Dec 20th, 2010 at 3:30PM: Every time you pay to check an extra bag you're making someone's life better. The latest data from the U.S. Department of Transportation reveals that the third quarter of 2010 was the most profitable for the U.S. airline industry since the department began keeping score in 2002. The industry's operating profit margin hit 10.5 percent in aggregate. Low-cost carriers, as a class, had an operating ...Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
deltaairlines posts
Airlines have best quarter ever ... thanks baggage fees!
Dec 20th, 2010 at 3:30PM: Every time you pay to check an extra bag you're making someone's life better. The latest data from the U.S. Department of Transportation reveals that the third quarter of 2010 was the most profitable for the U.S. airline industry since the department began keeping score in 2002. The industry's operating profit margin hit 10.5 percent in aggregate. Low-cost carriers, as a class, had an operating ...Delta: single large airline looking for Virgin partner
Dec 16th, 2010 at 12:00PM: I hope you haven't become too attached to Virgin Atlantic. The airline has gotten its share of calls lately about potential mergers, but they are qualified with expressions like "early stages" and "far too early" to say anything about. This isn't all that surprising, given the strength of its brand and the fact that the airline hired Deutsche Bank to help it evaluate its available growth ...Which airline charged more than $500 million in cancellation fees?
Dec 14th, 2010 at 8:00AM:
There isn't as much money in cancellations as there is in baggage fees, it seems. So far, close to $2.6 billion has been charged for bags this year (with three quarters measured), and U.S. airlines have only racked up $1.7 billion in cancellation fees. And, as usual, there's one culprit that consumes around 30 percent of this, with the top five airlines accounting for more than 80 percent of ...Which airline made the most money on baggage fees?
Dec 13th, 2010 at 2:30PM: Last year, baggage fees were used by airlines to make up for lost fare revenue, as the recession kept people on the ground. This year, it's just been a great source of extra revenue, as passenger traffic and fares are up – and the fees haven't gone away. Almost all airlines are getting in on the action, some more egregious than others.
Well, data for the third quarter of 2010 is in, and ...Airlines, airports and passengers: nothing but gains this year [INFOGRAPHICS]
![Airlines, airports and passengers: nothing but gains this year [INFOGRAPHICS]](http://www.blogcdn.com/www.gadling.com/media/2010/12/airportlounge_thumbnail.jpg)
Dec 10th, 2010 at 12:00PM: There are a whole lot more of us flying this year: 4.3 percent more, to be exact. That's the increase in domestic air traffic from September 2009 to September 2010, according to the latest data from the U.S. Department of Transportation. In that month, U.S. airlines had 57.3 million passengers, leading to the largest year-over-year gain since September 2007. Meanwhile, international passenger ...Are airlines bad for your health? Five perspectives on plane food
Nov 30th, 2010 at 3:30PM:
Lately, it seems like the easiest way to lose weight is to fly regularly. There isn't much to munch on in the skies, as airlines have cut back on just about anything that looks like an amenity. Fatty foods have been replaced by none at all, which is great for your waistline, right?
It turns out that you can still pork up on a plane, even if you think the dismal state of customer service ...Impromptu striptease on Delta flight ends in hospitalization
Nov 30th, 2010 at 1:00PM: It's always wild when passengers do crazy stuff on flights, but the trend has taken a new twist: the media always seems to be present. A CNN photographer was on hand to find bullets left behind by a law enforcement officer, and now a news manager from Newsday was present to witness a passenger stripping.
On Delta Flight 6562 over the weekend the woman, who hasn't been named, peeled off layers ...Airlines add seats on optimism for 2011
Nov 29th, 2010 at 3:00PM: Do you think body scanners and TSA groping will keep people off planes next year? Well, the airlines don't think so! Carriers are adding seats and flights, according to USA Today, in the hopes that the travel industry will continue to improve in 2011 as it has in 2010.
Through November this year, the top 10 airlines in the United States added 2.7 percent more seats for passengers than they had ...Gogo Inflight Internet coming to 223 Delta Airlines regional jets
Nov 29th, 2010 at 1:15PM:
Good news for regulars on Delta Airlines regional jet flights - as the first airline in the nation, Delta has committed to bringing Gogo Inflight Wi-Fi to 223 of its Delta Connection regional jets.
This is in additon to the expedited rollout of Internet access to its entire mainline domestic fleet. When completed at the end of 2011, Delta will offer Gogo Inflight Internet on 772 planes, or ...Could you handle a gate agent's job?
Nov 27th, 2010 at 10:00AM: Running a travel blog and working with twenty wonderful writers, thousands of media and industry contacts and maintaining a dozen side projects keeps my stress level remarkably high, but I could never handle what an airline gate agent goes through.
Airfarewatchdog's Ramsey Qubein spent a day working as a Delta gate agent recently, and his experience was as dramatic as I had expected. In one ...Delta sued over alleged false advertising on price guarantees
Nov 3rd, 2010 at 1:00PM: Delta is headed to court over its claims of providing the best fare every day. Normally, this sort of advertising bravado wouldn't lead to litigation, but the person buying the ticket happened to be Robert Izard ... the "Izard" in law firm Izard Nobel LLP.
When Izard's wife, Susan, sought a ticket to Israel on Delta, she was told the best rate for business class was more than $3,000 – if ...Box cutter blades found on Delta flight from Tokyo to Oregon
Nov 3rd, 2010 at 12:00PM: A plane was searched top to bottom upon landing in Oregon after the crew found box cutter blades on it. Delta, recently named the worst airline in the United States, engaged the help of FBI, TSA and Customs and Border Protection officials when Flight 90 arrived from Tokyo, with 155 passengers and a crew of 10.
According to MSNBC:
The flight crew "opted to contact authorities and request they ...Delta says customer service isn't dependent upon costs
Nov 2nd, 2010 at 1:00PM:
It looks like Delta has some strong thoughts on airfare and customer service. The airline identified as the worst in the United States is now saying that customer service shouldn't be related to operating expenses – well, at least that's the implication of the new ad the airline is running on New York City subways: "Customer service shouldn't fluctuate with the price of oil."
The fact ...Airlines not alone in poor customer service studies
Oct 30th, 2010 at 3:00PM:
The Airline Quality Rating report was released last week, exposing the five worst airlines in the United States. It's fun to beat up on the airlines ... as it is to beat up on other companies and industries notorious for poor customer service. So, this made me wonder just how the airlines stack up against everyone else.
Back in August, the American Customer Satisfaction Index rated hundreds of ...Airline profits may mean more elbow room for a little while
Oct 24th, 2010 at 10:00AM: The airline industry wants to thank you. Last year, it was mired in despair. The post-financial crisis recession left the carriers beleaguered and desperate for a turn of fortune. Corporate and leisure travel had fallen precipitously, and doubling down on extra fees, though prudent for profits, alienated both those considering a flight and the passengers with little choice but to hit the road. The ...FBI charges passenger for in-flight grabbing
Oct 21st, 2010 at 3:00PM: You need to keep your hands to yourself when you fly – it's just that simple. Not only is it smart and appropriate, but it'll keep you out of trouble. Well, that's what Alpharetta, Georgia resident Ranchhodbhai Lakha learned the hard way.
This 61-year-old passenger faces a variety of sexual assault charges because he allegedly groped a 20-year-old woman on a flight from Dallas to Atlanta. ...Airline fees never going away, $1.2 billion in first half
Oct 19th, 2010 at 11:00AM: In the first six months of 2010, U.S. airlines raked in $1.2 billion – and that's just from change and cancellation fees. The industry is on track to see $2 billion in revenue just on ticket-related fees this year.
According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, here's where the money's going:
Delta had the most at $347.1 million in the first half of 2010
American Airlines was ...Delta to flight attendants: come back!
Oct 17th, 2010 at 8:00AM: Delta's looking for 1,000 flight attendants, some of whom will be furloughed workers recalled for international assignments. Some will be new hires. But, it's going to take some time get them in the door: they'll be working the aisles by the middle of 2011. In particular, the airline is looking for flight attendants fluent in Japanese and Mandarin, which narrows the field a bit.
Delta already ...Fallen American Airlines could be next to merge ... with JetBlue?
Oct 12th, 2010 at 12:00PM: American Airlines used to be the largest airline in the industry – now it's third. Merger activity has narrowed the field, with Southwest-AirTran and United-Continental the latest deals that hit the sector. So, all eyes are on who will succumb to the urge to merge next, and American is being eyed as the next player.
According to a Forbes blog post, analysts from Morningstar believe that ...Three ways to use social media for cheap travel
Oct 7th, 2010 at 3:30PM: When the internet came on the scene (the commercial iteration) in the mid-1990s, the traveling public got excited over the prospect of making buying easier – and pretty soon after, we started thinking about deals. Plenty of websites arose to satisfy our urge for cheaper travel. Then, social media arrived, and we became even greedier.
No, I'm not suggesting that we change – not at ...
