Flight attendants threaten passengers with criminal charges more often

by Jamie Rhein on

Being a flight attendant may be a job that is getting harder, like Jeffery posted. After reading this article originally published in the St. Petersburg Times about flight attendant passenger altercations, it reminds me of what it is like in an unruly classroom of adolescent middle-schoolers. Instead of threatening people with a trip to the principal’s office for not staying in their seats, for example, the threat is criminal charges, usually made in a loud voice.

An aviation lawyer in Sarasota, Florida said that flight attendants are using the threat of criminal charges for passengers who are not behaving more often ever since 9/11. I wonder how much the threats are working? The article mentioned several of the altercations we’ve covered on Gadling.

With the news of poor behavior it makes me wonder, if there wasn’t the threat of criminal charges, would people act worse? Or, since threats with middle-schoolers often don’t work well, I wonder if threats by flight attendants like, “If you don’t stop that right now, you’ll be in serious trouble,” make people behave worse?

Alitalia may start canceling flights — can’t afford fuel

by Grant Martin on

Alitalia has been going through a bit of a rough patch of late. Even before the fuel crisis this past summer, Italy’s national airline was already struggling with poor service, unhappy unions and terrible management. Now, with costs going through the roof the airline is in some serious financial trouble.

Through the course of the summer, Alitalia has been looking for ways out of it’s tangle. For a while, we thought that Air France and KLM, the French and Dutch Skyteam partners, were going to usurp their counterparts, until unions and politicians weighed in on the deal and the buyers decided to back out.

Since then, the Italian government has been arguing about a few different options including a government takeover, but none have really matured to the point of stability.

Which brings us to Monday morning, which, after months of squabbling and mismanagement, has led to the airline still without strong leadership, with angry unions and with not enough fuel to fill its airplanes. According to the BBC, unless the airline comes up with some some significant cash or a strategy today, they “cannot guarantee” flights into the week.

As of this morning the airline is still in talks to be taken over by a Italian consortium of companies (including Benetton?) and merge with AirOne with plans to cut over 3,000 jobs, but nothing has been finalized. Keep an eye on your Alitalia flight if you’ve got one booked in the next week. It could be a rough week.

10 tips for smarter flying


MIT researches aim to cut flight delays

by Jeffrey White on

What traveler these days isn’t tired of flight delays?

Some of the best minds at America’s preeminent technology university, MIT, are working on a computer program that could help reduce airline flight delays due to weather.

The technology is called the Route Availability Planning Tool, or RAPT. This being an MIT project, I really don’t understand it. So I’ll quote directly from a recent MIT news story:

“RAPT gives air traffic managers assistance in deciding whether to allow planes to take off during inclement weather, increasing the odds of sneaking a few jets out between thunderheads. The computerized tool takes weather information from satellites and radar systems, makes predictions about whether a pilot would choose to fly through such conditions, and displays the information graphically to enable an air traffic controller to make a quick decision.

“The RAPT display shows a map of the airport with lines radiating outward to indicate the various departure routes. A grid below the map lists departure times in rows, divided into columns of five minutes running from the present to half an hour in the future. The color of each rectangle on the grid indicates whether departure at that time along that route seems feasible. Red means the route is blocked. Yellow means there’s some heavy weather that might pose problems. Dark green says there’s weather, but that it shouldn’t be an issue. Light green represents clear sailing.”

You can read a full rundown of the technology in these lab notes from MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory.

Researchers have already tested RAPT in the New York region, one of the nation’s most congested, and found the technology cut weather delays there by 2,300 hours last year, saving airlines around $7.5 million in operating costs.

New York Times: Flight attendants have a hard job

by Jeffrey White on

In the tradition of Plimpton-esque participatory journalism, a New York Times travel writer, Michelle Higgins, trained to become an American Airlines flight attendant and worked two flights, talking to real flight attendants and recounting the experience with a long piece in today’s travel section.

The story doesn’t really break any new ground. Its overwhelming conclusion: Flight attendants have it real hard these days.

Still, it’s a story that’s probably been a long time coming, given the changes that have rocked the airline industry after Sept. 11 and made the whole flying experience a lot less enjoyable for both passengers and crew members alike.

The faux drama of the story’s beginning notwithstanding, there’s some interesting behind-the-scenes reporting here, and the piece gives flight attendants ample space to talk about the pressures and stress that come with the job.

Check it out, and for more insights into the lives of flight attendants, keep up with Gadling’s resident FA, Heather Poole, and her Galley Gossip blog.

Bunkers – now also a safe haven for Continental airlines

by Scott Carmichael on

What do you do if you own an airline, and watch the devastation from hurricane Katrina on TV? You go searching for your very own bunker where you can safely house your important computer systems and 200 staff members in the event your city gets hit next.

The bunker is located in Montgomery, Texas, and was built by a wealthy Taiwanese businessman with a fear that the Russians or Soviets would attack the US with nuclear missiles. Ling-Cheih Kung made his money in the 70’s with the now defunct Westland Oil company. When oil companies went bust in the 1980’s, Mr Kung lost the title to his property (and bunker) and it sat unoccupied for almost 20 years.

The building itself is 50 feet below ground, and the area occupied by Continental is over 2000 square feet. If the Houston metro area is going to be hit by a category 3 hurricane, they move their IT operations to the bunker facility.

The bunker and surrounding buildings are owned by the Westlin corporation, who spent a small fortune renovating the facilities, and bringing Internet connectivity to companies renting space underground.

Continental Airlines moved into their spot in 2006, after just several months of construction. Some of the more notable parts of the building are jail cells, a decontamination shower (for washing off the radiation), and 2 pagoda shaped entry buildings, complete with gun turrets.

Moving into this facility shows some pretty clever thinking by Continental, and just 2 years after they moved in, Hurricane Ike hit the Texas coast. Thanks to this facility, Continental staff hope to get their operations back on schedule as early as Sunday morning.