Ft. Worth Travel Guide
Tags: The Jauntys / 2008 Travel Awards / Airlines / Travel News / American Airlines / → All Tags
2008's Worst Domestic Airline Is...
As far as the passenger experience, we've had worse. But for ushering in the Year of Fees this May, the Worst Domestic Airline of 2008 is American Airlines.
Faced with rising fuel prices, American announced earlier this year it would begin charging $15 for passengers' first checked bags--just weeks after announcing the second checked bag would also carry a fee. It wasn't the start of the Fee-Based Arms Race, but transforming the act of checking a bag from an included right to a privileged "extra" opened the door to all sorts of bad behavior carrier-wide, from overhead-bin wars to charging for drinks. Passengers who hadn't traveled recently got a rude awakening this holiday season with their first dose of เ la carte abuse. And when fuel prices dropped later in the year, the charges they supposedly triggered remained.
"This fee is going into the Airline Stupid Hall of Fame," Wired declared at the time American made its announcement, but maybe we're the stupid ones for continuing to fly with AA. Despite their strides in in-flight WiFi and cutting the fuel surcharges themselves, we regret feeding the monster. It remains to be seen, if 2009 becomes the year of the "naycation," into what honeypot the airlines will dip next to turn a profit.
Related Stories:
· First on Jaunted: American Airlines Making Big Capacity Cuts [Jaunted]
· New York Airport Scales Now Correct, No Thanks To American [Jaunted]
· Typical Travel: AA Baggage Snafu Totally Predictable [Jaunted]
· Vlogging Superstar Falls Victim To Baggage Crouch of Shame [Jaunted]
· American Airlines Takes On Additional Baggage [Wired.com]
[Photo: gadge]
Tags: Celeb Travel / Vince Vaughn / → All Tags
Yeehaw! Vince Vaughn Hits The Dusty Trail
When in Texas, wear a ridiculously large hat! Vince Vaughn's promotional tour for his new Christmas movie "Fred Claus" took him to Ft. Worth to drive a NASCAR pace truck. Maybe he took some driving advice (but let's hope not) from costar Will Ferrell, who played a pompous NASCAR driver in "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby."
Older film buffs may not be so enthralled by Vaughn's drive-by appearance; almost all of the '70s science-fiction film "Logan's Run" was shot in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area, which stood in for the 23rd century.
Related Stories:
· Vince Does Nascar [Faded Youth Blog]
· Celeb Travel coverage [Jaunted]
[Photo: Faded Youth Blog]
