Indian airlines to pay passengers for “mental agony” of flight delays

by Catherine Bodry on

Here’s some good news for travelers: an Indian consumer court ruled that all airlines in India must compensate passengers for sudden cancellations or long delays that cause “mental agony and harassment.” (Delays from bad weather are exempt.) The ruling came after passengers complained and demonstrated.

Although the article from the AP doesn’t detail what counts as “agony,” I can certainly think of a few situations: missing a connecting flight, missing a connecting flight and then your $2500 cruise, missing a connecting flight and subsequently your sister’s wedding — you get the point.

I’m glad to see that that someone is setting a precedence, even if it’s overseas. Anyone up for a protest at JFK?

Thanks to jyang825 on Flickr for the photo of the Bangalore airport.

Travel related publicity stunts

by Neil Woodburn on

We posted last week about a controversial Girls of Ryanair calendar that features, um, the girls of Ryanair in various semi-naked photographs. Sure, it’s sexist and all that, but at the end of the day, the proceeds go to charity.

But one wonders just how much of this was simply a publicity stunt. Blogs like ours, and even respectable newspapers all carried the story and Ryaniar received a ton of coverage.

As it turns out, Ryanair, and a handful of other Irish/British travel outfitters have been engaged in a dangerous game of advertising one-upmanship over the last few years trying to shock and awe passengers away from each other. The result has been some less-than-savory campaigns which have caused their share of bad press. But as they say in the industry, all press is good press.

Judge for yourself. The Telegraph has put together a short slideshow detailing some of the more notorious campaigns, many of which seem to involve Sir Richard Branson–and at least one of which features his bare ass. Click here to check it out.

Next They’ll Be Banning Snakes On Planes

by Brett Atkinson on

European low-cost airline Ryanair has a pretty good reputation for being friendly and laidback, but the inflight latitude doesn’t stretch to allowing a metre-long fluffy (and inanimate) crocodile to sit beside the emergency exit door. A passenger on a recent flight from Rome to Milan was asked to leave the flight when her plush reptilian pal became the subject of a heated debate between her and the flight crew.

In other crocodile-related world news, a crocodile which escaped from a circus in the Ukraine was finally captured after six months on the run.

There’s no truth to the rumour he was on his way to the Ryanair counter at Kiev airport.

Thanks to KnifeJuggler on Flickr for the pic.

* Actual crocodile may differ from one shown.

Virgin America adds a little humor to safety video

by Catherine Bodry on

Do you pay attention to flight safety presentations? I rarely do, except when I’m right in front of the flight attendant and I don’t want to be rude. As a teacher, I know how difficult it is to be up in front of a lot of people who really could care less. But the safety videos? As if. I’m all about the in-flight mag and my Asia-purchased Valium melatonin before the plane even takes off.

But Virgin America’s new safety animation grabbed my attention — and held it. All the usual safety information is included, but the airline makes the whole 4-minute presentation a bit more palatable. Watch it and let us know what you think!

Just what goes ON in airport lounges?

by Grant Martin on

It strikes me that although we see “VIP” lounges and clubs all over airports, few of us know exactly what happens behind their closed doors. Back in the day when I was an infrequent flyer, I held hedonistic notions of wild orgies, alcohol binge fests and parties of ancient Roman nature.

Now that I’ve been spending some more time in airports, I recently decided to indulge in a Northwest Airlines Worldclub membership and I’d like to file this report from behind enemy lines:

It’s all true.

I just saw a tiger burst out of the women’s washroom, leap over a fresh seafood buffet and tear a CEO’s head (bluetooth dongle and all) right off, only to be stabbed in the face by a midget flight attendant. Right now we’re building a fire out of Toyota Management books for a fabulous shish-a-la-tiger dinner.

Or not. The truth is that it’s pretty quiet up here (the Detroit Worldclub is on the second floor, thank you). Business people wander in and out as if they’re sleepless ghosts, lost in a maze of luggage and partitions, CNN plays on a half dozen flat panel televisions and nobody really smiles at each other.

But hey, the snacks, booze and chocolate espresso are free, and I can log into my gmail and work accounts easily over the club wireless. So in the end, it pays off for me. If you’re ever in the same airport at the same time as me, let me know and I’ll bring you in for free.