As things go in  an industry that has been slow to change, seatback screens for in flight entertainment are a relatively new innovation. Yet their days are already numbered. Claiming that 90% of passengers have a screen of their own, American Airlines has chosen to remove the displays from 737MAX planes it will be receiving…
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 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.…
All was normal aboard American Airlines Flight 980 from Brazil to Miami. Then, two hours into the eight hour flight, with food service underway, the plane suddenly lurched violently. The unexpected turbulencesent a food cart flying, damaging the ceiling and landing on and injuring a flight attendant. In all, six members of the flight crew…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=p24WCHJgMTs Unless you’ve been out of touch, you probably heard about Alec Baldwin’s behavior onboard an American Airlines flight. We’ve been thinking about this for a few days now. By most accounts, Alec Baldwin was onboard an American Airlines flight. The Flight Attendants had instructed passengers to discontinue the use of portable electronics. Mr. Baldwin…
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="116" caption="Image via Wikipedia"][/caption] AMR Corporation, the parent company of American Airlines and American Eagle, filed for Chapter 11 reorganization today. Their stated goal for this bankruptcy reorganization was to achieve industry competitiveness….or “All our competitors have been through Chapter 11, why shouldn’t we?” The corporation has $24.7 billion in assets and…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=l9ZEsOwyDqk Just yesterday, we commented briefly on JetBlue’s response to their 2007 Valentine’s Day meltdown. Today, JetBlue’s Chief Operating Officer took to the Youtubes to issue a public apology. As we said yesterday, everyone failed in this, not just the airlines. Blame should be apportioned evenly and fairly. JetBlue and American Airlines face millions in…
When the so-called Valentine’s Day Meltdown happened in February of 2007, JetBlue issued a public apology in the form of its then Chief Executive and Founder, David Neeleman. “Words cannot express how truly sorry we are for the anxiety, frustration and inconvenience that we caused. This is especially saddening because JetBlue was founded on the…
It was over ten years ago that online ticket purchases were in their infancy. We remember ordering tickets from these new online travel agents and having the tickets mailed to us, even a few years into the e-ticket revolution, when it was still advised that paper was safer. Now, it is starting to look as if the age of online travel agents may come to an end. Maybe that is overly pessimistic, but airlines are looking to cut out the high cost associated with selling tickets through a Global Distribution System(GDS).
American Airlines is offering flights to and from New York from 30 cities starting at $49/each way in January and February. Tickets must be purchased by December 13. $49 fares are availaible to/from Washington, Boston, Baltimore, and Pittsburgh. Want to visit New York? Live in New York and want to get away. Go to American Airlines website, and save.
Though 1.5 million bags have been lost by American Airlines through September of this year, that’s 900,000 fewer than in the same period of 2008, according to a recent article by Scott McCartney at the Wall Street Journal. While this sounds impressive, it is impossible to assess how much improvement there has been without knowing the total number of checked bags during each period.
American Airlines has announced it will now charge for seats in the first few rows of aircraft. The price for this new charge is $19 to $39 and will only be available for purchase at airport kiosks from 24 hours to 50 minutes before domestic flights. The price will include being in the first boarding group of passengers.
We talked not long ago about the end of the Worldport at JFK. But it appears that American is set to counter Delta’s new expansion with its own. Even though it completed a multi-year megaterminal project at JFK which consolidated its operations from two terminals to one and was completed in 2007. American is talking about expanding its terminal make room for OneWorld Alliance members British Airways and Iberia.
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Welcome back. Our editor has been a bit behind with other things, but we’re trying to get back on track and back in the saddle. Stay tuned for more guests, and more information. For today, more from previous guest Dan Webb.
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Our editor is back from his trip. Check out his review on the Auto Train. Meanwhile, back into the swing of things. Lots of business to take care of.
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Our editor will be going on the road for a few days, as a roving reporter for our sister project, Transit Wisdom, reviewing Amtrak’s Autotrain. Until then, here’s all the news that fit to podcast.
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The Briefing is the first to feature a guest, Benet Wilson, who covers Business Aviation for Aviation Week. We don’t usually cover Business Aviation at Flight Wisdom, as it isn’t our area of expertise, but it is Benet’s business. Benet also joined our host for the first annual Aviation Geek Gilbert and Sullivan Day back in January, which we’re hoping to repeat next year. Pinafore, anyone?
Senator Charles Schumer, who publicly criticized Spirit Airlines for their announcement that they would begin charging for carry-on bags, has secured the commitment of five airlines that they will NOT follow Spirit in this practice.
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Our parent, the Weneca Media Group, unveiled its own custom URL shortener for our blogs, n9n.us. All of our posts will now feature n9n.us URLs. We are looking for bloggers wishing to do editorials on the briefing. If you are interested, please contact us.
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[caption id="attachment_1706" align="alignright" width="225" caption="Lavatory - Virgin America A320"][/caption] This is the Flight Wisdom Guru with Briefing #14, once again reporting in from Flight Wisdom HQ…We ran a little long today, and will try to have a second briefing out tomorrow afternoon, to catch up before the weekend rush. Show Notes Virgin Atlantic to Launch…
There is a lot here to go over. JetBlue Airways and American Airlines have signed an interline deal, and American is ramping up in New York at both LaGuardia and JFK. So, let’s summarize the developments before we analyze them.
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Greetings from the Flight Wisdom Summer Palace. Today’s briefing is hosted by the Infrequent Flier. If you enjoyed his presentation of the news, please drop him a line on Twitter @Infrequentflier.
Augusta Regional Airport is getting into the airline handling business. As part of their deal to bring in American Eagle for two daily flights to Dallas., not only are they waiving landing fees, but they will be handling ramp duties and passenger processing for the first year.
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After this Briefing, our editor will be heading on the road for a few days. Lots of interesting things going on, but we’re bringing along our portable recording equipment to report on it.
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Today, we introduce a new opener for the Briefing, recorded by special guest announcer, the Bow-Tied Blogger. Comments are welcome.