Travelers trying to fly to anywhere from anywhere on United this morning are being met with delays, confusion, and misinformation as a massive computer system outage has struck the airline. [More]
delays
United Flight Delayed In Belfast Because Of Crackers, Could Cost Airline $550,000
It’s amazing what a craving for a salty snack can do to people, like say, even divert an airplane. Or at least that’s the reason being given for a situation over the weekend in which nearly 300 United Airlines passengers crew members were stuck at a Belfast airport for nearly 24 hours. [More]
Spirit Confirms Delays & Cancellations Are Due To Weather, Not Strike
Earlier today we heard from several Spirit Airlines passengers who had been stranded at airports, sometimes for several days this week, for what they thought was an unofficial pilot strike. After hearing back from Spirit, the company has confirmed there is no strike. [More]
Passengers On Diverted United Airlines Flight Recall Sleeping On Cots At A Canadian Military Base
From time to time a fight is delayed, canceled or diverted for unforeseen reasons, leading to often annoying and unanticipated disruptions for travelers. Such was the case over the weekend when a United Airlines flight was diverted to a Canadian military base. But it wasn’t the unplanned change of course that left passengers unhappy with the airline, it was their only option for accommodations: a cold military base. [More]
Dozens Of American Airlines Flights Delayed Over Pilot iPad Glitch
Flights get delayed for any number of reasons: bad weather, crew members running late, mechanical problems and trouble with pilots’ iPads. Okay, that last one doesn’t seem routine, but American Airlines says that was exactly the reason why dozens of the airline’s flights were delayed Tuesday night. [More]
Airline Performance Slips; Virgin America Named No. 1 For Third Time In Annual Airline Survey
Many consumers have a love-hate relationship with airlines: We love that they get us from point A to point B faster than a car, but we hate all the little fees, the inevitable delays and the occasional lost bag. It looks like all that hate once again won out, as this year’s Airline Quality Rating Survey found performance declined across all customer-focused categories just a year after the industry’s best scores in 25 years. The only carryover from the hopeful 2013 report was Virgin America’s ranking as top airline for the third consecutive year. [More]
Alaska Airlines Flight Delayed After Passenger Is Stung By A Scorpion
Now that we’ve all finally gotten over the nightmarish scenario of snakes taking over a plane (well, we’re almost over it) there’s a new terror in the skies to occupy that spot in our fears: An Alaska Airlines passenger was stung by a scorpion aboard a flight to Portland, OR from Los Angeles just before the plane was set to take off. [More]
U.S. Airlines Were Tardy, Bumped More Passengers And Lost A Bunch Of Bags In 2014
There’s bad news, and then there’s the slightly less bad news: In 2014, passengers suffered as airlines were on-time less often, lost bags at a higher rate and bumped more people than the year before. But at least airlines canceled fewer flights, and there were fewer lengthy delays leaving travelers stranded on the tarmac, so there’s that. [More]
Southwest Fined $1.6M For Lengthy Tarmac Delays
Southwest Airlines is once again feeling the ire of federal regulators, as the Department of Transportation on Thursday imposed a $1.6 million fine against the airline for forcing passengers to stay on planes for hours at Chicago’s Midway airport in January 2014. [More]
Takata Allegedly Knew About Airbag Defect 10 Years Ago, Senators Urge Criminal Investigation
With 16 million vehicles recalled, a number of lawsuits and several investigations already underway related to defective Takata-produced airbags, lawmakers are urging the Department of Justice to open a criminal investigation into the Japanese auto parts maker following revelations that the company knew off issues four years prior to the first recall. [More]
FCC Pauses Review Of Both Media Mega-Mergers Because Content Companies Won’t Share Confidential Info
The slowly-turning wheel of the approvals process for two big media mergers has temporarily ground to a halt, as the FCC today announced delays in their reviews of both AT&T’s planned acquisition of DirecTV and also the Comcast/Time Warner Cable union. The delays in both proceedings stem from the same core issue: media content companies who don’t want their rivals to learn their secrets. [More]
AT&T Cuts My DSL Line In October 2012, Promises U-Verse That’s Still Not Here
Brie would like U-Verse service from AT&T. Well, that’s not quite true: she had DSL until five months ago, when she reports that the company disconnected it without notifying her first and said that they would be laying fiber and connecting her house soon. By “soon,” they meant “January.” Then they needed another six weeks. Six weeks later…well, that’s when she wrote to Consumerist, so you can guess how that turned out. AT&T isn’t really in a hurry to connect her to the Internet. [More]