Nicholas Kralev’s mistake fare column was superior because it featured yours truly, but Scott McCartney’s latest column on mistake fares is well done. I particularly liked this: UAL Corp.’s United Airlines, Continental Airlines Inc., Southwest Airlines Co., JetBlue AirwaysCorp. and Singapore Airlines all say their policy is...
Delta to Introduce Shuttle Service Between New York (LGA) and Chicago (ORD)
Delta announced plans to begin shuttle service this June between LaGuardia and O’Hare. Highlights: 11 r/ts daily (on the hour) Flights will depart from LGA’s Marine Air Terminal Flights will be operated by Compass Air, using two-cabin ERJ-175s (12...
Virgin America to Expand Service to Orlando and Toronto from West Coast
Good news for LAX and SFO-based flyers. With Virgin America entering the MCO and YYZ market, you may soon see some great deals to those destinations. MCO fares are usually reasonable, but YYZ fares are often over $500 r/t from...
Paperless Boarding Passes now Available on United Airlines
In a shocking move for UA’s crack IT department, you can now use your web-enabled mobile phone to check in for your flight and obtain a boarding pass. You can also check schedules, flight status, and flight availability on...
American Faces $10MN+ FAA Fine for Safety Violations (Explaining the New Standby Fees?)
Two bits of news regarding American Airlines today, probably unrelated, but who knows? First, AA is looking at a huge fine for MD-80 safety violations. American Airlines could face a fine in the ballpark of $10 million for safety...
American Airlines to Charge for Blankets on North American Flights
American Airlines will begin charging $8 for a pillow/blanket package on domestic flights more than two hours as well as flights to Mexico, Canada, Hawaii, the Caribbean and Central America starting in May. First Class passengers will still get the...
One-Way Awards Coming to United Airlines Next Month?
Take this info with a grain of salt, but the answer is yes, according this thread on Flyertalk. According to a 1K agent (the ultimate authority…), United will begin to test one-way bookings online starting 01 February. If these awards...
Maximizing Your Chances to Effectively Use Your Miles
Scott McCartney has a decent Middle Seat column today in the WSJ on how to maximize your chances to redeem frequent flyer miles. A couple sections particularly caught my eye: On the airline side, road warriors suggest checking alliance...
Picture of the Week #8: LAX-SYD in Qantas First Class for $1200 r/t
Note the original $1243 a/i price for this fare, which booked tickets into First Class on Qantas codeshares. I am usually really good at monitoring the Mileage Run Deals forum on flyertalk and have taken advantage of quite...
Great Mileage Run Deals Available Now from United, American, US Airways
For those of you looking to get started on elite status re-qualification right away, there are some great deals available right now. Below are a few examples. United SEA-LAX-DEN-ORD-DSM-ORD-DEN-LAX-SEA –> $189 a/i LAX-IAD-RDU-IAD-LAX –> $191 a/i [same-day turn available]...
You Might Want to Avoid Connecting in Denver if You are Traveling in United First
I grimaced when I saw this thread on FlyerTalk today: The FDA has changed the classification of LSG Sky Chefs’ Denver facility from “Approved” to “Provisional” based on an inspection that turned up some real stomach turning findings, such...
Travel Goals for 2010
Note: Sorry this is one day late. I hate some issues with finding a wi-fi connection in Algecias, Spain last night. I am currently sitting in a train station in Tangier, Morocco waiting for my overnight train to Marrakech. A...
Picture of the Week #7: More on the AA Crash in Kingston
Three pictures today, actually. After seeing them, isn’t it hard to believe to that no one was seriously injured in the accident? I sat next to a UPS pilot on a PHL-IAD flight on Christmas Eve who occasionally flies to...
AA 737-800 Skids off Runway During Rainstorm in Jamaica
photo credit: Associated Press An American Airlines 737-800 skid off the runway in Kingston, Jamaica last night during a rainstorm, seriously injuring two passengers (as well as the pilot) and sending an unspecified number to the hospital. Thankfully,...
UPDATE: Man Violates Federal Law by Asking for Orange Juice on American Airlines Flight?
Last week I blogged about an alleged altercation between an AA FA and and a First Class passenger on a flight from Sacramento to Dallas in which the FA accused the passenger of "threatening, intimidating, and interfering with a...
A Day of Flying on United Express
I am traveling to Alabama today and am taking two United Express flights to get there, one on Trans States and one on Mesa (aka Messy Air). Hopefully I’ll make it! Actually, I agree with Gray’s assessment of travel...
Man Violates Federal Law by Asking for Orange Juice on American Airlines Flight?
I often lament the lackluster service of UA Flight Attendants, but apparently the grass may not be greener on the other side: Something went very wrong on American Airlines flight 614 from Sacramento to Dallas this Sunday, December 6th....
Too Fat to Fly? Dealing with Passengers of Size
photo credit to Flightglobal.com Discussing overweight passengers is like discussing politics or religion around the Thanksgiving dinner table with family: generally not a good idea. When I saw the picture above, though, I felt compelled to address the issue....
Don’t Let Your Frequent Flyer Miles Expire!
Earlier this year I nearly lost all my American Airlines miles due to account inactivity. With AA, your miles expire after 18 months of dormancy and to reinstate them, AA charges $50 for every 5,000 miles plus a 7.5%...
Cracking Down On How Airlines Handle Lost Baggage Claims
An excerpt from this week’s "Middle Seat" column by Scott McCartney in the Wall Street Journal: David Pykon, a New York hedge-fund trader, says he was given conflicting information by different American Airlines supervisors on daily expenses after his...
