Jul 9th, 2009 at 9:30AM: Hi Heather, I had an intriguing conversation with my best friend yesterday. His mom is now a retired American Airlines flight attendant. I've always been enamored with his ability to just hop on a flight whenever he wants for virtually no money. Just yesterday he was telling me the story how his mom only gets one registered companion (or whatever they call it) and since his sister is her register ...Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
airlines posts
Galley Gossip: A question about flight attendant buddy passes
Jul 9th, 2009 at 9:30AM: Hi Heather, I had an intriguing conversation with my best friend yesterday. His mom is now a retired American Airlines flight attendant. I've always been enamored with his ability to just hop on a flight whenever he wants for virtually no money. Just yesterday he was telling me the story how his mom only gets one registered companion (or whatever they call it) and since his sister is her register ...Southwest launches massive fare sale
Jul 8th, 2009 at 12:01AM: Usually, we at Gadling don't raise much fuss when an airline puts a few routes on sale. But Southwest really isn't an airline when it comes to fare pricing. They're a paradigm. When they drop fares, other airlines usually drop fares. As a result, shockwaves surge through the entire pricing network, travelers like you and I jump on tickets from any variety of carriers and everyone goes home happy. ...Air New Zealand brings back body paint for cheeky safety video
Less space in overhead bins? Blame it on the airplane
Jun 22nd, 2009 at 8:30PM: There's a video of Aaron trying to close an overhead bin. He's a determined sort, so eventually it looks as though he hits pay dirt once he moves the bag to another location. If you noticed the first bin, you'll see it was full. Very full. So was the final bin, for that matter.
That's becoming a common problem according to this article originally published in the St. Petersburg Times. More and ...Trax metacrawler launches with First Class Frenzy upgrade game
Jun 18th, 2009 at 12:30PM: The newest metacrawler in town, Trax, is wooing users with added incentive to abandon their old Kayaking ways: upgrades. The travel search engine, which is undoubtedly scrapping for market share, just launched First Class Frenzy, an online trivia game where you can answer a host of questions and virtually "move up to first class." Winners of the online game will be entered in a drawing to win an ...Ten things that can (and will) spoil your vacation
Jun 11th, 2009 at 12:00PM: Vacation is meant to be a fun time - a chance to get away from it all and enjoy yourself. But things happen in life that can really mess up those plans. In this gallery, we've collected ten of the worst things that can happen on a trip that will really screw up your vacation. If you are lucky, you'll only run into one of them, but the really unlucky traveler may be thrown a combination of ...Costello: "The traveling public cannot be ignored any longer"
Jun 5th, 2009 at 6:00PM: Jerry Costello is the co-sponsor of the FAA Reauthorization Bill of 2009, which contains several important new rules designed to help air travelers. I asked the Illinois congressman, who is also the chairman of the House Aviation Subcommittee, about passenger rights and the prospects that new rules would be adopted by the Senate and signed into law. Q: The latest American Customer Satisfaction ...10 Passengers we love to, umm....not like as much as the others: Day 4 - The passenger who tries to score a free first class seat
Jun 4th, 2009 at 9:30AM: In Grant Martin's post, The top 5 myth's about getting an upgrade, he wrote...
Flight attendants have no control over who gets upgraded when there always might be one last business class passenger coming down the jet bridge right before departure, so they can't give away a seat. After the boarding door is closed? Maybe if you're discreet, but with everyone watching, the flight attendant will most ...Get $4 off your next GoGo inflight internet
Jun 2nd, 2009 at 6:00PM: Now that internet is becoming commonplace in many of the nation's airlines, cheapasses like myself are trying to find a way to get it for free. Honestly, should it cost 1/2 as much as a month of internet at home to check your email on a 5 hour flight to Los Angeles? Furthermore, shouldn't people in first class get wireless for free? I digress. Once supply fills in I hope that internet prices will ...Galley Gossip: Airline uniforms (plus a chance to win free tickets on Olympic Airlines)
Jun 1st, 2009 at 8:30AM:
Just like Cliff Muskiet, the uniform freak, I have a thing for airline uniforms. I think most flight attendants do. In fact, inside my guestroom closet hangs three different uniform styles from two different airlines. I've saved it all - the pants, the skirts, the dresses, the jackets, the vests, the blouses, the wings, and even the blue tie I snapped around my neck and the epaulets I wore on ...Delta backtracks on extra bag fees
May 29th, 2009 at 3:30PM: Delta is caving to competitive pressures, cutting its plans for extra bag fees on international flights. The airline says that others have not matched its fee of $50 for the second bag checked on international flights. Now, it will only apply to travel between the United States and Europe. The fee is effective July 1, 2009.
Originally, this new fee was supposed to bring the battered airline ...Flight attendants on hunger strike
May 27th, 2009 at 8:30AM: It's hard for most of us to imagine a situation so dire it would inspire us to go on hunger strike. Sadly, that is not the case for the Russian flight attendants who were not paid for eight months of work when their airline folded. According to United Press International: "KrasAir ceased operations last October when it ran out of cash, the news service said. Part of the AirUnion alliance, the ...British Airways scrapping first class on new planes
May 24th, 2009 at 5:00PM: It's official, we're in trouble. British Airways has decided to remove first-class seating on four of its new flights, The Guardian newspaper has reported. The carrier is also considering removing the service from other flights. The move comes after a fall in demand for first-class seating, brought on by the economic downturn, which apparently is even affecting people who will pay three to ten ...Passengers pay twice to avoid Colgan
May 18th, 2009 at 8:00AM: Small planes just don't resonate with some passengers. MaryBeth and Cy Christiansan of Queens paid the equivalent of an extra ticket each to skip a Colgan plane and fly on a jet. They indicated that the Colgan crash in Buffalo back in February wasn't far from their minds. So, for a bit of comfort, it was $150 well spent.
A Colgan flight crashed in February, killing all 49 people on the plane and ...Mile high WiFi at last!
May 15th, 2009 at 5:30PM: It's finally happening. There will be WiFi on commercial flights! Virgin America and AirTran have already begun equipping their fleets WiFi systems, and intend to have all their planes hooked up by the end of the summer. Bigger, still, Delta Airlines and American Airlines are planning to roll out their plans this year and next. Oh mile high WiFi, where have you been? According to the LA Times: ...Galley Gossip: A question about packing jewelry
May 15th, 2009 at 9:30AM:
Dear Heather, I meant to ask you before my vacation -- what's your secret for packing jewelry? In what do you pack it and how? Some outfits I have look better with gold, and some look better with silver. Then there's a myriad of "fun" jewelry that include bracelets, necklaces with different charms, earrings to match, etc. The thing about the "fun" jewelry is that it causes the security ...Misery works: airlines making money on baggage fees
May 14th, 2009 at 12:00PM: The one thing nobody says about the "nickel and dime" strategy is that it can work. For the airline industry, charging passengers for extra bags translated to more than $1 billion in lifeblood to a struggling business last year, according to the Department of Transportation. As much as you may hate to shell out that extra cash, last year, it went to businesses that desperately needed it.
Before ...New airline idea: goal is to beat the odds
May 11th, 2009 at 10:30AM: Columnist Jeremy Clarkson, at The Sun, has come up with a brilliant airline concept: take it easy, and play the odds. He laments the fact that it takes "about six years" to check in and considers the security process to be troublesome. They won't even let you keep your toothpaste!
Of course, we have all this security in place for a reason. There are many threats to safety ... and it's not just ...March airline plunge softens in April
May 9th, 2009 at 3:00PM: Passenger traffic is still falling. That's not going to change for a while. But, the decline slowed in April, signaling that the prolonged sharp dips may be behind us. Some optimists even believe that the worst is over – though I maintain a healthy skepticism.
Note the metric being used: passenger traffic. There's a lot of mileage between asses in seats and money in the bank. On a positive ...Israel, Mecca ... no difference to British BMI
May 3rd, 2009 at 9:00AM: Passengers headed to Israel on a British BMI flight were alarmed to find their destination was Mecca, according to the in-flight map. The airline, it seems, isn't terribly aware that the Middle East is know for a tiny amount of tension that's lasted for decades (the most recent iteration, at least).
Pick your joke about "wiping Israel off the map" – the Sydney Morning Herald did.
BMI, of ...
