In the airline industry, the passenger name record(PNR), is a single record in a computer reservation system that contains a single reservation for one or more passengers. The problem is that PNRs have no memory. They represent one trip. They do not represent the passenger’s relationship with the airline. For that, in the 80s, airlines…
At 3am last night on British Airways Flight 206 from Miami to London’s Heathrow Airport, we imagine most passengers were comfortably sleeping. That changed in a hurry when flight crew inadvertently twice triggered a recorded message declaring that the plane could be about to crash. Passengers began crying and screaming, and were still on edge…
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Image via Wikipedia"][/caption] Giving up the Ship just recently wrote on a new morale program at British Airways. The program, nicknamed Hug a Pilot, urged pilots to socialize with crew. Apparently, socialization led to something more. A teenage stewardess ended up pregnant, courtesy of a married pilot. It reads like an episode…
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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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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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The British Airways strike continues, new and interesting news from Delta, and a blast from the past.
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Lots of exciting new service in this briefing. We have tried a few different variations of our opening and closing. We’ll continue to mix it up a bit, but if you have any suggestions on how to improve the Briefing, please contact us.
Image via Wikipedia British Airways Flight 001, service from London City to New York-JFK via Shannon(where passenger’s pre-clear US Immigration and Customs), which was operated using an all-business class A318, arrived 10 minutes ago into Kennedy Airport. The service features 32 sleeper beds, a 15-minute check-in, London City’s proximity to key parts of the city,…
We haven’t done a service roundup in a while. Mostly because there hasn’t been as much news in this area as there once was. Airlines don’t announce discontinuance as much as they do inauguration. But this week had some interesting developments.
On July 25th, 2000, a Concorde, operated as Air France flight 4590, en route from Paris to New York crashed after takeoff from Paris, killing all onboard. (NYCAviation keeps reminding us of things like this). The crash was caused by a strip of metal that fell from a Continental DC-10 heading to Houston, which punctured…
British Airways will be adding nonstop service from London Heathrow to Las Vegas on October 25th. The service will be operated with Boeing 777 aircraft. Virgin Atlantic currently operates service from London Gatwick to Las Vegas. Meanwhile, Virgin Atlantic is launching service from San Juan, Puerto Rico from London’s Gatwick airport via Antigua. The service…
As airlines fight for a shrinking number of first-class passengers, they’re prepared to lay out even more money to win their loyalty…which seems a risky business move to us. This week, Lufthansa unveiled a 12,000-square-meter first-class lounge at Frankfurt Airport, featuring a full-service spa, spacious bathrooms with whirlpool tubs, and a bar offering 84 different…
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="202" caption="Image via Wikipedia"][/caption] BBC News reported Sunday evening that Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary will announce plans for his budget carrier to the United States on Monday, with fares to start at 10 Euro in Economy. A luxury business class will be offered. O’Leary is expected to announce plans to buy 50…
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="240" caption="Image by Luigi Rosa via Flickr"][/caption] For those of you who have noticed a change in our style over the last few entries, we’ve added Zemanta support to our blog. Zemanta is a blogging service that provides recommended articles and public domain imagery to a blog entry, giving you, our readers,…
Today is the fifth anniversary of 2003 Blackout, the worst in U.S. history. JetBlue will be adding daily nonstop service from Washington-Dulles to Tampa on December 18th and Saturday service to Cancun on December 20th. JetBlue will be launching twice daily service using its 100-seat Embraer 190s on October 18th between Long Beach and San…
British Airways Flight 38 from Beijing to London Heathrow landed short of the runway on arrival, injuring almost 20 people. The pilot indicated there was a complete failure in the plane’s electronic systems, forcing the plane to make an unpowered landing. It is currently unknown what caused the situation, but more information will no doubt…
We’ve been a bit occupied of lot, and have a lot to catch up on. Rest assured, that while this is not our primary responsibility(we have jobs), we hope to be back on top of things soon, bringing the best in air travel developments in a timely fashion. Hagerstown Airport, 80 miles northwest of downtown…
One can be shocked by the repeated stories of woe and disaster…here are some that are not to be believed. Airline complaints in the United States overall are up this year, increasing 47.2% in the first six months of 2007, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. In order…the top five complained about U.S. airlines…
Airtran has signed a new three year contract with Coca-Cola. Onboard, you can get Coca-Cola Classic®, Diet Coke®, Sprite®, Sprite Zero(TM), Coca-Cola Zero(TM), Minute Maid® Lemonade, Dasani® Water, Cherry Coke(TM), Cherry Coke Zero(TM) and three types of Minute Maid® juices. Poor Pepsi. Has anyone signed with them lately? Air France-KLM announced last week they would…
Delta has officially announced their nonstop flight from Salt Lake City to Paris beginning June 2nd, 2008, with a Boeing 767-300ER. The flights will be operated in cooperation with Air France, and will offer over 200 destinations on either side beyond the flight’s endpoints on both carriers. The new route is also expected to offer…
In a late breaking news story, ABC news in Salt Lake City has reported that sources has reported that Delta will unveil new service from Salt Lake City to Paris. Paris, unlike London, the focus of planned Delta expansion in Europe, is the hub of Air France, a Delta Skyteam Partner, which would give it…
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…
There’s a lot to catch up on… Qantas is expanding its flight schedule to the United States, effective March 2008, bringing total flights to 46 flights per week. The increased schedule includes daily service between Los Angeles and Brisbane effective March 27th; Increasing to 17 weekly flights between Los Angeles and Sydney, effective March 30th;…
Friday marked the inauguration of seasonal service from Montreal to Rome on Air Canada…with connecting flights on Air One out of Rome to onward destinations. Air Canada Jazz launched two nonstops on Friday from Calgary to Prince George, British Columbia and Seattle, Washington, operating both with 50-seat CRJs… American Eagle has added a weekly flight…
Final assembly of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner began today with a ceremony. The Dreamliner has 568 firm orders from 44 airlines, and is the fastest-selling new airplane in aviation history. The first 787 is due to roll off the assembly line on July 8th. Eos has increased its fleet to four 757-200ER aircraft in preparation…