United Airlines to charge obese passengers for the extra space

by Scott Carmichael on

United Airlines just announced their plans to charge obese passengers for the extra seat they take up on their planes.

They are not the first airline to do this, and most likely won’t be the last. That said, their definition of obese means that readers with a bit of a beer belly won’t have to worry too much.

Only passengers who need more than one seat belt extender, or who can not sit in their seat with the arm rests down will have to pay.

That probably means less than half a percentage of their passengers. I’m a big guy myself, but I have no problem using the regular seatbelt, plus I can easily keep the armrests down without bothering the passenger next to me.

The extra charge will be for a second seat, and on aircraft without a spare seat, the “passenger of size” will have to wait for the next flight.

The new rules will be enforced by the gate agents, which is probably going to lead to nothing but trouble for the airline, and I suspect they will be in court with a large passenger defending this new rule pretty soon.

Their official policy can be found here.

United Airlines settles lawsuit over porn found in cockpit

by Jeffrey White on

United Airlines has settled a two-year-old lawsuit in which it faced sexual harassment charges from a former female pilot who alleged she repeatedly found pornography hidden in the cockpits of domestic airline flights.

The Seattle Times lays out the case, in which former Capt. Lisa Stout, a 737 pilot based in Seattle, says she found pornographic pictures of women on more than 20 flights over a two year period starting in 2004. Who was putting them there? Presumably her co-pilots.

These pictures were hidden, either taped under unused ashtrays or — and I just love this — under a safety device known as the “stick shaker.” Indeed.

Each time Stout would find one, she’d record a complaint in the flight log. She alleges that United didn’t do enough to get to the bottom of who was sneaking porn into the cockpits on its domestic route.

Finally it got so bad that Stout grounded herself, saying the ordeal gave her a medical condition that prevented her from flying.

The lawsuit got ugly: United claims that Stout is essentially faking her medical condition to receive long-term disability to support a fledgling career as a painter. What does she paint? You guest it: Nudes.

U.S. Airlines can’t come up with any new ways to charge their customers

by Scott Carmichael on

Some sad news from Reuters this afternoon (for the airlines at least).

U.S. based airlines may have finally run out of new fees for their passengers.

Indeed, after years of moving things that used to be free into a fee based category, there simply isn’t anything left they can charge us for.

Some airlines, have increased their revenue by over $2 Billion a year, just off things like meals, drinks and baggage charges.

These are all things that used to be included for free with your ticket, but now add as much as 25% to the price of your trip.

Of course, when an airline claims it has run out of ways to screw us, I suspect they are just getting warmed up for the really nasty charges they are preparing. There are plenty of ways they can still make a few bucks off us, until the point where your ticket is nothing more than a piece of paper that entitles you to getting to your destination “sooner or later”.

I’ve written about some of the insane ways airlines come up with “exciting” new products, and quite frankly, I don’t think their creativity will end until the last accountant has left the building.

(Via: RickSeaney.com)

U.S. Airlines hoping for a successful summer

by Scott Carmichael on

Let’s file this one under “boo hoo”.

U.S. Airlines are hoping that summer air travel will help dig them out of the slump they have been in for the past year(s). As business travel has plummeted, consumers trying to escape all the doom and gloom for a couple of weeks of R&R is pretty much all they have left to hope for.

So, if summer travel is this important for them, you’d assume they would take the time to load some juicy low airfare for us, wouldn’t you?

Sadly, they want to have their cake, and eat it, as airfare prices for the summer months are absolutely atrocious.

Some examples of the fares loaded at the moment:

United Airlines – Chicago to Las Vegas in June – $521
United Airlines – Chicago to Paris in July – $1054
American Airlines – New York to Paris in August – $939
American Airlines – Los Angeles to Hong Kong in August- $2054
Delta Airlines – Atlanta to Paris in September – $1023
Continental Airlines – Newark to Amsterdam in August – $948

None of those fares are exceptionally cheap, and in a time where the airlines claim to be hurting so badly, it isn’t exactly like they put effort into lowering prices to help passengers.

In fact, I’m guessing that the airlines just assume (and hope) that you and I will be so eager to travel, that we’ll pay anything.

These high prices will have a bad effect on summer travel – it will force passengers to sit and wait for fares to drop, making their vacation plans even more complicated. You’d think the smart airlines would want to offer something good now and lock passengers in as early as possible.

Of course, only finding bad fares may force people to completely abandon their plans and stick to a more budget friendly trip.

For tips on how to squeeze the most out of your trip, check out this handy guide by Tom, or go through the budget destination posts we’ve written for you.

United crew – it’s time to serve drinks to the idiots in coach

by Scott Carmichael on

There is not much I like about United Airlines, but their Channel 9 in-flight audio is one perk you won’t find on any other carrier. Channel 9 is the audio channel that lets you listen in on the cockpit communications with Air Traffic Control. I’ve always found it a great way to pass the time, and get a better idea what is going on when the plane is delayed.

A reader on The Consumerist apparently shares my love for Channel 9, but got a rude awakening when he noticed that the Channel 9 audio was relaying the flight attendant phone communications instead of the cockpit.

Unfortunately for the cabin crew, the things they were exchanging over the phone were really not intended for the passengers, especially when one of them told a colleague that they’d soon “start on drinks for the idiots in coach”.

Ouch.

I’ve always known coach class passengers were sometimes referred to as “roach class”, or “self loading freight”, but to actually refer to your paying customers as “idiots” seems rather harsh.

One of the passengers who heard the remarks let a crew member know they were able to hear what they were saying, at which point they stopped using the phones. Of course, no apology was issued, nor did anyone at United Airlines respond to the story.

(Via: The Consumerist)

Stories of booze gone bad in the skies