AirTran leaves passengers grounded in Baltimore

by Jeffrey White on

Over at the Consumerist, “Thomas” makes a bid for the airplane horror story of the week (though the event recounted dates from last month).

Seems that Thomas and his girlfriend, having finished up a fun weekend in Baltimore, turned up at BWI for their AirTran flight back to Boston. The flight was listed as significantly delayed (nearly two hours) and after checking-in and confirming the delay on the monitors at the gate, they decided, as any of us would do, to go and grab a bite to eat.

Somewhere between that time and maybe 30-40 minutes later, as they munched on wings at the bar (keeping an ear perked for AirTran announcements), they glanced at a nearby monitor only to see the flight listed as ‘on time’. Rushing to the gate, an AirTran official informed them that the flight was already in the air.

Now, a few things are fishy in this story, but as Thomas recounts it, they were not alone in discovering that the delayed flight was really anything but. A few fellow passengers arrived bewildered at the gate, inquiring the same thing.

They were told, simply, that the airline had made announcements about the flight, but that they could only be heard at the gate.

Seems like you could take the side of the airline on this one, though I’ve never heard of a flight being listed as nearly two hours delayed only to leave right on time.

AirTran, for its part, wasn’t having any of Thomas’ demands for hotel vouchers and other forms of redress. Ditto AmEx, which refused to dispute the charges Thomas accrued during his unplanned night in Baltimore. It does seem that AirTran accommodated the couple on a flight that went out the following morning.

Of course, this wouldn’t have happened if they had checked bags, and although I seldom do check bags, when I do I am always at least assured that the plane won’t leave without me, no matter where I am — not without significant, airport-wide announcements calling me to the gate.

More dress-code quackery on Southwest Airlines

by Grant Martin on

We just had a link sent to us by another blogger out in the ether about another incident in which Southwest Airlines (WN) asked someone to change clothing.

As told by Chadrick Baker on crowvalen.com, WN flight attendants we’re concerned by his shirt that said “I’m a fuckin’ genius” and asked him to do something about it. Initially she asked him to take it off, but let’s be honest, do you think she wanted him to walk around bare chested?

When asked by Mr. Baker about what the airline’s policy was on the issue, she would only state that it was a “family airline” and insisted on him finally putting a jacket on. After the exchange, he awoke when a flight attendant was in the aisle next to him facing the back of the plane, saying “K, seriously.” On the way out, that same flight attendant and an officer were at the front of the plane, but didn’t say anything to him.

Whether or not these last two events were with regard to his t-shirt, he didn’t know. But he maintains that the shirt was fine to wear, pointing out that he received several compliments about it from other passengers, including a little boy’s mother.

And he’s right, in that regard. Southwest doesn’t really have a policy on what one can and cannot wear — you could probably show up in a thong and a sombrero and argue that you should be allowed on the flight.

But should you? I feel like certain attire is appropriate for certain occasions. Were you to wear something like this to a bar, like this guy did earlier in the week, I bet most people would get a kick out of it. But if you’re wearing it in an environment where people sensitive to the word might be offended, like the library, grocery store or airport, you should probably wear something that isn’t going to irk half of the people out there. Why run the risk?

And don’t give me any crap about not being allowed to wear what you want in public — this isn’t about your first amendment rights or an airline’s policy. It’s about respecting the passengers around you and setting a good example.

Other crazy airline craziness:


What’s going to happen to Southwest Airlines?

by Catherine Bodry on

Because of the recent grounding of 41 44 planes in Southwest’s fleet due to missed safety inspections, the airline stands to lose quite a few customers.

Even though we all know that we’re more likely to die in an automobile accident than a plane crash, many of us are still more nervous on a plane than in a car, myself included. In light of those nerves, I wonder how many people will — consciously or subconsciously — choose other airlines over Southwest with all the negative media attention its getting.

I’m not in a region where Southwest flies, so I’m unlikely to have to make a consumer choice for or against them any time soon. But what about you?

%Poll-11203%

Continental faces manslaughter charges for Concorde crash

by Iva Skoch on

It is hard to believe it has been 8 years since the Air France Concorde crashed. I still remember vividly the image of it on fire.

Now, a French prosecutor has asked judges to bring manslaughter charges against Continental over the crash outside of Paris in 2000 and recommended similar charges against two Continental employees and two French officials, BBC reports.

A French inquiry said the crash, which killed 113 people, was caused by a metal strip from a Continental Airlines plane, which shredded one of the Concorde’s tires as it took off from Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport and caused the fire.

A judge should decide to accept or deny this request in the next few weeks.

Activists suggest boycott of “Air Kevorkian”

by Aaron Hotfelder on

To say it’s been a rough couple weeks for Southwest Airlines is like saying Eliot Spitzer had a minor lapse in judgment. Women are claiming that they’re being thrown off flights for just being too damn good-lookin’; the airline was fined over $10 million by the FAA for flying unsafe planes; and now they’ve voluntarily grounded about forty planes because of “safety-related issues.”

So what’s a disgruntled consumer to do? One aero-activist group thinks it has the answer: hop in your time machine, set it for the 1960s, and stage a BOYCOTT!

The lawyer for Quiet Rockland, a New York-based activist organization, thinks that a boycott, combined with more hyperbole than you’ll see anywhere this side of the “War on Christmas,” will send Southwest the message.

From a recent press release announcing the boycott, with original random commas left intact:

  • “The persons that should be flying Southwest at this point, should be only those referred by Doctor Kevorkian.”
  • “Irrespective of what forensic lesser charge might technically ultimately apply once further Congressional investigation concludes, the acts and omissions of Southwest and collaborator FAA were tantamount to attempted murder, on a massive scale. This WILL not stand.” [Shouldn’t the “not” be capitalized in that last sentence instead of the “will”?]
  • “Quiet Rockland asks and encourages those Southwest employees tired of subscribing to their company tombstone culture, to leave their sinking airship now to find other and better employ at a responsible airline that actually acknowledges the dignity of the individual human traveler.”
  • “[B]oycott the airline which we today re-name “Air Kevorkian” – and just say “No” to Southwest.

There are more, but I’ve gotta go. My Southwest “Ding” bell just went off. Check out the press release in full after the jump.

###

“QUIET ROCKLAND” CALLS FOR NATIONWIDE BOYCOTT OF SOUTHWEST AIRLINES

Rockland County, NY – March 12, 2008:

Aero-activist group Quiet Rockland of Rockland County, New York, enraged over “callous criminal disregard for safety and human life” demonstrated by Southwest Airlines (NYSE: “LUV”) and the FAA, today called for: (1) a nationwide traveler and consumer boycott of Southwest, and (2) a federal criminal investigation of Southwest and “failed regulator” FAA to be spear-headed by the United States Attorney General and a special prosecutor.

Said John J. Tormey III, Esq., attorney and Quiet Rockland co-founder: “The persons that should be flying Southwest at this point, should be only those referred by Doctor Kevorkian. Although the depraved Southwest spin-machine audaciously ‘assures’ us Southwest’s six (6) cracked-fuselage aircraft were “never a safety problem”, Southwest should tell that to the victims of the 1988 Aloha Airlines disaster. There, metal fatigue on an aging Boeing 737 caused 18 feet of fuselage to be ripped off the plane causing grievous injuries and loss of life. House Transportation Committee Chairman James Oberstar in his press conference Saturday, posted on “www.cspan.org”, presented detailed evidence incriminating Southwest and “Bobby” Sturgell’s failed FAA. The incriminating events occurred while “Bobby” Sturgell was Deputy Administrator and Acting Administrator of the FAA. On Saturday, Representative Oberstar thereupon rightfully excoriated the aero-perps for their long-standing “tombstone mentality”. Although criminal and morally reprehensible, and now apparent after a many-month detailed Congressional investigation, Southwest and FAA are clearly in the insalubrious business of making those tombstones happen, in addition to simply reacting to those tombstones post facto.

“As recently as last year, Southwest Airlines, with the complicity of supposed federal regulator FAA, on at least 47 of Southwest’s Boeing 737 aircraft, on between 1,451 and 60,000 flights, over a period of two-and-one-half years, deliberately put approximately 200,000 or more unsuspecting travelers in harm’s way – making them fly in un-inspected, non-compliant, aged, and in some cases fuselage-cracked commercial aircraft. Southwest knew the names and faces of their potential victims. Southwest gladly took their money, and for that matter at this point Southwest owes each of them at least a rebate in full of their ticket prices. This was not mere negligence. Irrespective of what forensic lesser charge might technically ultimately apply once further Congressional investigation concludes, the acts and omissions of Southwest and collaborator FAA were tantamount to attempted murder, on a massive scale.

This WILL not stand.

“Quiet Rockland asks and encourages those Southwest employees tired of subscribing to their company’s tombstone culture, to leave their sinking airship now to find other and better employ at a responsible airline that actually acknowledges the dignity of the individual human traveler. We further ask every American consumer to now act in solidarity – cancel all flights and other business with Southwest – boycott the airline which we today re-name “Air Kevorkian” – and just say “No” to Southwest, to FAA, and to the greed of the aeromercantile complex that continually and habitually puts profits over people’s lives. And, as to Southwest stockholders? Vote your conscience”. #