Aircell GoGo in-flight Internet hops on board Air Canada

by Scott Carmichael on

From zero to hero in a few short months! Aircell just announced that they have signed an agreement to outfit the Air Canada A319 fleet with their successful GoGo in-flight Internet service.

This makes Air Canada the first international carrier to commit to the service, and the fourth airline in the world (after American Airlines, Delta and Virgin America). In a very short period of time, Aircell has become the most important player in this market.

The deployment is expected to start in Spring of 2009. The initial rollout will offer coverage on US bound planes over the existing ground stations, but Aircell is working on licensing Canadian airwaves to bring ground stations to our friends up north, so flights in Canadian airspace can use the service.

Sooner or later people are going to be picking a flight based on whether the airline invested in in-flight Internet, and at just $12.95 for the average flight, I’m convinced that Aircell is onto something really good here. Sadly I haven’t been able to take it for a spin yet, but as soon as I do, I’ll get a full review posted for you!

(Source: Aircell press release)

American Airlines faces lawsuit for losing dead woman’s body

by Jeffrey White on

A man from Ecuador is suing American Airlines, alleging the carrier misplaced the remains of his dead wife for four days.

On April 1, Miguel Olaya, 60, says he made arrangements for the body of his late wife, who died of cancer, to be shipped to his hometown of Guayaquil. But when he went to meet the AA plane at the airport the coffin was no on board.

What follows, according to the Associated Press, is a back-and-forth between Olaya and AA in which he got a lot of different stories about what happened.

“First they didn’t know where her body was. Then they said maybe it was in Miami and finally they said it was in Guatemala,” a lawyer for Olaya tells the AP. “Instead of sending it on the flight to Guayaquil, American sent the body to Guatemala City.”

The remains of Olaya’s wife turned up four days later. “The body was missing for four days,” the lawyer says.

AA is not commenting, saying it is investigating Olaya’s allegations.

In the lawsuit Olaya filed last week, he also names the DeRiso Funeral Home in Brooklyn as a defendant. Olaya says the funeral home mishandled the body and had a hand in the AA mix-up. Also, Olaya says when his wife’s remains finally did show up in Ecuador, they were badly decomposed because they had not been properly embalmed.

Olaya is seeking unspecified damages.

Continental sinks to the competition — institutes host of fees

by Grant Martin on

One of the things that Continental Airlines used to pride itself on was being a cut above the rest of the competition. The airline is consistently ranked among the best (if not the best) of legacy carriers in the industry and their continued commitment to passenger experience gwon them a lot of long term passengers.

I suppose it was foolish for us to believe that they would stand by while the other carriers raised fares left and right around them. Late last week, Continental announced that they would be incorporating a host of new fees to their service, including

  • First Checked bag fee: $15 (elites waived)
  • Elimination of the 500 mile minimum: as one of the first airlines (behind United) to do this, you now earn the exact number of miles flown when you take a short hop. Not good for the short segment flyers among us.
  • Reductions to bonus miles earned by elites: instead of a 50% and 125% miles bonus earned by silver and platinum members on flights, those passengers will now earn 25% and 100% respectively.

Effectively, the only thing that now separates Continental from the competition for the lay traveler is now the free meals in coach. Frankly, I’m still amazed that those are around.

Air New Zealand wants you to shave your head for them — and they’ll give you $1000

by Meg Massie on

Air New Zealand knows that when you go to the airport, you’re going to be spending a lot of time in line, staring at the back of the head of the guy in front of you — so they want to give you something useful to read. The airline is holding open auditions next week for folks willing to shave their heads and become “Cranial Billboards.”

Seriously. Hopefuls can attend casting calls with free BBQ, refreshments, and entertainment, and those selected will be shaved on the spot and given a two-week temporary tattoo, which will alert customers to changes in the airline’s check-in system and direct them to the company’s website. Each person selected as a cranial billboard will also receive $1000 cash compensation.

If you think you’ve got the ideal skull shape for this job, find more info about the casting calls here.

What other strange things have been found on planes?


Southwest Airlines stops taking cash on flights starting today

by Jeffrey White on

A few months ago I wrote about how going cash free was the latest trend to hit the airline industry, with several carriers — from Alaska to JetBlue and Virgin Atlantic — going all plastic, all the time.

Now add Southwest Airlines to that list.

Southwest Airlines will no longer accept cash for in-flight purchases starting today.

Southwest instead will now take your debit and credit cards, and will also accept Rapid Reward coupons for purchases.

In making the announcement, America’s most consistently profitably carrier didn’t give a whole lot of reason for the change.

But other airlines have justified the move in recent months, saying going cash-free makes service more efficient, since flight attendants now won’t have to carry money on them and be burdened with having to make change.

And let’s face it: Since airlines are charging for everything these days, this kind of makes sense. Why make flight attendants fly with cash registers when they can make do with small electronic card machines?