I’ve seen a boatload of articles that note similarities between Skybus and Ryanair (their low fares and low frills being the obvious ones), but I thought it was important to mention that they are actually fundamentally different models.  And this difference is why one makes money and the other likely will not.
Ryanair’s model has succeeded [...]

2 bits of slightly self-serving info for the day:
-  Tripmela, sister company to the OTR providing travel deals for people in India, has launched a new blog about the airline industry in India, and travel there more broadly.  You can read it at tripmela.blogspot.com or grab the feed here.
- In case you were wondering what [...]

The Times of London has a great little article about 10 unique ways to get yourself kicked off a plane.  Well worth a read, but just know that being stinky or bringing a giant stuffed crocodile on the plane will likely get you removed…

(Thanks, as always, View from the Wing):
Northwest Airlines is offering $50 cash back when you use PayPal to buy a ticket of $250 or more for travel between April 1 and June 14.  Tickets must be purchased by March 27th.

In case you thought that the rest of the world’s airlines weren’t facing crippling losses, a new report finds that India’s airlines lose an average of $20 on every passenger.  Yes, you read that correctly.  Keep in mind that average airfares are under $100 each way, and you’ll see that it’s a gigantic mess.  A [...]

Skybus, facing the same miserable oil prices as everyone else, has announced that there are some changes afoot at the low cost carrier.  They’re going to cut back on the amount of flying done by aircraft each day (now at about 15 hours) to improve their on-time performance (that’s good news for passengers).  They’ll also [...]

Warning:  This is a bit nerdy…
If you’ve ever wondered (and you know you have) how much of a layover flight attendants get after long flights (and other flight attendant esoterica), check out this thread on Airliners (the short version:  even after a 16 hour flight, you get about 24 hours before you have to get [...]

I’ve mentioned before that with some frequency people ask me about whether various airlines that they’ll be flying are safe.  Sometimes these are obscure airlines in other countries, sometimes these are smaller airlines here.  My answer is always the same:  nearly all airlines are safe, though Nigeria and Indonesia have a rather poor record.  Even [...]

(Thanks - I think - to Today in the Sky for this…)
A Brazilian woman on her way to Italy was stopped by baggage control in Munich when they found a human skeleton in her luggage.  After some discussion, it was determined that the skeleton was the remains of her brother, whose last wish was to [...]

A TSA screener at Orlando’s airport told a teenager who has a feeding tube in his stomach that he had to open his sterile, backup feeding tube so the screener could see it.  Or as he compassionately told the sick 14 year old, “I have to open it whether you like it or not. [...]