Wheelchair on plane explodes on landing

by Abha Malpani on

Having the battery of an electronic item you take on board a flight, short-circuit and then burst into flames, doesn’t even come to your mind when you think about plane accidents.

Earlier this month, a wheelchair stored in the hold of a Boeing 727-200 First Choice flight carrying 229 passengers, let out blue sparks while being offloaded from the plane. The minute it was placed on a vehicle to be transported at Manchester Airport, it caught fire and exploded. Luckily, no one was injured. Thank goodness it didn’t happen on the plane. A similar incident happened in February last year, where a fire started aboard a plane because a camera battery short-circuited while in the overhead compartment.

The articles about this incident talk about passengers needing to be more vigilant when taking items on board. True, but I also think it’s the ground staff’s responsibility to fiercely spread awareness of things like this, and make their check-in and boarding procedures more stringent. Although the exact cause of the accident has not yet been found, assuming it was a short-circuit, it could have been avoided by making sure the battery was fixed properly and that there was no way for it to switch on automatically while in storage.

Talking about seemingly innocuous items causing serious damage on an aircrafts, you can’t help but think of mobile phones. Although told a million times, I still know people who do not switch their phones off on a flight, even if they don’t use them. They forget, or don’t realize the importance of doing so. I haven’t heard of any planes crashing or catching fire due to a mobile phone, but if it can happen with a camera and a wheelchair, I imagine that things can happen with a mobile phone.

How can airlines be stricter? Perhaps when baggage is being screened, they should ask passengers to remove batteries from all electronic devices. But then you can’t be assured that the passenger won’t put the battery right back in. Other than spreading awareness through publicity, what’s the solution? Rely on the passenger’s consciousness?

Virgin America moves in on SFO

by Grant Martin on

As part of what must be Virgin America‘s plan to take over the world, the airline recently announced that it was taking a majority stake in the revitalized Terminal 2 at San Francisco International Airport. Due to increasing passenger loads the terminal, which was closed in 2000, is slated to spend the next two years refurbishing and will reopen in late 2010.

The most interesting part of this article in this SF Gate article, however, is that Virgin America will be taking TEN of the fourteen available gates. “My,” you say, “that sounds like a lot of gates for an airline that only has about twenty eight departures per day out of SFO.” Could this mean that they plan on expanding further from San Francisco outward? You can bet on it. With routes already planned into Chicago and one of the fastest growth rates in the industry (in an economy that’s shrinking), the airline may need the space sooner than we think.

As for the airport, Virgin America’s stake in the terminal means that they get to weigh in on the overall design. Like Jetblue’s T5 at JFK (they share the same architect), we can expect certain VA “inspired” effects that make you feel super comfy as soon as you set foot in the front door. Said Virgin America spokesperson Abby Lunardini:

“We’re the only carrier based in California and at SFO, so we’re proud to partner with our hometown and the design firm (Gensler) to invest in innovative, guest-facing, and sustainable design for the airport’s next phase — the T2 redesign. Since we launched, we’ve had guests say they want to be on our planes longer, because of the upscale design and amenities — from lighting to the custom-designed seats. T2 is a major opportunity to invest in the airport of the future and to inject some of Virgin’s design aesthetic into the renovation and help create a place travelers may want to spend time.”

The next question is, will the terminal be mood lit as well?

Turkish pilot fired for letting 15-year-old fly plane, airline says

by Jeffrey White on

Earlier this month I posted on a faux controversy involving an Australian flight attendant for an airline called Jetstar who was in hot water after “posing as a pilot.” What she really did was occupy the captain’s seat while he went to the restroom, something only slightly beyond what is done normally (flight attendants sit in the cockpit all the time when one of the pilots takes a bathroom break, though they’re usually not allowed in the captain’s seat).

Now I read in today’s Berliner Zeitung a story that really does seem to warrant disciplinary action (if it’s true).

A Turkish pilot for an airline called Anadolujet has been fired for letting a 15-year-old take control of the aircraft while he went to use the bathroom!

Well, that’s at least the official line the airline is giving. The captain says he merely let the boy sit in his seat while he went to the restroom; the co-pilot was actually the one in control of the plane.

How did the teen even get into the cockpit? He was apparently a plane junky, had practiced on a flight simulator, and asked if he could observe the captain and ask him questions. The pilot agreed and invited him back to the cockpit.

The captain landed in trouble after he snapped a picture of the kid sitting in his seat. You guessed it: the picture went on the Internet.

I’d like to think the captain wasn’t so stupid as to actually let this kid fly the plane when he was away (in other words, I don’t buy the airline’s official complaint). Still, it probably wasn’t smart for him to even let the kid take his seat. Snapping a photo of the whole thing was just dumb.

Check out the sexy mavens of the travel world!


A passenger ‘bill of rights’ is passed! (In Canada)

by Jeffrey White on

Feel that you’re entitled to a food voucher if your flight is delayed more than four hours? A hotel voucher for longer delays? The right to demand off the plane if it sits on the tarmac for hours on end? You’re not alone.

Canada agrees.

The U.S.? Well, such provisions are still languishing in that factory of do-nothingness called Congress.

Canada earlier this month passed a passenger bill of rights that guarantees travelers all of the above. It likely escaped your notice, as most things inevitably do if they happen in Canada, but it has some industry watchers in the U.S. hopeful that Congress might soon get the moxie to follow suit with its own PBOR.

The Canadian measure ensures food vouchers for delays of four hours, and hotel vouchers if the flight delay reaches eight hours. Perhaps the best right it ensures can be exercised during those all-too-common delays that magically occur once you’re on the plane. In Canada, if you have boarded and the flight remains grounded for 90 minutes, you can demand off the plane.

The driving force behind the Canadian PBOR is pretty much the same behind the U.S. version: Growing frustration over flight delays, many weather-related, that kept passengers locked in planes for hours on end in recent years without access to food or water.

What’s holding up a U.S. bill? Some in Congress have been trying to get one through, but as a rider to a larger measure tied to the reauthorization of the FAA. That reauthorization bill has been stalled in committee, with Congress continuing its funding of the administration through payment extensions, none of which have carried with them demands for a PBOR.

When will the FAA — and, hopefully, a PBOR — be sorted out? Looks like a new Congress early next year might be the best bet to breath some life into this long awaited measure.

European airlines turning to social networking sites

by Jeffrey White on

OK., they’re not exactly Facebook or Myspace, but social networking Web sites that European airline carriers have started in the past couple of years are driving new customers to them.

German airline Lufthansa last week launched its GenFlyLounge.com, a student-oriented site that allows members with valid college IDs to swap notes and tips about travel destinations and buy steeply discounted student tickets. That back-and-forth talk among members, of course, helps Lufthansa find out where younger people are most keen to travel.

Lufthansa is certainly not alone in turning to social networking.

KLM launched its KLM Club Africa and Club China about 18 months ago. This has a decidedly different membership category: Biz executives who are frequent fliers to Africa and China. KLM also has another club, called Flying Blue Golf, tailor made — so to speak — for golfers. They can post reports of their latest golf score and compare course notes.

SAS has established a Web site for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender travelers — flysas.com/gay. The site is mostly for travelers to Stockholm and Copenhagen and has information on the most gay-friendly restaurants, clubs and bars, along with interactive city guides.