Scorpions on a Plane!!

by Iva Skoch on

A man flying on United between Chicago and Burlington, Vermont, was stung twice by a scorpion that made it onto his plane.

TSA agents were able to wrestle the interloper to the deck and rescue the hapless passengers. They frisked the scorpion, wanded him, paraded him through a metal detector, then released him and wished him a pleasant connecting flight.

Shockingly, it’s not the first time. On Sunday, an American Airlines plane from Miami to Toronto was delayed at its destination because a scorpion got on board lacking a passport, and presumably riding without paying full fare.

United Loves You

by Erik Olsen on

And here I
thought United Airlines was all about firing people and streamlining the whole flying
experience to save money. Turns out I was wrong. United Airlines,
according to the Washington Post’s Keith L. Alexander, has partnered with
the customer service consulting firm Valtera to add some smiley-faced pizzazz to it’s business.

The
firm has helped lots of other big-name companies like Starbucks, Ritz Carlton and Nordstom to help employees improve
their customer service efforts. Somehow, I am imagining a big group of United flight attendants standing in a line
repeating "buh-bye" as they smile and wave. But I’m sure it’s more than that.

The effort seems to
come…at least in part…from a survey of how the airlines treat customers and manage their on-time arrivals. In the
survey, United Airlines ranked fifth overall, making it the best-ranked traditional carrier, but behind JetBlue, which
did very well in the survey.