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Tags: Travel Advertising / Airlines / Airline News / AirTran / LCCs / Travel Ads / → All Tags
AirTran Brings Insanely Obnoxious Seat-Back Advertising To The US
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...
Tags: In-Flight WiFi / American Airlines / WiFi / Technology / Airline News / Airlines / → All Tags
Want To Know If Your American Airlines Flight Has WiFi? There's A Widget For That
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.
Tags: Turf Wars / Japan Airlines / Delta / American Airlines / Airlines / Airline News / Airline Alliances / → All Tags
Delta Offers JAL a $1 Billion Bribe to Unfriend American Airlines
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...
Tags: Airline Fees / Airline News / Airlines / Holiday Travel / Delta / American Airlines / US Airways / United / → All Tags
Random Airline Fees Continue Into 2010, Including Super Bowl Travel
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.
Tags: Pet Travel / El Al / Airline News / Airlines / → All Tags
El Al Wants To Make Sure Your Pets Are Getting Plenty Of Travel Love
Israeli airline El Al is very proud of having a pet frequent flyer club, where your dog or cat will get a free trip for every three round-trips they survive. What's more, El Al has been kind enough to offer us some tips on flying with our pets, and speaking as people who've never done it, we think they sound like good ideas.
The most important tips seem to be to exercise your pet shortly before the flight, but feed him a few hours beforehand to avoid a poor air-sick doggy. El Al also suggests getting the appropriate pet carrier far enough in advance that your pet can get used to the contraption before they're stuck in it on a flight.
Tags: Airline News / American Airlines / US Airways / Airline Mergers / Airlines / → All Tags
American and US Airways Might Sneak A Kiss Under The Mistletoe
Last week we were intrigued with the latest developments regarding a possible merger between United and Continental, but this week there’s a different merger rumor kicking around. Unfortunately—or fortunately depending who you ask—this one doesn’t seem as likely. We’re talking about the possibility of American Airlines and US Airways joining forces.
American and Delta jostle for the title of largest carrier, but like we said last week, if Continental and United hooked up they would move into first and American would fall to third behind the newly formed Delta. That’s got to hurt your ego, even if everyone remembers that first is the worst and second is the best.
Tags: Porter Airlines / Airline News / Airlines / Pilots / → All Tags
Porter Pilot Has A Medical Situation In The Air...His Own
There was a little scare in the air over the weekend for passengers and crew aboard a Porter Airlines flight from Halifax, Nova Scotia to St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. The pilot of the plane apparently passed out and lost consciousness shortly after the plane took off. The plane made an in-flight U-turn and headed back to Halifax with the copilot at the controls.
It isn’t known what exactly caused the pilot’s medical situation, but he was able to leave the plane and walk into an ambulance upon landing. He was of course taken to the hospital to check things out. All of the passengers remained on the plane until a replacement crew reported for duty—hopefully they gave out lots of their complimentary wine—and the plane later made it to its final destination.
Tags: Airlines / Airline News / Airline Travel / Airline Safety / Special Panels / Department of Transportation / Roy LaHood / → All Tags
A Very Special Panel Will Try Really Hard to Fix the Airline Industry
It's been a tough couple of decades for the airline industry, but things are finally looking up, thanks to a "special panel" created by the U.S. Department of Transportation. The AP reports that Transportation Secretary Roy LaHood said Thursday that the panel will come up with a plan to fix the industry, which has suffered billions of dollars in losses amid slackened demand, fluctuating oil prices, and cutthroat competition.
Tags: Continental Airlines / Continental / Airlines / Airline News / United / Star Alliance / → All Tags
If Continental Combines With United, They'd Oust Delta As World's Largest Carrier
Continental Airlines has made a pretty smooth transition over to the Star Alliance. We’ve been talking about them dumping their former pals at SkyTeam for some new friends for quite a bit, but now the airline might just be rekindling an old flame.
Rumors from the past have once again been brought to the surface regarding Continental Airlines shacking up with United Airlines. Apparently now that the two major carriers are all cozy with one another in their new alliance they might just want to take their relationship to the next level. The head honcho over at Continental said last week that the airline hasn’t totally ruled out a merger with United Airlines. It looks like US Airways might become the third wheel in this potential airline love triangle.
Tags: United / Airlines / Airline News / Alcohol / Drunk Travel / Pilots / → All Tags
United Airlines Flight Canceled Due To Alleged Drunk Pilot
We know layovers are difficult, and they often drive us to drink. But we’re passengers and it’s perfectly fine for us to knock back a couple before heading to a middle seat in the back of the plane so long as we keep to ourselves. However, it’s definitely not a good idea to have a few adult beverages before the flight if you are the person responsible for flying the airplane. Fortunately for all aboard a United Airlines flight, the pilot was stopped before take off as he allegedly had a little too much to drink.
Over 100 passengers and crew were ready to depart London to head to Chicago aboard Flight 949 yesterday when their flight was abruptly canceled. The cause of the cancellation was due to a pilot who was not fit to fly. The pilot was arrested at London Heathrow Airport and was later released on bail pending the results of alcohol tests. A staff member of United Airlines was purportedly the one that rang the airport police to check things out—good work.
Tags: Airline News / Airlines / British Airways / Flight Attendants / → All Tags
British Airways Can't Catch A Break, Now Facing Employee Walkout
All things considered, the executives at British Airways haven't been having the best couple of weeks. Ryanair spent last few days rubbing salt in the wounds of Britain's largest carrier, crowing about how the airline wasn't going to have that title much longer. This was on top of strike threats that company officials were rushing to downplay in the media. No chance of a strike, they insisted to worried customers and investors. Those reassurances turn out, as of this weekend, to have been not entirely unreliable:
Tags: The Inhumanity of Airlines Today / Track Suit Guy / Corkers / Fashion / Airlines / United Airlines / Track Suits / Dress Codes / First Class Travel / → All Tags
United Was Wrong to Deny Track Suit Guy His First Class Seat, But Still, a Track Suit?
Did you hear the one about the guy who was denied a first class seat on a United Airlines flight because he was wearing a track suit? It's a corker. Armando Alvarez (not pictured), an executive at Best Buy, used his frequent flier miles to upgrade to the front of the cabin for a flight from Washington Dulles to Connecticut on October 26, but a gate agent took one look at his Puma getup and deemed him unworthy of the fancy seats, insisting he sit in coach with the riffraff instead. United has come out and said it was all a big misunderstanding, and that the agent apparently thought Alvarez was an airline employee - and thus required to follow a dress code - but not before the story became the latest example of the inhumanity of airlines today.
