Yesterday, I flew from PHL-LAX via IAD and MSY. I purchased the ticket a week ago and was on an M-fare (a relatively pricey Economy fare). IAD-MSY-LAX was operated by an A319 with only eight First Class seats, making...
Bad News For Us: A Discussion on Airline Mistake Fares
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...
United Spent $600K in 4Q Government Lobbying
The AP reports that United spent $600,000 lobbying government officials in the Fourth Quarter of 2009. Among United’s concerns: 1. DOT Tarmac Delay Guidelines United’s lobbying disclosure report doesn’t say which side it took on the legislation, but most airlines...
Initial Observations on United’s New Unlimited Domestic Upgrade Program
I won’t get to witness UA’s new UDU program first-hand until Friday (my upgrades are waitlisted, BTW), but my brother traveled from FRA-IAD-LAX on United yesterday. He is a Premier and was traveling on an H-fare–an upper-end Economy ticket....
The Authoritative Post on Airline Fees
Although he wrote it in January, the Philadelphia Inquirer just published a column our friend Christopher Elliott did on airline fees in this week’s Sunday travel section. Some of his analysis is spot-on, much of it is…not. First, what makes...
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...
Hot Nuts Gone on United?
Two recent posts in the omnibus "Let’s Eat" thread on Flyertalk, where travelers post what meals they were served on UA, suggest that United may be phasing out hot nuts. A LAX-ORD and LAX-LIH flight last week featured a...
End of an Era: Continental to Eliminate Complimentary Food on Most North American Flights
An end of an era. Continental announced today that it will phase out complimentary meals in Economy on all North American flights under six hours. Continental Airlines Inc., the last big U.S. airline to operate catering kitchens and to serve...
My biggest concern with United’s new upgrade program
We’re just five days away from the start of United’s new unlimited domestic upgrade program. I’m looking forward to it, though in the back of my mind there is a lingering concern that my perfect upgrade record since I...
United FA prohibits Internet communication on p.s. flight for "security reasons"
It seems a lot of bloggers on the Huffington Post fly on United. Yesterday, tech journalist John Battelle was minding his own business, video chatting with his wife and children from 30-plus thousand feet in the air, when a...
UAUA hits $19+
I can’t even bear to to track UAUA anymore.
Three Minute Connection in SFO
I posted last night that two of my three flights were zeroed out for my trip back to Philadelphia and I hoped to spend the night at SFO with a $600 voucher in my pocket. Things did not go...
Time for Another Trip on United
Man, that 36 hours on the ground in Southern California went quickly. I’m off in a few hours to Philadelphia again via SFO and IAD. Loads look full for my redeye, so let’s see if I get a bump...
Smooth Sailing on United Today
I was scheduled to fly from PHL-ORD-SNA this evening, but becuase I have been under the weather the last few days and just wanted to get home ASAP, I showed up early at PHL this morning to try to...
Bump Strategy: Take the Earlier Redeye
Sunday evening I travelled from BUR-SFO-IAD-PHL, including a redeye from SFO-IAD. United is currently running two redeyes from SFO-IAD Sunday evenings, a 767 departing at 2230 and a 757 departing at 2315. I am used to taking the 2230 flight,...
My Lost and Found Ordeal with United Airlines
I flew up to Vancouver Saturday morning on United and haphazardly left my camera under my seat in 2D. While relaxing in the Maple Leaf Lounge about an hour after touching down in YVR, I suddenly had a sinking...
United got me home from Chicago…but it took some arm twisting!
Hello from Honolulu. Turns out I made it home last night. It took some wrangling, but I got rebooked in First Class from Chicago to LAX and made it home about two hours later than planned. This was after...
Mayhem at Chicago O’Hare
My oversold 777 flight to SFO has been cancelled and it is not clear if I am going to get to LAX tonight. There’s hundreds of people in line at the Customer Service desk and a snowstorm is imminent....
