Archive for October, 2007
October 23 2007
This is some really, really lost luggage: The NY Times reports that two pieces of luggage fell from the cargo hold of an Atlantic Southeast Airlines flight from Chicago to Atlanta. The Delta Express carrier reports that the cargo door swung open shortly after takeoff, and the pilot returned to the airport to discover 2 pieces of luggage missing. In a small miracle, one of the pieces of luggage was found yesterday in a railyard near the airport.
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October 23 2007
Skybus is branching out from its Columbus-based operation by launching a small hub in Greensboro, NC, with flights to Florida, the Northeast, and Burbank starting early next year. Skybus recently shifted its scheduled around in Columbus, eliminating flights to San Diego and dropping one of its flights to Burbank. They learned, as JetBlue learned, that long-haul flights aren’t as profitable as shorter trips. Of course, it remains to be seen whether daily service from Greensboro to Chicopee, MA, can be profitable…
In somewhat similar news. former Continental Express partner ExpressJet Airlines, which launched its own airline earlier in the year serving smaller cities that didn’t have nonstop service, is now re-thinking that decision. The CEO now says they’re mulling going private again to give them a bit more flexibility with their business strategy. ExpressJet, we hardly knew ye.
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October 22 2007
A man who was shot during a domestic dispute boarded a flight from Tampa to Albany (NY) with a stop in Charlotte over the weekend. During the flight to Charlotte he asked a flight attendant for a band-aid (?) to cover the bullet wound. The flight attendant made sure an ambulance was waiting for him in Charlotte, where he missed his connection to Albany.
As the story notes, it’s unclear how he got through security with the bullet in him.
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October 22 2007
The 3-letter code for the airport in Sioux City, Iowa, is SUX. Har. Airport authorities have been fighting for years to get it changed to something that does not suck, but they have recently decided to embrace the name, using flysux.com as their website and printing t-shirts and hats with the name on it.
But really, the best part of this story is that the FAA offered them 5 other choices that the airport turned down. The best of those 5? GAY. Now THAT sux.
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October 19 2007
Flyglobespan, a carrier based in Scotland that flies to cities in Europe and the US, has lost its ETOPS (Extended Twin Engine Operational Performance Standards) certification. In English, that means that on overwater flights it must always stay within 1 hour of land. This adds about 1 hour or so to flights from Europe to the US. No reason was given for the loss of ETOPS, but it’s not a good sign. The carrier will be able to continue its European flights, but the additional cost of fuel on a non-ETOPS certified flight to the US makes it unlikely their cheap flights from Liverpool to Newark will continue.
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October 18 2007
(Via Upgrade Travel Better):
I’m frequently asked how far in advance a person should buy a ticket to get the greatest savings. I’ve always believed that booking way, way, way in advance was not the best course of action. Turns out my hunch was correct. Rick Seaney, who runs Farecompare, says that their research has found that booking 3-4 months out generally yields the best deals. His theory is that because Southwest only allows bookings about 4-5 months out, that other competitors won’t match until Southwest has announced their pricing.
International is a different story — pay attention to fare sales to grab the best deals. International fare sales can come more than 6 months out (or less than 2 months out) - international fares are vastly more complex than domestic fares. Still, I rarely suggest booking more than a few months out, even for international travel, if you’re looking for the best deals.
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October 17 2007
A 30-year veteran pilot for Singapore Airlines faces jail time (?!) and the loss of his job for making prank calls last year from Singapore. As a joke, the pilot called several fast food restaurants in Surrey, British Columbia, and ordered food to be delivered to a pilot friend of his. Singapore, which apparently doesn’t mees around in matters telephonic, has strict laws about making prank phone calls. The pilot’s passport has been impounded, and he’s out on $8,000 bail. Damn!
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October 16 2007
There’s an interesting fight brewing down in Fort Lauderdale between Spirit and JetBlue. Spirit has built up a hub for flights to Latin America and the Caribbean from the airport, a move that has caused American to lower fares from its Miami hub to similar destinations. Now, JetBlue is applying for the right to fly from FLL to Bogota, Colombia, a move that is a significant departure from its leisure-focused cities in the Caribbean, and a choice that will be certain to lead to a swift response from Spirit (which has also applied for frequencies on the route). It’s all good news for travelers in the region, who will see lower fares throughout Latin America.
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October 16 2007
A baby was born on a Brussels Airlines flight from Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, to Brussels last week. Two doctors on the aircraft helped to deliver the baby on the plane. The child is doing just fine.
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October 16 2007
I guess there’s really no such thing as a minor collision involving 2 planes, but that pretty much describes what happened when a British Airways 747 collided with a SriLankan A340 while taxiing at Heathrow. No injuries were reported, but the airport was in a bit of a state of chaos (as you can imagine) when this occurred. Airport authorities are investigating how this could have happened, and why it wasn’t avoided (a comment posted on the linked story suggests that passengers could see that the planes were going to collide.)
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Luggage Falls from the Sky Near Chicago