Heaps of airlines are cutting their flights into LAX, and by November the number of planes coming into and out of the airport will be down by more than 16 percent. That's hundreds of flights a day. Among those carriers involved are American, Delta and United. Though an airport spokeswoman won't confirm all the cuts, industry analysts say they are coming.
A local TV network went out to LAX to see what travelers thought. One man pretty much summed it up:
It's gonna be horrendous, especially coming out of here. It's already very, very busy. I mean, it's just gonna get more expensive and more difficult.
Despite the almost across-the-board cuts, though, a couple airlines will be adding capacity. Horizon Air, Emirates and Virgin America are the ones to watch.
While last year's summer of airline hell has yet to repeat itself, the US government is still working on a way to keep it from happening again. And Transportation Secretary Mary Peters thinks that slot auctions are the way to go, something she's been hyping since at least last December.
But the airlines don't want to pay more for landing rights they already have--especially when they're already bleeding cash. And while Secretary Peters makes some decent points in her latest defense of auctions, her case is more than a little thin.
Seriously, would you be caught dead in this contraption? The Mini Motel is a one-person tent with air mattress, reading light, alarm clock and a pillow that sells for $40.
We can't imagine shelling out for this thing, hauling it around in our carry-on and setting it up at our gate after missing the last flight out for the night. Paying for an airport hotel kind of sucks, sure, but are we really supposed to believe that's more lame than tossing up a tent in the terminal?
Ireland's busiest airport is still recovering from a radar meltdown Wednesday that left hundreds of flights delayed or cancelled. Officials are still advising passengers to check with their airlines before even heading to Dublin Airport.
An Irish Aviation Authority spokeswoman says that while the radar problems that crippled the airport yesterday have been fixed, only about 70 percent of flights will be operating today:
It will be nothing like the extent of the problems that happened yesterday. But it is likely that there will be some delays, especially as the day goes on. A 20 minute delay in the morning might be a 40 minute or an hour's delay in the afternoon.
Aer Lingus is letting delayed passengers rebook without charge. For its part, Ryanair is calling for a government investigation into the radar failure and is asking its passengers to do the same. The LCC has even posted contact info for the IAA on its website. Bitchy--but we like!
The TSA keeps rolling out new initiatives that we're supposed to be thrilled about. The latest is a new effort to let laptop-carrying passengers keep their computers in their bags at security checkpoints. Great news, right? Wrong.
Only a few types of bags will meet the criteria the TSA has laid out, and from the sound of it they'll be hard to identify. (Mostly because the agency won't let manufacturers use language like "TSA Approved" on their luggage.) That means you won't truly know if your bag will play nice with the X-ray machine until you're at the airport.
We've been through enough checkpoints to know what a shitshow this is going to be. We're picturing people complaining that their bag is exempt even though its not, people confused about whether they need to pull out their laptops, TSA agents baffled by fuzzy rules sent from the home office in DC.
So who do we thank for this? Kip Hawley, a guy who says he wants security checkpoints to be "calm and predictable."
The Feds are still trying to sort out the mess plaguing New York area airports even though this summer (so far) has nothing on last year's nightmarish streak of delays and cancellations. At issue now are the slot auctions proposed by the Bush administration in May and whether they'll be able to save American aviation from itself.
Surprisingly, the airlines and New York's Port Authority--which controls the airports--are lining up behind Democrats, who say President Bush's market-based scheme won't work. Says Sen. Chuck Schumer:
Instead of focusing on real, tested solutions to solve this problem, like upgrading decades-old technology and hiring an adequate number of controllers to staff New York's towers, the [Department of Transportation] continues to miss the point.
Republicans--and the DOT--insist that auctioning off some takeoff and landing slots is the best way to spur competition while maintaining flight caps. Of course, no one's ever tried that before, so they have no idea if it's actually going to work.
By the time all the debate is over, though, the congestion problem may be a non-issue. With fuel prices going up and carriers lurching closer to bankruptcy, there may soon be plenty of room for the few airlines still in business!
At the end of last week, the Department of Transportation Secretary Mary Peters proposed that Newark International and JFK auction off landing slots to increase competition at both airports. As long as takeoffs and landings are capped, the feds are worried that ticket prices could go up while the quality of service at New York's airports goes down.
To keep that from happening, the DOT wants to take a small portion of landing slots from all the airlines and sell 'em. The idea is that the auction will open up the market to new competitors and keep things fair--except for the whole "We took your landing slots" part of the plan, of course.
But will this slot selling--which has never been attempted at a major airport--actually spark competition? Industry watcher Brett Snyder doesn't think so:
In the end we'll probably see airlines like Continental bid high for Newark slots so they can keep the ones they have now and possibly even gain some more. The low cost carriers? Well, there's a reason they're low cost. They probably won't be able to afford the price of entry.
Near misses between planes on the runway at Newark Liberty International Airport are nothing new. The airport has consistently ranked high on the FAA's list of dangerous US airports for runway accidents but is EWR even trying to remedy the situation?
Described as runway incursions, these scary incidents happens when "an aircraft, vehicle, person or object on the ground" endangers an aircraft on take off or landing.
Last Friday night, our friend was on a Jet Blue plane from Florida and according to her, all was swell on the flight. Even the landing seemed to be OK until suddenly, the plane slammed on the brakes just missing a Jamaican Air plane.
The Jet Blue plane came to a complete stop and passengers were all freaked out. The crew asked if everyone was OK but according to our spy in the sky, the pilot never apologized. And no, her "more legroom" seat did not make the experience any less frightening. Yikes.
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