Seat-back ads have finally arrived in the US, with low cost carrier AirTran being the first to embrace what is already beloved onboard European LCCs like Ryanair and EasyJet.

Soon, passengers on all AirTran flights will be confronted for the entire trip by a 2.5" by 9" poster, sitting a few feet from their eyes, trying to worm its way into their eyeballs. It will be present on all 138 jets, and the first advertiser is an odd one: Mother Nature Network, a "one-stop resource and an everyman's eco-guide" for environmental news, travel, lifestyle, etc. MNN will use the ads to publicize a 7-night cruise giveaway as well—how eco-friendly of them. Hmm... ]]> Omri 2009-11-20T11:43:12-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/11/19/225232/40

It’s pretty clear that engineers and executives at Boeing only want one thing for Christmas, and that’s for the 787 to finally take flight for the first time. We’ve been going back and forth on when this thing will finally test things out, and once again, it seems like there just might be some good news.

The whole wing connecting to the body problem seems to have been resolved, and it sounds like no parts will fall off during a test flight, which is great news. Just to make sure, there will be all kinds of stress tests on the ground to ensure that these wings can withstand the pressures of flight, turbulence, and probably a lot worse. ]]> kjb 2009-11-20T09:20:03-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/11/20/8460/1617

Ever since AirTran and Virgin America rolled out their fleet-wide WiFi earlier this year, other domestic legacy carriers have stepped up their game and mostly stayed on track for connectivity. A great example is American Airlines, who reached the milestone of having 100 planes connected in August, with a goal of 150 by the year's end.

With over 100 WiFi-hot American birdies up in the sky, your chances of flying on one are better than ever. And just in case you get lucky and score a plane connected with Gogo, American wants to make sure you're ready with your laptop by letting you check in advance to see if you'll have the internet on your flight. Via a new widget, passengers may enter their flight number or departure airport and see, up to 24 hours before the flight, if their plane will be WiFi-equipped. You can even share the widget by embedding it your blog, adding it your iGoogle, and taking advantage of other options. ]]> JetSetCD 2009-11-20T09:04:40-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/11/20/8435/1970

Let the buzz begin over the newest reality show-drama to hit the boob tube: "Fly Girls," a "docu-series" that will follow the day-to-night, sky-to-ground lives of five flight attendants for Virgin America. The teaser commercial just leaked last night on YouTube (we've posted it above), and already we're salivating for the start.

Now we know that Virgin America is bringing the sexy back to air travel, but this is the stuff of pure vice. For those of you familiar with the MTV shows "The Hills" and "The City," "Fly Girls" might feel familiar since the show is from the same executive producer, and we can already see the similarities through this brief spot alone. Still, it won't be all clubbin' and kissin' for the girls, as the CW is saying that the show is to be a "360-degree look at the charismatic jet-setting flight attendants on America’s hippest new airline." Does this mean we'll get to watch them explaining to cranky passengers how to connect to the in-flight WiFi?

The goodies on the show, after the jump. ]]> JetSetCD 2009-11-20T08:33:42-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/11/19/12122/709

We promised you last week that the playground hair pulling fight between Japan Airlines, American Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, and Delta—where JAL may or may not decide to dump American Airlines/oneworld in favor of Delta/SkyTeam—was going to get more interesting. That's exactly what happened this morning, when Delta decided to put an eye-popping $1 billion on the table to entice Delta into switching.

Yowsers! Let's look at what went down... ]]> Omri 2009-11-19T13:21:00-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/11/19/6544/5771

Remember all those airline fees that were pouring in a few months ago related to this season’s holiday travel? Well the airlines must have really enjoyed what they were seeing, as they are now looking to tack in some additional charges for days well into 2010. Delta, United, and American Airlines are busy adding these presents to our tickets anytime they think travel will be busier than usual.

The website BestFares.com is reporting that Delta and United have added surcharges to as many as 40 days between now and next May. The fees can be as much as $30 each way depending on distance, time, and other factors that appeal to the airlines. Our favorite airline fee has to be the $50 one-way charge that has now been added to some flights on February 8. In case you don’t have the NFL calendar kicking around, that’s the day after the Super Bowl. Not like we could afford tickets anyway, but we can still be angry about it. ]]> kjb 2009-11-19T09:44:30-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/11/19/85627/789

Flying this morning? If you're reading this from a US airport, then you may have already noticed some flights showing up red with delays on the departure screens. The reason is an "FAA glitch" where their computer systems are having issues with processing flight plans, causing the FAA to process flight plans manually and significantly slowing down the system, since we rely on computer so much for this sort of high-volume, fast-paced work.

Although the back-up during the outage is being quickly dealt with and air traffic control is not affected, delays to departing flights are to be expected throughout this morning, especially at Atlanta-Hartsfied Jackson Airport, where the issue was first noticed. ]]> JetSetCD 2009-11-19T09:05:27-05:00 Search Jaunted string http://www.jaunted.com/search/