Add this story to the paranoia file. A FA walks into the lavatory, sees a few white specks on the counter, believes it to be anthrax or some sort of bomb material, and freaks out. The Alaksa Airlines jet...
Consecutive Flights with the Star of United’s Safety Videos
I had the pleasure today of flying on consecutive flights with Charles, one of the stars of United’s safety videos (pictured below). Apparently Charles has a reputation on Flyertalk, and not a great one, so when I walked onto...
Welcome Back to America. We’re Closed.
After a delayed arrival into Washington Dulles Wednesday evening from Frankfurt, I just wanted to get through passport control and customs and out to the parking lot to meet my friends. It was after 2am Frankfurt time and despite...
United Eliminates Special Meals on Many Routes
United’s standard meal offerings (notwithstanding my overcooked steak last night) have improved quite a bit over the last year. Nevertheless, I still find myself ordering special meals quite often because UA offers very nice Hindu and Moslem meals. Here’s...
1,000 British Midland Diamond Club Miles for Brief Survey
British Midland is offering 1,000 Diamond Club award miles for taking a five-minute survey. The questions are geared primarily toward personal travel habits and BD’s route map. Dear Matthew We’d like to know what you, as a valued member,...
Long Weekend in Los Angeles
Even with my little getaway to Eastern Europe last weekend, work has kept me very busy over the last few weeks. This is a good thing, but 10-12 hour days in the office begin to take their toll after...
The Best Pasta in Frankfurt, Courtesy of Lufthansa
I worked late Friday and had to hustle to catch my 2030 flight to Bucharest–not because I feared I would miss it, but because I wanted dinner in Lufthansa’s Senator Lounge before the flight. Not a bad spread: Without...
Watch Out! Flight Attendants Get Kung Fu Training
When the flight attendant says to obey all lighted signs, placards, and crewmember instructions, tuning her out with your iPod while smoking a cigarette on your way to the lavatory as the plane lifts off the runway is probably...
Should Airlines Keep Bag Fees When They Lose Your Bags?
The U.S. Department of Transportation is mulling over a number of new regulations that will affect air travelers, including mandating that airlines allow passengers to cancel airfare without penalty for up to 24 hours after booking and requiring that...
Drunk Frenchmen and Frightened Romanian on Lufthansa
After a great weekend in Ruse, Bulgaria and Bucharest, Romania, I flew back to Frankfurt this evening on Lufthansa. The flight was only 2.5 hours, but there was a bit of excitement onboard. What is it with French...
Exclusive: TSA Admits to Storing AIT Images
A Transportation Security Administration (TSA) airport screener has admitted that the TSA stores images obtained from full body scanners. The 23-year old screener works at Ronald Regan Washington National Airport and posted the following in the course of an online...
College Newspaper Defends TSA…and Fails Miserably
In some ways, I miss college life. I earned my undergraduate degree at UCLA and relished the three years of intellectual stimulation while studying history and political science. As a political junkie, I was an avid reader of the...
The "Injustice" of Economy Class
Patrick Smith, a writer for Salon.com, attempts to combine humor with common sense in his latest column, entitled "The Injustice of Economy Class." I think he fails. Three questions drive the piece: First, would it really be too much trouble to engineer...
Award Ticket Fee Changes on United Airlines – You Win Some, You Lose Some
I credited United for taking a step in the right direction when they eliminated close-in "processing fees" for award tickets in 2009. These fees, charged simply for the convenience of booking an award ticket within 21 days of travel,...
Your Laptop is NOT Secure or Private at U.S. Borders
I am training to be a lawyer, afterall, so let’s take a break from frequent flyer news today and focus on a recent court decision by the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals regarding the confiscation of personal computers...
Reader Help Needed: Haneda to Gimpo or Narita to Incheon?
If all goes according to plan, I will be traveling to Japan and South Korea next month. It will be my first time in both countries and I am working now to finalize my flights between Tokyo and Seoul using...
Air Canada to Launch Low-Cost Subsidiary
After the failures of Song and Ted just a few years after their inception, I did not expect another North American legacy carrier to gamble with a low-cost division. Yet Air Canada announced ambitious plans today for their own...
Priority Tags for Gate Checked Bags on United?
Reports are surfacing that United Airlines is trying something new at Denver—placing priority tags on gate checked bags for first class and elite flyers. This is a wonderful and cost-efficient idea. I fly, or at least used to fly,...
TSA Unveils Plan to Exempt Flight Crews from Full Body Scanners
Changes are coming to U.S airport security checkpoints: The Transportation Security Administration recently announced plans to begin testing an identity verification program to let airline crews bypass the controversial full-body scanners and extra-thorough pat-down searches at airports. The proposed program,...
Man Beaten by Police on United Airlines Flight
A SkyWest CRJ-200 bound for Casper, Wyoming begins boarding in Denver. As departure time nears, a man seated in the exit row refuses to switch off his mobile phone. After repeated requests to turn off his phone, all of...
