Why did it change its mind? Who knows. Previously, the plan was to let flight attendants be the porn police and instead only block Skype and other internet phone services.

Now the Dallas Morning News says:

American said that it is working with Aircell LLC "to implement technology to filter pornographic content over the Gogo inflight Internet service."

Delta will also be filtering porn when it launches its own WiFi service.

American to filter out porn on its Wi-Fi [DMN via Gothamist]
(Photo: benh57 )

“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.

The author, Michelle Higgins, captures the dramatic shift from what was once a career loaded with perks—free travel, flexible schedules, plenty of time off, and even a bit of cachet—into a job that puts you on the front line of the war most airlines are carrying out against their paying customers.

At the start of one flight, for example, the crew is told the plane is moving to a shorter runway, and they have to carry out a quick count of the number of children on board to see whether the plane meets the suddenly-reduced weight limit—otherwise they will have to kick off passengers. (And those passengers will hopefully write to The Consumerist.)

We've no doubt that there are bad employees in the skies—the bigots, morons, burn-outs, and despots who provide us with so many infuriating stories—but it's revealing to see the level of stress that today's good flight attendants have to deal with, and something worth keeping in mind the next time you fly and want to reach out and hurt the person telling you there are no more blankets or cookies, or that you'll almost certainly miss your connecting flight.

"Flying the Unfriendly Skies" [New York Times]
(Photo: FaceMePLS)

American's spokes person described the program thusly:

"PriorityAAccess benefits provide a differentiated experience for our top customers at the ticket counter, at security checkpoints and at the gate," he said.
...
"Customers with PriorityAAccess privileges will be invited to board first or board at any time through their exclusive PriorityAAccess lane, which allows them to bypass lines after general boarding has begun," the airline said.

The Dallas Morning News says that the following airports will be getting special security lanes for AA's preferred customers:

Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport will get the dedicated security lanes, along with Chicago, New York Kennedy and LaGuardia, Miami, Los Angeles, St. Louis, San Francisco, Boston and San Juan, Puerto Rico.

American Airlines plans to give best customers priority [Dallas Morning News]
(Photo: jayRaz )

According to the lawsuit, filed last week, the body of 57-year-old Teresa Olaya was so badly decomposed when it finally arrived in Guayaquil, Ecuador, that her grieving husband, Miguel, had to forgo a traditional open-casket funeral.

"During those days, a thousand things went through my mind," Olaya, 60, told The Post. "Where is she? Is she dumped somewhere like an animal? And I had no answers for my daughter. She would ask me, 'Where is my mami?' "

It gets even more grim. After being given the runaround by AA for several days, the casket finally arrived at it's destination. Miguel was relieved... until he opened the casket...

"When I opened the casket, it was a terrible shock," said Olaya. "I still can't get it out of my mind"

"They treated the body like a piece of baggage," said lawyer Christopher Robles, who said his client was seeking an unspecified seven-figure sum. "They didn't keep it refrigerated."

AA said it couldn't comment because of the pending lawsuit.

AIRLINE 'LOSES' CORPSE [NYP] (Thanks, Trish!)
(Photo: Charliux )

His story hit the Digg front page. As it was on its way to becoming popular on Digg, a gal named Carly at Zocalogroup, apparently the PR firm Orbitz has hired to monitor blogs and maintain a Twitter presence, reached out to help Josh. An Orbitz insider said that over 16 Orbitz employees have forwarded Josh's story to the internal customer experience team.

For his part, Josh writes, "Thank you for posting my story. I'm contacting Carly right now and will follow up with you about how Orbitz DID send me to collections, my communication with that company, and whatever Orbitz is willing to do now that they couldn't be bothered to do before."

PREVIOUSLY: Orbitz: Pay For Ticket We Never Sold You Or Else

Imagine a mugger holding a gun to you and saying, "I need you to pay for that gold watch I gave you last week." Confused, you say, "Uh, you never gave me a gold watch." The mugger says, "Hey buddy, pay me for that watch or else..." He cocks the hammer. Ok, that's a little melodramatic, but essentially that's what Orbitz is doing to Josh; they want him to pay for a ticket they never sold him, or else they'll send him to collections.

June of last year, I tried to book a ticket for my brother through Orbitz. The process went as usual and when I completed my transaction, I was presented with a screen telling me to expect a confirmation email shortly.

Several days later and with 48 hours to go before the flight, still no email. So I called the fine customer service folks at Orbitz and was told, in no uncertain terms, that they did not have a reservation for my brother or myself (just in case I had made a mistake on my end filling out the form). I was then offered the opportunity to buy a new ticket at $200 above what I had originally signed up for. I had to pass and my brother missed a very important family event.

Move forward in time a week, and I find that my BofA checking account has charges from Orbitz and the airline I had originally booked through (American Airlines). You know, the flight that didn't exist.

I called Orbitz again and was now told that Orbitz never gives refunds. I escalated from one outsourced call center worker to another equally inept call center worker who read from the same script. Since that went nowhere, my next call was to BofA.

It took a lot of time and documentation, but I finally received a letter in October from BofA letting me know that the funds I had been forwarded when I initially disputed the charge was to be made permanent.

So what's the problem? The call I got today from Orbitz telling me that they got a letter from American Airlines hadn't received payment and that I would be sent to collections.

Is this true? How can this be? I am lost and confused and just plain fed up. Any guidance or suggestions would really help.

Let's see, some options:

1) Resubmit your disputation of the charges with Bank of America
2) Forward your complaint to BoA's CEO (address here).
3) Hire an attorney specializing in consumer debt cases

Any other notions out there?

(Photo: Shermeee)

"There is a sign that clearly says, 'Don't step,'" American spokeswoman Mary Frances Fagan told the Chicago Tribune.

The Transportation Security Administration officer was conducting routine checks to make sure that planes parked at the airport overnight were secure from tampering, according to the federal security agency and American Airlines, which owns and operates American Eagle.

But while ensuring that aircraft doors were locked properly, the inspector either stepped onto or grabbed sensitive avionics probes mounted on the fuselage of nine American Eagle planes, officials said.

The TSA defended the officer's actions.

"Our inspector was following routine procedure for securing the aircraft that were on the tarmac," a Chicago based TSA official told ABCNews.com.

TSA Snafu Grounds Nine Planes at O'Hare Field [ABCNews] (Thanks, Shawn!)
Aviation inspector's action raises more questions at O'Hare [Chicago Tribune]

"We do not agree with the FAA's [latest] findings and characterizations of American's action in these cases," the airline said in a statement. "We believe the proposed penalties are excessive."

The FAA defended the fine in a statement of its own:
"The FAA believes the large total amount of the fine for these violations is appropriate because American Airlines was aware that appropriate repairs were needed, and instead deferred maintenance."

As for the drug testing issue, the FAA wants to fine AA $1.7 million for warning its employees ahead of time when they were scheduled to be tested. The tests are supposed to be unannounced.

The FAA proposed $7.1 million in fines against American for violations that included:

•$4.4 million for improperly deferring maintenance in December

•$1.7 million for problems with its drug- and alcohol-testing program

•$1 million for operating planes without properly inspecting the emergency- path lighting system

American Airlines faces $7.1M in fines for safety violations [Dallas Morning News]
(Photo: Joshua Davis jdavis.info )

"We always understood that soldiers traveling on duty were reimbursed by the military for the fees on required excess baggage. However, after recently hearing of the burden the military reimbursement process put on soldiers traveling to war zones, the choice for us to forgo payment for a third checked bag from the Department of Defense was clear," said Tom Del Valle, American's Senior Vice President — Airport Services in a press release.

Consumerist first picked up this story a few weeks ago from a local El Paso paper. In that article, a spokesperson for American Airlines called their policy of waiving the $15 first checked bag fee and the $25 second fee, but not the third $100 fee "very generous as you can see, and intentionally so." Unfortunately, several troops on their way to training before being deployed to Iraq didn't agree.

"I have flown Southwest, Continental, and when they saw me in uniform, they didn't even ask," Staff Sgt. Ashley Serrano told the El Paso Times. "I flew American a couple of times before, but I never had this problem."

Military personnel are supposed to be given vouchers and reimbursement for any baggage fees they incur, but realistically, that wasn't always happening.

American Airlines explains, "The new waiver policy for military personnel begins immediately. American Airlines will work closely with the Department of Defense on issues such as this in the future. "

American Airlines Will Waive Third Excess Bag Fee for Military Personnel (Press Release) [MarketWatch]
(Photo: crazybobcat )

American Airlines blamed high fuel prices and rising airfares for the change.

"The disparity between discount and premium tickets is too great to be offset by miles alone," an AA spokesperson said.

From the Dallas Morning News:

Timothy Sieber, an aviation consultant for the Boyd Group in Evergreen Colo., said the high fuel costs are to blame for the new fees, which may be reaching a tipping point.

"At some point, it becomes like a Saturday Night Live skit, where you're paying for a seat belt and to use the bathroom," Mr. Sieber said. "They're running out of things to charge us for."

American Airlines making more changes to AAdvantage program [Dallas Morning News](Thanks, Travis !)
(Photo: benh )

The fees are:

1) Beverages— Bring an empty water bottle and hit the drinking fountain.

2) Checked luggage— Avoid certain stupid airlines or become a carry-on ninja.

3) Award tickets— Fuel surcharges are making award tickets suck. Cash in your miles, or use your awards for something else.

4) Unaccompanied minors— Avoid airlines with insane fees or fly with your kid. At these rates, it might be worth it.

In depth explanations and more specific advice on how to get around these fees is given here, but we liked this way the best:

Of course, the best way around all of these fees is to fly on an airline that doesn't have them. Southwest Airlines still allows you to check two bags at no extra charge. JetBlue still serves free drinks and snacks and charges $25 less than the big airlines for unaccompanied minors. Supporting these less fee-prone companies will hasten the inevitable demise of the airlines that erroneously believe they can surcharge their way back to a profit.

Four new airline fees — and how to avoid them [CNN] (Thanks, j!)
(Photo: hellochris )

American's policy allows military personnel "one checked 100-pound duffel-type bag, one standard checked 50-pound suitcase and one standard carry-on suitcase of up to 40 pounds." They're getting "a total of 190 pounds of free luggage," said airline spokesman Tim Wagner, in an e-mail to the El Paso Times.

Staff Sgt. Ashley Serrano doesn't see it that way. He says that other airlines see his uniform and waive their baggage fees. "I have flown Southwest, Continental, and when they saw me in uniform, they didn't even ask," Serrano said. "I flew American a couple of times before, but I never had this problem."

Serrano said he was confronted Friday at the El Paso International Airport with a demand for $100 for his third bag, and when he mentioned he was headed for Camp Bowie - where Texas Army National Guard soldiers train before deployment - he said they told him, without a smile, that the Army should have given him a voucher. Serrano's fellow soldier and traveling companion had three extra bags and was charged $300, he said.

"I am not aware of any ability by our agents to waive an excess baggage fee, even for military personnel - since they already have the common checked bag fees waived in our policy," [an American Airlines spokesperson] said. "Otherwise, our policy is very generous as you can see, and intentionally so. We're very proud of our military forces - and many of our employees began their flying careers with the military - so we're pleased to be able to help."

Serrano doesn't seem to think the policy is generous.

"You couldn't fit it all into two (checked) bags if you tried," he told the paper.

Airline baggage fees hit soldier flying out of El Paso for training [El Paso Times] (Thanks, Gabe!)
(Photo: benh57 )

If your flight is canceled or you're given a wrong connection, the airline might have to put you on another flight for free, even if it's on another airline. Airfarewatchdog blog has put together a handy table to help you tell which airlines follow these procedures, and to what degree. They also have links to the contracts of carriage for the airlines that have them posted online. Handy to check if you're covered before booking, and also good to print out and bring with you to the airport just in case you need to invoke your rights and the airline employee has forgotten their own policies.

Rule 240 Revisited [Airfarewatchdog Blog]

A spokesman for Dulles said:

When the passengers were allowed off the plane, they had to wait until 4 a.m. for their luggage because American didn't have personnel on duty.

"We have a relatively small operation at Dulles and it was already closed up," Smith says. "It took a while for us to call in some additional employees from home."

Didn't the airport have some advance warning that the plane was being rerouted, though? Or was it more like an airport employee happened to walk by a window around 2 a.m. or so and saw a plane sitting out there flashing its lights?

"Delayed flight sits for hours at Dulles" [WTOP News] (Thanks to Keith and Jeff!)

An Open letter to All Airline Customers:

Our country is facing a possible sharp economic downturn because of skyrocketing oil and fuel prices, but by pulling together, we can all do something to help now.

For airlines, ultra-expensive fuel means thousands of lost jobs and severe reductions in air service to both large and small communities. To the broader economy, oil prices mean slower activity and widespread economic pain. This pain can be alleviated, and that is why we are taking the extraordinary step of writing this joint letter to our customers. Since high oil prices are partly a response to normal market forces, the nation needs to focus on increased energy supplies and conservation. However, there is another side to this story because normal market forces are being dangerously amplified by poorly regulated market speculation.

Twenty years ago, 21 percent of oil contracts were purchased by speculators who trade oil on paper with no intention of ever taking delivery. Today, oil speculators purchase 66 percent of all oil futures contracts, and that reflects just the transactions that are known. Speculators buy up large amounts of oil and then sell it to each other again and again. A barrel of oil may trade 20-plus times before it is delivered and used; the price goes up with each trade and consumers pick up the final tab. Some market experts estimate that current prices reflect as much as $30 to $60 per barrel in unnecessary speculative costs.

Over seventy years ago, Congress established regulations to control excessive, largely unchecked market speculation and manipulation. However, over the past two decades, these regulatory limits have been weakened or removed. We believe that restoring and enforcing these limits, along with several other modest measures, will provide more disclosure, transparency and sound market oversight. Together, these reforms will help cool the over-heated oil market and permit the economy to prosper.

The nation needs to pull together to reform the oil markets and solve this growing problem.

We need your help. Get more information and contact Congress by visiting www.StopOilSpeculationNow.com.

They've sent you an EECB... how will you respond?

Airlines: Curb oil speculation [CNN]

One passenger describes the incident, "...and then they closed them behind glass doors, and they kind of threatened us that they weren't going to fly with the way people were acting. Some people got very agitated."

Another passenger says that a few people were using harsh language and acting like a mob. That's when two American Airlines crew members refused to work in a "hostile" environment. American was unable to find another crew.

"They gave us a hotel and all that, but the hotel we stayed at had barbed-wire all around it. Nice place. Nice hotel, but barbed-wire around it," another passenger told Fox 5.

The passengers may have been rude, but American certainly got the last laugh. When the passengers finally arrived at LaGuardia the following evening—they found out that their bags had been sent to JFK.

American Airlines Cancels Flight Due to Hostile Passengers [MYFoxNY]

Sadly, 67.3% is actually an improvement for AA, the past two months saw on-time percentages of only 62% and 65.3%. Overall, the average number of flights that are on-time is 79%.

More bad news: American Airlines' regional partner, American Eagle, canceled 2.8 percent of its flights in May, the worst in the industry.

Is there a fee that can fix this?

American Airlines again ranks last in on-time arrivals [Dallas Morning News]
(Photo: benh57 )

Josh cc'd us on his Executive Email Carpet Bomb:

Dear American Airlines:

My name is Joshua, and my AAdvantage number is XXXX. I am writing in regard to ticket XXXXX, under record locator XXXX.

I would like a refund of the $15 fee I paid to check a bag on AA 4794 on June 27, 2008, as the flight was cancelled and I (and my checked bag) did not travel with American.

When the flight was cancelled, I called your customer service 800 number and requested that my itinerary be refunded. Your customer service representative processed this refund over the phone without difficulty. However, the refunded amount did not include the bag fee.

I am now advised by your telephone customer service that, in order to get my $15 refund, I must mail a letter with my original receipt for the bag fee to your refunds department in Tulsa. They have told me that they cannot issue a refund over the phone, and cannot waive their policy on the matter.

I do not find this to be an acceptable solution. You should not require me to mail a paper receipt when the information about the fee already exists in your computer systems. Indeed, I am not even sure what I did with that receipt after I left the airport. More broadly, while I understand your rationale for charging a fee for the first checked bag, you should not make it unreasonably difficult to collect a refund of the fee when the service is not provided.

I recognize that I am not currently an elite-level American customer. However, I qualified as AAdvantage Gold in 2006 and have over 100,000 lifetime travel miles under my belt on American. I have recently moved to Washington, DC and will be traveling frequently to New York and Chicago. Those are places to which both American and its competitors provide frequent service. I hope to continue doing that business with American, contingent on the refund of this fee.

I hope that you will be willing to refund this fee to me without further difficulty.

Sincerely,

Joshua

American's contract of carriage is silent on baggage fee refunds.

While Josh's EECB is detailed and concise, American's recent cash-hemorrhaging makes them less receptive to reason. Give the request an added punch by asking the Department of Transportation for their interpretation of American's greedy conduct.

(AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)

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(Photo: El Grande Mono )

The article says,

As the American Eagle flight headed down the taxiway, two-and-a-half-year-old Jarett Farrell wasn't a happy traveler.

His mother says she was doing all she could to calm the autistic boy, but got no sympathy from the flight crew.

"If they just would have been a little more understanding I think that none of this would have been a problem," Mother, Janice Farrell said.

But it became a big problem for everyone on the plane. Farrell says that's because the flight attendant was indignant.

"She kept coming over and tugging his seatbelt to make it tighter, 'This has to stay tight'. And then he was wiggling around and trying to get out of his seatbelt. And she kept coming over and reprimanding him and yelling at him," Farrell said.

One of the pilots came back to the cabin with a stern warning and Farrell says the frustration level escalated.

She says Jarrett picked up on that and things only got worse.

"He just melted down. He saw me getting upset. He was upset. He was on the floor rolling around," she said.

The pilot returned to the cockpit, turned the plane around and headed back to the terminal.

"The pilot made an announcement that there was a woman and her child on the plane and the child is uncontrollable. And at that point I just broke down," Farrell said.

Farrell says when she got back to her home in Cary she called her husband and they decided that she should call American Airlines corporate. She says a company representative apologized and said the incident should never have happened.

But that's not what American Airlines told Eyewitness News.

A spokesman in Dallas says Jarret was pitching a "raging fit".

And that Janice, who was in a front-row seat, refused to allow her bag to be placed in an overhead compartment, even though there was no under seat stowage.

He says that with a "passenger not complying with FAA regulations, this was the right decision."

Farrell says even though her travel bag had things to calm Jarrett, she did indeed give it to the flight attendant.

"She took my bag and put it up top," Farrell said.

Farrell is taking the train to see family in New Jersey and she and her husband say they will never fly American again.

Without having been on the flight, it's difficult to say who, if anyone, was at fault. If a child is literally out of control, we can understand why this would necessitate the child's removal from the flight, especially since it was still on the ground. If indeed it was necessary, we just wish it could have happened in a way that didn't leave Jarett and his mother so upset.

Autistic toddler kicked off airplane [WTVD] (Thanks to everyone who sent this in!)

Unfortunately, AJ knows how to use the internet and was able to determine that there was no such "bad weather" in Dallas. In fact, after having no success with the 1-800 number CSR, AJ was able to find a nice ticket agent at the Pittsburgh airport that had no problem flying him to Austin through Chicago. He asked us to share his letter with our readers "to let readers know that when American Airlines blames the weather in Dallas, they are more than likely full of BS."

AJ writes to AA:

To: American Airlines Customer Relations
P.O. Box 619612 MD 2400
DFW Airport, TX 75261-9612

From: AJ

Dear American Airlines,

I recently flew your airline on a business trip to Austin, Texas. I work in the music industry as a broadcaster and attended a conference from March 14th through the 18th.

Normally I use a different airline when I travel, but thought I would fly American Airlines on this trip due to the convenience of your available fights better fitting my trip itinerary. So, I chose to sacrifice the opportunity to acquire additional miles with my normal airline, enrolled in the AAdvantage program, booked my flight weeks in advance, and set forth to encounter the American Airlines experience. I would venture to guess that the term “tragic” might be a little harsh to describe my ordeal with your company; however calling it “awful” is probably being too nice.

My day began on March 14th with a phone call from my office colleague with whom I would be traveling. I was half way to the airport to make my scheduled 7:55am flight from Pittsburgh to Dallas, when my coworker informed me that our flight had been canceled and he was still trying to work out the details with the AA customer service department. Apparently he received a phone call from AA around 3AM informing him that our flight was canceled, however I received no such courtesy.

I turned around and instead of continuing my trip to the airport, reported to the office to meet with him so we could attempt to make alternate travel plans. According to the AA customer service representative that he spoke to on the phone, AA would be unable to get us on another flight for several days as they had no open seats on any flights into Austin until Friday March 16th. When we asked to be scheduled on another airline, she said she could not do that due to the flight cancellation being an “act of God”. When asked what that meant, she said our flight from Pittsburgh into Dallas had been cancelled because of bad weather in Dallas. A quick trip to weather.com informed me that the forecast for the morning of March 14th in Dallas, TX was partly cloudy with a temperature of 79*. I would suggest that if fabricating weather forecasts is standard procedure for AA, then perhaps you should consider training your customer service department to only lie to customers who don’t purchase their tickets using the Internet. Perhaps people who still read the Farmer’s Almanac will fall for your ruse, but the rest of us easily recognize your deception and feel insulted. I realize that there were legitimate weather related cancellations in the north east last week, but our trip preceded the inclement weather that caused those issues by several days. Thus, our trip should have been unaffected by any severe weather.

So, after failing to properly predict the Texas weather or successfully discouraging us from missing the first 3 days of our conference, (and only after a heated conversation with my coworker) the AA representative gave us the following options if we wanted to arrive in Austin on Wednesday: A) She could get us on a flight to Waco, Texas. Sure, it wasn’t Austin… but it was in the same state. She recommended renting a car and then driving from Waco to Austin, but could not tell us how many miles the drive was or how long it would take. Furthermore, she did not offer to reimburse us for the cost of the car or even offer us a discounted rate on the rental. Hell, she didn’t even offer to arrange for the rental car for us, we had to call the rental places ourselves and hope they had something available. B) She suggested that we leave Pittsburgh and drive to another city and attempt to get a flight from there. Again, she could not tell us which city to drive to or how long it would take to get a flight. May I suggest that AA furnish your customer service people with road atlases? At least that way they can check the map and realize how utterly stupid they sound when they make such suggestions.

Since we had a non-refundable registration fee pre-paid at the conference and were in danger of losing our hotel room if we didn’t arrive as scheduled on Wednesday (not to mention missing multiple meetings scheduled during the week), we decided to take option “A” and plan a good old-fashioned road trip from Waco to Austin. (Nothing like rolling through Texas in a rented Kia!) Again, at no time did American Airlines offer any type of compensation for this extreme inconvenience. As a matter of fact, your company’s representative (who claimed to be the shift supervisor) didn’t even seem the least bit sympathetic to our plight. We felt like we were bothering her by trying to actually get to our destination.

We arrived at the Pittsburgh airport several hours early in hopes of somehow getting on a flight into Austin. Fortunately, the wonderful woman working at the ticket counter in Pittsburgh must actually enjoy her job… or maybe she was just human… either way, with a few key strokes she was able to get us on a flight into Austin via Chicago. Why the idiot on your 800 number couldn’t accomplish this is beyond me. Needless to say, we eventually arrived in Austin only several hours later than we had planned. Had we not shown up at the airport earlier than suggested by your customer service rep, we never would have made this flight.

You might think that this is the end of my story, but almost unbelievably it is not. Upon flying back to Pittsburgh via Dallas on March 18th, our flight was delayed. We sat on the plane in Dallas for over an hour WHILE WE WAITED FOR THE PILOT. Now, I’ve been on plenty of delayed flights before. Usually for reasons like the flight having been overbooked and passengers being shuffled on and off the plane, the occasional mechanical problem, or even de-icing (oddly enough, never in Dallas despite the alleged bad weather). However, this is the first time that I’ve ever shown up on an airplane before the dude who was supposed to be flying it. Again, we waited seated in the plane, on the runway, for an hour and twenty minutes. Once again (as seems to be standard protocol with AA) we were not offered so much as a beverage by the flight staff to ease the discomfort and inconvenience of the situation. Even some complimentary peanuts once the flight was finally airborne may have been a nice gesture to make up for the general ineptitude that permeates the American Airlines standard of mediocrity, but we didn’t get those either.

I believe this will be my last experience flying with American Airlines. I suppose if I were ever stranded in a Dallas blizzard and my only way home was on an American Airlines jet, I would take it. But to think that I would ever voluntarily put myself through this again is silly. I doubt that anyone is even reading this letter at this point, but if you are I feel bad for you. You work for a horrible, heartless, savage corporation that is a model of inefficiency. I hope that one day you find a good paying job with an employer that cares about you. This is my way of being sympathetic to your plight. (Sympathy… American Airlines should try that sometime) If you are no longer reading this (which I somehow feel to be the case) I can assure you that these words are not falling of deaf ears as I am certain that the majority of the listeners to my radio show will be quite interested as this letter is recited in full detail during a future broadcast.

Regards,

A.J.

(Photo: So Cal Metro )

Some tips on carry-on bags:

Embrace the middle seat
Often, there is more space for your carry-on under the middle seat, however, sometimes airplanes have equipment stored under them. You can usually find information on which seats to avoid in the airline's carry-on bag restrictions or in their policy section on traveling with pets.

Board Early
To get that precious overhead-bin space, get familiar with how your airline boards the plane. "Most carriers allow passengers with disabilities and elite frequent fliers to board first. Northwest offers open boarding in no particular order, while Delta often starts with the window seats in the back. "

Be aware of carry-on limits
For example, American Airlines limits carry-ons to 45 linear inches (length+width+height) and 40 lbs. They also allow one small personal item like a purse or briefcase.

Some tips on checked bags:

Check airline exemptions
"American and United waive first-bag fees for first- or business-class passengers and elite frequent fliers. All major carriers still allow two checked bags for flights with an international leg. You might also be exempt if you bought your ticket before the new fee goes into effect. US Airways won't charge those who purchased tickets before July 9. Consider planning future trips on an airline that hasn't yet announced a first-bag fee."

Note item exceptions
Usually strollers, child car-seats and wheelchairs are free of charge. Since each airline has different restrictions regarding weight and dimensions, make sure you review the policies on the airlines you plan to fly.

Start small
If you start with a large bag you will tend to stuff more inside increasing your bag's chance of being overweight. As a rule of thumb, don't check a bag bigger than 24 inches if you want to stay under weight limits.

Look for a cheap light bag
Unless you are a frequent traveler, it is advantageous to go with lighter luggage which only needs to withstand a few trips a year. High end luggage is obviously more durable but weighs a good deal more.

How to Avoid Paying Airline Baggage Fees [SmartMoney]
(Photo: Getty)

Here's what some of you had to say about these two companies:

Wal-Mart:
"They undercut the bottom lines of companies so much that the company barely gets a profit - but if the company says "No, I can't afford to switch all my manufacturing to 5 gallon jars of pickles", Walmart says they won't carry any of that brand's products.

Period."

"Wal-Mart: Squeeze your vendors, not your customers. "

"The truth was that Wal-Mart paid Logitech to use Logitech's Chinese production centers so that they could make items which looked very similar to the normal product lines, but which had components in them which were solely the responsibility of Wal-Mart (ie, not purchased, inventoried, or in any way guaranteed or the responsibility of Logitech). Wal-Mart just paid a certain amount per unit to put their crap into a shiny Logitech box and have the Logitech logo shown on it."

"I bought a GE Skillet from them a while back and it was a piece of shit. To find out why, I checked the box and it said something like "made for Wal-Mart" and ever since then, when I do venture into Wal-Mart I always check for that label."

American Airlines:
"AA just released a statement saying they will be charging $15 per checked bag and cutting flights."

"I just heard on the radio on the way to work that American Airlines is now going to staff people at TSA checkpoints to police people bringing too many carry-on bags."

"I voted for AA, because at least Microsoft pretends to care about where I want to go today!"

"They stranded me in an airport for 10 hours with no food vouchers, no hotel offer, and no way to escape (I didn't have a license or old enough to rent a car)."

This is a post in our Worst Company In America 2008 series. The companies nominated for this honor were chosen by you, the readers. Keep track of all the goings on at consumerist.com/tag/worst-company-in-america.

To Whom It May Concern,

I have never contacted any company with a complaint before, however my recent experience with American Airlines was the single worst consumer experience I've ever had. From beginning to end my friend and I were confronted with rude representative, lies and absolutely no concern for the completely screwed up travel plans.

I purchased a roundtrip ticket on American Airlines for my friend to fly out from Los Angeles to Atlanta for my wedding.

The problems started in LA where the planes was delayed, initially gate agents claimed this was because of thunderstorms in Dallas where my friend was connecting on to ATL.

However, another wedding guest was already in Dallas, where as he told me, "there isn't a cloud in sky." Eventually, after several hours delay attendants admitted that the flight was waiting for a fax regarding permission for another passenger who needed an oxygen supply for the flight.

Eventually the flight left LA, but by then the connecting flight was long gone. The next connecting flight from Dallas to Atlanta was the next morning, forcing my friend to spend the night in the Dallas airport.

Not only was my friend not offered a hotel room for the night, the attendants in Dallas wouldn't even give her or other passengers blankets, water or any other basic necessities.

So she and the other passengers were forced to spend the night hungry and cold, unable to sleep or leave the airport.

My understanding of your "conditions of carriage" agreement is that my friend deserves compensation. The relevant section reads: "If the delay or cancellation was caused by events within our control and we do not get you to your final destination on the expected arrival day, we will provide reasonable overnight accommodations, subject to availability."

The fact that attendant already refused to provide meal vouchers or a hotel room means that, in my view, my friend deserves some sort of flight voucher or other compensation.

To make matters worse I (since I paid for the ticket) attempted to contact American Airlines on my friend's behalf to complain about her treatment and was told that customer service complaints may only be made through e-mail, mail or fax. Fine. So I filled out the form on your website outline the same issues mentioned here and I received back a form letter thanking me for the positive feedback.

Some people will keep their mouth shut and usually I am one of these people. I feel violated, taken advantage of and left with only one choice which is that letter. I realize there's no guarantee this will be read and not just rerouted to the problem customer file to never be looked at again.

To assure myself that have done all that is possible to have my letter read by all powers that be, I will be forwarding this to as many executive email addresses that I can find.

Cheers,
S.

Good luck, S, and good letter. It's clear, directly asks for specific compensation, and lays out the concrete reasons why they owe it to you. We hope it gets you what you deserve.

(Photo: zonaphoto)

Antoinette Kaade on 514-636-3654
Ioanna Tsontakis on 514-636-3666

Here's what to say once you get there.

(Photo: Flying Photog)

Here's your sixth "Sweet 16" match-up: #43 American Airlines VS #6 Microsoft

Here's what some of you had to say about these two companies:

American Airlines:

"AA just released a statement saying they will be charging $15 per checked bag and cutting flights."

"You might as well ask "which business model is more doomed — renting movies from a store, or the hub & spoke airline system?""

Microsoft:

"MS trying to force people into using Vista is really the last straw. If they succeed on pushing XP out of use I will go back to using Mac. "

"Broken XBoxes; prolonging/supporting the HD disc war so they could get more time to let their digital download service mature; releasing Vista prematurely; multiple/confusing and overpriced Vista SKUs; removing XP from the market because people weren't buying Vista; Zune not supporting Microsoft's own Plays for Sure standard; DRM and Activation schemes that treat paying customers like criminals. I could go on, but I think that's enough to make my case."

This is a post in our Worst Company In America 2008 series. The companies nominated for this honor were chosen by you, the readers. Keep track of all the goings on at consumerist.com/tag/worst-company-in-america.

Upon boarding this flight, my [spouse] was assigned seat 24E. Upon reaching the seat, the gentleman in seat 24F indicated that seat 24E was soaked and that it smelled badly. That kept [my spouse] from immediately sitting in the seat. In fact, the seat was soaked with urine. The flight attendant's solution was to put a couple of blankets and a plastic bag on the seat. [Your passenger] literally sat in a urine soaked seat (the seat belt was soaked also) for the duration of this 2 hour flight! [There] was offered no compensation, no alternative seating, nothing.

... I believe that, at a minimum, we are entitled to a full refund of [my spouse's] ticket for that flight. Once the flight attendant was made aware of the situation, something should have been done. Seat cushions switched out, [offer of] another seat (except the plane was full), or...offered an alternative flight. I look forward to your quick resolution of this appalling situation.

This is what happens when crews are under the knife to turn over the airplane between flights with enough time for a thorough cleaning, or, in this case, the construction of a vacuum-sealed hazmat quarantine. The story is disgusting, and so is the crew's indifference and jerry-rigged solution. The only thing I can remember that tops it is Continental Airlines flight 1970 from Amsterdam to New Jersey on Thursday, June 14, 2007, where the toilets overflowed and streamed down the aisles. And in December '07, AirTran let a lady traveling to Boston sit in a seat that was similarly anointed. She got her airfare and the cost of her clothing refunded.

Personally, I would have refused to sit down and insisted on getting booked on the next flight. Still, that passenger definitely deserves a free ticket voucher and a hell of an apology.

Airline flight became more than a piddling matter [Fort Wayne Observed]
(Photo: JohnKit)

Before leaving home, Shawn's bags weighed 44 pounds. At Chicago, the airport scale said they weighed 44 pounds. When lifting off from Phoenix, the airport's scales said the bag weighed 52 lbs, incurring at $50 fee. When he landed in Chicago, he weighed the bags again at the check-in counter. 47.5 pounds. "Her bag had lost 4.5 pounds on a 3 1/2 hour flight,” Shawn told Elliot.org. After writing a complaint letter, Shawn received a $50 voucher from American Airlines who defended their fraudulent scale by saying they were in "full compliance with the policies for scale calibrations." So apparently the policy allows for defrauding passengers. The voucher is nice, but I would want my actual money back. And what of all the other travelers who didn't pay attention or didn't complain? Pure profit.

American Airlines offers $50 voucher after being accused of scale ’sham’ [Elliot]

(Photo: Getty)

Forbes Traveler's 10 Most Annoying Airline Fees

1. Checked Baggage: $10-$100
American Airlines now charges $15 for the first checked bag. Ugh.

2. Talking to Real People: $10-$25
"It costs $20 to book through a representative at American Airlines, and US Airways charges $15—the same as discount airlines JetBlue and Southwest."

3. Seat Preference: $10-$20
"United Airlines' Economy Plus plan is unique: For a $349 annual fee, one member and his or her companion are seated at the front of economy section whenever possible."

4. Rewards Redemption: $75-$100
Expect to pay this fee if miles are redeemed without "sufficient notice," and because you can't redeem the miles through the website, get ready to "pay for the convenience of booking through a ticket agent."

5. Curbside Check-In: $2-$3+
Remember, this fee doesn't include tip.

6. Traveling with a Child or a Pet: $10-$100 and up
"Delta recently doubled its [unaccompanied minor] rate to $100 and Continental upped its charge to $75 on direct flights and $100 on trips with connections."

7. Changing a Reservation: $30-$200
"United Airlines has hiked its ticket-changing charge from $100 to $150. "

8. Paper Ticket: $50-$70
"Delta charges $50 to customers who still want a physical copy of their ticket."

9. Airport improvement: $4.50-$20+
"...the airport-improvement fee has one short-term impact: It makes your ticket more expensive."

10. Fuel Surcharge: $30-$300
"Fuel now accounts for 40 percent of a ticket's price, and surcharges are regularly $65 each way on most major carriers. "

For the full article and slide show, click here.

Annoying Airline Charges [Forbes Traveler]

(Photo: Travelin' Librarian )

So what now?

It's very difficult for airlines to simply raise prices to levels that cover their higher fuel costs. Raising prices chokes demand: If tickets get too expensive, business travelers make alternate plans, pick cheaper airlines or buy discounted tickets further in advance. For vacationers, if prices get too high, they don't buy or they switch to cheaper destinations. Airlines can price themselves right out of a sale.

So to avoid that, carriers have been slap-happy with fees added at the airport, not at the ticket purchase point. A family heads off to Disney because they got a good fare – then find themselves paying $300 extra at the airport in baggage fees. Fees are essentially fare increases that airlines hope won't choke demand.

But slapping fees on customers here, there and everywhere won't solve the problem. Airlines will have to make big cuts in capacity, eliminating flights that just aren't profitable with oil at $130 a barrel (as of Wednesday morning). Fewer flights means skimpier schedules for many travelers. More important, it means higher fares. The price of flying has to go up if airlines are to survive.

After AMR, the Deluge [WSJ]
(Photo: So Cal Metro )

Time Warner Cable:

"My hate for TimeWarner burns with the energy of a trillion gas giant suns."

"I have almost no choice but Time Warner, and they fuck me over at every opportunity. Their CS is a huge pain in the ass, too. You can call them up about a busted cable box, wait on hold for 45 minutes, and get a call center person who instructs you through 5 different ways of resetting your box."

"I have to go with Time Warner—they wouldn't let my mother take my father's name off of our cable bill They inexpicably cut off service whenever they feel like it. If we need help over the phone we're redirected to people that don't even live in the city that we have service in. I'm happy that we have DirecTV instead of Time Warner now—DirecTV is truly a lesser evil than Time Warner. That and stores like Bath and Body Works ask for your address for no reason like Radio Shack but they didn't make the Worst Company in America cut."

"Um, I had like 5 different (cracked out) Time Warner "employees" come door to door in during dinner hours and ask me if I wanted to "upgrade" from FiOS to Roadrunner."

"TWC is the most obnoxious company I have ever dealt with in my life.

Even better, they know it's either not have cable, or deal with their shit. So they win. "

"Time warner installed my cable and internet a couple months back. Afterwards, the internet wouldn't work. For over a week they kept asking me to try all sorts of stupid things trying to figure out why it wasn't working. I had just moved and had Time Warner at old place and internet worked fine, but somehow they still insisted the problem was somehow my fault. Well finally after much hassle I basically got a "oops, we forgot to turn it on." Thanks Time Warner, for the week of no service and blaming your stupidity on me."

"Time Warner won't answer the damn phone!!!"

American Airlines:

"Kinda disgusted that they were able to fly putting lives at risk."

"AA constantly tries to route me through Dallas, despite my origination point or intended destination
DISAPPROVE"

"You might as well as "which business model is more doomed — renting movies from a store, or the hub & spoke airline system?""

"AA is a microcosm of the entire Airline Industry. Maybe if we let foreign airlines operate domestic flights, the healthy competition would alleviate these problems."

"Last time I flew on an AA flight they forgot to put a single bag on the plane. I know the blame probably lies between AA and the airport (who hires all baggage handlers). But seriously, how do you leave without having a single checked bag on board? Then they had a very sketchy dude deliver the bag at 1am to my girlfriend's parent's house after knocking on every door to the block because the douche couldn't read the address numbers on the mailbox. Fail."

"AA is worse because they can trap you on an aircraft for hours on end, or in an airport in a strange city where you know no one and are hungry, tired and filthy. They can ruin your honeymoon or your family's long-awaited, long-saved-for trip to (God forbid) Disneyland or that booze cruise."

"Flying American Airlines is hell. My mother hates flying with them because of them constantly overbooking flights(yes, all airlines do it, but my mom was pissed bc my uncle had to drive 3 hours each way to/from the airport for 2 days even though she was early to check-in. My uncle lives abroad and it's very expensive for gas there and for him to take off work to drive my mom to the airport). And this was before flyers' rights to hotel, etc were being promoted so much."

"The problem with American Airlines is NOT with the recall of the planes... that is a condition of a much larger issue. Lets take a look at how many of the employees who took a pay cut for the COMPANY after 9/11 have gotten their pay and benefits back. The mechanics are now in negotiations with the union and the head company and since AA has taken a first quarter loss, due in fact to the planes being taken out of service AA now once again has the upper hand in the negotiations. Is it a coincidence? NO! Look at how much money the management gets for bonuses. It is an insane way to run a company- screw the guys who are actually making it all work and greedy corp america gets paid. And by the way- mechanics do not get to make decisions on what they begin to repair. They could not have changed those wore bundles without first getting direction from the Corp office. They go by a manual. Feeling better about flying with America's Largeest Airline? Greedy Corp America spells bad conditions for you and me."

STILL OPEN FOR VOTING: Home Depot vs Wellpoint, Wal-Mart vs Citibank, Capital One vs ATT, Sallie Mae vs eBay/Paypal, TransUnion vs Diebold, Best Buy vs CompUSA, DeBeers vs Verizon, Exxon vs United Airlines, Sony vs Ticketmaster, Comcast vs The American Arbitration Association

CEO Gerard "$15 Fee For Knowing My Middle Name" Arpey said:

"The airline industry as it is constituted today was not built to withstand oil prices at $125 a barrel, and certainly not when record fuel expenses are coupled with a weak U.S. economy," AMR Chairman and CEO Gerard Arpey said in a statement. "Our company and industry simply cannot afford to sit by hoping for industry and market conditions to improve.”

Well, damn.

American to begin charging for first checked bag [AP]

American Airlines to trim schedule, boost baggage fees [Dallas Morning News] (Thanks, Travis!)
(Photo: Zonaphoto )

This week, travel guy Christopher Elliott talks about the growing worthlessness of buddy passes—the travel vouchers airline employees get for family members, or unhappy customers sometimes get as a peace offering. For examples, "on American Airlines, it’s often less expensive to buy an advance-purchase ticket than to use a buddy pass, once you factor in all taxes and fees." And Continental will add a $100 to $400 surcharge per buddy pass starting this Monday, rendering the "perk" of a buddy pass entirely moot.

But wait. It gets better.

As a result of current market conditions, CO is no longer in a position to absorb additional fuel costs for the weight of a Buddy Pass rider’s second checked bag. Like non-elite revenue passengers, Buddy Pass riders will be assessed a $25 service charge for their second checked bag. When applicable, excess, overweight, and oversized baggage charges will still apply.

This is sending a clear message to Continental’s employees: Our elite frequent fliers are more important than your friends and family. What a shame.

So the next time some airline apologist points out that Gokhan Mutlu, the JetBlue toilet passenger, was flying on a buddy pass, it’s worth noting that these passes hardly pass for a perk anymore.

"You call that a perk? The truth about airline buddy passes" [Elliott.org]

RELATED
"JetBlue Forces Passenger To Sit On Toilet For Flight"
(Photo: Getty Images)

Gil was stuck in an American Airlines Admiral's Club for 5 hours waiting for his flight back to L.A., so he tried to access the South Park website to help pass the time. What he got instead was the screen here, saying that the site had been blocked because it's considered "tasteless." We've seen the same message at a Cosi restaurant in NYC. Thanks, companies, for protecting our delicate sensibilities! We're going to go get the vapors now.

Here's Gil's account:

I'm stuck in the Admiral's Club in Narita Airport for another 5 hours in Japan because AA cancelled my flight to LA. To kill time I figured I catch up on my South Park episodes and watch the last few shows. I type in www.southparkstudios and settle in for some quality comedy and satire, but then I get the attached message from AA's network nannies.
 
Tasteless? Who decided that? What makes this almost sublimely ironic is the picture of the naughty Japanese lady cop they use as an image for the blocking page. They apparently consider that tasteful.
 
I went through to see what else they block but couldn't find anything else. Apparently serial killing (Dexter), selling dope (Weeds), trashy evening soaps (Desperate Housewives), and crappy South Park wannabees (Family Guy) are considered acceptable.

Just for the hell of it, we went to the Fortinet website (fortiguardcenter.com) and requested a review of their classification on southparkstudios.com. Their drop-down list of possible categories for web content is amusing all by itself—it's a compendium of Things That People Take Offense At, from abortion to homosexuality to marijuana to tobacco.