Alaska Airlines is blaming a “communication breakdown” for an embarrassing incident that resulted in a 51-year-old cancer patient and her family being removed from a plane to San Jose, CA, by an employee who said the woman could not fly unless she had a note from her doctor. [More]
the unfriendly skies
American Airlines Super Sorry About Leaving Passenger On Hold For 6 Hours
By 3.3.15
If you’ve tried to fly this winter, chances are you’ve hit some weather-related delays or cancelations and ended up in line or on the phone waiting to speak to someone who could help you out. But odds are that you didn’t wait as long as the one Florida woman who spent six hours trapped on hold with American Airlines. [More]
JetBlue’s Justification For Baggage Fees Demonstrates The Sad State Of Airline Industry
By 2.24.15
Late last year, JetBlue announced that it too would be kowtowing to investors’ demands and start charging fees for checked bags. This news did not go over well with many of the airlines’ customers, but JetBlue believes people will get over it… because they really have no other choice. [More]
American Airlines Leaves Travelers Stranded Around Globe Without Luggage
By 2.23.15
Beyond just getting you through security and into your seat on the plane, there are a lot of systems that have to work together to get a flight off the ground with all its passengers and all their stuff. But when one important system went down at a major airport on Friday, American Airlines decided to fly a bunch of planes without luggage rather than delay or cancel flights. [More]
Senator Calls For Investigation Into Why Airfares Increase While Costs Sink
By 12.15.14
Oil prices are down, airlines are profitable, but ticket prices aren’t going down and some carriers are still adding fuel surcharges. Thus, New York Senator Chuck Schumer has called for a federal investigation into why we’re all paying so dang much for air travel. [More]
Is This Simple Device The Peacemaker For The Armrest Wars?
By 12.8.14
Until now, the best available solution for ending the war over shared armrests involved a complete redesign of theater seats. It’s a novel, but impractical idea that also fails to address the armrest jockeying that goes on every day on plains and trains. One new, elegantly simple idea, aims to end this war by equally divvying up the forearm real estate. [More]
Passenger Arrested For Groping, Kissing, Putting Headlock On Flight Attendants
By 10.30.14
A Delta Air Lines passenger on board a flight from Atlanta to Denver apparently didn’t get the memo that the days of people looking the other way while you sexually harass a flight attendant are far in the past. Furthermore, if you double-up on your creepy actions by messing with two (2) attendants — and you put one of them in a headlock while trying to kiss her — you’re going to be arrested when that plane lands. [More]
United Airlines Reply Robot Returns, Responds To Complaint By “Mr. Human”
By 10.1.14
The fill-in-the-blank customer service robot that gave us the heartfelt letter apologizing to (CUSTOMER NAME) for (SPECIFIC EVENT) has returned — and like all sequels, this time… it’s personal. [More]
This Is Getting Old: Another Flight Diverted Over Reclining Seat Spat
By 9.2.14
First it was that United flight where a passenger used an illegal device to prevent the person in front of them from reclining. Then an air marshal on an American Airlines flight arrested a traveler who wouldn’t give up on his complaint about the woman in front of him putting her seat back. Delta now continues this trend, diverting a flight that was almost at its destination because one passenger thought her tray table was for napping. [More]
Delta Hands Over 7-Year-Old Passenger To Wrong Person
By 8.22.14
Delta has got some explaining to do. Not only did the airline hand over a 7-year-old unaccompanied traveler to the wrong person when she arrived at her destination, but that wrong person happened to be the mother who recently got out of jail for kidnapping and beating the girl back in 2008. [More]
Yet Another Airline Passenger Arrested For Groping Sleeping Woman
By 8.12.14
To all air travelers, but mostly to my fellow males — What the hell is wrong with some of you? It pains me to write yet another story about a passenger accused of molesting a sleeping woman in the seat next to him, but it apparently happened over the weekend on a United flight from Tokyo to Newark. [More]
The $100 Carry-On Bag Fee & Other Airline Charges You Can Avoid
By 8.5.14
You can do all the research in the world, waiting for just the right time to get that airline ticket at the lowest possible price, only to later find out that you waited too long to pay for your checked bags, or that your luggage is too heavy, or a number of other things that can spoil your bargain airfare by tacking on ugly and unnecessary fees. [More]
United Fliers, Prepare To Be Bored By This Punishingly Long “Humorous” Safety Video
By 7.31.14
Even people who haven’t flown are pretty familiar with the basics of the safety spiel the cabin crew gives before takeoff — no smoking, buckle your seatbelt and keep it buckled, know where the exits are, don’t freak the f*#$ out when the oxygen bag thing drops, and if we crash into the water and manage to survive, you can float in the freezing water on your seat cushion. The more concise an airline can make these statements, the better. But United Airlines thinks that the best way to make you give a hoot about airline safety is to make you watch a 4.5-minute video that tries to tickle your funny bone. [More]
Delta Looking Into Snippy Comments From Pilot To Air Traffic Control
By 7.28.14
No one really likes to be corrected, but when that correction is “you’re taking your plane to the wrong runway,” then you should probably appreciate the criticism. That wasn’t the case for one Delta pilot who didn’t take kindly when an air traffic controller at the country’s busiest airport tried to put him on the right path. [More]
New Boeing 737 Will Cram 11 More Passengers Into Coach
By 7.16.14
While tall people generally have an advantage in athletics, romance, job-hunting, and attending concerts, there is at least one aspect of modern living for which it’s better to be shorter in stature — flying coach. But aircraft biggie Boeing is attempting to take even that one minor victory away from those of below-average height, by cramming additional rows of seats into its already jam-packed 737 seats. [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]
United Airlines Pilots Call For CEO To Be Bumped From The Company
By 4.30.14
It’s been a rough few weeks for United Airlines; once again coming in dead last in an annual customer satisfaction survey of major U.S. carriers, and then posting a quarterly loss of nearly half a billion dollars while Delta and American earned huge profits. Now the leadership of the largest chapter of the United pilots union is making no attempt to hide their disapproval of CEO Jeff Smisek. [More]
Frontier’s “Ultra-Low-Cost” Fare Structure Includes Fees To Use Overhead Bins, Reserve Seats
By 4.28.14
Is Frontier Airlines the newest Spirit Airlines? Minus the always entertaining missives of Spirit CEO Ben Baldanza, the Denver-based carrier is taking a page from its cheapo fellow airline and changing up its price structure to include, among other things, a fee for carry-on baggage and a reserved seat. [More]
