Tag: Airlines View All Tags
Tags: Airline Strikes / Airlines / Airline Industry / British Airways / Airline News / → All Tags
Strike Watch: Against All Odds, British Airways Strike Set For Saturday
It might not make sense for British Airways cabin crews to strike. Too many things have to break exactly their way for this to be a winner. The airline's plan to run at 65% capacity with replacement crews has to fail. The public's overwhelming lack of support, most recently crystallized in a name-'em-and-shame-'em slam from the British Prime Minister himself, has to change. And BA has to suffer so much that they cave but not enough that they go out of business, which would cost everyone their jobs. That's a lot of balls that have to stay in the air for a long time.
Despite that, it looks like we're just over a day away from a three-day walkout. The private last-minute talks between union leaders and airline executives just broke down. This might actually happen. Which, since we own zero BA stock and we weren't planning to fly them any time soon, is mostly entertaining. For anyone who doesn't meet those two conditions, not so much.
Tags: Airline News / Delays / American / Jetblue / Delta / Airlines / → All Tags
American, Delta, Continental and Jetblue Argue to Allow Tarmac Delays Over Three Hours
April 29 is the big day! That's the date that the US government's new 3-hour tarmac delay rules go into effect, fining airlines $27,500 per passenger that sits on the tarmac for over three hours and more. Right now however, four major airlines have asked the Department of Transportation if they can be exempt from the rules. We're talking about Jetblue, Delta, Continental, and American, although we expect a few others to protest by the end of this week too.
All of them are filing for temporary exemptions, so it's not like they are in favor of keeping passengers hostage on their planes and getting away with it. They blame the runway construction at JFK, which closes a major runway at the overcrowded airport and causes an airline's on-time rating to drop. We understand, to a point, but if the DOT grants them the exemption, we hope that it's only valid for JFK. Otherwise we could see more 16-hour "Flightmares" without relief.
Related Stories:
· American Airlines Wants Exemption from Tarmac Rule [AP]
· The Top Five Easiest Ways to Survive a Tarmac Delay [Jaunted]
· Delta, Jetblue Request Exemption from Tarmac Delay Rule [CNN]
· The DOT Looks Out for Air Travelers with New Delay and Complaint Rules [Jaunted]
· Airline delays [Jaunted]
[Photo: Brian Daniel Eisenberg]
Tags: Boarding Passes / Technology / United / American Airlines / Airlines / Airline News / → All Tags
Soon, You'll Be Able to Check In via iPad on These Airlines
This might become the year for electronic boarding passes. Sure, there have been plenty of airlines offering airplane access via smartphone for some time, but it’s no longer just for elite flyers leaving from some of the nation’s busiest airports. Especially now that United Airlines is the latest to ditch the paper and head to the promised land.
Last week United starting using mobile boarding passes at Chicago's O’Hare International Airport, and they've quickly expanded their offerings to other major markets including Denver, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and San Francisco—among a few other locations. As long as everything works out well, they plan to be in about 30 different cities by this summer, so maybe you can flash that new iPad to board the plane as you begin your summer vacation.
Tags: Airline News / Jaunted Interviews / Virgin America / Airlines / Canada Travel / Toronto Travel / Orlando Travel / LCCs / New Routes / → All Tags
Virgin America Will Begin Flying to Toronto and Orlando This Summer
Who wants to hear some awesome news this morning? Alright, then! Virgin America, the sexy domestic carrier that's all about free in-flight wifi, mood lightning and actual good food onboard, just announced the new routes that they'll be flying with six new aircraft this year. This summer, Virgin America will begin flying to Toronto and Orlando direct from LAX and SFO. They are Virgin "America," after all, and not "Virgin USA," so it's time for a little expanded continent love. Now let's talk timeline...
The first new move will happen when Virgin America goes over the border to land at Toronto-Pearson (YYZ) with daily flights from LAX and SFO as early as June! We gave Toronto a 60% chance of being their new spot in our betting pool, but imagine Vancouver would beat it to being their first Canadian destination. Guess not! Virgin America is now daydreaming about shopping at Eaton Centre and walking on the glass floor at the top of the CN Tower, apparently.
Also arriving this summer is a destination we didn't see coming, because Virgin already flies to Fort Lauderdale. They'll be kicking in to Orlando-MCO on August 19 and tickets are already on sale at virginamerica.com—perhaps to shuttle in west coasters for a taste of the opening season of Universal Studios' new Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park? Perhaps! But then everyone just likes to go to Florida, so the move makes sense.
Tags: AIrline News / AIrlines / New Routes / Missouri Travel / → All Tags
A Brand New Airline Welcomes All To Branson, Missouri
We’ve talked about Branson and airlines plenty of times before, but this time we’re talking about the place in Missouri not the man behind the Virgin brand. The family version of Las Vegas might not be your idea of the ultimate vacation, but there’s apparently enough people looking to go to justify a brand new airline.
The city built its own airport last year, and now they are going a step further to ensure that there are plenty of flights to fill its gates. Branson AirExpress is going to whisk passengers into the city beginning on May 17 from destinations including Des Moines, Shreveport, and Terre Haute, Indiana. Austin will have service as well even though we thought they were too cool for Branson. Officials are hoping the promise of infinite family entertainment and country music is enough to fill up these planes for years to come.
Tags: Travel Contests / Alaska Airlines / Airlines / Airline News / Olympics / → All Tags
'Follow Apolo' To Hawaii For Free With Alaska Airlines
The Olympics already seem like a distant memory, but Alaska Airlines is attempting to continue to cash in on the quest for gold, silver, and bronze. The airline has teamed up with everyone’s favorite speed skater and reality show star Apolo Anton Ohno to promote one of their warmer destinations.
They want us to “Follow Apolo” for a chance for a free trip to Hawaii. You can enter right here, and you’ll soon be dreaming of flying to Maui for four nights. No cheap accommodations either, as they’ll be putting the winners up at the Grand Wailea. Just take it easy with the umbrella drinks, because you’ll also be attending a luau with the Olympic hero. Hopefully they’ll time the schedules right, and the winners will get to fly on the airplane with a new special Apolo paint job.
Tags: In-Flight Meals / Continental Airlines / Continental / Airlines / Airline News / In-flight Comfort / → All Tags
Put the Fork Down: Continental Ends Free Meals on Most Flights
Every week, there's something new to report when it comes to airline cost-cutting, and this week the big update comes from Continental. After tightening their belts by upping their checked baggage fee to $25 and charging for more legroom, they're now going ahead with eliminating free meals in economy on most flights.
Continental's policy to provide passengers with food on almost every flight made them stand out for service during these years of cutting back to just beverage service, if you're lucky. But now they're about to lose that and the whole lot of loyal customers earned by the food. So what will be replacing the meal trays? Continental will offer meals for purchase, just like low-cost carriers, and they even promise "high-quality, healthy" options. They haven't yet decided on the prices, but we're going to venture that it'll be competitive with other meals, but probably not as tasty at Virgin America's muffaletta.
The only Continental flights where economy will be handed cold sandwiches with soggy bread and maybe some flan for dessert for free, will be "all intercontinental and certain other international routes, and on long-haul domestic routes over six hours." That nixes most domestic flights, so Continental passengers should start stocking up on the granola bars and under-3oz whiskey flasks now.
Related Stories:
· Continental Ends Free Meal on Most Flights [SmarterTravel]
· Continental's Cost-Cutting Could Include Free Meals in Coach [Jaunted]
· In-Flight Meals [Jaunted]
[Photo: Jaunted]
Tags: AirTran / In-Flight WiFi / Airlines / Airline News / → All Tags
For the Next Two Weeks, AirTran's In-Flight WiFi Will Be Free
If you still haven’t made your spring break plans, you might just want to consider having AirTran give you a lift to a sunny destination. Not only will you be able to enjoy one of the best in-flight magazines around, but you’ll also have access to free in-flight WiFi.
AirTran is partnering with American Express to offer free Internet in the skies from March 13 through March 27. AmEx is just looking for some publicity, so there’s no need to use their card to book your flight or anything. Just hop on board and wait for the flight attendants to give the okay to sign online.
Tags: Virgin America / Airline News / New Routes / Airlines / LCCs / → All Tags
Place Your Bets For Virgin America's Next Destination
UPDATE 8:00am, March 18, 2010: Virgin America has just announced that they've picked their next two destinations, and they are Toronto and Orlando!
Do you know what time of the year it is? It's time for airlines to announce their new summer routes! And because LCC Virgin America is still so new to the game, and also partly because we are dying to have more destinations served by their planes boasting in-flight wifi and flight attendants with their own reality show, all eyes are on them right now for possible news.
So where will Virgin America be flying to next? Since we've been 100% successful with our past guesses at their new routes—we called their Seattle, Boston and Fort Lauderdale routes first—we think it's about time to start placing our bets on the next city to get the sexy Virgin treatment.
See the candidates and their odds, after the jump!
Tags: Airline Strikes / American Airlines / British Airways / Airlines / Airline Industry / Airline News / → All Tags
Airline Strike Watch: British Airways and American on the Ropes
It's turning into a pretty rough month for the oneworld alliance. Founding members American Airlines and British Airways are both locked in labor disputes that threaten to escalate into full-blown airline strikes, with unions demanding benefits and managements insisting that the money just isn't there. In both cases it's pretty obvious that employees are playing a weak hand: what are they going to do, devastate the company and put themselves permanently out of work? But in both cases the unions seem intent on going right to the line of mutually assured destruction, which means lots of uncertainty for lots more time.
As if American Airlines wasn't having enough problems with their flight attendants threatening a walkout, now they've got to deal with a potential pilot strike. The money quote being run this morning is that they're "far apart" on a new contract, with the pilots asking to have their purchasing power restored to 1992 levels. The airline insists that's a no-go since their labor costs are already higher than the industry average. A federal mediator is trying to bring the two sides together, which distinguishes this dispute in no way from the negotiations between American and its flight attendants. Or between American and its ground operators. Lots of fun for everyone.
Tags: Airline Strikes / American Airlines / Airlines / Airline Industry / Airline News / → All Tags
Strike Watch: American Airlines Flight Attendants Set To Walk Out
Why should Europe have all the fun? As of this week American Airlines, Continental, United, US Airways and Southwest are all engaged in contentious contract negotiations with any number of unions. But while most of those airlines are in tussles with their pilots, American is facing a walkout by its flight attendants. Negotiations between the airline and the union broke down Wednesday, setting up the conditions for an airline strike. Union officials now need to go to federal officials and ask them to start the clock running on a 30-day waiting period. At the end of that month a full-blown strike becomes permissible. Tick tock:
The two sides are fighting over wages and other items. The union, which represents about 18,000 flight attendants, wants raises to offset pay and benefit cuts that workers accepted in 2003, when American was close to bankruptcy. The company, which lost $3.6 billion in the last two years, says it spends more per employee on flight attendants than Delta, United, Continental and US Airways and must cut labor costs.
Tags: Very Awesome Stuff / In-Flight WiFi / Oman Air / WiFi / OnAir / Technology / Airline News / Airlines / → All Tags
This is the Future! Oman Air Successfully Starts Long-Haul In-Flight WiFi
Happy Friday! Oman Air is officially the first airline to get long-haul in-flight WiFi up and running on one of its planes (Lufthansa's abandoned FlyNet of years ago doesn't really count).
Oman Air, which is already known for having some of the poshest airplane bathrooms, has just added to their in-flight amenities with all sorts of fun connectivity. The excellent announcements comes after a successful first flight with the WiFi onboard an Airbus A330 between Muscat and London-Heathrow. It might not be a super long-haul, 13+hour flight, but it's better than nothing.
The service is from OnAir, a company that hasn't worked to supply any US carrier with in-flight WiFi, although maybe they should think about it. Plus, the WiFi is joined by Oman Air's GSM/GPRS abilty, which allows passengers with the proper GSM/GPRS phones to make phone calls and even text message from 35,000 feet up. SWEEET.
Related Stories:
· Mobile and WiFi Internet Access on Oman Air [AsiaTravelTips]
· Phone Home from Oman Air, as They Allow In-Flight Cell Phones and Texting [Jaunted]
· In-Flight WiFi [Jaunted]
[Photo: drewski2112]
