Luggage weighs more than you think it should? Maybe it’s the scale if you’re at JFK

by Jamie Rhein on

Let’s say you’ve weighed that piece of packed luggage at home. You’ve checked the weight several times. You are satisfied that the weight is not over what the airline will allow for no extra charge. You know that you have a terrific scale that doesn’t lie.

Feeling confident in the weight that you are now hoisting onto the scale at the airline check-in counter, your eyes bug out because your luggage is two pounds over. “How can that be?” you ask the person who is getting ready to write you up the bill for overweight baggage.

If you are at an American Airlines ticket counter at JFK, the difference between your luggage weight at home and your luggage weight at the airport may be caused by the scale at JFK. According to this NY Post article, the American Airlines’ scales are sometimes not calibrated correctly. In one instance, a check of scales at both La Guardia and JFK found that 102 scales out of 810 were not accurate.

When a scale is not accurate, it’s supposed to be taken out of commission until it is fixed. Although airlines aim to comply with this rule, sometimes faulty scales are still used. For example, of the 120 that were not working correctly, 10 were still being used a couple days later.

From what I gather after reading the article, the scale problem is mainly with American Airlines. The airlines does claim to spend mega bucks on scale calibration.

If you see a red sticker on a scale that says ‘condemned’ and the scale is still being used, let the Department of Consumer Affairs know about it. With American Airlines charging the heftiest fee for overweight baggage, one pound can make a difference.

[The photo by Todd Huffman is of a scale at the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan. I wonder how accurate this one is? Maybe American should look into it.]

US Airways Wouldn’t Like Me When I’m Angry

by Mike Barish on

You can’t drive drunk. You can’t operate heavy machinery on NyQuil. And you can’t fly angry. At least according to US Airways. Consumerist picked up a story of a traveler who was hoping that US Airways would price match a ticket that he had purchased to the new, lower price. US Airways informed him that they couldn’t match the lower fare. When he expressed his true feelings about the airline’s inability to be polite corporate citizens, he was told that angry is the new al Qaeda.

Just check out this exchange from his conversation with customer service (CS):

CS: “Did you say you were going to be angry on the flight?”
James: “I totally did. If I know that the guy sitting next to me spent $150 less for his seats than me, you better believe I’m not going to be happy.”
CS: “Well, if you’re telling me you’re going to be angry I’m going to notify security.”

A representative from US Airways Executive Relations later reiterated that James had said that he was “going to be angry, and that’s one of the words we look out for.”

I’d love to know what other words get you added to the watch list. And is it just for security? If I say that I’m parched, do they warn the bartenders in the airport lounge? If I mention that I’m horny, are the flight attendants put on high alert (sorry Heather)?

So add vocabulary profiling to the list of airline security techniques. And the worst part? Now real terrorists know not to tell their customer service reps that they are angry. Beware of the happy man with a one-way ticket.

Who else got into trouble in the skies?


Winona Ryder gets a British Airways airplane priority landing status. Could you?

by Jamie Rhein on

Two days ago, Winona Ryder’s British Airways flight to Heathrow airport was granted priority landing status after Ryder became sick on the plane. Jaunted’s blurb doesn’t say how she got ill. One wonders was it the food? Is this normal for her? What about me or you? Could we get special treatment? Could we get a plane to land before all the others?

I was on a flight once when the plane turned around before it took off because a woman was complaining of being sick. She did keep hitting herself in the face as she was being led to the ambulance that whisked her away. As much as going back to the gate wasn’t a fun picnic, it was a good thing that she was let off the plane. Better that she was hitting herself in the face as she was getting off the plane than miles up in the air.

A quick Google search found these two articles about other diverted flights.

In October, on a United Airlines flight to LA, a flight was diverted to O’Hare International Airport after a dozen or so passengers complained of being sick.

Back in March, a flight from the Dominican Republic to Canada landed in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida after eight passengers became ill.

What isn’t clear is how sick is sick. “I feel sick,” one might say. Does this mean, “I have gas,” “I have a slight headache,” “I feel as if I could hurl all over myself,” or “I think I’m having a heart attack and won’t live to see another day?” Any parent with a child has played twenty questions at times to find out just what ‘sick” means.

The woman I saw hitting herself in the face did say she wasn’t feeling right as rain when she got on the plane. The flight attendant did try to soothe her nerves, but with no luck, thus the diversion.

It seems that diverting a plane because of an engine failure or when the toilet pump is burning would be a much easier call to make. Sick? Kind of vague. And I still wonder, if you’re Winona, could you get that plane to land faster?

Winona did go to the hospital after she got off the plane, but only for a couple of hours.

83-year-old woman boards wrong US Airways flight, ends up in Puerto Rico

by Aaron Hotfelder on

Ever go to pick someone up at the airport and realize that their flight has been delayed? Bummer, right? Well, now imagine that the person you’re picking up is your 83-year-old, wheelchair-bound mother, and she’s been accidentally put on a plane to Puerto Rico. Looks like you’ll be waiting at baggage claim for a while.

This is precisely what happened a couple days ago to Vera Kuemmel, who was supposed to be picking up her mother from a Tampa* airport after her mother’s trip to New York. But things went a little haywire as Elfriede Kuemmel (a great name for an 83-year-old woman, by the way) was trying to switch planes in Philadelphia.

Elfriede, who was seated in a wheelchair and helped to her (or not her) plane by a US Airways attendant, accidentally ended up on a flight headed for San Juan, Puerto Rico, instead of one arriving in Tampa, Florida.

In San Juan, the woman was (let’s hope) profusely apologized to and soon put up at a hotel and provided with food until the next flight to Tampa.

A US Airways spokesperson says she’s not sure how the passenger’s incorrect boarding pass didn’t set off alarm bells, but says “we’re looking into what we could have done on our end to prevent that.”

I don’t know, maybe, check the woman’s boarding pass?

On the plus side, Elfriede says she did enjoy the first class flight back to Tampa. Hey, take it when you can get it, right?

More here.

*correction made

10 tips for smarter flying


5 steps to smarter packing

T&L names 2008’s best, worst airlines for on time arrivals

by Jeffrey White on

Travel & Leisure magazine has put together its annual list of the best and worst airlines for 2008 in terms of on time arrivals.

The rankings deal with airlines’ records for punctuality, with those oft-delayed carriers necessarily showing up on the worst list, and those that arrive on time figuring on the best list. No great science there. But before I list the magazine’s picks for best and worst, it’s worth noting the remarkable improvement — in T&L’s eyes, anyway — of US Airways.

Last year it ranked third on the worst carriers of the year list, with the magazine saying fewer than 68 percent of its flights having arrived on time. This year, it’s at the third spot on the best list, with nearly 80 percent of its flights arriving on time.

Anyway, here are the best:

  1. Hawaiian Airlines (92% on time)
  2. Southwest (80%)
  3. US Airways (79%)
  4. Frontier (78%)
  5. Skywest (78%)

And the worst:

  1. American (68%)
  2. United (69%)
  3. Comair (70%)
  4. American Eagle (71%)
  5. Atlantic Southwest (72%)