We’ve told you before about travel club scammers who send out notices claiming that you’ve won free trips from Travelocity or travel vouchers from airlines that sound like they exist (but don’t). The airlines have always responded to these stories by saying they would have their lawyers look into these types of scams, but at least two major carriers are actually doing something about it. [More]
american airlines
American Airlines Fares Back On Orbitz After Everyone Agrees To Kiss And Make Up
By 9.2.14
Feathers were flying, dust was stirred up and a general hullabaloo was underway when American Airlines and US Airways announced last week that they’d be pulling fares off travel booking site Orbitz.com. But now the tiff is over almost as quickly as it began, as the two sides have agreed to get back together. [More]
Can’t We Just Get Along? Yet Another Flight Diverted Because Passengers Argue Over Reclining Seat
By 8.29.14
There appears to be a new trend taking over the skies, and it’s one we certainly can not get behind. For the second time this week a U.S. operated flight was diverted because of a disruption over reclining seats. [More]
American Airlines, US Airways Remove Fares From Orbitz Amid Booking Fee Feud
By 8.26.14
American Airlines and Orbitz are giving consumers a bit of deja vu today: Three years after the two companies participated in a standoff over flight fees, they’re back at it and American has once again removed its listings from the travel booking site. [More]
PlayStation Network Crashes, Hackers Make Bomb Threat Against Plane Carrying Sony Exec
By 8.25.14
After claiming responsibility for a denial-of-service attack that took down the Sony PlayStation network, a group of hackers tweeted that there was a bomb onboard an American Airlines flight carrying the president of Sony Online Entertainment, John Smedley. That plane was diverted, and all passengers on it safely removed. [More]
It Just Got More Expensive For Older Youths To Fly Solo With American Airlines
By 8.22.14
Older tweens flying solo on American Airlines and hoping for a bit more independence can kiss those dreams goodbye. The latest American/US Airways merger-related policy update for the airline involves increasing the age for which unaccompanied minors must pay to be supervised.
[More]
American Airlines Cutting First Class Meals For Shorter Flights
By 8.5.14
It always seemed a bit silly and extravagant to me that first class travelers received full meals, even on short flights. But when you pay so much to sit in that VIP section, you have to get something better than just more legroom and nicer flight attendants. Alas, now that American and US Airways have merged, it’s time for the couple to start getting rid of stuff they don’t think they’ll need for the future together — and that includes food for all top-dollar passengers on short flights. [More]
FAA Halts All U.S. Flights To Israel For 24 Hours Due To Missile Concerns
By 7.22.14
The FAA has just issued an order prohibiting U.S. air carriers from flying into Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport for the next 24 hours. [More]
American Airlines Flight Diverted, Passenger Removed, For Using Vague “Electronic Device”
By 7.11.14
Passengers on an American Airlines flight from Newark to Dallas made an unexpected pit stop in St. Louis on Thursday night after the crew removed one traveler for what was deemed a suspicious use of an electronic device. [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]
American Airlines Tells Parents To Not Put Baby In Safety Seat Because It Will Delay Takeoff
By 6.24.14
I probably fly about as much as the average American adult, but even in my modest travels I’ve had some odd, seemingly nit-picky reasons for takeoff delays — a broken coffee machine, a toilet that didn’t have enough “blue juice” in the tank and had to be manually filled — that held up the flight for 30 minutes or more. But the crew of an American Airlines commuter plane recently determined that taking a minute to ensure the safety of a baby was less important than avoiding an FAA fine for a late departure. [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]
Yes, Tweeting “Jokes” To An Airline About “Doing Something Big” Can Get You Arrested
By 4.14.14
Although sometimes it can feel like engaging in social media is akin to shouting into a bottomless pit and no one is really listening, you better be sure that if you claim to be part of a terrorist group planning “something” big and tweet that to a major airline, well, someone’s going to hear you. And maybe put you in jail. [More]
Spirit Airlines: The Most Complained-About Carrier In The U.S.
By 4.10.14
Yes, we’ve repeatedly made fun of delusional Spirit Airlines CEO Ben Baldanza for his claim that his company is the “most consumer-friendly” airline around, especially when it comes in dead-last in traveler opinion surveys and is the only U.S. carrier to make a recent list of the world’s worst airlines. And a new study confirms that Spirit’s passengers are several times more likely to complain than passengers on any other domestic carrier. [More]
American Airlines, US Airways Merger Means New Policies, More Baggage Fees
By 4.8.14
Change is inevitable in a new relationship, and often one partner will give a little more than the other. That appears to be the case with the $17.7 billion American Airlines and US Airways merger. To better align with its new partner, American announced today it’s making more changes; this time to its baggage fees and frequent-flier rule. [More]
Latest Worst Company Voting Results Confirm: People Hate Banks
March 27, 2014
After a brief breather, it was back to pummeling the living heck out each other for the remaining contenders in this year’s Worst Company In America tournament. And even though the nation’s largest airline and biggest fast food chain looked like they might have had what it takes to challenge for the Golden Poo, one has to always remember an ages-old truth: People just plain hate banks. [More]
American Airlines Baggage Delivery Receipt Calls Couple ‘Deaf And Dumb’
By 3.27.14
It’s hard to imagine anything that could sour the vacation-high experienced after a beautiful, relaxing trip to Hawaii. Lost luggage? No big deal, we’ll patiently wait for it. But a hurtful, insensitive note attached to said luggage when it returns? That’s grounds to never use the airline again says a deaf Houston couple. [More]
Facebook Gets The Thumbs-Up From Haters, Takes Final Spot In Worst Company Not-So-Sweet 16
March 26, 2014
After more than a week of bloodshed, half of the contenders that dared to dip their toes into the Worst Company wading pool (stocked with laser-equipped piranha and some ill-tempered guppies) have been carried out in Consumerist-branded body bags. The 16 fighters that remain are bruised, but not broken, and one of them will soon be crowned with the coveted Golden Poo. [More]
