U.S. Airways will charge for that beverage, unless you make a fuss

by Jeffrey White on

A few days ago Josh brought us a report about U.S. Airways beginning to charge customers for water — bottled for now.

On August 1, U.S. Airways introduced fees for beverages like soda, juice and water that used to be free.

U.S. Airways is the first domestic carrier to go this route. Other carriers are all but guaranteed to follow suit soon.

It’s pretty much a fact of life flying in America these days: If it’s on board, it’s going to cost you.

That is, unless you feel like making a big fuss about it.

Airline passengers have an ally against these seemingly trivial beverage charges: Flight attendants, the majority of whom are adamantly in favor of revoking them.

The New York Times reported the other day that the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, the major flight attendant union, is objecting to charging the $1 and $2 for nonalcoholic drinks. The union went a step further: If a passenger objects, flight attendants probably will just give them the drink for free.

“We’re trained to keep order on an airplane and defuse confrontation,” Mike Flores, president of U.S. Airways’ chapter of the union, tells the Times. “If it take giving a free beverage to somebody to do that, so be it. I expect there will be flight attendants who just give everything away.”

A U.S. Airways spokesman tells the Times that the airline has advised its 6,700 flight attendants to “err on the side of the customer” when making a decision whether to defuse a confrontation by handing out a free beverage.

So, there you have it folks: A major domestic carrier saddling its employees with a new fee policy that they do not want to enforce, and in many cases likely won’t in the end.

Seats on a United Airlines flight come loose, roll and injure a passenger

by Jeffrey White on

You don’t hear about this everyday: A United Airlines flight taking off from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and bound for San Francisco this past Sunday had to turn back suddenly after a row of seats became loose, slid backwards and slammed into a full row of passengers.

Maintenance workers confirmed that there was a loose bolt on three occupied seats in the third row of that flight. At takeoff, the seats simply came undone.

One woman sitting in the fourth row suffered a knee injury and was transported to the hospital after the pilot made an emergency landing.

Maintenance workers fixed the problem (though the flight was delayed more than three hours).

United says it will compensate passengers for that delay.

The injured woman flew to San Francisco this morning on a free first class ticket.

Ryanair in Hot Water (Again)

by Josh Lew on

Low cost carrier Ryanair can’t get any love these days. Europe’s original budget airline has gotten tons of press lately. Unfortunately, most of it has been bad. Of course, maybe there are people out there who want to fly an airline with surly flight attendants, lots of noise, and trashy ad campaigns. It could be kind of an adventure.

But when things go to court, the fun and games must cease. BAA (British Airports Authority) is suing Ryanair for unpaid airport fees accrued when the company refused to pay higher landing fees at Stansted Airport.

To Ryanair’s credit, at least they followed up their talk with action. They have been complaining about the higher fees and they haven’t paid them. When the airline’s outspoken chief, Michael O’ Leary, used expletives to describe BAA’s execs, the press ate it up. However, his (winning) personality might not fly in court.

Is this the beginning of the downward spiral for Ryanair? Abrasive behavior will only get you so far. It might be time for O’ Leary and his posse to start making some friends lest they end up with nowhere to land their planes.

Source

One too many: Drunk flight attendant causes six hour flight delay

by Anna Brones on

I’ve heard of drunk passengers causing problems on flights — an acquaintance of mine recently wasn’t even allowed to board a plane because he had a little too much fun at the airport bar — but I’ve never heard of a flight attendant throwing back a few too many. Until now.

On Sunday a BMI holiday flight of 140 passengers, set to fly from Aberdeen, Scotland to Faro, Portugal, was delayed for six hours while the crew tried to find a replacement for a 24 year old flight attendant who had shown up to work intoxicated. The flight was scheduled to depart at 9am but was delayed when the attendant’s fellow crew members were concerned about her state and called the police. The police arrived at the scene and after a a failed breathalyzer test, arrested the woman.

Drunk flight attendant jokes just seem too easy. I mean, just imagine what the pre-takeoff security demonstration would have been like; those airplane seat belts are complicated enough when you’re sober. But still, it seems that maybe the woman had just a little too much fun the night before, and instead of a hungover day serving snacks, now she has to deal with the police. Bad luck.

Other stories of debauch in the skies


Delta airlines announces domestic fleetwide Internet by 2009

by Scott Carmichael on

Delta Airlines is joining the ranks of American Airlines and Virgin America with in-flight Wi-Fi Internet access.

The service will be provided using the Aircell Gogo technology (reviewed here by Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal). For $9.95 on flights of 3 hours or less, or $12.95 on flights over three hours, passengers will be able to enjoy “mobile broadband” speeds on their laptop or Wi-Fi enabled PDA or smartphone.

The service will first be introduced on the Delta Airlines MD88/90 fleet, then on their Boeing 737, 757 and 757 aircraft. In total, 300 planes will be outfitted with the necessary equipment, making this the largest committed rollout of in-flight Internet equipment in the world.

It is needless to say that inflight Internet access is here to stay. Previous services that offered basic Internet connectivity all failed because of the price (Verizon Airfone) or the investment for the airline (Connexxion by Boeing).
The Aircell Gogo system is a great combination of the right price, and perfect timing. Airlines are scrambling to find affordable ways to generate some additional revenue, and there are only so many services they can take away or start charging for. One of the big differences in the marketplace over previous years, is that more people are now carrying Wi-Fi enabled devices.

Of course, the Aircell Gogo system won’t be of any use to anyone leaving the domestic airspace, as the ground stations only cover the United States. You can read more about the technology powering this service on the Gogo Inflight Internet site.