Consumerist

Posts Tagged “

Airplanes

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Delta is selling airline tickets from New York City to Chicago for $79 each way. You must depart October 11th and return between October 13-14th. [TravelZoo via their Twitter feed]

3 comments

career day

What It's Like To Be A Flight Attendant

A travel reporter for the New York Times spent two days working as a flight attendant on American Airlines, flying between Dallas and New York City and shadowing the real flight attendants as they dealt with drunk passengers, supply shortages, and travelers who are already fed up and tense before they even board the plane.

“Who would have thought, after 30 years, that we’d be a flying 7-Eleven,” Becky Gilbert, a three-decade veteran of the industry told me during a break in our training session in Fort Worth.
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1:45 PM on Thu Sep 25 2008
By Chris Walters
20,925 views, 68 comments

Latest by calchip: I've gotten to the point where I absolutely cringe when I have to fly any airline other than Southwest (and more »

corrections

Southwest Never Meant To Apologize To Doctor They Had Arrested

In our post earlier today about the 65-year-old doctor who tried to use the bathroom on a recent Southwest flight and was subsequently arrested, we noted that the airline sent him an apology letter and a $100 voucher. That seemed kind of inappropriate for the situation, right? It turns out the letter was never meant for Dr. Madduri and was sent to him by mistake. According to our reader RedwoodFlyer (Sockatume also picked up on it), the letter was actually about him and was sent to all the other passengers on the flight; he was never meant to see it. More »

8:31 PM on Wed Sep 24 2008
By Chris Walters
26,852 views, 111 comments

Latest by rubinow: @Roclawzi: Common sense dictates that you listen to the flight attendants and don't try to shove past them when they more »

racial profiling

Doctor Flying Southwest Tries To Go To Bathroom, Ends Up In Jail

A 65-year-old urologist, born in India but living in the United States for 38 years now, was flying from his home in Missouri to a medical convention in Las Vegas on June 26th, 2008. Did you notice that "born in India" detail? Apparently his attempts to go to the bathroom angered and frightened a flight attendant, who wouldn't tell Dr. Sivaprasad Madduri why he couldn't use the lavatory (the pilot was using it) and who wouldn't listen to Dr. Madduri's explanation that he was taking a medicine that acts as a diuretic. When the plane landed he was arrested, spent the night in jail, and was told the next day to plead guilty and pay $2500 if he wanted a quick resolution.

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12:14 PM on Wed Sep 24 2008
By Chris Walters
27,678 views, 158 comments

Latest by rubinow: @LewCincinnatus: If he didn't plea, the judge would have had a bail hearing. On the other hand, the doctor's more »

continental

Continental Confuses California With NYC?

[Update: Several commenters have pointed out that "Ontario, CA" actually refers to Ontario, California, which is near L.A. And to be fair to the OP, we're the ones who misinterpreted Ontario, not her. We've updated the post. Also, check out Fly Girl's insider explanation as to what likely happened.]
Continental canceled one leg of Lesley's flight from NYC to California without notice—she only discovered it when she went online to check that everything was okay this morning. What's worse, however, is the alternative flight plan they proposed, which would have her going from NYC to Houston to California and immediately back to Houston to NYC again, depositing her 20+ hours later in Newark, New Jersey—where we presume a gang of Continental employees will be waiting for Lesley at the gate to beat the crap out of her with confiscated water bottles. East Coast hates West Coast, Lesley! More »

2:28 PM on Fri Sep 12 2008
By Chris Walters
7,891 views, 39 comments

Latest by Hyman Decent: @TheRealAbsurdist: Voilà. Obviously, it was pre-9/11 — I didn't remember how long before 9/11, though. And I was mistaken about more »

success stories

Orbitz Supervisor Plays Hardball With USAir, Gets Them To Rebook Tickets

Nicholas had a business trip go bad quickly when USAir canceled a flight and wouldn't make things right again. His tickets were through Orbitz, and although he had a terrible experience with Orbitz's first line of CSRs, he eventually managed to find a supervisor who made sure USAir helped solve the problem—even going so far as to let Nicholas secretly listen in on a call with a USAir agent. More »

11:11 AM on Thu Sep 11 2008
By Chris Walters
13,126 views, 31 comments

Latest by gliscameria: @evslin: I couldn't agree more. Southwest rocks. Every other airline pulled employees from their ticket counter and baggage more »

Above and Beyond

This Apology Letter From Southwest Is Refreshingly Honest And Informative

A fluid leak forced Deepak's Southwest flight from Oakland to Seattle back to the airport. Southwest shifted passengers to a waiting plane, and everyone made it to Seattle about two hours late. Within a week, Southwest sent passengers an extraordinarily honest and informative letter detailing exactly what went wrong, and by way of apology, tossed in a $175 voucher. More »

5:00 PM on Sun Aug 31 2008
By Carey
73,257 views, 76 comments

Latest by Hands: everybody makes mistakes sometimes, right Hands? I've heard that but I couldn't testify to it from my own experience. more »

security theater

Woman Removes Bra To Get Through TSA

Nancy Kates's large underwire bra set off the metal detector in the Oakland, California airport. A TSA agent pulled her aside and patted her down, which set off Kates' personal privacy alarm. "I said, 'You can't do that.' She said, 'We have to pat you down.' I said, 'You can't treat me as a criminal for wearing a bra.'" Kates was given the option to "submit to a pat-down in a private room" or not fly. Instead, she took off her bra and passed through security just fine. Hooray for personal freedom! More »

5:48 PM on Tue Aug 26 2008
By Chris Walters
32,249 views, 273 comments

Latest by TheRedDuke: @srhbks: YOU may not mind strangers touching you in intimate places, but other do. more »

air canada

Air Canada Cuts Inflatable Life Vests In Order To Save Fuel

Airlines are cutting things like entertainment units, snacks and beverages in order to raise revenue and cut fuel costs, but what about those inflatable life vests? Do we need those? Air Canada's regional airline "Jazz" doesn't think so. More »

10:48 AM on Mon Aug 25 2008
By Meg Marco
8,692 views, 85 comments

airtran

AirTran Agent Screams, Curses At Travelers While Supervisor Looks On

Forget about those dowdy old-school Olympics. What we need is an international competition to see which airline can suck the most, since everyone is getting so good at it. In the category of Random Rudeness, this AirTran agent and her equally hostile supervisor would have a good shot at the gold—especially since they aimed their hostility at a honeymooning couple. More »

10:17 AM on Mon Aug 25 2008
By Chris Walters
22,463 views, 78 comments

Latest by blackmage439: "... we suggest you cross AirTran off your list of desired carriers." Already done, thanks to the horrible experiences we had more »