Airline Passengers Push Congress to Pass Tarmac-Waiting Limit

by Catherine Bodry on

If you’ve every felt frustrated and powerless while cramped in your seat on the tarmac, you’re not alone. Some passengers are so upset that they’re pushing Congress to to pass a mandatory “Bill of Rights” to limit waiting to three hours. On Tuesday, demonstrators on the National Mall attempted to recreate the cramped jetliner experience on Tuesday by erecting a portable vinyl carport painted to resemble the outside of an airplane. A recording of crying children played while organizers sat in tightly-packed plastic chairs.

Did the message get through? Rep. John Hall, D-New York, (who was recently stuck on La Guardia’s tarmac for three hours), believes delayed takeoffs can be assigned in the order they were originally scheduled. This assignment would allow the plane to return to the gate, and passengers to disembark rather than sitting on the plane, while the flight would not lose its spot in line.

I don’t know if an amendment to our Bill of Rights is necessary, but I do think that airlines need a bit of a push to get some problems solved. Perhaps this is the push that’ll get them moving. Literally.

[via CNN]

There Is Hope for the Stranded

by Iva Skoch on

Yes, flying is bad. Not flying, however, can be worse. June 2007 was the worst month for taxi-out times (the time between boarding and taking off) in a decade, with 462 planes stuck on the ground for more than 3 hours, today’s International Herald Tribune reports.

Once a while, you hear stories of passengers frustrated with the airline industry who can turn their rage into something productive…while the rest of us fume for a while, possibly write a letter of complaint and then forget. This is one of those stories.

Last December, Kate Hanni and her family were stuck aboard a jet for hours out on the tarmac. After that experience, Hanni decided she would get a law passed making long confinement on a plane illegal and allowing passengers to get off the plane. Like that, she became a passenger advocate. You can get more information and sign a petition at www.flyersrights.com.

Excuse Me, Sister, But Are You Hiding Something Under Your Habit?

by Justin Glow on

Flickr user cjdavis snapped this shot in the Detroit airport yesterday. He writes, “This was captured as I collected my things from airport security (Detroit Metro Concourse A). I think of it as something like a Rorschach test. Is an elderly Catholic nun being frisked by a Muslim security agent the celebration of blind justice? Or is it simply an admission of absurdity?”

I barely even noticed the al-amira on the female TSA agent, which — along with the bored teenager watching from aside — made this a truly interesting photo.

How about a caption contest?

[via]

Sex Toys and Sausages: A Bad Smuggling Combination

by Neil Woodburn on

Butchers in Mannheim, Germany alerted police on Wednesday when a customer speaking broken English asked the shop keepers to hold on to two “Schwartenmagen” sausages he had purchased from them earlier in the day. He told the butchers he was flying to Dubai the following day and asked if they could store his Schwartenmagen in their refrigerator for the night.

The butchers became suspicious, however, when they noticed that the Schwartenmagen were much heavier than they should be. Concerned that the 50-year old man on his way to the Middle East might be using the sausage to smuggle something dangerous on to the plane, they immediately called the police.

A crack squad of Germany’s finest arrived on the scene where they quickly wrestled the sausages to the ground and discovered a rather large sex toy embedded in each of Schwartenmagen. I’ll let you guess what type of sex toy might fit within a hollowed out sausage.

Hey, isn’t there a better way to smuggle those things? It sort of makes you wonder why the old prison method wasn’t used instead. Ugh!

Skybus Opens for New Routes: Move Quickly for the $10 Deals

by Jamie Rhein on

I’m waiting for a Skybus route to upstate New York to open. Stewart Airport in Newburgh would be divine. Not yet, but there are four more routes to start December 5.

If you have any desire or need to head to Chattanooga, Gulfport-Biloxi/New Orleans Area, Milwaukee or Punta Gorda/Ft. Meyers, check out Skybus to see if its schedule and airport locations suits you. Starting December 17 there will be one more flight a day to Jacksonville/Daytona (actually St. Augustine.)

Keep in mind, when you do book a Skybus flight, make sure you have a way from the airport to where ever you are actually going. A friend of a friend of mine was thrilled to pieces over her cheap flight to Boston. She didn’t know that the airport Skybus considers the Boston area is actually about 50 miles away and in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The friend she is visiting in Boston does not have a car. At this moment, she has no idea how she is actually getting to Boston.

Last week I tried to find the route from that same airport into Logan International Airport for a friend of mine. He’s flying from Atlanta to Boston and then wants to come to Columbus. Figuring out the logistics of how to get from Logan to Pease Airport made me tired, so I quit. Sometimes it’s just worth paying the extra money to be able to get to exactly where you need to go–unless you are renting a car anyway. Then, I say, go for the bargain.