Dying on a plane is less likely than dying in a plane crash

by Jamie Rhein on

According to this article, the chances of dying on an airplane is 1 in 7.6 million. The chances of dying in a plane crash is 1 in 1.3 million. Both are rare occurrences, but the recent death of Carina Desir, a woman on a flight to New York has created a new flurry of concern.

There is one detail in the article that does pose something to consider, I think, for people who have had serious breathing problems. If you’ve ever seen a person have an asthma attack or difficulty breathing due to congestive heart failure, it’s frightening. In addition to describing what happened with this recent death on the American Airlines flight, the article describes another incident in 1998 when a man died from an asthma attack. His 10-year old daughter and wife were flying with him.

The oxygen tanks aboard airplanes are made for cabin decompression situations and not for breathing problems from medical conditions. From what I understand, the concentration of oxygen that is given on airplanes is different than what might be administered in a hospital. It’s also administered with a face mask. In a hospital, oxygen is administered with a nose tube. This doesn’t mean the oxygen on planes won’t work, but that in a dire situation, it may not be enough. The situation with Mrs. Desir who died recently is still under investigation.

What strange things have been found on planes?


Click the image to read the bizarre story…

The procedures for what to do if a person dies on an airplane are being reconsidered since different airlines have different procedures. The question of whether to continue to the original destination or land as soon as possible is one of details being looked at in order to understand what is the best option. It seems to me there are drawbacks to either choice. Although, it might be extremely upsetting to fly with dead body, and the lack of control from being up in the air and unable to do anything, must be excruciating for friends and family.

Still if you’re flying from New York to California and end up in Chicago, there’s the problem of getting the body where you need it to be and then getting yourself there as well. For international flights, that could even be a worse scenario. I do wonder about what people should do who have breathing issues to protect themselves before getting on an airplane. Maybe they should bring their own oxygen. [via AP]

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Got a travel horror story? Which airline? What happened? Let us know.

This time, a passenger struck a flight attendant

by Iva Skoch on

Just last week, we wrote about a pilot whose mental breakdown caused an emergency landing.

Now, AP reports that a flight from New York to Paris was diverted to Boston last night because a French passenger “struck a flight attendant.” Why? We don’t know. Nonetheless, the American Airlines flight landed safely after 8 p.m. Wednesday night at Logan Airport. The “attacker” was taken into custody.

Is it the cabin pressure that makes people go crazy?

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A commercial airplane with a king size bed? I wonder how much that costs…

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American Airlines announces in-flight wi-fi costs

by Justin Glow on

Our sister site Engadget is reporting that, when American Airlines debuts in-flight Wi-Fi, it will cost $10 for three hours or less, or $12.95 for longer flights. “Rollout,” they say, “will begin this summer on AA’s 767-200 jets before rolling out across its entire fleet.”

So what do you think?

Personally, I don’t think it’s too bad, as long as the connection is reliable. What I’d be worried about it is a slow, overcrowded link, where I’m paying $10 to browse the Internet at dial-up-or-less speeds. But if it’s fast, I can’t think of a better way to spend my time on a boring flight — and $10 really isn’t bad. I would have figured that the price would have been higher for a service specifically geared towards business travelers.

Speaking of business travelers, it would make sense if they offered some sort of monthly plan, where frequent fliers pay $100 a month to get them unlimited access on all of their flights. I don’t fly enough to take advantage of something like that, but if I did, I’d pay it.

Holiday Travel Hell Part 3: If you book with Payless Car Rental, make sure your flight is on time

by Catherine Bodry on

As I’ve written over the past few days, my and my sister Ali’s trip to Tampa started about fairly rocky. There was the disinterested and blatantly untruthful American Airlines customer service agent, and then the lost car rental reservation with Expedia and Payless Car Rental (we still don’t know who to blame, but Exepedia eventually worked it out for us).

But while I sat around the Payless Car Rental office, watching a TV blaring Fox News and learning new swear words from Ali, I witnessed half a dozen clients come to Payless to pick up a car, only to learn that their reservation had been cancelled because the customer was late. Payless employees maintained that reservations are only held for four hours after the original booking time. No cars were left once the reservation was cancelled, so travelers had to take the shuttle back to the airport and start over with a different agency. This was December 28th, right in the middle of the holiday season, and I couldn’t help but feel sorry for travelers that were late for their reservation through no fault of their own — flights were delayed and connections missed, as I knew well. One couple was late because their luggage was lost, and they had even called Payless to let them know they’d be late.

On the other side, I witnessed Payless employees take abuse after abuse, when I’m certain many of the situations weren’t directly their fault. To their credit, they handled each outraged customer well, moving on to deal with the next one after the previous stormed out. That’s got to be a job that requires a strong cocktail at the end of the shift just to get your blood pressure down near normal.

So what’s going on here? It’s hard to say — Payless cars seemed to be the cheapest, and judging by my experience there, it’s a bit of a fly-by-night operation. I doubt the employees were getting paid enough to handle the kind of abuse they received — but it also seems completely ridiculous to cancel a reservation if a customer is late. I can’t imagine how many reservations were lost in 2007 when flights were delayed.

Is it possible that Payless profits from canceled reservations? That’s definitely worth looking into.

Has anyone out there had this kind of experience with Payless Car Rental? We’d love to hear about your experience.

Holiday Travel Hell Part 2: If you need anything from Expedia, scream at them for an hour

by Catherine Bodry on

After Ali and I finally made it to Tampa, a good 18 hours later than we should have, we took a shuttle to Payless Car Rental to pick up a car Ali had booked through Expedia. The night before, when we knew we were stuck in Dallas for the night, she immediately called Expedia to let them know we wouldn’t be able to pick the car up until the next day. The Expedia representative put her on hold for several minutes, then returned and told her he had spoken to Payless and that the company would hold the car for us. We just had to show up between noon and 4:00 p.m.

When we arrived at Payless, there was no record of the reservation change, and the Payless rep told us he had no car for us. After a bit of a go-round, the rep explained that when Expedia supposedly called the night before, the Payless offices were closed — so no reservations could’ve been changed. Ali called the customer service number listed for Expedia on her reservation, where an Expedia rep told us that there was nothing the company could do for us. She maintained that Expedia had called Payless, and even had a contact name. It didn’t matter — Payless didn’t have any record of it, thus they didn’t have a car. It was the height of the holiday season, and finding a replacement car, let alone a cheap one, seemed unlikely.

After about 20 minutes of going back and forth between Expedia and Payless, trying to make one company take responsibility, Ali got angry. I watched her from inside the car rental office as she screamed out in the parking lot, her face red, hands flailing, and occasionally her high-pitched voice carrying through the glass. The Expedia rep continued to tell Ali there was nothing she could do.

“Oh, yes there is,” Ali replied. “You can find me a car right now, and honor your rate.” “I have no way to do that,” the rep maintained. “Yes, you do,” Ali said. “Here’s how: pick up your cellphone, start calling rental companies, and find me a car within an hour. I’ve got nowhere to go since I don’t have a car. Put me on hold — I’ll just wait right here.”

After an hour of this back-and-forthing, the rep did just that. She transferred Ali to someone else, who in turn found us a car at Enterprise. I don’t believe she used any Expedia magic, and I think had we called Enterprise, we might’ve been able to find the same deal. But as it was, we were able to get a Volkswagon Jetta for $50 less than our original quote at Payless.

Lesson learned? Get a confirmation number when a reservation has been changed. We thought we had covered our bases by calling to change our reservation (the number for Payless Car Rental was not listed on Ali’s confirmation email, only Expedia’s), but we needed to ask for more information. I can tell you that Ali will not be booking through Expedia ever again, although I’ve got faith that patience and a bad temper just might get you what you need.

What do you think? Were we right to demand that Expedia honor our reservation and price? Or should we have taken it up with Payless (who had no cars left)? I think we were correct to call Expedia on it, and I’m proud of my sister for doing what I don’t always have the guts to do: get mad.

Want to read more of my holiday horror stories? Check out Holiday Travel Hell Part 1: American Airlines really doesn’t care and Holiday Travel hell Part 3: If you book with Payless Car Rental, make sure your flight is on time. Got any holiday horror stories of your own? Be sure and leave a comment!