Thanks to the prevalence of social media, news spreads farther than it used to. Some of what’s going on out there is awful and sad, but there are also bright spots to be found. Like the story of a Southwest Airlines flight attendant who went above and beyond to comfort a young passenger who was scared to fly. [More]
airlines
Southwest Airlines Passenger Thanks “Selfless” Flight Attendant For Comforting Her Daughter
By 7.11.16
NTSB Investigating After Delta Flight Lands At The Wrong Airport
By 7.8.16
Delta Air Lines passengers may have been a bit confused last night, when their flight landed at the wrong airport in South Dakota. The National Transportation Safety Board is now investigating to figure out how the heck that happened. [More]
DOT Gives 8 U.S. Airlines Approval For Scheduled Passenger Flights To Havana
By 7.7.16
A few weeks after the U.S. Department of Transportation gave airlines its blessing to start regularly scheduled passenger flights to nine Cuban cities, the government is adding Havana to that list of destinations for eight U.S. airlines. [More]
Use Of 3D Scans On Carry-On Bags Could Reduce TSA Wait Times By 30%
By 7.5.16
For much of the spring and beginning of the summer, the Transportation Security Administration and airlines have worked — and spent millions of dollars — to alleviate long lines at security checkpoints at the nation’s airports. Today, the agency unveiled two additional measures to speed things along: computed tomography (CT) scanners to inspect carry-on bags and automated checkpoints. [More]
Airlines Could Start Running Out Of New Pilots By Decade’s End
By 6.29.16
For years, regional airlines, government agencies, and pilot groups have warned that new regulations, higher costs of school, and lower salaries had led to a shortage of pilots that could affect the number of flights smaller carriers are able to offer. It now appears that this scarcity of youngsters hoping to someday take flight could result in airlines beginning to run out of pilot in as few as three years. [More]
Spirit Airlines Wants To Make Up For Being Awful By Trying To Be More Punctual
By 6.27.16
Budget carrier Spirit Airlines, known for its low levels of customer satisfaction, is trying to take all those frowns and turn them upside down. One way the airline’s new leader is attempting to make customers happier? Actually getting planes to their destinations in a more timely manner. [More]
T-Mobile Thinks A Free Hour Of Inflight WiFi Is The Price of Your Love
By 6.23.16
What does it take to get your heart rate up? Candy? Flowers? Or perhaps free WiFi? That’s the route to romance T-Mobile is taking, offering everyone — including non-customers — an hour of complimentary Gogo WiFi on domestic flights this weekend. [More]
Man Gets Entire Plane To Himself After Fellow Travelers Catch Other Flights
By 6.23.16
It’s not every day that the average traveler has an entire row of seats to take over, much less an entire plane. But one Delta passenger flying home this week got to experience the sweet sensation of being the only person on his flight when his fellow travelers opted to take other flights. [More]
Man Accused Of Groping Unaccompanied Minor On American Airlines Flight
By 6.20.16
Yet again, we find ourselves in the unfortunate situation of having to write about an airline passenger accused of inappropriately touching another person on their flight. In the case of a recent incident reported on an American Airlines flight, a man allegedly groped a 13-year-old girl traveling alone. [More]
IBM Teaming Up With GoGo To Help Airplane Pilots Avoid Turbulence In Real Time
By 6.17.16
If the word “turbulence” has you grabbing your chair in fear at the mere thought of a bumpy, rollicking airplane ride, there could be relief in sight. IBM has teamed up with in-flight WiFi company GoGo to provide pilots and dispatchers with real-time turbulence reports and alerts. [More]
Alaska Airlines Might Not Drop Virgin America Name After Merger
By 6.15.16
Two months after Alaska Airlines put $4 billion on the table and bought up Virgin America, the soon-to-be fifth largest airline operating in the U.S. is spilling the beans — kind of — about its future, and that might include keeping the recently purchased carrier’s name. [More]
American Airlines CEO: Carrier Consolidation Means The Industry “Won’t See Losses Again”
By 6.14.16
Times used to be, airlines were so busy fighting each other for passengers, they ended up losing money instead of making it. But American Airlines CEO Doug Parker says things are different now that many of the major carriers have merged: huge losses are a thing of the past, Parker thinks, predicting smooth skies for the big airlines from here on out. [More]
Minneapolis Man Sues TSA For $500 Over Missed Flight
By 6.13.16
For the better part of the spring, airlines, airports, and federal regulators have received the ire of consumers who say they have waited in endless security checkpoints. The back and forth between these groups and travelers has now reached another level: litigation, as one passenger has filed a federal lawsuit seeking to recoup the cost of a ticket for a flight he missed due to excessive wait times at security. [More]
Ryanair Getting Into The Hotel Business?
By 6.10.16
Could Ryanair be the Amazon of air travel? If the company’s executives have their say, the answer is a resounding “yes.” The cheapo European airline is taking steps to reach that goal with plans to launch an accommodation service for the destinations it flies in and out of. [More]
DOT Gives U.S. Airlines The Go-Ahead To Start Scheduled Service To 9 Cuban Cities (But Not Havana Yet)
By 6.10.16
After waiting for more than 50 years to carry passengers from the U.S. to Cuba, airlines stateside have gotten the final go-ahead from the Department of Transportation to begin scheduled service to nine cities on the island nation — not including Havana. [More]
American Airlines Flight Attendant Tells Passenger To “Shut Up” In Spat Over Service
By 6.9.16
We’ve seen passengers and airline workers exchange heated words before, often over things like seating assignments or attire. But a fight between an American Airlines flight attendant and a passenger on a recent flight all boiled down to one thing: pasta. [More]
Would You Sign Up For TSA PreCheck If It Was Cheaper?
By 6.2.16
The Transportation Security Administration continues to try to wriggle itself out of the tough spot it’s found itself in, with passengers, airlines, lawmakers, and airport officials chiming in on excessively long wait times at security checkpoints in our nation’s airports. In an effort to cut down those lines, the agency has been trying to push more people to enroll in its PreCheck Program — but is the cost keeping travelers from signing up? [More]
Even Ryanair Thinks Having 108 Separate Baggage Fees Might Be A Little Excessive
By 6.2.16
My, how the times have changed. Ryanair, an airline that once prided itself on tacking extra costs onto fares every which way imaginable, has decided to trim up it image a bit, and is cutting down its collection of baggage fees from 108 — yes, you read that right — to just six. [More]
