Low fare alert! Get to Shanghai next month for under $600!

by Grant Martin on

Wow, I haven’t seen prices to Shanghai this low in a while. Apparently, sales on Delta’s new route to China have been sluggish, so perhaps this is a secret sale to get things kick started. Or maybe someone fat fingered the price feed, but either way, this is a great price.

Availability seems to be from a variety of cities centered around Atlanta, with the lowest prices ringing in at about 580$. Travel can be assorted times in April and the price seems to go up pretty quickly once May rolls around. You can use a flex search on either Kayak or straight on Delta’s website to find the lowest price compared to the best availability.

In case you’re considering jumping on this, don’t forget that you have to get a visa before you go to China, usually in person at the Chinese consulate. This takes time, money and more priority mail envelopes than you think. But for the experience of seeing China’s Gateway to the West this is definitely worth it.

Air Transat makes emergency landing for sick passengers

by Anna Brones on

A plane flying from the Dominican Republic to Canada made an emergency landing Tuesday night in Florida when several of the passengers became ill. When the Air Transat Flight 477 landed at Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International airport, eight passengers were wheeled off to the hospital as a precaution.

The Center for Disease Control stated that they were not sure what caused the illness but that it appeared to be something the passengers ate or drank. I was tempted to make a comment about the state of airplane food, but it turns out they were all family members who had eaten together before boarding the plane.

Virgin Charter kicks off domestic private service

by Grant Martin on

Subsidiaries of Virgin keep manifesting like mold on bread, largely, I believe, because Richard Branson is not stupid-rich enough. Did you know that he bought his own island when he was like 30?

Branson’s new airline project, Virgin Atlantic America Blue Express Nigeria Charter is actually more of a network of private domestic airline companies. Each of the charter services are run and owned separately — Virgin just supplies the logistics to mange and load all of the planes so that they can fit the maximum number of passengers into the open charter seats. Nearly half of charters, you see, run empty because people only charter a plane one way (it wont wait while they’re there — another one will come back for the return flight).

With Virgin’s technology, those loads will be managed so that most legs should be occupied. It’s a pretty good idea and I’m surprised nobody thought of it before, I suppose Branson just had the know-how and capital to get the idea off the ground.

As far as price, don’t plan on taking a Virgin Charter any time soon. Chartered flights can run up into the thousands of dollars per leg, so they’re only really good for niche or wealthy travelers. I’m still waiting on the enquiry I posted for prices between Detroit and New York. I think they’re on to me.

[Via TechCrunch]

U.S. Airways finds a use for duct tape

by Jamie Rhein on

For U.S. Airways, there’s good and bad. Thumbs up/Thumbs down. Cheers and jeers. The good? In January, the airline was the one that had the highest on time record of the 10 major airlines. Christopher Elliot passed on this tidbit yesterday in his blog, but chased that with some pitiful shots and details of U.S. Airways use of household items that are helping the airline continue with operations.

It reminds me a little of the vehicles in The Gambia. With mechanical know-how accompanied by a bit of chewing gum, baling wire, spit and luck, taxis ran forever.

Match the item–either duct tape or paper towels– with their use. (Yes, I know this is not much of a game, but still.)

Curtain is to______________as ____________is to airline seat. (See Elliot’s post for the pictures to prove it.)

If you happen to have some duct tape in your carry-on, an item recommended yesterday as a don’t-leave-home-without-it suggestion, perhaps you can help U.S. Airlines keep on keeping on.

The answers:

first blank: paper towels

second blank: duct tape

Airlines expected to appeal Passenger Bill of Rights today

by Jeffrey White on

I’ll say this about the airline industry: There seems to be very few instances when it will take a knock or two in the interest of its passengers. It’s as if the suits in the boardrooms just don’t understand who is keeping the perennially cash-strapped industry afloat (oh wait, it’s the government, right?)

Today the industry is expected to file its formal appeal of New York’s so-called Passenger Bill of Rights, which was signed last August and was to take effect at the beginning of this year. They’ve already challenged the bill in court once. They lost. That wasn’t good enough.

What’s baffling is that the bill could be so much more strict than it is. You would think the industry would just cut and run, or figure out a way to pass on whatever additional costs it accrues to the customer (airlines are really good at that).

According to published reports, under the bill commercial airlines are required to provide a whole host of amenities – food, water, functional restrooms, fresh air – if the flight in question has pushed back and remained on the tarmac for more than three hours.

More than three hours.

So, apparently cooling our jets — sorry for the pun, wrapped in a cliché — on the tarmac without these basics is acceptable for 2hr. 45min, or whatever.

Calls for a Passenger Bill of Rights picked up steam a year ago, following the now-famous Jet Blue debacle, when more than 1,000 people flying the airline sat hostage on the tarmac for hours – one flight for more than 11 hours – during a New York snow storm.

So, given that embarrassment — and it was really an industrywide embarrassment — you would think that airlines would suck it up and swallow what is really a watered-down pill, if for no other reason than to win back passenger loyalty. Nope.

Ok, some airlines have passed their own rules regarding compensating passengers for delays. But the industry as a whole looks set to fight on. This week, according to the Washington Post, the government chimed in on the industry’s side, saying that the Airline Deregulation Act trumps state law.

In reality, passengers deserve an even tougher bill. However this one was probably seen as having the best chance against the industry’s considerable lobby. At least in theory.

Got a tarmac horror story? Which airline? How long? Let us know.