American Airlines faces fines of up to $231,000 for unsafe work conditions that include fall hazards, electrical and fire hazards, hygiene issues, blocked exits and storage of oxygen and acetylene cylinders, according to the Chicago Tribune.
airports
Airports On High Alert After TSA Seizes Block Cheese
By 7.25.07
Logan security remains high as terror concerns are raised [Boston Globe] (Thanks to Dork Esquire!)
Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport: Secured for Only 19.5 Hours Per Day
By 7.23.07
Investigative reporters, using hidden camera footage, found that security at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport essentially shuts down for four and half hours a day. During that time, the TSA goes home, and airport security guards take over. Anyone with an employee badge walks through to the secure side of the airport. They could be carrying backpacks, duffel bags, or maybe even a shopping cart. It doesn’t get inspected.
Canceled Flights Up 133%
By 7.20.07
Why? Number of flights are up 14%. Essentially, we’re looking at a traffic jam in the air, and on the tarmac.
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.
Think Babies Are Annoying When Your Flight Is Delayed? How About Drunk Nick Nolte?
By 7.18.07
Nick Nolte’s flight was delayed at the Kauai airport, so he decided to roll around on the floor passing in and out of consciousness. At one point several of the other passengers had to help him put money in a vending machine.
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.
Air Traffic Control Blames Errors On Pilots To Fudge Safety Reports?
By 7.12.07
Trouble In The Air [MSNBC]
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.
5 Business That Were Nice to Us Lately
By 6.27.07
5) Anata Jones at the Hilton in Fort Wayne, IN made us an awesome omelet. She talked to the eggs and coaxed the omelet into folding perfectly without breaking.
TSA Detains Mother, Threatens Arrest Over Sippy Cup Full of Tap Water
By 6.14.07
UPDATE: TSA released video of the incident: TSA Denies “Sippy Cup” Incident, Creates “MythBusting” Website In Response
Yes Virginia, Scammers DO Use Stolen Credit Cards To Buy Airline Tickets
By 6.13.07
After reading some of the incredulous comments on, “Easy For Fraudsters To Fool E-Ticket Kiosks,” we asked a former identity thief whether fraudsters ever actually used stolen credit cards for airline tickets. He said:
Yes, people card them and yes its very risky, however people have made a killing doing it.
— BEN POPKEN
Easy For Fraudsters To Fool E-Ticket Kiosks
By 6.11.07
It would be really easy for someone to steal your credit card and buy and use an airplane ticket.
Airlines Build Delays Into Schedules
By 6.4.07
Why does it take 25 minutes longer to fly from New York to Los Angeles than it did 10 years ago? Did they move further apart? Nope. The airlines now build the delay into the flight schedule so its more likely that the flight will arrive “on time.”
Flying? Avoid New York And Its Huge Delays
By 5.29.07
“You sit on the runway all hours; the weather is fine, and there isn’t an unusual increase in the number of flights. Yet you sit and sit and sit,” he said.” An FAA spokesperson thinks Schumer is smoking some fine dope,
FAA spokesman Laura Brown acknowledged there have been more delays nationwide and in New York, but said increased flights, not a lack of flight controllers, were to blame.
SNL: Training The Crack TSA Team In The Fight Against Liquids
By 5.9.07
A decently humorous (a smile creaked on our craggy face) SNL skit underlining the absurdity of the TSA’s anti-liquid rules.
US Airways Hires 1,000 New Employees To Ignore Your Complaints
By 4.28.07
US Airways is attempting to restore its ailing customer service operation by hiring 1,000 employees ahead of the summer travel season. The airline also plans to replace 600 self-ticketing kiosks that did not work, with kiosks that work. A decision like that just had to come after a long study undertaken by a committee.
On board its airplanes, US Airways said it would improve the quality of its food-and-beverage offerings in all classes of services on both domestic and transatlantic flights, including offering more and better meals for sale in coach.
Perhaps most useful, the airline, which also posted a $34 million first quarter profit, promised to create ‘passenger operations centers’ that would monitor inbound flights for potential connection delays and send customer service representatives to meet affected passengers at the gate with rebooked flights and, if needed, meal and hotel vouchers. — CAREY GREENBERG-BERGER
