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Delta Gives Free In-Flight WiFi For The Holidays To Trick You Into Shopping eBay

November 6, 2009 at 4:45 PM | by Omri | 0 Comments

If Google made a smart business decision by facilitating free holiday in-flight wifi on Virgin America—more Internet users means more revenue for Google—then the deal eBay just sealed with Delta is positively inspired. Starting Nov. 24 and lasting through a week, the auction site/retail outlet/digital store will be providing passengers with a free promotional code so they can get online via Gogo.

The only catch is that the first thing those passengers will see as they soar online through the crowded skies is the eBay frontpage. The better to do their holiday shopping, you see:

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The Worst Way To Score An Upgrade: 'Jostle' A Flight Attendant

November 2, 2009 at 9:24 AM | by JetSetCD | 1 Comment

Everyone knows (or should know) that rule numero uno for boarding a flight is not to annoy or body check the flight attendants, because then you risk being kicked off the plane or just incurring their wrath throughout the flight. But apparently Dom Carter, news anchor for NY1 and recent subject of a domestic violence scandal, can't be bothered with clearing the aisle to make way for the flight attendants.

Dom was boarding a Delta flight from NY-LaGuardia to Kansas City on Saturday when he jostled a flight attendant, who then recognized him from the news, didn't appreciate the physical contact, and called the cops, saying "This man deliberately slammed into me, I want him off the plane!"

Who did what exactly we don't know, but we do know that Dom was kicked off the flight only to be apologized to by Delta staff and presented with an upgrade to first class, according to Gothamist. While Dom surely doesn't need his name in he news any more these past few weeks, the event seems to have turned out well for him. Still, we do not advocate bumping into flight crew in the hopes of scoring an upgrade similarly. Instead, we're still all about flattery.

Related Stories:
· Embattled NY1 Anchor Dom Carter Kicked Off Plane [Gothamist]
· Airline News [Jaunted]

[Photo: Jaunted]

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Were The Northwest Pilots Just Perplexed By The New Facebook?

October 28, 2009 at 4:14 PM | by juliana | 1 Comment

Note: These are not real pilots. Or are they?

By now, we've all heard about the Northwest Plane That Flew Too Far. But we haven't quite heard the full story on what caused these two fools pilots to stop paying attention during the landing. Until today.

Initially, the pilots said they were distracted by a "heated discussion over airline policy and lost track of their location." But it turns out that the pilots were not even handling the right controls.

The FAA has recently suspended the pilots--First Officer Richard Cole and Captain Timothy Cheney--because they copped to being on their laptops during the crucial moment. They still maintain they were discussing new crew schedules. But yes, their laptops. Laptops in the cockpit. Pilots diddling about on their computers while they were supposed to be landing a plane. Why not pull out your Blackberry and start playing Brickbreaker, for crissakes?

Not surprisingly, there will probably be a crackdown of laptops use by pilots in the future. Peter Greenberg even surmised that this sort of tomfoolery in the cockpit could lead to a flat-out ban of electronics for pilots.

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Another Week, Another Round Of Airfare Price Hikes

October 26, 2009 at 2:09 PM | by Omri | 0 Comments

In case you had any lingering doubts, the airline industry wants you to know that the Summer Of Low Fares is officially over. Continental may have dumped Delta for Star Alliance partnerships - and in case you're wondering that's still a total mess - but the two airlines seemed simpatico last week when they simultaneously announced price hikes.

Those increases, which functionally included airlines in two out of three alliances, caused other companies to take notice. That led to another round of industry-wide fare hikes, making this the second time in as many weeks that ticket prices have increased:

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Delta Flight Lands On Atlanta Taxiway, Narrowly Avoids Disaster

Where: Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson Airport, GA, United States
October 21, 2009 at 10:23 AM | by JetSetCD | 1 Comment

You know what? Landing your airplane on an airport taxiway is not a good idea, even if you have a "medical emergency" onboard. This is exactly what happened at the consistently busy Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson Airport on Monday, when a Delta flight inbound from Rio de Janeiro phoned in their emergency and then landed on the wrong stretch of tarmac.

Luckily for this plane and all the passengers on it, there were no other airplanes waiting on the taxiway to cause a collision, although there easily could have been what with Atlanta's congestion. The Delta flight should have landed on the runway, which is larger and longer and labelled as a runway, that sits parallel to the taxiway. Both the pilot and co-pilot have been relieved from flying while the investigation is pending; it's still not known what the medical emergency was. The FAA is concerned, and a spokewoman noted that "it was 'very, very rare' for a plane to land on a taxiway rather than the runway. 'None of us here, anecdotally, can remember this happening.'" Hopefully it won't happen again either.

Related Stories:
· Delta Flight Lands On Taxiway Instead Of Runway [AJC]
· Delta coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Jaunted]

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Confusion Alert! Northwest Changing Flight Numbers This Weekend

October 20, 2009 at 4:13 PM | by Omri | 0 Comments

The sometimes schizophrenic, sometimes awkward, and sometimes plain silly consequences of the Delta / Northwest merger continue over the next two weekends, with plans to summarily change Northwest's flight numbers and match them to Delta's. Both airlines promise that customers will shortly be informed of the changes via email, which is kind of like the time the federal government promised Katrina victims "hold on - we'll be right there!" It might be true in theory, but in practice it's going to confusing and dismal for everyone.

Well, except for us. Since we're not flying Northwest this weekend, for us it's mostly just entertainment:

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SAS Airlines' New Paperless Boarding Passes Will Help You Shop Duty-Free

October 19, 2009 at 4:03 PM | by Omri | 0 Comments

SAS Airlines has joined the growing list of airlines allowing customers to check in with paperless 2D bar codes stored on their mobile. Passengers can have the boarding passes delivered either by SMS or via the SAS mobile site. The service will be available on domestic flights within Scandinavia and Finland, Intra Scandinavian flights, flights to Europe and Asia, and even some flights back from Europe:

SAS Scandinavian Airlines is now offering its passengers the convenience of mobile boarding passes. This means SAS customers can now travel using only their mobile phone and with an ID card/passport... The mobile boarding pass contains a 2D bar code that can be read electronically at the airport. The 2D bar code can be used to get baggage tags from the SAS Self Service kiosks, at security screening, duty-free shopping, entering SAS lounges and when boarding.

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Detroit Airport Might Be Spacious And Pretty, But The WiFi Sucks

Where: Detroit Metro Wayne Country Airport [map], Detroit, MI, United States
October 14, 2009 at 2:08 PM | by JetSetCD | 2 Comments

Update: Ok fine, so as the DTW rep points out in the comments, Boingo is available in both terminals. But our own experience convinced us otherwise, and we recommend checking out the Airport WiFi map (click the icon to the right) to note that most airports tagged have free Wifi; something DTW should think about if they can afford the snazziness evident elsewhere.

We may have told you time and time again about the wonders of Detroit's Wayne Country Airport, but despite the very cool in-terminal monorail and relaxing LED light tunnel, Detroit is not as down with technology as you think.

In particular we refer to their Airport WiFi situation, which is sad to say the least. They've had internet in their Smith terminal since 2004, but with that terminal currently sitting empty Detroit has had to equip the rest of the airport. These days, you can log into the 'net from Delta/Northwest's McNamara Terminal only, and it's a Boingo frontier there.

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The Airline Holiday Travel Grinch Strikes Again

October 12, 2009 at 9:11 AM | by kjb | 0 Comments

We thought this would happen, and we’re not too thrilled about it: The holiday surcharge that was introduced last month on some airlines has slowly crept into new dates as well. At first it was just Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day; however, now it seems like every major holiday except for Flag Day is associated with a $10 each way fee.

According to fare tracking website FareCompare, some airlines have now added additional dates in which these holiday fees apply. November 30; December 19, 26, and 27; March 14, 20, 21, and 28; April 11; and May 28 all now may increase your airfare cost by about $20 round trip when the surcharges are tacked on.

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It's A Sad Day For Frivolous Travel As US Helicopter Abruptly Shuts Down

September 28, 2009 at 2:03 PM | by JetSetCD | 1 Comment

US Helicopter, which ran Sikorsky choppers from the Wall Street and Midtown West heliports to JFK and Newark airports, shuttered its service abruptly on Friday. What a bummer for ballers in the NYC-area, and for Jaunted too since we've splurged on the 8-minute flight a few times—one review is here.

The 'copter company, which landed at Delta terminals at the airports and offered seamless transfers to your Delta flights, only began 3 years ago and yet has been plagued with financial problems from the first. Sometimes their desperation for cash would work out for us, since their $99 special would appear every so often and drive us batty with fantasies of flying in friends from the airport as a gift and totally blowing their minds.

The good news is, US Helicopter claims that this stop is only temporary for, as their Vice-President says, "getting our act together." Once they do get their act together, we hope that $159 one-ways that take 8 minutes to get to the airport still include a few specials.

Related Stories:
· US Helicopter Halts Shuttle Service To JFK and Newark [NYT]
· First-Person Flight Reviews: US Helicopter Is Real-Life Google Earth [Jaunted]
· US Helicopter Coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: US Helicopter]

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This Year's Holiday Season To Be Hampered By Airline Grinch Fees

September 28, 2009 at 8:38 AM | by kjb | 0 Comments

You may have already noticed that the Christmas decorations have arrived at your local discount store, but like it or not, the major airlines also have a little decorating already planned for the holiday season. Last week, several domestic airlines decided to tack on an additional surcharge for travel during the peak travel season around Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day. American Airlines started this fee earlier in the week, and by the time we were ready for the weekend, United, Delta, and US Airways had joined the party.

According to the fare tracking website FareCompare, this new miscellaneous $10 fee applies for November 29, January 2, and January 3. So far it appears that Santa and his reindeer are safe, as nothing has been announced for travel immediately around Christmas. However, we’ll let you know if you’ll need to leave an extra cookie for him just in case.

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Delta Has Been Flying Empty Planes To London For A Car Wash

September 15, 2009 at 2:08 PM | by kjb | 1 Comment

Environmentalists are not too happy with Delta right now. The airline has been running empty planes across the Atlantic for a good scrub down. Delta admitted to flying these “ghost” flights, because they need to meet Australian quarantine regulations. Officials in the land down under require inbound planes to be disinfected to prevent bad stuff like malaria and dengue fever. See, we don’t want to get malaria, so we kind of understand what they’re doing here, but there's probably a better way to go about this.

Even though the necessary materials to do all this cleaning are available in the US, these treatments must be completed outside of the country. The closest place that is approved by the Australian quarantine and inspection service is London-Heathrow, and that’s why Delta has been wasting loads of jet fuel just to get a car plane wash.

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