In May, American Airlines changed its previous boarding procedures. No longer were coach travelers herded onto the plane starting with passengers in the rear rows. Instead, ticketholders were boarded in order of who checked in first. While this was designed to cut back on line-waiting at the gate, American cabin crews say it has done nothing but wreak havoc inside the plane. [More]
air travel
TSA Modifies Screening Of Young Children
By 6.22.11
After incidents like this pat-down of an infant at a Kansas City airport landed the Transportation Security Administration in a public relations mess, the head of the agency said this morning that TSA has changed its policies regarding the screening of small children. [More]
Spirit Airlines To Charge $5 To Print Your Boarding Pass For You
By 6.21.11
Bottom-dollar carrier Spirit Airlines is trying very hard to become the Ryanair of the U.S., announcing that it will soon begin charging travelers $5 to have a boarding pass printed by a Spirit staffer at the airport. [More]
Delta & McDonald's Are Big Losers In Customer Satisfaction Survey
By 6.21.11
Earlier today, the lovely folks at the American Customer Satisfaction Index released their latest data for airlines and fast food restaurants. And judging by the companies that came in last in each category, being the biggest doesn’t make you any better. [More]
Chef Gets By TSA Screeners At O'Hare With Four Huge Knives In His Bag
By 6.16.11
Another day, another example of the ineptitude of the TSA screeners at American airports. The latest news comes from an award-winning Chicago chef who says that while the screeners were busy worrying about the contents of his pockets, they completely missed an arsenal of knives in his carry-on. [More]
JetBlue Goofs On Rewards Points Offer, Decides To Honor It Anyway
By 6.16.11
Regular readers of Consumerist might remember a story from a few weeks back where US Airways sent out an e-mail telling customers they’d received 1,000 free airline miles, only to take them back a couple days later when the airline realized it was a mistake. Yesterday, JetBlue faced a similar problem, but decided to handle the situation slightly better. [More]
My Pet Got Less Legroom, Her Plane Ticket Still Cost More Than Mine
By 6.15.11
Mari and her dog recently traveled by air. While neither of them was lost, traumatized, or killed, Mari found it odd that her dog’s ticket cost more than hers. While Mari got a bargain on her ticket for $240 round trip, passage for her dog cost $125 each way. We assume that her dog is a great traveling companion and surely worth every penny, but the animal still had even less legroom than Mari, being confined to a bag inside the cabin. And she didn’t even get snacks. [More]
Newlyweds: TSA Ruined Our Honeymoon Over Bottle Of Contact Lens Solution
By 6.14.11
If the last decade has taught us two things it’s that Port Columbus International Airport in Ohio is a prime entry point for terrorists and that a bottle of saline merits a lengthy talking-to from the Transportation Security Administration. Oh, wait… scratch both of those. [More]
Delta's $952 Million In Baggage Fees Is More Than United And Continental Combined
By 6.13.11
The Department of Transportation released its final numbers for airline baggage fee revenue from 2010 and Delta has sent a very loud message to the rest of the industry: Y’all got a lot of catching up to do. [More]
Report: Using Your Phone Or iPod On A Plane May Actually Be Dangerous
By 6.10.11
If you’ve scoffed at the warnings not to use your cellphone or other “personal electronic devices” on airplanes, be warned: According to a new report, pilots and other airline staff have seen specific incidents where they believe interference from cellphones, iPods and other devices affected flight controls, navigation and other critical systems. [More]
Delta To Bring Outsourced Calls Back To U.S. But Not Add Any New Jobs
By 6.7.11
Delta Airlines recently announced that it had decided to move some of its outsourced call center operations out of South Africa and back to the U.S. But before anyone goes looking for a gig at Delta’s phone operations base in Dallas, the airline says it should be just fine with the staff it already has on hand. [More]
DOT Fines Continental For Not Disclosing Fuel Surcharge On Website
By 6.6.11
Fuel surcharges can add hundreds of dollars to the cost of a flight, a fact that travelers trying to buy tickets on Continental’s website weren’t finding out until after they had selected their itinerary. That’s why the Depart of Transportation has slapped the airline with a $120,000 fine. [More]
New Airport Scanner Could Have You Through Security In Only Seconds
By 6.6.11
Air travel authorities have begun showing off a new type of airport security scanner that would allow travelers to walk through a tunnel-like device without having to remove coats, belts, shoes or even hand over their carry-ons for separate screening. [More]
Tips For Avoiding In-Flight Fisticuffs
By 6.3.11
Earlier this week, a dispute over a reclined seat on board a United Airlines flight escalated to the point where fighter jets were brought in. But just because you’re trapped inside a flying metal tube along with hundreds of other tense, tired passengers doesn’t mean you have to give in to air rage. [More]
Delta Discontinues Discount For Paying Bag Fees Online
By 6.2.11
Since Delta began charging fees for checked bags — $25 for the initial piece on domestic flights; $35 for a second — the airline has been offering $2-3 discounts to travelers who prepaid those fees online instead of at the airport. Not anymore. [More]
When Is A Free Ticket Not Free? When There Is A $350 Fuel Surcharge
By 5.31.11
Even though it’s become increasingly easy to amass rewards travel points on most major airlines, it’s not only gotten more difficult to cash in those points for free tickets, those “free” tickets could end up costing you hundreds in taxes and fuel surcharges. [More]
Delta Offers Refund, Explanation For Dog Cargo Confusion
By 5.27.11
This is Scruffy the dog. Last week his human, Evelyn, wrote to us about her problems with Delta shipping Scruffy as cargo instead of baggage, not letting her know where he was, and charging an extra $391 at the airport to fly 50-pound Scruffy from New York to Los Angeles. In her letter to Delta, Evelyn said that she would be informing everyone she knows not to use Delta, since it is “most certainly neither a safe nor convenient carrier for pets.” Now, at least, Delta has explained to Evelyn what went wrong, and she’ll be receiving a refund for the full $591 in dog-shipping fees. It doesn’t sound like Evelyn and Scruffy are in a hurry to fly Delta again soon, though. [More]
TSA Forgets To Tell Police It's Running A Bomb Test, Hilarity Ensues
By 5.19.11
One of the keys to running a successful test of a TSA agent’s ability to detect a bomb in a traveler’s suitcase is to give the heads-up to the authorities that a drill is being run. That way, when — or rather if — the screener finds the device in question, their call to the police won’t have the cops drawing their guns in the middle of an airport. [More]
