It was only yesterday that we were bemoaning the fact that yet again, we had to call attention to a report of a man arrested for molesting a female passenger on a flight. Here we are today with another story — a different man and a different victim, but all too familiar allegations. [More]
airlines
This Is Why You Don’t Pack Rotting Food: Maggots Infest Plane’s Baggage Area
By 8.5.14
We know it’s tempting to squirrel away that food on the verge of rotting and bring it along on your next plane trip, you know, in case it’s still edible when you land. But anyone traveling on that same flight with you would really appreciate if you didn’t, you know, because going without your luggage while it’s de-maggoted is a big inconvenience. [More]
The $100 Carry-On Bag Fee & Other Airline Charges You Can Avoid
By 8.5.14
You can do all the research in the world, waiting for just the right time to get that airline ticket at the lowest possible price, only to later find out that you waited too long to pay for your checked bags, or that your luggage is too heavy, or a number of other things that can spoil your bargain airfare by tacking on ugly and unnecessary fees. [More]
United Airlines Forgets To Finish Letter About (SPECIFIC PROBLEM)
By 7.31.14
A few weeks ago, a passenger experienced some kind of problem with (MAJOR U.S. AIRLINE). She sent a complaint letter about this (SPECIFIC EVENT) and received a printed letter back. This letter made it clear that the person who sent the letter had forgotten to use (CUSTOMER RELATIONS MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE) to fill in the blanks, resulting in a Mad Libs apology of sorts. Naturally, the recipient posted it to (POPULAR SOCIAL MEDIA SITE). [More]
Airline: Sorry A Flight Attendant Told Passengers To Flush Their Drugs Before The Plane Lands
By 7.30.14
Australian discount airline Jetstar is busy apologizing after a crew member got on the PA system and told passengers they might want to flush any drugs they had on them before the plane landed in Sydney. This, because many travelers had just been at a music festival, and you know how kids are these days at those music festivals (they do drugs sometimes). [More]
New Hike In TSA Security Fee Means Higher Ticket Prices For Travelers
By 7.21.14
Next time you buy an airline ticket, you might notice it’s just a tad bit more expensive. That’s because the United States has a deficit to pay down, so it’s ordered the Transportation Security Administration to increase the security fee it charges each traveler. [More]
New Boeing 737 Will Cram 11 More Passengers Into Coach
By 7.16.14
While tall people generally have an advantage in athletics, romance, job-hunting, and attending concerts, there is at least one aspect of modern living for which it’s better to be shorter in stature — flying coach. But aircraft biggie Boeing is attempting to take even that one minor victory away from those of below-average height, by cramming additional rows of seats into its already jam-packed 737 seats. [More]
Feds Update, Expand Rules Covering How Airlines Report Their Animal-Safety Records
By 7.3.14
When you’re flying with your pet, sometimes it’s not possible to keep your beloved Mr. Saucypants in the plane cabin with you. But banishing him to the cargo hold below can be a daunting prospect, which is why U.S. regulators have expanded how many airlines must report on their animal-safety records. [More]
What Happens To Your Plane Ticket When There’s A Death In The Family?
By 7.1.14 — Updated: 2.12.17
There are all kinds of reasons why you might not be able to fly when you were planning to, or need to make a change in a scheduled itinerary. Unfortunately, one of those might be the death of a loved one. But now that most domestic airlines don’t offer special bereavement fares, many fliers find themselves dealing with airlines after they’ve already bought tickets to try to make changes. But because airlines don’t want just anyone to pull the “my grandma died,” often customers are finding the process of changing or canceling flights in these situations daunting, confusing, and well, a bit tacky. [More]
Delta Wants To Trademark “World’s Most Trusted Airline,” But Probably Shouldn’t
By 6.23.14
Do you trust Delta Air Lines? It won’t really matter if the carrier succeeds in convincing the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to approve Delta’s application for a trademark on that term. [More]
Proposed Rule Means Airlines Would Have To Be More Forthcoming With Fee Disclosures
By 5.21.14
Purchasing plane tickets can be a painstaking task. First, you comb through options to see what fits your schedule, then you search high and low for a price that meets your travel budget. But upon arriving at the airport you’re faced with fee after fee and pretty soon, that travel budget goes out the window. Those days might be over, however, now that the U.S. Transportation Department has proposed a new rule that would require airlines to directly disclose basic service fees. [More]
Airplane Food: From Multi-Course Meals To Warmed Up Bowls Of Something
By 5.20.14
Many travelers equate airplane food with hospital grub – they don’t want to eat either with a 10-foot fork, but will begrudgingly chow down when there are no other options. But it wasn’t always that way, and it likely won’t be that way forever, either. [More]
Small Airports Struggle To Survive, Lose Most Flight Options Over Last Decade
By 5.1.14
Between continued consolidation and rising fuel costs, the last decade has taken a toll on airlines catering to smaller markets. It shouldn’t be too surprising then that passengers are finding fewer available fights and seats when planning their travels from their small community airports. [More]
United Flight From NYC To D.C. Grounded After Security Finds Bomb Threat On Twitter
By 4.17.14
Earlier this week a Dutch teenager landed in hot water after sending a threatening tweet to American Airlines. While the teen says she was joking, the airline took the threat seriously, as it should have. After a number of copycat tweets, nearly all airlines have been keeping a close eye on social media. That vigilance resulted in a temporarily grounded United Airlines flight Wednesday evening. [More]
U.S. Airways: We’re Not Firing Staffer Who Tweeted Toy Plane Porn
By 4.15.14
This week got off to a hilarious start if you like corporate social media gaffes. US Airways is awfully embarrassed about the incident where they responded to a customer complaint with a photograph of a nude woman posed with a model plane lodged in her jetway. Contrary to our predictions, the airline says that posting the photo was “an honest mistake” and no one is getting fired. Someone might want to throw away that toy plane, though. [More]
Teenagers Decide New Cool Thing To Do Is Make Copycat Airline Bomb Threats On Twitter
By 4.15.14
I don’t envy teenagers — it’s just so hard to keep up with the coolest trends. Like are we still saying “for shizzle?” Are high fives acceptable? But if all your friends started tweeted fake bomb threats to American Airlines just because one Dutch girl did, would you throw yourself off that cliff, too? [More]
No Lime In Your In-Flight Vodka Tonic? Blame Bad Weather, Drug Cartels
By 4.8.14
Does your in-flight drink lack that certain something, a bit of citrus formerly provided by a lime? While I’m sorry for your loss, there are bigger problems than that out there, like drug cartels waging war with each other and natural disasters wreaking havoc with farmers’ crops. You can blame those issues for a temporary lime shortage that’s prompting many airlines to make do without lemon’s green sibling. [More]
Airlines Perform Worse, Passengers File Fewer Complaints
By 4.7.14
If you have very, very low standards, you’re seldom disappointed, right? That seems to be reason for Americans’ attitudes toward airlines. As an annual independent study of airlines’ relative crappiness shows that airlines are doing worse on quality measures like number of bags lost, number of flights that arrived on time, and other measures of things that can make flying a miserable experience. [More]
