on Monday and Friday, and operated using A319 aircraft. Service will begin November 16th. Trenton-Mercer Airport is a bit of an odd place for Frontier to be trying to fly. They…
Earlier today, we were at JFK and spotted one of the new Port Authority’s new avatars. The avatars are a projected image of a woman onto a piece of glass, giving it a life sized…video recording that activates based on proximity. It’s interesting…for about five seconds. It’s a recording. And each of the prototypes cost…
Another day, another airport shut down. Following yesterday’s evacuation of San Antonio’s airport, Chicago O’Hare’s Terminal 2 has had all operations suspended and passengers have been ordered out of the ticketing level due to ‘suspicious activity’. UPDATE(FINAL): The terminal reopened at 4PM local time. A TSA dog had identified a suspicious package which was determined…
Both terminals at San Antonio Airport have been evacuated after a specific bomb threat was received. Passengers were removed from planes and lined up on the tarmac. Bomb-sniffing dogs have identified three suspicious cars and police are investigating their contents. UPDATE(5:03PM EST): @NYCAviation reports: UPDATE: Two of the three suspicious cars at San Antonio Airport…
A woman is safe because Transportation Security Officers interceded and rescued her from her abductors at Miami International Airport. We often find ourselves in the position of criticizing the TSA and their employees. A lot of this stems from the way they handle business. But, in this case, things did work out the way one…
NYCAviation is reporting that United flight 956, Newark to Geneva, was off the coast of Nova Scotia when it turned back toward the United States, due to a suspicious package. Update: 9:26PM – According to @crimeboston, the United flight has arrived at Logan Airport in Boston. Emergency Medical Services are on site. Update: 9:32PM -…
It is always sad when we lose another airline. Delta will shut down its subsidiary Comair as of September 30th. The writing has been on the wall for a long while. Comair primarily operates 50-seat regional jets, an aircraft type that many carriers are scaling down. Comair was founded in 1977. It became…
As part of our six year anniversary…our first post was launched on July 29, 2006, we’re proud to announce another aspect of our six year revamp. Effective immediately, we are dropping blog.flightwisdom.com in favor of www.flightwisdom.com. Those of you who have linked to us over the years, Any links to pages on blog.flightwisdom.com will still…
In the end, security is an illusion. Nothing is one hundred percent secure. The idea is to make wise choices that have the best effect while not impacting our standard of life. The most unfortunate part of terrorism is that our response to it as a society is that we have a tendency to sacrifice…
In July 1942, Hitler continued to gain ground against the Soviet Union. The United States was only seven months into its participation in World War II. The Manhattan Project had not yet even begun. And a 16 year old New Yorker named Azriel “Al” Blackman took a job as a mechanic for American Export Airlines.…
Everything in this world changes. As time goes by, we discover that more and more business interactions are being automated. This is simply the way things are going. Talking to a human being is now a perk, a frill. In fact, to many people, it is a customer service failure if automation prevents them from…
Earlier this week, Melinda Deaton and her family filed a complaint claiming that TSA agents had strip-searched her, mocked her feeding tube, and physically handled, it, putting her at risk for infection as she traveled from Dallas to a Minnesota medical appointment. Nothing to worry about though. The TSA has already completed its thorough investigation…