Statistics for pets lost, injured or dead while in an airline’s care

by Jamie Rhein on

I’ve never put an animal in an airline’s care before, but I have friends who have. Friends of ours shipped their dogs to and from Singapore. One person took a parrot and another shipped two cats. All went well in these instances.

The situation where the dog was lost by United Airlines this past week is not common, I would guess, otherwise it wouldn’t have made it to the national news. Grant gave a Gadling heads up, and this article on ABCNews this past Monday outlines more specifics about the unfortunate situation when Jeddah, the beloved dog of John and Ronia Weisner went missing at Dulles International Airport after only an hour in the airline’s care.

If you are wondering what the statistics are for problems when shipping pets, and the airlines involved with the mishaps, check out this PDF file to Air Travel and Consumer Report published by the Office of Aviation Enforcement and Proceedings: Aviation Consumer Protection Division.

May 2008 was just posted this month. On page 38, you’ll find the recent stats for pet troubles. Here’s the summary:

No animals were lost in May.

Two were injured. (Alaska-1; Skywest-1)

Four died. (Continnental- 3; United-1)

The chart doesn’t list the specifics of the incidents, but you can click on the airline name in the chart in order to get the report summaries.

In the Weisner’s case, I can’t imagine what it must be like to have such a significant change already in ones life such as a move to Saudi Arabia for a year only to have it start out with a missing dog.

Emirates’ A380 is on the way!

by Grant Martin on

It’s not very often that we Americans are privy to a taste of the Airbus A380, the new supermega jumbo jet that took to the skies last year.

Singapore Airlines was the first customer of the aircraft and though they took a quick zip around the United States, as our friend Mr. Cranky talked about last year, most folks have barely seen or heard much about the aircraft — after all, none of Singapore’s A380 flights regularly touch American soil.

Emirates, Dubai‘s glorious national carrier, however, has more appeasing plans. Starting later this summer, the airline is opening flights on the A380 between New York‘s JFK and Dubai, while routes from Los Angeles and San Francisco are planned for later in the year.

The airline plans to kick off its festivities with an inaugural flight reception at JFK on August 1st, where the media will be treated to inbound airport goodies from tarmac access to interviews with Emirates’ staff and general merriment. Then, the aircraft flies cross country to California where two “acquaintance” flights are scheduled for the media and other interested parties. Too bad that’s on the wrong coast for me.

If you’ve got any friends in the media world, now might be a good time to cash in your chips for a ride on the A380 — otherwise you’re going to have to wait to fly revenue. Last time I checked, those flights were going for about two grand.

Stay tuned for pictures and coverage from the Emirates reception.

Belize it or not: Island-hopping on budget

by Iva Skoch on

Greetings from Belize.

If you come to Belize, chances are you’ll stay on one of the islands, not mainland. Not only is it easier to find nice beaches on the islands (cayes), but it is much closer to the Barrier Reef. And if you are visiting Belize, you simply must see the reef. Even if you don’t dive, the ocean is shallow around here and the opportunities for snorkeling are plentiful.

If you’re not sold on the idea of island vacation and decide to stay inland and spend time in the jungle instead, you should at least visit the islands for a day or two.

Flying tips
If you arrive in Belize by plane, you will most certainly land at Belize City International Airport. The most convenient way to get to the islands is to fly straight from here.

There are two local airlines that operate all those island-hopping routes: Maya Airlines (owned by Belizeans) and Tropic Air (owned by American expats living in Belize). I have flown both and I couldn’t really tell the difference in quality or service between the two. Both use the same planes and operate efficiently. Tropic has more planes than Maya.Flights from the Belize City International Airport to the most popular northern island, Ambergris Caye (town of San Pedro), cost $65US ($130 Belize) per person.

It’s only a 15-minute flight on board a little Cessna, which is great because it will give you a great opportunity to see the area from up above. You’ll actually fly low enough that you’ll be able to see sharks and dolphins in the sea below you. If you are lucky, you might even get seated on the jump seat next to the pilot – my favorite spot.

If you want to save money and have extra time, consider flying out to the islands from the municipal airport in Belize City instead. A taxi from the international airport (14 miles outside the city) to the municipal airport will cost you $25US ($50 Belize) and take about 15 minutes.

Here is the benefit. From the municipal airport, Maya or Tropic Air flights to San Pedro go for only $35, instead of $65. If there are more of you traveling, it makes a lot of sense. We did it and our cab driver even gave us a little tour of Belize City for just a few extra dollars. Belize City is not the safest of cities and seeing it from a car might actually be enough for a lot of people.

Taking the ferry
If you are on a tight budget, your best bet for getting out to the islands is a boat trip. Once again, you’ll have to take a taxi (or bus) from the international terminal to the water taxi building in the center. From there, boats to the islands leave about 6 times a day, the last one taking off mid-afternoon.

Express ferry from Belize City to Ambergris Caye (San Pedro) costs $12.50 ($25 Belize). It takes about 60-90 minutes and stops at the backpacker mecca of Caye Caulker on the way. Obviously, flying is much more convenient, especially if you–like me–tend to get seasick.

Happy travels.

Flight attendant wins trip into space — on Rocketplane!

by Grant Martin on

I thought that Rocketplane was a show on the cartoon network until I read an article this morning reporting that a French Flight Attendant won a trip into sub-orbit with the galactic airline.

First, about the flight attendant: Mathilde Epron was working her daily flight schedule when she grabbed a quick Kit Kat snack, tossed the wrapper in the garbage and went on about her normal duties. Suddenly, struck with a feeling that she should have checked the wrapper, she went back to the trash two hours later, dug out the refuse lo and behold, won one of the first trips into space on fledgling space tourism company, Rocketplane.

Secondly, Virgin Galactic has competition? Where did Rocketplane come from? Tell us more about yourselves and your crazy moniker, Rocketplane, we’re delightfully curious.

Apparently, Ms. Epron is scheduled to get four days of astronaut training at Rocketplanes headquarters in Oklahoma then will be on one of the first flights scheduled in 2010.

Only a shade behind Virgin Galactic, which plans to unveil its White Knight Two later this month and carry passengers in 2009.

If Rocketplace sticks to its guns and testing goes well, we could have an interesting commercial space competition in the next ten years. Maybe all of this competition will drive the price of a flight down from 200-250k down to 100k. Time to start saving!

Other tales from the skies
Amazing and insane stories from a real-life flight attendant and co-pilot

‘Humiliated’ passenger sues Continental Airlines

by Jeffrey White on

Carolyn “Lynne” Meadow, the artistic director of the Manhattan Theater Club, filed a lawsuit against Continental Airlines yesterday, saying a member of the company’s flight crew humiliated her by turning her over to the FBI.

The incident happened last August on a flight from Rome to New York, according to the New York Sun.

The Sun reports the story today in a long-winded, blow-by-blow account. Here’s a summary: Meadow angered one flight attendant by asking him to be quiet while she slept, she then proceeded to monopolize other flight attendants’ time with various requests, and she finally broke an armrest monitor (accidentally, she claimed), incurring the wrath of the flight attendant she initially shushed.

Even that’s a little long-winded.

Anyway, the flight attendant accused her of “destroying” airplane property and had the Feds waiting for her when the plane touched down in New York.

She is suing the airline for emotional distress, humiliation and for providing her with faulty flight equipment, the Sun reports.

Continental is not commenting on the matter.

10 tips for smarter flying