Airline Watchlists

by Erik Olsen on

Just caught this over at Boing Boing, listing a series of pieces on the absurdities of current no fly watchlists. They give big props to Wired News’s Ryan Singel who published a three-part story on watchlists, revealing how they have been used for (gasp!) nefarious purposes including keeping dangerous-sounding Muslim-named folks from traveling here.

But my favorite link among the group is the one that discusses how babies have made the list, because you know how dangerous (not to mention loud) some of those infants can be.

Airline Safety Info on the Web

by Iva Skoch on

For those of us venturing outside the warm embrace of the big carriers, the web has a bit of info about individual airline’s safety records.

For example, the FAA has a list of carriers that meet it’s standards here. It lists only those carriers allowed to fly to the U.S.

More comprehensive is the International Air Transport Association’s cite, listing those with a passing grade on their audit of 251 members. You can order the audit results via email.

The E.U. maintains a nice PDF list of airlines banned from European skies here. Interestingly, about half are based in Congo.

For more info, today’s NY Times has an article here which served as the source for these links above.

Transatlantic Flights for $14!

by Neil Woodburn on

Ryanair, the Dublin-based budget airline, has announced plans to start selling tickets from Europe to the United States for just £7. That’s about $14 dollars, folks!

Ryanair plans to make this possible sometime in the next four years thanks to the new “open skies” policy which will allow more carriers to fly between the EU and the United States.

As is always the case with Ryanair tickets, however, the advertised fair does not include taxes, which are expected to bump the ticket up to £80 ($160). That’s still a steal any way you look at it. The airline plans to make the route profitable the same way it does with its European flights: through the onboard sales of drinks, goods and entertainment.

According to a recent article in the Telegraph, another budget airline is already beating Ryanair to the punch. Zoom Airlines will start flying a New York to Gatwick leg for just £129 one way (including all taxes) by this June.

I don’t know about you, but I see a lot of European travel in my near future.

Bathroom Break for Air Taffic Controller Causes Flight Delays

by Jonathon Morgan on

It’s difficult for me to maintain perspective when my flights are delayed. No matter what the reason — weather, technical problems, etc — I get frustrated, and have to resist the temptation to blame the airline, their staff, or anyone else who seems like they might be in some way connected to the problem.

But of all the reasons to wait around for a flight to land or take off, an air traffic controller’s bathroom break is the last thing I’d expect to be causing the disruption.

However, that’s exactly what happened last week at Manchester-Boston Regional — New Hampshire’s largest airport. The controller left the tower for 12 minutes, which left two Southwest Airlines flights circling above the airport for an extra 18 minutes, and kept a medical flight delivering lungs to New Jersey on the ground 10 minutes longer than scheduled. The absence was in the logbook as a “bathroom break.”

It should be noted, the controller waited until traffic was very light, and followed procedure by notifying other controllers at nearby facility that he’d be out for moment.

I guess when you gotta go, you gotta go.

American Wants Women

by Dave Luna on

This week, American Airlines launched a female-centric web site with a focus on connecting women fliers. The airline’s new offering features ideas for safe, fun, and relaxing travel. Some of the items on the front page include “Girlfriend Getaways,” “Book Recommendations,” and “Travel Chic.”

The airline notes that 50 million women fly American annually, and that number accounts for a little less than half of their total passengers. The company introduced the site with the hopes of boosting their sales to women by 2%. (That translates to a cool $94 million for those playing at home.)

I tried out the site, and it’s pretty weak. The content consists mostly of short bullet points that don’t provide any useful information. For example, a page targeted to business women advises them to check-in online, use personalized luggage tags, and sign up for frequent flier miles. I’d think anyone who travels often already knows how to do all of those things. Come on, American. I know you only want a 2% spike, but put some heart into it.