Qantas probe laptop
link after 300 foot plunge. Passenger laptop computers are now being investigated as a possible
cause of the Qantas mid-air emergency off Western Australia on Tuesday [10/7/2008]. The Airbus A330-300,
with 303 passengers and a crew of 10, experienced what the airline described as a "sudden change in
altitude" north of its destination on Tuesday. … In July, a passenger clicking on a wireless mouse mid-flight
was blamed for causing a Qantas jet to be thrown off course, according to the Australian Transport Safety
Bureau's monthly report.
Update:
Qantas mid-air drama
explained. An error in the automatic pilot system caused an Airbus jet to plummet last week,
injuring scores of passengers on a Qantas flight from Singapore to Perth, Australia's air safety agency said
on Tuesday. The incident was an "unique event", but was serious enough to prompt Airbus to issue
emergency guidelines to airlines worldwide operating the Airbus A330-300 in the event of a similar
emergency, Australian Transport Safety Bureau director Julian Walsh told reporters in Canberra.
FBI: Airline
passenger restrained with duct tape. An airline crew used duct tape to keep a passenger
in her seat because they say she became unruly, fighting flight attendants and grabbing other passengers,
forcing the flight to land in North Carolina. Maria Esther Castillo of Oswego, N.Y., is due in
court Thursday [11/6/2008], charged with resisting arrest and interfering with the operations of a flight crew
aboard United Airlines Flight 645, from Puerto Rico to Chicago.
American cancels 922 more
flights. American Airlines canceled 922 flights today — including 16 that were to depart
from Logan International Airport — as the world's largest carrier continued its struggle with aircraft
safety inspections. Today's cancellations followed nearly 1,000 on Wednesday [4/9/2008].
The Editor says...
As I understand it, the FAA (under pressure from Congress) won't let American fly their MD-80's because of
potential wiring problems in the airplanes' wheel wells. Obviously the airline considers the planes to
be reasonably safe. Here's my proposed solution: Instead of inconveniencing thousands of people at
airports all over the country, why not let them fly on the planes as usual, after signing a waiver and
acknowledging that the plane might not be 100% safe. American Airlines would be be better off letting
people fly for half price, rather than getting so upset that they would never fly American again. That
would be the free market solution. Unfortunately the American public has been conditioned to assume that
the government can and will keep everyone 100% safe all the time, so that's why people are sleeping on cots
in the terminals at DFW Airport.
American
Cleared To Return All But Three MD-80s To Service. There may finally be a (landing) light at the
end of the tunnel for American Airlines, stifled for days following groundings of its 300-plane fleet of
MD-80 airliners for safety inspections. On Saturday [4/12/2008], FAA officials cleared the airline
to return all but three of the aircraft to service.
The
Best Route to Airline Safety: [Scroll down] Unnoticed in the furor is that during all the time
these carriers were doing something supposedly dangerous, it didn't cause any accidents. The carriers'
definition of "safe" seems to have been vindicated. That should come as no shock. As a rule, it
makes sense to assume the industry puts great emphasis on safety. Aircraft manufacturers have a huge
stake in producing safe vehicles, and airlines have powerful incentives not to crash those planes.
The Latest Political Crusade: CFL Light Bulbs and
Airline Safety. We are in an unprecedented era of safety as far as American commercial airlines
are concerned and the uninspected items did not all have to be inspected immediately. Since there were
thousands of airline flights cancelled in the name of safety, this means that there were at least tens of
thousands of passengers unable to take the flights they had booked. Some of those passengers drove
cars to reach the destinations to which they had originally planned to fly.
Delta Air doubles fee for second checked bag to $50.
Delta Air Lines on Tuesday [7/29/2008] doubled the fee to check a second bag for domestic flights to $50 from $25 to help
offset record fuel prices.
American Airlines waives 3rd bag fee
for military. American Airlines said Wednesday [8/13/2008] it will waive the fee to check a third bag for
active members of the U.S. military. Fees for first and second checked bags have always been waived
for active service members, American said. Previously, military personnel had to pay the $100 fee
for the third checked bag, and then fill out a form to be reimbursed. The new waiver policy
begins immediately.
US Airways
to follow JetBlue's pillow fee. US Airways will likely begin selling pillows and blankets to
its customers by the end of the year, following closely behind discount carrier JetBlue Airways Corp., which
said Monday [8/4/2008] it will start charging fliers $7 to use a pillow and blanket.
Airlines'
rising fees confuse and anger their passengers. Rising airline fees reached new milestones last week
with a charge for pillows and blankets and record charges for frequent-flier award tickets. JetBlue began
charging $7 for a new pillow-and-blanket set that passengers can keep. US Airways established processing
fees for frequent-flier tickets that will cost fliers booking online $30 for a domestic flight and $40 for nearly
all international destinations.
American,
Cutting Back, Plans $15 Bag Fee. There's an old saying about the best way to travel: bring
half the clothes and twice the money. Now may be the time to take that advice to heart. American
Airlines said Wednesday [5/21/2008] that it would soon start charging passengers $15 to check their first bag
each way, or $30 round-trip, if they are flying on a discounted fare.
The Editor says...
Now American Airlines is grounding its MD-80s for a different reason: The airline says (if I heard
the TV report correctly) that the MD-80s are such gas-guzzlers that even if they were filled to capacity,
the price of a ticket wouldn't pay for the jet fuel they burn.
Had a lost bag in 2007? It was one
of 42 million. Airline passengers suffered more delays than ever in retrieving their luggage last
year as 42 million bags went missing, 25 percent more than in 2006, according to a report issued
Thursday [4/17/2008]. Of these, 3 percent or one bag for every 2,000 travelers were never found,
said the report from the Geneva-based SITA organization, which provides computerized services including
baggage handling to the air travel industry.
Arriving on carousel 1, far fewer of your bags.
After the crammed parking lot, the amusement-park-length check-in lines, security procedures that require all
but a striptease, flights that are jampacked, if they're not delayed or canceled — after all that
comes baggage claim, where the maddening odyssey of modern air travel is supposed to end but often just gets
worse. More than 1 million pieces of luggage were lost, damaged, delayed or pilfered by U.S. airlines
from May to July, according to data from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. June and July ranked
among the 20 worst months for mishandled baggage in 20 years.
Planes
Late, Fliers Even Later. As anyone who has flown recently can probably tell you, delays are getting
worse this year. The on-time performance of airlines has reached an all-time low, but even the official
numbers do not begin to capture the severity of the problem. That is because these statistics track how
late airplanes are, not how late passengers are. The longest delays — those resulting from missed
connections and canceled flights — involve sitting around for hours or even days in airports and hotels
and do not officially get counted.
Fliers
Fed Up? Airline Employees Feel the Same. And you thought the passengers were mad.
Airline employees are fed up, too — with pay cuts, increased workloads and management's miserly
ways, which leave workers to explain to often-enraged passengers why flying has become such a miserable
experience.
Air passengers win right to water,
food. A group representing air travellers in the US have claimed victory after a New York judge
ruled airlines in the state must provide essential services to passengers stranded for long periods.
Passengers sue after being stuck on
airplane. Two passengers who were stranded for hours on American Airlines airplanes diverted
during a major storm over North Texas have sued the carrier, accusing it of false imprisonment, fraud and
negligence. … After landing, passengers sat in the planes for more than eight hours, unable to leave
despite overflowing toilets and little food or water.
Update:
Court
overturns air passenger rights law. A federal appeals court Tuesday [3/25/2008] struck down a
state law requiring airlines to give food, water, clean toilets and fresh air to passengers stuck in delayed
planes, saying the measure was well-intentioned but stepped on federal authority.
The Editor says...
Airline passengers fork over hundreds of dollars to get on an airplane, only to be
held captive on the plane for hours in some cases. Here is the solution: Pick the
airline with the worst track record in this category, and don't fly on that airline
again! (Indeed, the courts have just ruled that there is no other recourse.)
When they go out of business, the other airlines will get the message.
Flight delays worst in 7 years.
Last year was the worst on record for flight delays since 2000, according to a new report from the federal
Transportation Department. … Fort Worth-based American Airlines tied with U.S. Airways for the worst
2007 record among the largest domestic carriers, with more than 31 percent of flights delayed, according
to the Transportation Department. Southwest Airlines of Dallas posted the best record, with just
20 percent of flights delayed.
Flight
delays are the second worst in 12 years. "Travelers should look back on 2007 with a sense of
fondness," said Kevin Mitchell, chairman of the Business Travel Coalition, a Radnor, Pa.-based trade group
of corporate travel managers. "It's going to get worse. These will be the good old days." …
Any flight arriving less than 15 minutes behind schedule is considered to be on time.
Flight Delays, Lost Bags at Record
Highs. Flying, if it ever was fun, became less fun last year. According to the Department of
Transportation's (DOT) Air Travel Consumer Report, U.S. airlines experienced a lower rate of on-time flights
and more reports of mishandled baggage last year than in 2006, and passengers filed more complaints with the
government about airline service than they did the previous year.
Flight delays, mishandled-luggage incidents on the rise
nationwide. Incidents of flight delays and mishandled baggage have risen steadily since 2003,
and according to a report issued by the U. S. Department of Transportation on Tuesday [2/5/2008], the number
of incidents has continued to climb in 2007.
Heathrow
a national embarrassment, says airlines' chief. Giovanni Bisignani, the director general of the International
Air Transport Association, rounded on the airport when he addressed aviation executives at the industry summit in
Istanbul. … "Look at Heathrow," he said. "Service levels are a national embarrassment, but still the Civil
Aviation Authority increased charges by 50 percent over the last five years and plan 85 percent for the
next five.
Workers
Use Handicapped Parking Slots at Airport. The lure of free and convenient parking for the
handicapped was apparently too much for some able-bodied baggage handlers to resist. County
investigators said Wednesday [4/9/2008] that at least 227 workers at Miami International Airport had been
caught parking near the terminals with permits for the handicapped, only to walk away from their cars,
typically with very little effort and bags in hand.
More flights
cancelled as Heathrow bag mountain grows. British Airways on Monday cancelled dozens more
flights from its new flagship terminal at London Heathrow amid mounting anger over the disruption and a
mountain of stranded luggage. Five days after Terminal Five opened, ministers criticised anger at
the chaos which has engulfed the multi-billion pound facility, while it also emerged that the turmoil
had triggered a diplomatic incident.
British
Airways bags sent to be sorted out in Milan. British Airways is sending thousands of suitcases
by lorry to Milan because staff cannot cope with the Terminal 5 baggage mountain. A large chunk of
the 20,000 suitcases, which built up after the Terminal's disastrous opening day, are being sent to the
courier firm in Italy to be driven or flown to their owners.
My Escape from
the Titanic: In the case of T5, the planners had forgotten to create parking spaces for the
baggage handlers. When the handlers finally got to the doors of T5, their security passes didn't
work. The few that managed to get through didn't know where their workstations were. The baggage
handling software had already failed. My two bags I had complacently supposed were being whirled at
tremendous speed to the Boeing 747 at Gate 38 in Terminal B had in fact joined a vast logjam in the
center of the baggage maze. Everything came to a standstill.
Equipment
problem delays flights at DFW Airport. [Doug] Church said the FAA had called in a
technician from Oklahoma to fix the problem. "We were told he was told not to fly, but he
was supposed to get in his car and drive," Mr. Church said. … [Ric Loewen,
spokesman for NATCA at D/FW Tower, asks,] "Why is the maintenance guy who is responsible for
the nation's third busiest airport driving from Oklahoma City? Why don't we have enough
technicians here at D/FW that are certified who can fix it?
The Editor says...
Why drive all the way from Oklahoma City? Couldn't he fly to Love Field and take a taxi?
Airline pilots may have slept
past their stop in Hawaii. The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating whether two
airline pilots who flew past the airport in Hilo Hawaii by 15 miles last Wednesday [2/13/2008] were
asleep. Go! Airlines flight 1002 left from Honolulu and was expected to land in Hilo around 10 a.m.,
but had to turn around after flying past the airport.
This item was published four weeks later...
'Sleeping pilots' overshoot destination.
The pilots of a passenger jet are being investigated over suspicions that they both fell asleep at the controls. An air traffic
controller monitoring Hawaiian airspace repeatedly tried to raise the two pilots of the go! flight from Honolulu to Hilo as it overshot
its destination by 15 miles. Aside from a suspicious 17-minute-long radio silence, the plane remained flying at an altitude of
21,000 feet, suggesting that it had not even begun its descent to land.
Update:
Pilots
Who Slept Through Landing Suspended. Two pilots for Hawaii's Go airlines who slept through their
flight's landing procedure were suspended for the careless and reckless operation of an aircraft, the Federal
Aviation Administration said. The pilots, who have been fired by Go, completed their suspensions on
Sept. 9, FAA spokesman Ian Gregor said Tuesday [9/23/2008]. He did not know whether they are
flying again with a different carrier.
A similar case:
Plane
soared past destination as pilots slept: report. An Air India flight headed for Mumbai overshot
its destination and was halfway to Goa before its dozing pilots were woken out of a deep slumber by air
traffic control, a report said. The high altitude nap took place approximately two weeks ago, the
Times of India reported today [6/27/2008].
Flying
the angry skies. Flights are packed. Delays are rampant. Cancellations are all too
common. … This year, airline passengers and employees already frustrated by delays say they have added
peevishness, anger, even shouting matches to their travels. Chances are not only greater that you will
arrive late at your destination these next few months, they say. It's just as likely you'll have a
thoroughly unpleasant time on the way.
US Airways flight to Phoenix sat on NY tarmac
for nearly 7 hours. Passengers on a US Airways flight from New York to Phoenix spent nearly
7 hours sitting on the tarmac waiting for bad weather to clear, finally arriving nearly six hours late,
and presumably a whole lot grumpier.
The Editor says...
I'm not a pilot, but I do know that the time to check the weather forecast is before loading
people onto an airplane.
Flight diverted due to
alleged groping. Federal air marshals charged a Seattle-area man with groping a female passenger
aboard a United Airlines flight that the pilot diverted to Pittsburgh because of the disturbance.
3 a.m. home
invasion? No, it's American Airlines. In November, The New York Times
reported that U.S. airlines lost one in every 138 bags checked in the first nine months of
2007. That's 3.4 million bags, a 17 percent increase over the same period in
2006. And during the holiday travel season the situation is usually even worse.
Power Outage
Hits Grand Rapids Airport. A nearly 14-hour power outage caused some flight
delays Monday [12/24/2007] for holiday travelers at Gerald R. Ford International Airport, which was
left without heat in the passenger terminal.
Stranded,
angry air travelers overrun ticket counters, destroy equipment at Argentine airport. Local
television broadcasts showed passengers overrunning ticketing counters, throwing computers and
wrestling with airport personnel, even as a spokesman for the airline attempted to explain the
cause of delays. Tempers flared as hundreds of travelers awaited word on suspended and
canceled flights.
Coffee Grounds Qantas.
Qantas Flight QF2 from London To Sydney via BKK (Bangkok) (a Boeing 747-400) suffered a total AC
electrical loss 15 minutes before landing at BKK on 8 January 2008. … Inspection of
the aircraft showed that water from the first class galley had overflowed down onto the sub-floor
E racks which contained the GCU's (controllers for engine generators) and BPCU (backup PCU).
All controllers were disabled resulting in total loss of AC power.
Airline
passengers demand more legroom. Airline passengers should be given the legal right to at least
two inches more legroom to counter the threat of deep vein thrombosis (DVT), peers have said. The gap
should be widened from the current statutory minimum of 26 inches to at least 28.2 to take into account
the fact that the traveling public were getting fatter and taller.
Man Drinks Liter of Vodka at Airport Line.
A man nearly died from alcohol poisoning after quaffing a liter (two pints) of vodka at an airport security check
instead of handing it over to comply with new carry-on rules, police said Wednesday. The incident occurred
at the Nuremberg airport on Tuesday, where the 64-year-old man was switching planes on his way home to Dresden
from a holiday in Egypt.
'Drunk'
flight attendant arraigned. A flight attendant for Atlantic Southeast Airlines who was removed
from a plane because she was allegedly drunk was arraigned Monday in a Lexington, Ky. court. Public safety
officials at the Lexington airport said the flight attendant threatened the jet's captain, telling him "You're
dead" as she was removed from the plane.
United Airlines [stinks] (part 40). United
damaged our bag, refused (through a contractor) to accept our damage report at the airport, and then over the
phone blatantly misrepresented what it was offering as compensation. If United had been telling the truth
then we would have received the $150 compensation that United owes us. Instead we seem to be receiving
nothing at all.
Planes, Trains, and Solicitations: With the
holidays fast approaching, Americans are already bracing for the high anxieties of holiday travel: missed
flights, lost luggage, weather delays, and explaining to the children why that TSA agent gets to open all their
presents. But this weekend's latest expose in the Idaho Statesman gives millions traveling through the
nation's crowded airports a whole new worry: how to get home for the holidays without being solicited by
Larry Craig.
Operations Returning
To Normal After Second LAX Computer Glitch. [Scroll down] A more serious snag occurred about
2 p.m. on Saturday [8/11/2007]. The Customs and Border Protection computer system — which is
used to process travelers entering and leaving the country and identifies those on a "no-fly"
terrorist watch list — went down and was not restored for about seven hours. The outage
prompted security officials to keep international passengers on their planes on the tarmac for
up to six hours, creating gridlock throughout LAX. Some 20,000 passengers were affected.
Update:
LAX airport delay cause.
According to the Los Angeles Times (and an Associated Press article), the issue that
caused thousands of travelers to be delayed at LAX was caused by a faulty network interface
card (NIC) on a single machine.
Terror
crackdown: Passengers forced to answer 53 questions before they travel. Travellers face
price hikes and confusion after the Government unveiled plans to take up to 53 pieces of information from
anyone entering or leaving Britain. For every journey, security officials will want credit card details,
holiday contact numbers, travel plans, email addresses, car numbers and even any previous missed flights. The
information, taken when a ticket is bought, will be shared among police, customs, immigration and the security
services for at least 24 hours before a journey is due to take place.
53
reasons to stay at home. If you think radical Muslims, bureaucrats and cops have made travel
miserable for everyone in America, you might have to stay away from Britain. Gordon Brown, the new prime
minister in London, revealed his new scheme yesterday for saying hello and goodbye to tourists and other
travelers, and it's a scheme that could please only a busybody bureaucrat. … The relevancy of all this to
Americans is clear and present, since bad things spread swiftly to unexpected places.
British Airways Places Dead Passenger in First
Class Seat. A British Airways passenger traveling first class has described how he woke up on a
long-haul flight to find that cabin crew had placed a corpse in his row.
Passengers Spend 5 Hours On Plane At
LaGuardia. Stormy weather in the Northeast had led to canceled and delayed flights at all local
area airports, hundreds being stranded at LaGuardia, John F. Kennedy and Newark Liberty airports, and
frustrated passengers sitting for hours on planes that never took off.
JetBlue
passengers endure 25-hour trek from Fort Lauderdale to N.Y.. A 2½-hour
JetBlue Airways flight bound from Fort Lauderdale to New York on Wednesday turned into a
25-hour odyssey that finally ended Thursday afternoon, as a chain of problems left 150
passengers staggered by the mind-boggling delay.
Sewage flows
down aisles of trans-Atlantic flight. Passengers on a Continental Airlines flight had to hold
their noses for hours as sewage overflowed from toilets while they were high over the Atlantic. "To be
blatantly honest, I was more nervous than I had ever been on a flight," said Collin Brock. The University
Place man was on board Continental Airlines flight 1970 from Amsterdam to Newark, New Jersey last week when
things went bad.
Airline
industry in a jam. Flight 1073 shows how easy it is for a situation to go from bad to worse,
especially when carriers operate with little or no slack.
Plane diverted from IAH over
unruly passenger. A Continental Airlines flight bound for Houston from Dallas Love Field was
diverted Wednesday night to College Station, according to a spokeswoman for the airline. Continental
Express Flight 2828, which had 40 passengers and three crew members on board, was diverted to Easterwood
Field in College Station.
Computer
problem grounds United. United Airlines grounded all of its flights for two hours yesterday
[6/20/2007] because of a computer malfunction, adding to the woes that fliers are expected to endure this
summer.
Travelers Forced to
Throw Out Liquids. Airline passengers around the country stood in line for hours and airport
trash bins bulged with everything from mouthwash and shaving cream to maple syrup and fine wine
Thursday [8/10/2006] in a security crackdown prompted by the discovery of a terror plot in Britain.
Amazingly, people go along with this new level of stringent baggage checking without complaining. Many
were shown on television tossing their toothpaste and carbonated beverages into trash cans, while professing
a belief that they're keeping America safe by doing so. Someday even more restrictions will be put in
place and the people who travel by air will gladly comply. Some people believe that security
guards are always right, no matter what they demand.
Flying naked:
Air travel quit being fun about the time snazzy Braniff Airlines went out of business, but it has become a
nightmare as a result of the most recent security rules. Not only can't you bring a bottle of water aboard
to stave off dehydration on a five-hour flight, but even a tube of lipstick or mascara has become suddenly
suspect in response to the recently foiled plot against American carriers in Great Britain.
Obese can get 2 airline
seats. Obese people have the right to two seats for the price of one on flights within Canada,
the Supreme Court of Canada ruled on Thursday. The high court declined to hear an appeal by Canadian
airlines of a decision by the Canadian Transportation Agency that people who are "functionally disabled by
obesity" deserve to have two seats for one fare.
Fat man sues over plane seat.
An overweight passenger has sued Air France after being told he was too fat and forced to buy a second seat to
accommodate him on a flight. A lawyer representing Air France told a court the company had a clear policy
of asking obese passengers to pay for two seats. "Let's be objective. This man is fat," lawyer
Fernand Gamault told the court in Bobigny. "He barely fits on the courtroom chair. How could he
sit in an aeroplane?"
Call for airlines to charge 'fat
tax'. Obese airline passengers should be forced to pay a "fat tax" to cover the cost of transporting
their excess weight, according to a controversial proposal by health experts. Calls for the tax —
which would be determined per extra kilo, in the same way as excess baggage — come as obesity rates and
fuel prices surge to new highs in Australia.
Swearing grounds
NWA jet. The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating a Northwest Airlines pilot who
locked himself inside an airplane lavatory while screaming obscenities before the flight was scheduled to take
off for Detroit from Las Vegas on Friday [4/7/2007].
Passengers
Sue British Airways For Lost Luggage. When does an airline's mishandling of luggage
cease to be a major inconvenience... and become an actionable, legal issue? According to three
US travelers, British Airways has crossed that line, and they have filed a proposed class-action
lawsuit to prove it.
Airline Luggage
Found Near Houston Store. Authorities were trying Tuesday [12/26/2006] to figure out how dozens
of pieces of luggage belonging to air travelers ended up in a trash bin behind a Houston pet store. The
store's owners discovered 60 to 70 pieces of luggage, which belonged to passengers of Continental Airlines,
Lufthansa, British Airways and U.S. Airways, and contacted the Harris County Sheriff's Department, according
to Houston television station KRIV.
Airport tries to get handle on bag
theft. The 68 pieces of baggage that turned up in a trash bin Tuesday [12/26/2006] near George
Bush Intercontinental Airport were probably stolen by a team of thieves in a single day's work while airline
staffers were stretched thin by the demands of holiday travel, a Texas travel adviser theorized Wednesday.
Update:
Five
arrested in Houston airport theft. Police in Houston arrested five contract workers suspected of
stealing luggage at the George Bush Intercontinental Airport. [They] were charged with engaging in
organized criminal activity after dozens of pieces of luggage were found in a trash bin near the airport.
Dogfight over MSP:
If you arrive at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, 16th busiest in the world, with a seeing eye dog
and want to take a taxi, you may be out of luck. God help you if it is January and the temperature is
twenty degrees below zero, for you may be refused service. Somali Muslim taxi drivers, who comprise
roughly three quarters of the supply of drivers there, think that Muslim law regards dog saliva as unclean, and
they want to make their religious beliefs the basis on which they supply service to the traveling public.
BA
passengers share first class cabin with dead traveller. First Class travelers on a British
Airways transatlantic flight were horrified when they were forced to sit next to a dead body for three
hours. The elderly passenger had died of a heart attack just minutes earlier and was carried into their
cabin to continue the journey to America. It followed a mid air drama in which a doctor and crew lost a
35 minute battle to resuscitate the man after he suffered a cardiac arrest in business class where he was
traveling with his wife.
Like
Clockwork: Hour of Delay, Hour of Flight. Few things are certain in air travel today, but
one comes close: If you're on Delta Connection Flight 5283 from New York to Washington, you can expect
to be late. The flight had the nation's worst on-time performance in September, arriving late
100 percent of the time at Reagan National Airport, according to a recent government report.
Questions Raised About Airport
Staffing. The ban on carrying liquids and gels onto airliners will continue indefinitely,
raising questions about whether there are enough airport screeners to do the added work.
The filth that you would expect on a bus or subway can now be found on an airliner.
Beware
of the Squish Behind the Jet Seat. Seatback pockets hiding sticky surprises, carpets with patterns
that can no longer conceal the curious stains, overripe lavatories and crevices oozing snack grit and plain old
grime. Increasingly, that describes the modern airliner, an untidy tube hurtling through the sky full of
passengers who cannot wait to land and go wash their hands with disinfectant soap. Cleanliness may be
next to godliness, but in the airline industry it has taken a back seat to financial survival.
Security Ban Could Put Passengers' Health at
Risk. The highly restrictive carry-on rules in force today at airports could put many passengers'
health at risk, especially those who suffer from chronic conditions such as heart disease, asthma and diabetes,
a doctor warned. Plus, the long lines and anxiety could exacerbate health conditions.
[Note to poorly educated TV news writers: Plus is not a conjunction.]
U.S. relaxing ban on liquids, gels on
airliners. The government is partially lifting its ban against carrying liquids and gels onto
airliners, as long as they are purchased from secure airport stores, and will also permit small, travel-size
toiletries brought from home, officials said today [9/25/2006]. A total ban on such products, instituted
after a plot to bomb jets flying into the United States was foiled, is no longer needed, said Transportation
Security Administration chief Kip Hawley.
The
War on Terror Is Worth the Costs. Tighter restrictions on passengers, of course, severely limited
carry-on luggage. In addition, extra security at the gate required each passenger to go through a
thorough search before boarding the plane. After that, passengers were held in a secured area until
they were allowed to board. You could forget about getting a coffee or taking a trip to the facilities
after being searched. Add to that the restriction on standing up in the plane at the beginning of the
flight, and you start talking serious hardship. We might be losing the war on terror, but we are
winning the war on trips to the bathroom.
Trapped
on flight 63: Police boarded a jumbo jet yesterday [8/24/2006] amid fears furious passengers
would riot after being stuck in their seats for seven hours. The 352 travelers were kept cooped inside
Virgin Atlantic Flight 63 on the ground after a technical problem.
Airlines
are squeezing more Fourth of July travelers into fewer planes. Before celebrating the nation's
birthday, many travelers will fight some Independence Day-caliber battles of their own. They will face
long airport check-in lines, followed by security lines and even lines at Starbucks. Planes packed to
record levels are great news for cash-strapped carriers but frustrating for travelers who want a little extra
space. And those who haven't traveled in a while will discover check-in kiosks and mandatory fees for
skycaps.
On the other hand...
Airways in USA are the safest
ever. A passenger hasn't died in a U.S.-registered airline jet accident in more than 4½ years,
the longest stretch in the modern history of aviation. Even accounting for the death of a 6-year-old boy
in a car that was struck by a Southwest Airlines jet last December in Chicago and other accidents involving
small planes, the risks of flying are at an all-time low.
Next Time, We're Driving. All things
considered, our flight to Cleveland took eight hours from driveway to hotel check-in. Some of our
compatriots drove the same trip in ten hours. The two hours saved were not worth the loss of freedom,
hassle, and expense. We are going to go on another trip soon. This time we will be driving.
The Airport Experience: [In the first
two months after the September 11th attack, there were] at least four instances of people smuggling knives
and guns successfully past security, in most cases, just to prove it could be done. Clearly, making people
stand in line for hours while ill-trained inspectors paw through their bags is not the answer.
Put
your seat in the upright position — or else. I am on a book tour, sitting in the
middle seat of a row in the economy class cabin of an Airbus A-320. Surrounding me are two people
who are considerably larger than I, one of whom is eating a sandwich the size of a ferret that smells
like a seafood Dumpster in August.
U.S. Airlines' service ranks worst in five
years, report shows. Customer service at U.S. airlines was the worst it's been in five years
during the first quarter, according to a University of Michigan index that ranks customer satisfaction.
United airlines computer out(r)age.
TSA, not known for their flexibility, was not allowing people to go to the gates directly with a boarding
pass. Even an e-ticket receipt with a seat assignment wouldn't get you there.
United abandons Denver baggage system. The
$250 million automated system was intended to be a cutting-edge model but turned into a
major problem for Denver International Airport. The city, which owns the airport, spent
an additional $100 million for construction and $341 million in interest to try to
get it to work. The automated system was an underground, computer-driven railroad network
for moving baggage. But bags were misdelivered, luggage was chewed up and cars derailed
and jammed tracks.
Should Cities Be Allowed to Block Your
Airwave Access? Imagine if an airport declared that all food was banned — except
for food that it specifically allowed you to buy, and that food was overpriced. Does it sound
fair? Who decided that it's okay to ban access to the Internet, turning it into a monopoly?
Read this article!
G.I. Joe a security risk?
Airline travel is more than getting from place "A" to place "B" and it used to be fun. It's not fun anymore.
People, who travel on other than business, use airlines strictly as an option. Families who fly save their money
all year long to go on a deserved vacation, but I predict that this optional way to travel will soon go the way of the
Buffalo, caused by government over-reaching, ordered by mindless, stupid bureaucracy.
Be Careful What You
Write: On September 1, 2002, I wrote a column critical of the way screening is carried
out at U.S. airports ("A
U.S. Police State"). Since that time I have been on ten flights. On every one of
those ten flights I have been "selected" for "random" searches by the same airline screeners I
criticized. Surely this was a coincidence!
Flowers, perfume in airline cabins not
OK? The Canadian Transportation Agency has issued a landmark ruling that could affect what
passengers are allowed to take on airplanes, including pets, flowers and even the perfume they wear.
Editor's Note:
The following is an anti-war column, but the writer makes some interesting points.
Isn't it time for the
truth?: Last Friday, at Los Angeles airport, I saw people trying to check their baggage —
standing in a line that was at least 200 yards long. I stood in five separate lines to identify
myself and my carry-on luggage. The soldiers in fatigues with sub-machine guns reminded me of
a Third World country.
IRS Laptop Lost With Data on 291
People. An Internal Revenue Service employee lost an agency laptop early last month that
contained sensitive personal information on 291 workers and job applicants, a spokesman said yesterday
[6/10/2006]. The IRS's Terry L. Lemons said the employee checked the laptop as luggage aboard a
commercial flight while traveling to a job fair and never saw it again. The computer contained
unencrypted names, birth dates, Social Security numbers and fingerprints of the employees and applicants,
Lemons said.
Revenge
of the Tweezer People: The backlash against senseless — and
useless — airport security rules is building up into something nasty. The anger
that travelers feel toward airline security measures — like the confiscation of
G.I. Joe, nail clippers and tweezers, or "random" searches that seem to target mostly
white-haired old women or whoever's the first person in line — is real. It could
blossom into a political force.
Cigarette
Lighters Banned From Airplanes. Starting Thursday [4/14/2005], air travelers
will have to leave their lighters at home. Unlike guns, knives and other dangerous
items that a passenger cannot carry aboard but may stow in checked bags, lighters are
banned everywhere on a plane.
Flying the
unhappy skies. The allure has vanished, but the adventure remains, but it's
an adventure into long security lines, high-tech glitches compounded by inefficiency,
incompetence and irresponsibility.
Note: All the information about cell phones on airliners has been
moved here.
Waiting
in line: The feds are considering changing the rules on airport security
again, which could end up creating even greater bottlenecks at those security checkpoints
that are the bane of every traveler.
Woman banned from
flight in blasphemy row. Christian says she asked airport boarding staff to not use God's
name in vain.
Handbag
incident on plane gets passenger kicked off. A passenger was escorted off a Tokyo-bound plane in
Hong Kong after she refused to put her Gucci handbag under her seat, holding up the departure of a flight
for more than an hour.
Air Rage Information Resources: Extreme
misbehavior by unruly passengers, often called air rage or sky rage, can lead to some tense moments in the air
and may even put crew members and passengers at risk.
Is cabin air
making us sick? More and more pilots are reporting that air polluted by engine fumes
is making them ill and even incapable of handling their aircraft. So why are passengers not
being told? … Incidents of contaminated air on aircraft are referred to in hundreds of reports
filed by pilots in recent years, and some of the accounts have been seen by The Daily Telegraph.
They highlight concerns about the effects of toxic fumes from engines — which some medical
specialists refer to as "aerotoxic syndrome".
Air Rage is Caused by Oxygen Deprivation. Passenger
unruliness began to rise some 20 years ago, coinciding with the cost-cutting practice of using recycled air
instead of fresh air in commercial jets.
Nitrogen
Used To Fill Aircraft Oxygen Systems. Airlines all over the world are being warned to check to
make sure there's actually oxygen in their aircraft oxygen systems after an embarrassing mix-up by Qantas
Airlines at Melbourne International Airport. For ten months, crews have been filling airliner oxygen
systems from a nitrogen cart that's supposed to be used to fill tires.
Airline Air: Airline pilots get ten times more oxygen
than passengers get. Insufficient oxygen can cause many symptoms including impaired visual acuity. … What
about flight attendants who catch tuberculosis from passengers and then spread it on subsequent flights?
This is a big coverup. I've been contacted by several international flight attendants who have TB.
TB case brings warning to air passengers.
A man with a rare and exceptionally dangerous form of tuberculosis has been placed in quarantine by the U.S.
government after possibly exposing passengers and crew on two trans-Atlantic flights this month, health officials
said Tuesday. It is the first time since 1963 that the government issued a quarantine order.
Fear of flying
with tuberculosis: One unglamorous truth about airplane travel is that it is a place where
several hundred people are trapped for hours in a confined space, coughing, breathing on one another and
sharing germs. Nowhere is this more true and upsetting than in the case of a budding groom from Georgia
with a dangerous form of tuberculosis. This Atlantan simply had to get to Europe and back on two
trans-Atlantic flights for his wedding.
Man
crisscrossed border with TB. A Mexican national infected with a highly contagious form of
tuberculosis crossed the U.S. border 76 times and took multiple domestic flights in the past year,
according to Customs and Border Protection interviews and documents obtained by The Washington Times.
Airborne
contagion. A tubercular Mexican national's 76 border crossings and multiple domestic flights over
10 months beginning in August 2006 require explanations from Customs and Border Protection. So, too,
does the six-week lag between April 16, when federal authorities first learned of this mobile danger to
public health, and May 31, when the Department of Homeland Security finally got around to warning its
inspectors. Add the fact that not until June 7 was the infected Mexican businessman placed on the
Transportation Security Administration's "no-board" list, by which time the man had flown to Atlanta, Salt
Lake City and Phoenix after dozens of border crossings by land. Finally, add a cover-up. We are
witnessing a genuine public-health scandal.
Congress
orders probe of TB case. Capitol Hill lawmakers yesterday called for an investigation into why
federal officials knowingly allowed a Mexican national infected with a highly contagious form of tuberculosis
to repeatedly board planes and cross U.S. borders.
Is First Class Worth It? For me, the most significant
first-class perk is oxygen. According to a study by the US National Academy of Sciences (The Airliner Cabin
Environment, 1986), first-class passengers get about three times more oxygen per person than economy passengers!
Skypoxia: Flight attendants, unlike other
employees in the U.S., are not protected by OSHA. Instead, the FAA has full responsibility.
Immobility is Not the Only Factor in
DVT Risk. Air travel, particularly long-haul flights, can increase the odds of developing
dangerous blood clots but researchers said on Friday [3/10/2006] they are not only due to being immobile for long
periods. Low pressure and low oxygen levels in aircraft may also contribute in some people to
the risk of deep vein thrombosis (DVT).
Flying Hassles Ground Many
Passengers: Security checks, random searches, new airline ticket fees and other hassles since the
Sept. 11 attacks have kept many people off planes and on the road, particularly for short trips. The
number of people flying commercially between 200 miles and 400 miles dropped 22 percent in the
year after the attacks.
In
a speeding world, rage is all the rage.nbsp; Air rage
and road rage are distinct products of our time. We are too impatient for gracious
living. And if we want it, the people who service us have no desire to provide it. Today's
airline travel - especially in coach - makes steerage on the Titanic look like the lap of
luxury. Passengers are packed in like sardines without the oil.
Editor's Note:
I have a hard time feeling sorry for someone who's getting to his (or her) destination
at 500 miles an hour. If you don't like airline travel, get
on a bus; or just drive on an interstate highway for a couple
of days and see how you like it.
Love Field is
again in the news, this time illustrating the farcical consequences of the
government's ten-thumbed attempt to manage an industry. … If you want to fly Southwest
from Love Field to Los Angeles, you must buy a ticket to Albuquerque, collect your baggage
there, buy another ticket, go through security again and board another plane.
Set Love Free: Southwest
Airlines would like to show you the statistics and let the consumers decide.
What is the Wright Amendment anyway?
Obese fliers: A
judge has ruled that Southwest Airlines did not unlawfully discriminate against
Cynthia Luther, whose weight exceeds 300 pounds, when it required her to buy a
second seat on a flight from Reno to Burbank.
In England:
Airlines
load extra charges onto air fares. Airlines are loading extra charges on to
air fares, which can more than treble the basic price of a journey. Research by The
Independent on one of the key international air routes, London to Amsterdam, reveals sharp
discrepancies between airlines about the amount added on to fares as "taxes, fees, charges and
surcharges".
Big
bottoms crushing airlines' bottom lines. Heavy suitcases aren't alone
in weighing down airplanes and requiring them to burn more fuel, raising flight
costs. A new government study reveals that airlines increasingly have to
worry more about passengers' weight.
Why
Airlines Can't Cut The Fat: The current flap over whether and how to deal
with overweight passengers is a no-win situation. The latest dustup involves a woman
flying from London to Los Angeles on Virgin Atlantic in 2001. She apparently suffered leg
injuries after being seated next to an obese woman who spilled over into her seat, reportedly
squashing her. This week, Virgin paid the woman $20,000 in compensation, but the
company is not changing its policy on overweight passengers.
Thirteen
SFO cargo handlers charged with stealing military mail. Thirteen cargo handlers
at San Francisco International Airport were charged Friday [4/15/2005] with stealing $200,000
worth of computers, cameras and other goods from mail bound for U.S. soldiers stationed in
Japan, authorities said.
That's
No Camel, That's My Baggage! A baggage handler wearing a camel suit
taken from a passenger's luggage has left Qantas Airways red-faced, with Australia's
national carrier investigating a potentially embarrassing security lapse. Passenger
David Cox complained after he saw a baggage handler driven across the Sydney airport
tarmac Wednesday [4/6/2005] wearing the camel suit that had been packed into the baggage he had
checked in only minutes earlier.
DFW Airport Skylink train system
cost
$880 million to construct, making it perhaps the most costly mass transit
system ever, in dollars per passenger mile.
Deputy
on the carpet for trying to get woman past airport screeners. An
Allegheny County sheriff's deputy could face a fine, suspension or other
disciplinary action for violating security procedures when he attempted to help a
friend bypass screeners at Pittsburgh International Airport.
Unlike Chelsea, Bush Daughter
Flying Commercial after Terror Attack: "Remember Clinton saying no one should be afraid to fly
and that he was taking four different domestic flights last week?" reminded Lucianne Goldberg on her website
Monday [10/08/2001]. "Last Sunday he and Chelsea hopped onto a grocery mogul's private jet at Dulles and
whisked off to Oxford."
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