May 24th, 2009 at 12:00PM: Continental Airlines is looking to cash in on pilots who cashed in on a divorce scam. The pilots used sham divorces to divert more than $10 million to their ex-spouses. Post-divorce, the exes cashed in on retirement benefits, and the fliers could stay in the sky – and keep earning.
It's really pretty simple. A couple divorces. The pilot assigns all pension benefits to the ex-spouse. Then, ...Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
ContinentalAirlines posts
Continental pilot pension scam, nine disappointed pilots
May 24th, 2009 at 12:00PM: Continental Airlines is looking to cash in on pilots who cashed in on a divorce scam. The pilots used sham divorces to divert more than $10 million to their ex-spouses. Post-divorce, the exes cashed in on retirement benefits, and the fliers could stay in the sky – and keep earning.
It's really pretty simple. A couple divorces. The pilot assigns all pension benefits to the ex-spouse. Then, ...Continental Airlines reduces flights to Mexico
May 1st, 2009 at 1:30PM: In response to the swine flu outbreak in Mexico, Continental Airlines is cutting the number of fights to Mexico by 40% and reducing the size of the planes making the trips. Because the demand for Mexico travel has gone way, way, way down, the airlines is taking these cost cutting measures.
The cuts are in effect starting Monday and are expected to be only temporary. Also, for folks who already ...Continental's Restaurant Week could increase revenue
May 1st, 2009 at 8:00AM:
On its face, Continental Airlines' participation in International Restaurant Week seems like just another promotion. Think harder, though, and you'll see that it's really a way for the airline to bring in a little extra cash. Since passengers with a bit of extra girth may be charged for an extra seat, it only makes sense to fatten up fliers and reap the rewards.
A dozen New York restaurants ...Extra seat charges: big bias or svelte snobbery?
Apr 28th, 2009 at 8:00AM: As airlines are scrambling for any shred of extra revenue they can find, some policies are getting more attention than others. The so-called "fat passenger policies," which govern the accommodation of passengers who require more than one seat, have attracted the ire of the NAAFA. Never heard of it? It's a new one on me, too: the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance. On the other hand, ...Making sense of the airline industry
Apr 27th, 2009 at 4:00PM: The situation is currently grim for airlines, having gone from "bad in January to ugly by March," according to USA Today, mirroring the U.S. economy as a whole. But, some feel that the worst is behind us. At the same time, a decline in business traveler traffic may suggest that we have a long way to go.
That's why I love USA Today ... two perspectives for the price of one!
Let's make one thing ...Continental #1 in Fortune mag
Mar 3rd, 2009 at 4:00PM: Okay, the competition couldn't have been all that stiff. Continental Airlines was rated the top airline in Fortune magazine's annual list of most admired companies. Its score of 7.71 was not good enough to push the company into the top 50, though. This is the sixth year in a row that Continental has taken the lead spot in the airline category. Somehow, Southwest is listed as #7 on the full list, ...Man who can't work cell phone sues Continental Airlines
Feb 26th, 2009 at 2:00PM: Saquib Fatah of Houston, Texas, is suing Continental Airlines because he can't work his cell phone. Confused? I'll break it down: 1. Fatah gets on airplane in London with his new cell phone. 2. Captain makes the usual "turn off all electronic devices" announcement and the plane begins to taxi. 3. "BEEP BEEP BEEP!" from Fatah's phone. 4. A stewardess asks Fatah to "kill the phone." He appears to do ...9/11 widow dies in Buffalo plane crash
Feb 13th, 2009 at 5:30AM: Beverly Eckert, widow of 9/11 victim Sean Rooney, perished on Continental Airlines Flight 3407 last night. She was on her way to Buffalo to celebrate what would have been her husband's 58th birthday. While in town, she had also planned to participate in the presentation of a scholarship award at Canisius High School. She had created the scholarship in honor of her late husband.
The crash of ...Continental Airlines to drop out of SkyTeam alliance on October 24th
Jan 30th, 2009 at 3:30PM: Back last June, Grant first reported the coming alliance between Continental and United Airlines, which also means that Continental will be dropping out of its current SkyTeam alliance network, which includes Delta, Northwest and Air France, and joining up with the Star Alliance network, which includes United and US Airways. Now there is a little more information available about when this move is ...Free flight ploy ends in jail
Jan 25th, 2009 at 12:00PM: Some people will do anything for a free flight. Instead of waiting for the airline to screw up, Arthur David Proskin used a bump by the beverage cart as his ticket to glory ... and hopefully anywhere in the continental United States. He used what was probably an accident to shout obscenities at the flight attendant who so egregiously wronged him (hint for the tone-deaf, this is sarcasm) and other ...Continental Airlines experiments with algae jet fuel mix
Jan 10th, 2009 at 1:00PM: On Wednesday, Continental Airlines flew a Boeing 737 from Houston in a circle over the Gulf of Mexico. Nothing too special about that. Except that this flight was a test of a new 50/50 jet fuel/biofuel mixture, powering one of the engines. The bio portion of the fuel was a mix of algae and jatropha oil, an alternative fuel that can be grown in poor soil, yet is able to produce more yields than ...The flight from hell involves a passenger covered in poop
Jan 1st, 2009 at 2:30PM: There have been plenty of stories in the past year involving passengers going berserk and attacking the crew and others on their flight. But every now and then I read a new one, and just can't help think "what the hell?". Such is the story of a Continental Express flight from Houston to Omaha last week. Halfway during the flight, a middle aged man left the lavatory covered in his own fecal ...Get more mileage out of your miles: upgrade
Dec 23rd, 2008 at 12:00PM: Before you book your next award ticket, think about what you're giving the airline. Yeah, you read that correctly; think about what you are giving them. In the Wall Street Journal, that font of all things financial, the secret to screwing the airlines a little harder is revealed: upgrade. Apparently, the most common use of miles is the bland, vanilla domestic coach ticket. That's it. While you ...Continental plane slides off runway in Denver, catches fire
Dec 21st, 2008 at 8:00AM: A Continental 737 aircraft taking off from Denver yesterday either slid or crashed, according to reports, into a ravine off the runway before catching fire, injuring nearly 40 people. The Associated Press is reporting that the 107 passengers on board the Houston-bound flight were evacuated via emergency slides. Thirty-seven were rushed to area hospitals with a variety of injuries, none of which ...Many inexpensive last minute holiday airfares do exist
Dec 19th, 2008 at 9:30AM: You've probably noticed the stories about how airfares have dropped and air traffic is down. Two weeks ago, I flew from Copenhagen to Columbus on two airplanes that were not full. The Continental flight from Copenhagen to Newark was empty enough that most people had seats between them.
The flight from Newark to Columbus was even more roomy. The row in front of my daughter and me was empty, and ...List of things an airline can get rid of
Oct 25th, 2008 at 6:30PM: digg_url = 'http://digg.com/travel_places/7_things_airlines_should_jettison_from_their_planes_now?OTC-kff';
Christopher Elliot of The Travel Critic recently wrote a tongue in cheek and halfway serious post about other ways airlines might save money.
The tenor of the piece, I think, reflects the sad state several airlines have stooped to in their penny pinching ways. Consider the latest ...Bunkers - now also a safe haven for Continental airlines
Sep 13th, 2008 at 11:00AM: What do you do if you own an airline, and watch the devastation from hurricane Katrina on TV? You go searching for your very own bunker where you can safely house your important computer systems and 200 staff members in the event your city gets hit next. The bunker is located in Montgomery, Texas, and was built by a wealthy Taiwanese businessman with a fear that the Russians or Soviets would ...Flight attendants to become the porn police
Aug 26th, 2008 at 1:00PM: Back in December, when Aaron posted about the etiquette questions raised by In-flight Internet, he wrote the prevailing thought was that "decency, good sense and normal behavior" would prevail.
According to this article at FoxNews.com, just in case decency, good sense and normal behavior go out the window, flight attendants will become the porn police.
I imagine that while the flight attendant ...British, American and Iberia Airlines to sign cooperation agreement
Aug 14th, 2008 at 12:30PM: The UK's British Airways, American Airlines and Spain's Iberia this morning announced that they would soon be cooperating on flights between North America and Europe while they would also start to collaborate and expand on other routes together in the Oneworld Alliance. Are the airlines merging? No. But aren't they already all part of the Oneworld alliance? Yes, they are. What the airlines have ...Flight attendant suing pastor Joel Osteen's wife for pre-flight assault
Aug 7th, 2008 at 9:00AM: A civil trial pitting a Continental Airlines flight attendant against the wife of Joel Osteen, America's most popular preacher, began Wednesday in Houston, Texas.
In the suit, the flight attendant, Sharon Brown, is accusing Victoria Osteen of shoving her against an airplane bathroom door and elbowing her in the left breast before a 2005 flight from Houston to Vail. The dispute was allegedly over ...
