Blaming the British Airports Authority for squeezing it dry, British Midland Airways (BMI) announced plans to axe its Glasgow-London Heathrow route in April. The carrier blamed ever-increasing airport taxes that have recently gone from £13 to £20 on domestic flights departing from Heathrow and...
TSA Prohibits Expansion of Screening Partnership Program
In a move that some are calling another TSA power grab while others are calling a logical and sound judgment call, Transportation Security Administrator John Pistole has rejected Springfield-Branson Airport’s application to opt-out of TSA-administered airport screening. More importantly,...
Alaska Airlines Retires Horizon Air Brand
Save for a small label here and there on the fuselage, Horizon Air’s brand identity will soon be retired. Acquired in 1986 by the Alaska Air Group, Horizon was and will remain a separate entity, serving smaller airports and...
Man Arrested by TSA for Failing to Show ID Cleared of All Charges by Jury
Justice is sweet. I am grinning this evening because after a gruesome semester of Evidence (a standard law school course that most students take during their second year), I once again have a little faith in our jury system....
Passenger Finds JetBlue Pilot’s Lost Handgun at JFK
…and unknowingly takes it onboard with him before realizing his error! Another day, another problem with TSA’s Federal Flight Deck Officers program. I actually think the FFDO is a beneficial program that does more to promote security than any...
Family Sues US Airways and CLT for Death of Son—A Wheel Well Stowaway!
A family is suing Charlotte Douglas International Airport and US Airways for the death of their teenage son, who was found dead in Boston. A preliminary investigation suggests he breached security at CLT then crawled into the wheel well...
Mexicana Plans an Ambitious Return to the Skies
I just finished reading an article entitled Mexicana demise is hardly missed and was preparing to blog about how other carriers have stepped in to fill the void left in the wake of Mexicana’s sudden shutdown last August. But stop the presses! To my surprise,...
UPDATE: Man Appears in Court for Defying TSA Agents
Back in November 2009 I blogged about a man arrested at a TSA checkpoint at Albuquerque Airport for refusing to present his identification to TSA agents. He was charged with: concealing identity disorderly conduct refusing to obey an officer criminal...
Judge Nixes Ryanair’s €40 Airport Boarding Pass Policy
For most tickets purchased from Ryanair, you are levied a €6 fee to print your boarding pass online. Don’t like it? Your only other option is to pay 40€ to print your boarding pass at the airport. Yes, you...
Frenchman’s Trip to Honduras Goes Up in Smoke After Assaulting Delta FA
Here’s two reasons to watch your alcohol intake when flying: to avoid making a fool of yourself and spending a night with Bubba in a New York penitentiary. Franck Lebrun, a French national on a Delta flight from Nice to New...
Turkish Airlines Passengers Prevent Hijacking
The details are just coming in now, but it appears passengers onboard a Turkish Airlines flight from Oslo to Istanbul overpowered a man who tried to hijack the plane: The man, identified as 40-year-old Cuma Yasar, was wearing a...
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Star Alliance CEO Jaan Albrecht Addresses Consolidation, Latam, Gulf Partners, and Russia
Star Alliance CEO Jaan Albrecht sat down with Business Traveler this week after a Star Alliance board meeting (in beautiful Queenstown, New Zealand) to discuss a wide-variety of topics. Here are some of the highlights: On consolidation: Consolidation is...
UA’s Smisek Discusses Channel 9, 747 IFE, and the Future of Three-Cabin First Class
Speaking in Sydney yesterday, United CEO Jeff Smisek touched on a number of areas we’ve been eagerly waiting to hear about: -No Ch 9 (ATC communications) coming to CO aircraft–two expensive -No timeframe on determining the future of three-cabin...
Oneworld Alliance Relocates Headquarters to New York City
Oneworld, the global airline group featuring airlines including American, British Airways, JAL, Qantas, and Cathay Pacific, is moving from Vancouver to New York next summer. The new headquarters will be in the low-rent district of Manhattan, on 2 Park Avenue. Former...
Court Orders Air India To Rehire Flight Attendant Fired For Being Too Fat
I generally avoid stories about weight because it is a sensitive topic that isn’t worth getting people worked up over (unlike the TSA…), but I do want to update you on an ongoing legal battle in India which has finally...
Joint Venture May Be Key To Wooing LATAM Into Star Alliance
The push for metal neutrality continues! During an airline conference in Houston today, United CEO Jeff Smisek announced that United Airlines is interested in forming a trans-border joint venture with Air Canada and a joint venture with an airline or...
Three Reasons Why Airfare Will Be Higher Next Year
David Grossman, writer of the Business Traveler column for USA Today, offers three reasons why airfare will continue to rise in the near future. Capacity cuts and rising demand Prolonged period of higher oil prices Changing business model for...
787 Delay Prompts United to Postpone Launch of Houston-Auckland Service
Back in May, Continental announced plans to begin non-stop service between Houston and Auckland in November 2011 on one their newly-delivered 787-8 aircraft. But if you’ve been reading the news lately, you know that Boeing has, well, run into...
Dogs Gone Wild: US Airways Edition
A US Airways flight from Newark to Phoenix was diverted to Pittsburgh yesterday after a dog got loose in the cabin and promptly bit a passenger and a flight attendant. The stupid dog owner was supposed to keep "Bowser"...
Senate Bill Targets TSA Full Body Scanners
The senior U.S. Senator from New York, Charles Schumer, has introduced a bill that would make it illegal for anyone to record or distribute images obtained from TSA full body scanners. While I prefer Ron Paul’s bill that would outlaw...
