The lighter ban’s lifting bodes well for the TSA become slightly less a giant waste of time and money, but did you know that they’ve actually wanted this for some time? In June, 2006, TSA chief Kip Hawley was quoted in USA Today as saying:
airlines
You're Less Likely To Die In A Plane Crash If You Sit In The Back
By 7.20.07
In a plane crash, the seats in the back are the safest, Popular Mechanics statistical analysis of three decades of airplane crackups finds:
For several weeks, we poured [sic] over reports filed by NTSB crash investigators, as well as seating charts that showed where each passenger sat and whether they lived or died. We then calculated the average fore-and-aft seating position of both survivors and fatalities for each crash. We also compared survival rates in four sections of the aircraft.
Populists may harvest some pleasure from the fact that First Class passengers are paying a premium for an increased 20% likelihood that they will die when the airplane plummets to the earth.
Cigarette Lighters To Be Allowed Back On Airplanes
By 7.20.07
Starting August 4, cigarette lighters will no longer be banned from airplanes, according to the New York Times. The two-year-old rule was enacted after authorities claimed that the shoe bomber (Richard Reid) might have managed to detonate his feet if he’d had a lighter instead of matches.
9 Airline's CEO Email Addresses, And Other Useful Complaint Resolution Contact Info
By 7.18.07
Travler’s friend site Elliot.org has these great customer service “cheat sheets” to help you if you have a dispute with your airline. CEO contact info, how to hack their phone trees, email addresses, phone numbers, mailing addresses, it’s all there.
What's A Greater Threat To Airline Security?
By 7.17.07
Gawker Media polls require Javascript; if you’re viewing this in an RSS reader, click through to view in your Javascript-enabled web browser.
Mood In Airport Security Line Found Tense
By 7.17.07
The Today Show’s report on TSA procedures is mainly a bunch of crap everyone knows already, but we decided to edit together all the passenger interviews from the story to give a little dose of the current passenger mood regarding security lines. Takeaway: they hate them and would like to be able to bring on baby formula to feed their children.
Woman Sues Spirit Airlines In Small Claims Court And Wins
By 7.17.07
Jane Waun sued Spirit Airlines in the small claims division of 54B District Court in East Lansing, Mich., as a last resort this spring after trying unsuccessfully to resolve her beef with the airline directly.
World's Longest Non-Stop Flights
By 7.16.07
If you’re traveling from Newark, NJ to Singapore… bring a book. You’ll be in the air for almost 19 hours on the longest flight in the world, according to Forbes magazine. Long-haul flights have become more common in the last 6 years, Forbes says, “There were 866 scheduled flights between Hong Kong International Airport and the U.S. or Canada in July 2001 vs. 1,000 scheduled for July 2007.”
Online Travel Sites Waive Booking Fees To Compete With Airlines
By 7.15.07
Several travel sites are scrapping booking fees to keep customers away from individual airline sites. Savvy customers currently research fares with travel sites, and then buy directly from airlines to avoid booking fees.
“Hotwire.com announced this week that it would drop its $6-a-ticket charge for airline reservations on both its “opaque” reservations (the bargain-priced fares that don’t let you know exactly what flight you’ve booked until after you’ve paid) and regular bookings through summer. Last week, Priceline.com announced it was suspending booking charges on regular airfares through Labor Day. (The deal excludes its opaque, name-your-own-price fares.) Fees range from $5 a domestic ticket to up to $9.95 for an international reservation.
Witnesses Describe Toddler And Mom Getting Kicked Off Continental Flight
By 7.13.07
The flight attendant’s motivation for removing the Mom and toddler is still not clear to us. Will this mystery ever end?
Don't Fly Out Of JFK In The Afternoon
By 7.13.07
newVideoPlayer(“jfk_delays_gawker.flv”, 475, 376);The Today Show says that the overturing of a federal law limiting afternoon departures has lead to extreme flight delays and pileups at JFK in NY. Guess you wanna try and fly out of there in the morning or at night.
Should Airlines Offer More Family Friendly Flights As Well As Adults Only Flights?
By 7.12.07
All these people getting kicked off airplanes for not controlling their bratty spawn…or is it just mean airlines who hate their customers because they have babies…? We don’t know. What’s an airline to do?
Air Traffic Control Blames Errors On Pilots To Fudge Safety Reports?
By 7.12.07
Trouble In The Air [MSNBC]
Mom And Toddler Kicked Off Continental Flight For Talking Too Much
By 7.12.07
A passenger on a Continental ExpressJet flight from Houston to Oklahoma City says she was removed from the flight because her toddler would not stop repeating the phrase, “Bye, bye plane.”
Airport Scales Are Often Innacurate
By 7.11.07
Many airlines are charging travelers for having overweight bags, but a KNVX investigation found that 90% of the scales were malcalibrated. And when they accompanied an Arizona Department of Weights and Measures inspection of United Airlines scales, they found all but one to have errors.
Delta Blames Seven-Hour Flight Delay On "Decades-Old Radar And Analog Air Traffic Control System"
By 7.10.07
Delta customer and Consumerist reader Rebekah emailed Delta over concerns about recent and extreme airline delays, threatening to cancel her Delta American Express and taking her miles with her. We’ll let it and the Delta Customer Care reply speak for themselves…
By 7.10.07
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“Mileage Runners” try to get as many frequent flyer miles as possible by planning flights with as many connections as possible. [Wired via BoingBoing]
JetBlue Pilot Refuses To Return To Gate, Fights To Keep Flight From Cancellation
By 7.9.07
“Hello, I’ve been seeing all these negative stories about airlines on your site, and I just thought I would share 1 positive one. Well, I have been flying jetblue since 2001, even before they had the TV’s installed in their planes For years, I have taken jetblue only, but recently they have been pretty hit or miss, really disappointing.
