The hunt for the missing dog in Dulles continues

by Grant Martin on

For those of you following the story of the the solider’s dog that was lost by United Airlines earlier this week, you can now get updates on the unfolding events on the website helpfindjeddah.com or via a Twitter feed that they set up.

Apparently, enough people had caught wind of the story via the web such that there’s a serious movement towards finding the animal — well over five hundred people are now following the feed, garnering enough attention to get the Washington Post to run an article this morning.

In it, we learn some new facts about the debacle, including the interesting note that the owners only fed the dog people food and are concerned about her ability to fend for her self on her own.

Judging from some of the intense comments we got on our earlier story, there seem to be two schools of thought on the attention and resources that this search is getting: either you think we should shut down DC tomorrow and form a human chain across the the metropolitan area or you think we should sack up and let things sort themselves out — haven’t you ever seen that movie Homeward Bound?

I personally am a bit divided. I do hope that we find the dog quickly and think that all of the effort that people have put into finding her is quite touching. At some point, however, we’ll probably need to stop consuming resources and leave the rest up to fate.

United Airlines: Ticks on a plane!

by Jeffrey White on

Here’s a plane delay story that I am not sure is covered under any contract of carriage.

The Denver Post is reporting that a United Airlines flight yesterday from Denver International to Des Moines was delayed more than five hours after three ticks were found in the cabin.

Let me repeat that: Three ticks. Or rather, three ticks.

Apparently passengers found the little buggers and brought them to the attention of flight crew members, who promptly evacuated the plane, had the cabin cleaned and replaced all the seat cushions on board. The airline even decided to load the passengers onto another plane for the trip to Des Moines.

That’s when another delay took place…this time due to weather. Passengers were supposed to be on their way around 12:20 p.m., pre tick discovery; they did get airborne until a little before 6 p.m.

No word yet whether the movie version of this little debacle will star Samuel L. Jackson.

Continental Airlines to join Star Alliance

by Grant Martin on

Continental just issued a press release saying that they’re entering a cooperative agreement with United Airlines, saying the two airlines will “cooperate extensively, linking their networks and services worldwide to the benefit of customers, and creating revenue opportunities and cost savings and other efficiencies.” This means that Continental will also join United in the Star Alliance.

For those of you who follow airline alliances, this means that CO will be dropping Skyteam, whose partners include Delta, KLM and Northwest, and picking up partners such as Lufthansa and US Airways.

Basically, Continental Onepass members won’t be able to accrue or spend miles on Skyteam anymore (similarly, partner airlines can’t spend miles on CO), but they can on Star.

It does not, however, mean that the airlines are merging — only that they’ll be collaborating on many routes, codeshares and other logistics.

In the current airline industry, this change was almost inevitable. Carriers are looking at ways to collaborate on operations and cut costs, just like Northwest and Delta announced earlier this year. With the two airlines’ combined routes and networks, a stronger entity will now exist that can better compete with the soon to be uber Delta Airlines.

No word yet on when exactly the alliance changes will take place and a schedule for the official divorce from Skyteam airlines. But if you were thinking about booking a ticket with your Skyteam miles on CO, now might be a good time to do it.

United to offer free Ipod to inflight entertainment functionality

by Grant Martin on

I’ve seen more than a few people flying around staring at their tiny Ipod screens, chortling along to Family Guy or The Sopranos and always wondered if it was worth it. It seems like such a small screen would be difficult to pay attention too.

Lo, this week, United Airlines announced a solution. They’ll be offering free connections between their Inflight Entertainment (IFE) system and your Apple gadget of choice so that you can stream your favorite video into your seatback LCD. So rather than watching Lethal Weapon 3 (again) on your transatlantic flight you can actually pump the entire season of The Big Bang Theory through your chair.

Naturally, the feature will be only available for First and Business class passengers — you’ll still be stuck in coach paying 19$ for a stale croissant and 6 ounces of tomato juice. It’s also running only on select transatlantic flights, for now.

Does anyone else see the potential abuse for this system? I’m sure airline passengers have all of the sense and grace in the world, but it only takes one joker with a raunchy hot sex video jamming on his screen to make the entire F cabin suddenly very very uncomfortable.

And is it really worth it? What does it take to pump through your video?

  • An Ipod
  • That plays video
  • Aptitude to load and watch video
  • Preference to watch your video vs. the IFE

My feeling that the intersection of all of those sets is in the 20 – 30 year old male demographic, which, incidentally is not the same demographic in which first class passengers lie.

Hey, we’ll see what happens though. Maybe passengers will like it so much that they roll out the service to coach. I’m still not buying an Ipod.

United to become second airline to charge for FIRST checked bag

by Grant Martin on

Chicago based United Airlines became the second main carrier to charge for checking one article of luggage this morning, following American Airlines announcement last month.

Fees for the first bag will now be 15$, the second will be 25$ and fees for additional and oversized bags will significantly increase.

The new policy goes into effect June 12 and doesn’t apply to First, Business or elite members.

Expect more changes like this to come for the other legacy carriers, including Delta, Northwest and Continental. It’s only a matter of time before they get in line.

Angry at United for making changes to the luggage policy? Tune into Conde Nast, who recently decided that United was the worst airline ever.