Posted by Seth on March 12, 2010 under News | 
When I find a great deal on air travel I’ll buy a couple tickets. If the price is right having two or three of the same trip isn’t so bad. But some folks in Scandinavia when a bit further than that recently when Norwegian Air Shuttle offered a 1 Dutch Crown (~$0.20) sale fare to introduce their new Copenhagen – Karup service. One customer purchased more than 450 of the sale tickets. Others purchased 50-100.
OK, so that’s somewhat strange, but maybe they really like flying. It is possible, right? Maybe possible, but not what actually happened. In this case the tickets were all purchased under assumed names by employees of a Norwegian Air Shuttle competitor, Climber Sterling. The competitor bought out all the tickets to prevent real customers from buying the seats. Oh, and a couple of the offenders are even members of the Climber Sterling Board of Directors.
Of course, the CEO from Climber disavowed all knowledge of the fiasco, calling it “misguided loyalty” on the part of the employees. Sure…whatever.
Posted by Seth on March 11, 2010 under News |
Good reasons for flight delays are very few and far between. Still, it seems that Air Canada discovered a pretty decent one, albeit by accident. Call it a passenger revolt that was successful.
Apparently the passengers on a scheduled Vancouver – Montreal flight a couple weeks ago simply refused to board the plane and the flight was delayed waiting for them. The flight was scheduled to depart right around the time that the Olympics gold medal match for men’s hockey went into overtime. Passengers watching on the televisions in the airport terminal refused to get on the plane, choosing to watch the end of the game instead.
Good for them, I say. Every now and then the airlines need to be reminded that the customers are the reason they are flying.
Links:
Posted by Seth on February 16, 2010 under Trip Reports |
It isn’t my story so I don’t want to appropriate it too much. And it is certainly not for the squeamish – especially the photo. Still, if you’re not eating right now and have a reasonably strong stomach check out this tale of a truly craptacular experience at the Hilton hotel in Hilton Head, South Carolina from this past weekend.
Not good at all.
Posted by Seth on February 5, 2010 under Trip Reports |
Fly enough and strange things are bound to happen. I haven’t had to evacuate a plane or deal with oxygen mask deployment yet but I’ve had my share of aborted take-offs and “go around” missed landings. Those are unsettling but I actually understand what is going on in those cases and it doesn’t really seem all that bad when it is happening. Flying from San Francisco to Los Angeles today on my way to Hawaii I got to experience a final approach that was unlike any other. And I got a bit spooked by it.
The pilot had the Channel 9 audio feed on so I was able to listen to the cockpit communications throughout the flight. I heard the discussions of the weather with the controllers and our pilots’ requests to deviate around the worst of it. That was all good stuff. But having access to that audio also probably contributed to me freaking out a bit when we made a strange left turn about 30 seconds before touchdown. What I heard was something to the effect of:
Tower, this is United 817. We’re seeing wide variations on the localizer for runway 6R. It is all over the place.
The localizer is the radio beacon that broadcasts out the location of the runway so that the plane’s autopilot functionality can glide it it to a safe landing. If the plane is off course the autopilot will hone in on the localizer and correct the course. But if the localizer goes wobbly bonkers then the plane will change course to “correct” even if that means actually heading away from the runway.
And that’s exactly what our plane did this morning. The good news is that the pilots reacted quickly and professionally. They disengaged the autopilot, corrected the course of the plane and brought us in for a completely normal landing. Except the part where we briefly were headed in the wrong direction.
The pilot and ATC folks had a brief conversation about the incident while we were still flying. They checked with the plane behind us on the approach path to see if they saw the same issues with the localizer (they did) and then things continued on normally. Once we were finally on the ground the pilot gave the tower another tongue lashing about the localizer and clarified that it was the runway localizer and not the glide slope indicator (another piece of the autopilot system) that was having problems. And that was pretty much the end of it.
As we were deplaning I mentioned the event to the pilot and we chatted briefly about it. It was only after that conversation that I fully grasped the severity of what had happened. Probably a good thing as we were safely on the ground at that point and freaking out a bit wasn’t as significant an issue. But I was definitely feeling spooked by the event.
No real reason to freak out, I know. The pilots knew exactly what they were doing the whole time and they fixed the issue quickly and perfectly. In fact, had I not been listening to Channel 9 I’m not entirely certain I would have even known something went amiss during the approach. But it was still a bit freaky. Certainly not enough to prevent me from getting on the next flight, but a bit freaky.
Sadly the LiveATC.net feed of KLAX is offline right now so I don’t have access to the actual tower communications to get the verbatim conversation that happened with our pilot, the pilot behind us and ATC. I may have to dig a bit more to see if I can find it.
Posted by Seth on December 8, 2009 under points |
Don’t set up multiple accounts in fictitious names and use them to make bookings for hotels across the country, bookings that you never intend to use, in a scheme to garner hundreds of thousands of Yen (thousands of dollars) every week. Really, just don’t do it. Because just like these two yahoos, you will most likely get caught and that isn’t much fun for anyone.
Apparently hotel reservations in Japan generally don’t require a credit card for the booking online. And there’s a website (Rakuten.co.jp) that offers a reward scheme for bookings made on their site. They missed one tiny bit of business logic in the system, however. They award the points whether the customer actually completes the stay (and pays for it, thereby generating income for the booking engine site) or not. Simply the act of completing the booking was enough. Free points, just as long as you are willing to log on and reserve a hotel room.
The two accused are believed to have booked over 28,000 rooms at 1,600 different hotels in the past 9 months.
Ohara admitted, “We earned hundreds of thousands of yen worth of points every week with the fake reservations,” the Yomiuri reported. The two men were able to redeem the points back for items such as video games, CDs, books, and even hotel rooms.
The suspects are both reported to be currently unemployed and without permanent address. They carried out their scheme on their cell phones and at internet cafes.
Nice way to pass the time, I suppose. Right up until the point that you get caught. Whoopsie.
Posted by Seth on December 4, 2009 under News |
Sure, it sometimes feels like you’re living in a terminal when you’re on the road all the time. I even did 60 hours inside security back in March on my way to Tokyo via Seattle and Baltimore a couple times. But I can’t think of anyone who’s story comes even remotely close to that of Feng Zhenghu, a Chinese citizen who has moved into Narita Airport’s international arrival concourse.
Feng has been denied entry to his native country eight times over the past month, four of them after actually arriving on the ground in China; the other four times Japanese officials denied his boarding attempt because they knew he’d be denied on arrival. Not good at all. So Feng has decided to live in the arrivals hall at Tokyo’s Narita airport, and he’s been doing so for over a month now.
He’s written a message by hand on a t-shirt and wanders the halls, explaining to folks who will listen that he’s been denied one of the most basic human rights, the ability to return to one’s home.
And he’s living wholly on the generosity of other passengers passing through the facility. Narita’s arrivals hall has no concessions facilities. That means no access to food unless it is given to him by strangers passing through the terminal. Days that he receives more than one meal or a hot meal are a special treat for the political refugee.
He’s been generating quite a buzz of late, with some passengers producing pamphlets for him to hand out and by giving interviews via his mobile phone. He’s also got a computer and camera with him in the terminal and he’s been using twitter (http://twitter.com/fzhenghu_en) quite extensively over the past month to raise awareness of his situation. Japanese officials have offered him asylum and asked him to leave the terminal but there isn’t really much they can do to force the issue. They cannot deport him to his home country because China won’t accept him and they cannot force him to immigrate. It is very much an awkward situation for them.
Truly a strange story and also a rather sad one. Not being able to go home would truly suck.
Posted by Seth on November 24, 2009 under News, Uncategorized |
Apparently it is $100,000 for the operator of the flight, with an additional $75,000 for the company handling ground operations at the airport. Those are the amounts of the fines handed out by the US Department of Transportation following the diversion of Continental Express flight 2816 to Rochester, MN where it sat on the ground with the passengers still on the plane overnight (previous bits here).
This is the first time ever that an airline has been fined for such an event and the amounts involved are not trivial. Even more interesting is that both the operating carrier and the ground handler were hit, essentially spreading the blame. Such a sharing makes a lot of sense – way more sense than anyone was making that night based on the audio transcripts that came out.
Here are the juicy bits from the DoT Press Release:
Continental and ExpressJet, in separate orders, were found to have violated the prohibition against unfair and deceptive practices in air transportation because ExpressJet failed to carry out a provision of Continental’s customer service commitment requiring that, if a ground delay is approaching three hours, its operations center will determine if departure is expected within a reasonable time, and if not the carrier will take action as soon as possible to deplane passengers. ExpressJet also failed to take timely actions required by its procedures, including notifying senior ExpressJet officials and providing appropriate Continental officials with notice of the delay. Continental was found to have engaged in an unfair and deceptive practice since, as the carrier marketing the flight 2816, Continental ultimately is responsible to its passengers on that flight.
The consent order covering Mesaba finds that the carrier engaged in an unfair and deceptive practice when it provided inaccurate information to ExpressJet about deplaning passengers from flight 2816.
Most interesting of all that to me is that they got hit for deceptive trade practices. That term has a rather broad-reaching scope and it seems like a lot of potential to get the airlines in trouble if they don’t behave well. Continental and ExpressJet clearly violated their customer service commitment – not part of the Contract of Carriage or any other legal document that I can figure, but still something that they claim to adhere to – and they were punished for it. Mesaba, on the other hand, was apparently simply punished for being a bunch of idiots when the plane finally arrived at the airport. That is certainly an interesting precedent for the DoT to be setting. I wonder if they will consider applying the same reasoning against airlines which arbitrarily decide to renege on tickets after they’ve been issued.
The only real concern that comes out of this is that the enforcement is so very arbitrary. That and the fact that the customers don’t see any of that cash.
Related Posts
Posted by Seth on June 24, 2009 under Uncategorized |
There are plenty of reasons to not get on a plane. Being told that you have to sit at the back to help deal with balance issues is quite certainly not one of them. But that is just what a bunch of British tourists did this past Sunday, refusing to board a Thomas Cook flight from Majorca back home to Newcastle. And they’ve taken their story public, desperately trying to make it seem like the airline is at fault and not them.
Many passengers chose to pay $200 or more each to fly home on different airlines rather than board the plane, all because they were asked to sit at the rear of the plane rather than in the front. The rear baggage compartment door was stuck closed so no baggage could be loaded there. That changed the center of gravity of the plane enough that the airline tried to move seats around. And instead of canceling the flight the carrier actually put the laws of physics into action, reassigning seats to keep the plane safe to fly.
But several of the passengers, apparently well versed in the nuance of aeronautics and flight planning refused to board. They some choice quotes, including:
It was like they were being asked to fly in something that was being balanced out like a see-saw.
and
We just wanted a plane that would stay level without us being used as ballast.
Here’s a hint folks: EVERY TIME you get on a plane you’re being used as ballast and to balance the see-saw, err, plane. It is part of the pre-flight checklist and one of the reasons the flight attendants count the passengers on the plane. The pilots are going to make sure that when they pull back on the control stick the plane actually gets airborne. And that means getting the balance right. I cannot count the number of times I’ve moved around for weight and balance reasons; it is just part of the travel experience. Oh, and when the pilot – someone who actually does know how the crazy hunk of metal is able to hurtle through the skies at 500 miles per hour – is willing to get on the plane and go maybe that should be a hint that things are fine. After all, most pilots I know don’t routinely hop on a plane to kill themselves and all their passengers.
And instead the news is about kids crying and people kissing the ground as they deplaned because the didn’t crash. They even got a great photo of a forlorn 17 year old “reunited” with her mother after spending the night sleeping on the floor in the airport. Stay classy, media. You’re doing a great job.
Posted by Seth on May 12, 2009 under Uncategorized |
An American woman and her two children were recently denied entry into Canada – twice – because, according to the Canadian border agent, people on welfare shouldn’t take vacations. This raises and interesting set of points to consider.
The main reason that people are denied entry into a foreign country these days seems to be a concern over intent to emigrate rather than just visit. This woman was going to visit friends and family, so she had a base of support infrastructure available to her on the Canadian side of the border. And it is arguable that she had nothing tying her down in the USA that was particularly compelling to make her want to return.
It may not be politic to say it, but I can understand where the Canadians are coming from on this one and I actually tend to agree with the decision. I don’t know whether the woman was planning on emigrating or not, and saying it the way they did was probably stupid, but the border agents operate within a relatively well defined set of guidelines and this case seems to have met the litmus test of probably not being a viable candidate for entry.
Posted by Seth on April 16, 2009 under Uncategorized |
I’ve now read this story a few times and I’m still rather dumbfounded by it, partly because it happened at all and partly because of just how detailed and potentially over the top the response was. A shipment of twelve baby pythons in Australia arrived at its destination with only eight snakes in the box and no indication of where the other four went. Were they eaten by the other snakes? Apparently not.
“Our people called in a reptile expert and there was a suggestion that some of the baby pythons had eaten the other pythons because apparently it is not uncommon for baby pythons to eat each other," [Qantas corporate manager David Epstein] said. Qantas staff then weighed the remaining baby pythons to determine if they were heavier, but they were not.
Then there was concern that the animals might be endangered, meaning that they could not fumigate the plane because that would mean potentially killing endangered animals. As it turns out, the animals were not an endangered species so the plane was fumigated. Of course, that took time and meant flight delays.
Oh, and they never found the four corpses, so it is not particularly clear what happened to those four snakes.
Escaped snakes ground Qantas plane – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
Posted by Seth on March 31, 2009 under Uncategorized |
Getting caught falling asleep on the job is always an awkward situation. It is made that much worse when the job involves working for an airline and you wake up to find that you’re on a plane, in the cargo hold, and you have no way to get out until the flight lands. Just such an incident happened late last week when a jetBlue employee found himself locked in the cargo compartment for a flight from New York’s JFK to Boston.
The employee apparently realized that he was no longer on the ground and called the company’s operations center to report that he was on the plane. Upon arrival he was discovered by baggage handlers in Boston who called the police. He wasn’t arrested but it sure is an interesting set of circumstances that would lead to one being on a plane, in the cargo hold, but not noticing that the door was closed and that the plane was taxiing, much less taking off. The good news is that the cargo hold is pressurized (most are these days) so we aren’t reading a story about a guy dying. And there is no confirmed evidence that he was asleep, but I cannot come up with any other reasonable explanation for how it happened.
Personally, if I were looking for a place to sleep on a plane I’d go for the overhead bins, not the cargo hold, but to each his own.
