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British Airways had the ability to sell this passenger’s lost folding chiropractic table, but not the inclination to Google “Dr. Marta Callotta, Sports Chiropractic” imprinted on the front of it it to return it to it’s rightful owner. [Elliot via Rick Seany]
Northwest Airlines says its employees are going to be taking customer service classes.
Airfarewatchdog released a list of the Top Ten Most Obnoxious Hidden Airline Fees. We love:
6. Getting a refund when a fare goes down
The Coalition For A Passenger’s Bill of Rights cracks us up. They went to D.C. and erected an airplane-themed tent complete with smelly portable toilets in an attempt to recreate the feel of a real-life tarmac imprisonment.
Starting November, Southwest will change its completely “grab any seat” policy. Instead, you will get assigned a letter and number. When your letter is called, everyone in that group lines up in order by number, boards, then grabs any seat they feel like. In case this is difficult to understand, Southwest has an interactive minisite set up to explain the process.
Here’s a ridiculous story about the TSA, the San Diego Airport and Delta Airlines. It even involves allegations of “death threats.”
At this point the husband of the family, my hero – got love New Yorkers (living in Florida). Screams at the top of his lungs “He’s with us, you let him up here right now!” directly into the face of the TSA bouncer that made the announcement earlier.
Southwest currently lets families board first, but they’re axing that policy in an effort to save time. Rather than board with the A group, families will now board after A but before B and C. If all members are in the A group, they will board with A.
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A couple of weeks ago, Business Week published a special report on the sorry state of air travel. Now they’re printing a selection of their reader responses, including FAA apologists (who are from the FAA, naturally), pro-railroad travelers, a pilot who says regional jets are overused, and a guy…
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette wrote an article about JetBlue’s 1 year anniversary in Pittsburgh. In honor of that momentous occasion, JetBlue was offering a heck of a deal. TrueBlue members could “reserve a flight leaving Pittsburgh between June 26 and Nov. 15 and complete that reservation no later than June 30,” and by doing so earn a free flight.
Southwest Airlines’ CEO apologized to Kyla Ebbert after a flight attendant tried to kick her off a flight because of her outfit, but she’s having none of it.
Southwest Airlines has finally condescended to apologize to the mini-skirted customer that it tried to kick off a flight…
The protest’s organizers are planning to build a mock commercial aircraft that has seen its passengers’ patience and infrastructure wear thin after hours of idling. The 28-foot aircraft, really a long grey tent made to look like a plane, will be adorned by sounds of crying babies, sneezing customers and overflowing toilets.
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The cheapest days to fly are Tuesday, Wednesday, and Saturday. [Rick Seany]
Farecast.com is testing a great new feature that evaluates a hotel’s given rate, then tells you how much of a deal it really is when compared to past quotes and fares at similar hotels, says the New York Times:
The $179 rate for a room at the Hyatt Regency was listed as “average” because it was 28 percent more expensive than rates at that hotel on the same date in past months, according to Farecast. It was also 13 percent more than recent Friday-to-Monday stays at the same hotel.
Here at Consumerist we get a lot of complaints that go something like this:
I travel a lot on business. I’m on travel right now, in Orlando. Luckily for me, my business this morning was completed ahead of schedule, and as I left my vendor’s office, I phoned Delta Air Lines to move up my return flight time a few hours.
Taking a lesson from this summer’s royal clusterfuck of delays, cancellations, and passengers stranded for hours on the tarmac, airlines have decided to tweak things a bit for the better. Here’s some of the proposed measures:
Part of 
