Just like getting delayed, flights get cancelled – whether it be due to weather, mechanical aircraft issues or unavailability of crew. In an earlier Expert Tip (#3), I gave tips on how to potentially get compensated for delayed flights. Those tips hold equally good for cancelled flights. In this post, I give detailed steps of what to do if your flight gets cancelled, irrespective of the reason or potential compensation. Here is what you need to do:
1. Call your airline
As soon as you hear that your flight has been cancelled, …

Ever wonder who else was on your flight? Is there someone you would like to sit next to – or sit as far away as possible from? Ever wondered if there was someone on the flight who you shared friends with or your taste in obscure Sci-fi books with? Now you can, at least on certain long-haul KLM flights. KLM is launching ‘Meet and Seat‘, a service to pre-connet with your flight mates via your social networks.
Here is how it works – KLM allows you to link your FaceBook or …

Don’t know if I succeeded in making this post’s title sound like something out of the tabloids. But, the whole off-again, on-again relationship between Star Alliance and Air India is truly one for the tabloids. (Sorry no paparazzi photos of Air India in a compromising position. They are having trouble paying their fuel bills though…). The net-net is that Air India does not have its act anywhere near to being together but Star Alliance sees India as too lucrative a market to let some bureaucratic failures trip up the potential …

After my last post about two divorces – Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries & Continental and Amtrak, I am happy to provide good news about a marriage – that of Southwest and AirTran. They merged recently and have taken the next step of bringing their Mileage programs together. Just like the other successful marriage of last year – United and Continental, Southwest and AirTran are still operating as separate airlines. What they have instituted is reciprocal matching of status in their programs. Now, being an Elite on either program is …

American Airlines (AA) has a few 10% off discount codes for travel to certain cities in September. The list of cities can be found HERE and HERE. No minimum stay requirements.
The cities are
Code: 6881BN

From:

All Airports

To:

LAX/Los Angeles International

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All Airports

To:

BUR/Burbank Bob Hope

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All Airports

To:

ONT/Ontario International

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All Airports

To:

SNA/Orange County John Wayne

Code 5591AG

From:

All Airports

To:

AMA/Amarillo International

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All Airports

To:

AVP/Scranton Wilkes Barre International

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All Airports

To:

BMI/Bloomington Normal

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All Airports

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BNA/Nashville International

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All Airports

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BOS/Boston Logan International

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All Airports

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BUR/Burbank Bob Hope

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All Airports

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CHA/Chattanooga Lovell Field

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All Airports

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CLE/Cleveland Hopkins International

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All Airports

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COS/Colorado Springs Municipal

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CVG/Cincinnati Cinci/Nrthrn Kentucky

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DFW/Dallas Fort Worth International

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EVV/Evansville Dress Regional

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EWR/Newark Liberty Intl

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All Airports

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FSD/Sioux Falls RegionalJo Foss Fld

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All …

Yesterday was indeed a sad day for India and Indian Commercial Aviation. As Flying with Fish has been predicting on his blog for a few days and finally confirmed yesterday, Air India has been booted from Star Alliance before they could even formally join. The dropping of Air India was done three and a half years after Air India was invited and was still unable to fulfill the basic requirements required by Star Alliance to be a member of the worlds largest Airline Alliance. Fish does a great job documenting …

Another Facebook promo: get a 20% off code for Virgin America flights for travel between 15AUG11-27OCT11 with blackouts on 02SEP-05SEP.
All you have to do is:

Follow this LINK.
Vote for your favorite picture.
Sign up for the 20% off code with your name email and phone number.
Like four sponsors.
Check your email for the code and remove “Black Star beer” from your Facebook apps immediately.

My email came instantaneously. A good use of 4 minutes J
(HT: FredEX17 on MP)
To get all our posts and articles, sign up for updates vis RSS or email. We also …

Shenzhen Airlines, a primarily domestic Chinese Airline is set to join Star Alliance. The announcement came today morning on Star Alliance’s Facebook page. They expect Shenzhen to fully join the alliance by late 2012.
Recently, there has been a race between airlines to expand partners in China. China Eastern and Southern were taken up by Skyteam; OneWorld is actively looking for partners. And now, this announcement by Star Alliance. I have never flown Shenzhen but they don’t seem to have a good reputation as a carrier. While, I don’t trust Skytrax …

As Air India progresses on its ‘final approach’ to become a member of the Star Alliance, it brings to an end (if they do actually make this July-end deadline) of the longest any airline has ever taken to join an Alliance. This long drawn out path to Allianceship, if I may, has further tarnished Air India’s already not-so-great image. I personally have mixed feelings about Air India. In full disclosure, I have only flown Air India on an international trip on one round trip between the US and India AND …

I had recounted the horrors of United’s experiment with row boarding scheme. Almost all of you concurred that the experiment created nothing but chaos. It seems United has heard our plea and will revert back to the old zone boarding scheme. However, they would keep one aspect from their experiment: uniformed military will board first. This is something I really appreciate. They are much more valuable to the nation than elites.

 
The announcement on United’s facebook page is as follows:
 
“We’ve been listening to your feedback about the recent boarding changes and …