Reader Anil sent us this post that adapts Sun Tzu‘s The Art of War for battles at the airport ticket counter.
flights
American Airlines Takes Passenger For Rides In All The Wrong Ways
By 8.3.09
Kim is less than enamored of her recent American Airlines flights. Late arrivals made her miss connecting flights, her baggage decided to branch out and travel on its own for a while, all because she missed a different flight a couple days earlier:
US Airways Realizes Destination Airport Is Closed, Cancels Flight Mid-Air
By 7.24.09
A reader wrote into let us know that his US Airways flight from Charlotte, North Carolina to Charleston, South Carolina was forced to turn back when, fifteen miles outside of their destination, the pilot realized that the airport closed at midnight.
Chinese Discount Airline To Sell Standing Room Tickets
By 7.5.09
Spring Airlines, a discount Chinese carrier, plans to ask the government for permission to sell standing room tickets. The plan will likely win approval, since Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Dejiang was recently quoted as saying: “for a lower price, passengers should be able to get on a plane like catching a bus, with no seat, no luggage consignment, no food, no water, but very convenient.”
RyanAir: Bye Bye, Checked Bags And Airport Check-In. Hello, Gambling!
By 6.28.09
RyanAir this week announced that they will soon eliminate all airport check-in counters and require passengers to carry-on their luggage. Starting early next year, passengers will need to schlep their bags through airport security and drop them at the steps of the plane for checking into plane’s cargo hold. Once aboard though, there will be gambling!
Southwest Is Coming To LaGuardia. Hello, Price War!
By 6.27.09
Starting tomorrow, Southwest will fly out of New York‘s LaGuardia airport, which hopefully means that flying between New York, Boston, Chicago, and Washington is about to get a whole lot cheaper.
Persistence Convinces Continental To Abandon Impossible Itinerary
By 6.21.09
Continental thought 82 minutes was plenty of time for Chris to catch a flight connecting in Newark from Washington to Delhi. It might be, but Continental’s own data show that the Washington flight arrives late 96% of the time by 103 minutes on average. Chris wanted to switch to an earlier flight so he could make the once-daily plane to Delhi, but Continental wouldn’t let him switch unless he paid a $250 change fee. Unsatisfied with the answer, Chris hung up and kept calling back until he got the answer he wanted.
Delta Is Going To Flip Out If You Wear A Neck Brace In The Emergency Exit Aisle
By 6.14.09
Ned wears a neck brace when he flies, not because he’s injured or disabled, but because he prefers it to one of those floofy neck pillows. This didn’t sit well with a Delta flight attendant who was intent on keeping disabled-looking folks out of the emergency exit aisle. The attendant wouldn’t leave Ned alone, even after Ned demonstrated his range of mobility and explained that the brace was from a minor car accident thirty-three years ago. Ned managed to hold onto his seat after a chat with the senior flight attendant, but the original flight attendant later came back, “got in [Ned’s] face ñ literally, just inches away” and complained that Ned had “bucked his authority.”
This Southwest Airlines Flight Attendant Is Really Concerned About Your Sugar Intake
By 5.29.09
Of all the weird encounters to have on an airplane, we never would have expected to have a flight attendant point out just how bad a full can of soda is for you. That’s what happened to Laura, though.
U.S. Airways Gives Away Passenger's Seat, Lies About Her Being Late
By 5.21.09
It sounds like someone at Ronald Reagan National Airport decided to solve an overbooking problem by cheating Frankie’s girlfriend out of her flight, and then someone else there decided to blame her for it. Despite arriving at the airport before 7pm for a 7:35pm flight, they insisted to her that she’d missed the 30-minute cutoff and lost her seat.
Ride For Free On Jet Blue (If You Can Get Yourself "Trapped" In The Cargo Hold)
By 4.2.09
A Jet Blue employee hitched a free flight from JFK Airport in NYC to Logan Airport in Boston this past weekend, after getting trapped in the cargo hold before takeoff. Police aren’t charging him with a crime, but they told the Boston Globe that, “Even after talking to him, we were a little uncertain as to how it happened.” He apparently called the company from the cargo hold once the plane was in the air—which is exactly what we would do to deflect suspicion in a scheme like this. Tokyo, here we come via new part-time job as a baggage handler!
Polite Complaint Letter To Delta Earns Passenger 5,000 Extra Miles
By 2.14.09
A glitch in Delta’s website bumped Jesse’s return date up by a month, which sort of interfered with his travel plans when he showed up at the airport to check in. Here’s the complaint letter he sent to Delta, and their response.
Virgin Atlantic Asks Complaint Writer To Be Taste Tester
By 1.28.09
The man who wrote the long, funny complaint letter to Richard Branson about the level of suck on his recent Virgin Atlantic flight has been asked to “come to the airline’s catering house next month, to help select the food on future Virgin flights.” Yeah, we know that it’s a publicity stunt, but an entertaining one. We hope the customer agrees, and hates the new food just as much. In fact, we wish he’d replace Toby Young on Top Chef; the dead hamster line would be a pretty good put-down on that show.
Southwest's "Credit Cards Only" Policy Increases Sales By 8%
By 10.1.08
Here’s the real reason for an airline to switch to credit-card-only sales on board its flights: people spend more. Southwest Airlines’ customer service veep, Daryl Krause, told the Dallas Morning News that “since Southwest began accept credit cards (and no longer taking cash) on Sept. 9, its drink sales are up about 8 percent.” Since in general “the goal was one more drink sale per flight,” we wonder whether that wasn’t the real reason for going cashless all along.
Spirit: Now With Mind-Numbing In-Cabin Advertising
By 9.20.08
Kick open the exit doors and release the inflatable slides, Spirit is outfitting their entire fleet with cabin-saturating ads. Billed as Spirit’s “latest innovation,” the ads will litter “seat backs, window shades, overhead bins, tray tables, drink carts, napkins, cups, menus (what menus?) boarding passes, trash bags, soap dispensers,” and probably even barf bags.
Continental Confuses California With NYC?
By 9.12.08
[Update: Several commenters have pointed out that “Ontario, CA” actually refers to Ontario, California, which is near L.A. And to be fair to the OP, we’re the ones who misinterpreted Ontario, not her. We’ve updated the post. Also, check out Fly Girl’s insider explanation as to what likely happened.]
Continental canceled one leg of Lesley’s flight from NYC to California without notice—she only discovered it when she went online to check that everything was okay this morning. What’s worse, however, is the alternative flight plan they proposed, which would have her going from NYC to Houston to California and immediately back to Houston to NYC again, depositing her 20+ hours later in Newark, New Jersey—where we presume a gang of Continental employees will be waiting for Lesley at the gate to beat the crap out of her with confiscated water bottles. East Coast hates West Coast, Lesley!
U.S. Airways: Abandoning Passengers "Is Not A Compensation Issue"
By 8.31.08
“In order to ensure that all carriers remain focused on safety, aviation regulations do not require airlines to pay compensation for consequential expenses because of delayed or canceled flights.”
Airlines Have Bumped 343,000 Passengers This Year
By 8.23.08
Over a quarter-million passengers were bumped from flights in the past eight months, a number that is set to grow as airlines try to boost anemic profits by slashing fleets. The Department of Transportation requires airlines to compensate bumped passengers with cash or vouchers, but savvy passengers can leverage their situation to negotiate heftier payments…
