Earlier this week, a 2-year-old boy drowned out preflight announcements on a Southwest Airlines flight with his screams of “I want Daddy!” and “Go, plane, go!” So the airline kicked the child and his mother off the plane.
air travel
Your Plane Is Probably On Time, Thanks To The Recession
By 10.11.09
The good news, according to a recent report by the Brookings Institution? For the last few years, air travel delays have decreased and travel has become almost bearable. The bad news? That’s because of the decrease in travel due to the recession, and economic recovery will mean more delays. Yay.
More Airlines Add $10 Travel Surcharge To More Holidays
By 10.10.09
Since consumers didn’t whine too much about the addition of $10 “just because” fees airlines imposed on busy travel days, they’ve added fees on more days. Goody for us!
RyanAir Business Plan: Low Fares, Soaring Fees
By 9.11.09
Ireland’s discount airline RyanAir wants to be known as the “Tesco of the skies.” (Think “flying Walmart.”) The metaphor would apply beautifully if Tesco also charges you a 25 cent unpeeling fee on a 35-cent banana. In the last few years, RyanAir’s “ancillary” revenue, or money raked in from fees, has reached £548 million ($914 million USD).
You Can't Bend Your Knee? Here, We're Bumping You To Coach
By 6.18.09
What does it take for an airline to retain customers these days? Here’s a tip: given the graying of America, try not treating elderly people with medical emergencies like crap. Livejournal user urzepatriz details how American Airlines added insult to his or her grandfather’s injury. Literally. By bumping him to coach on a cross-country flight after an injury sustained during the trip required major surgery and left him unable to bend his knee.
Continental Offers Free Flights, Frequent-Flyer Status To Misrouted Child's Family
By 6.16.09
Continental Airlines has made a much more generous offer to the family whose ten-year-old daughter was accidentally flown to Newark instead of Cleveland while flying as an unaccompanied minor. Paterfamilias and blogger Jonathan Kamens wrote that a Continental rep “assured [him] again that the airline takes what happened very seriously.” The details of Continental’s offer, inside.
Continental Puts 10-Year-Old Child On The Wrong Plane
By 6.15.09
Sure, airlines misroute luggage all the time. But how about misrouting a ten-year-old girl to the wrong state?
One Man's Publicity Stunt Is Another's Vision Of Hell
By 6.5.09
I mentioned comedian and filmmaker Mark Malkoff in passing in a post about Starbucks last week, not knowing that he would embark on a new project this week. He’s making a career out of bizarre feats of consumer endurance, such as visiting all 171 Manhattan Starbucks outlets in one day, and living in the Paramus, NJ IKEA for a week. Now, as part of a campaign to publicize AirTrain’s new in-flight wi-fi, he’s living on an AirTran plane for 30 days and posting his adventures on the Internet. Yes. That’s an entire month. Most of which will probably be spent on the tarmac in Atlanta.
No More Flight Booking Fees On Expedia.com
By 5.28.09
Expedia has finally joined its rival online travel sites in eliminating air travel booking fees. Back in March, the site eliminated the fees on a temporary basis, but now the lack of fees is permanent. They will still charge a $20 fee to book flights over the phone.
Air Travel Is Getting Cheaper Because No One Is Flying
By 2.25.09
Prices are coming down as demand weakens, so if you were thinking of taking a flight — now might be a good time to start shopping for tickets.Southwest Airlines and AirTran have both announced fare cuts and the LA Times says that traffic is down 31% at LA/Ontario International Airport as ExpressJet, United Airlines, Delta Airlines, Southwest Airlines and JetBlue Airways have eliminated or slashed service. With that in mind, here are three shopping tools we like…
4 Ways To Cope With Frustrating Airline Cutbacks
By 8.25.08
What should you do when your airline calls to let you know that they’ve decided to randomly cancel your flight? Travel guru Christopher Elliott gives us the following nightmare scenario:
Ruxin: TB Bigger Problem Than Just That Groom
By 6.15.07
Josh Ruxin, the Assistant Clinical Professor of Public Health at Columbia, says that although only 17 people in the US have come down with Multidrug Resistant TB in the last seven years, it is a huge problem throughout Africa.
