All Posts Tagged With: "airline"
Mom and her 2 kids were kicked off a plane in Phoenix, AZ.
Jennifer McClelland | RSS | Sat, Nov 14 2009 | 3 CommentsA woman in Arizona was kicked off an Allegiant Air flight from Mesa, AZ to Billings, MT after her 2 year old started to cry and then her 4 year old would not say in his seat.
The airline did not refund her money.
Check out the video posted above.
Here is my opinion of the situation after reading through hundreds of comments about this article at the Consumerist.
The biggest complaint in the comments section seems to be regarding the fact that parents should control their children. The argument back and forth is that children get rowdy and restless from time to time as opposed to children should know how to behave in public or be able to be calmed down regardless of the situation. The way I feel about it is I know that kids get fidgety, however if you are on a flight, then he or she has got to stay in their seat. There wasn’t a lot of information as to how the kids were acting exactly, but if there is a 4 year old running up and down the already crowded aisle, then it is a matter of safety (for the child).
So, Do I think the kids should be kicked off the plane? I think that it would have been nice for the news story to have a bit more about the way the kids were acting. If the news station reporting could have gotten some of the other passengers to say either “the kids were misbehaving for a long time” or “I didn’t even notice that there were misbehaving children on the plane” then I could make my decision one way or another.
In this situation, people will argue. I will say that I have been on a few flights where there were children that behaved so well, then there was one where the kid screamed in the back of the plane for an hour. I suppose, screaming children bother me, personally, the worst when I see the parent do nothing about it.
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Tags: decision one, allegiant air, consumerist
American Airlines could be facing some heafty fines for sub-par repairs
Jennifer McClelland | RSS | Tue, Oct 20 2009 | 0 Comments
What’s the one thing that no one wants to think about when they’re boarding an airplane? Well, it’s probably something along the lines of “gee, I hope this airplane is safe.” Well, if you’ve flown on some American Airlines flights, then the truth is that flight may not have been as safe as you would have hoped.
Currently the FAA is digging in to see who is responsible for structural problems with rear bulkheads in some of the airline’s fleet of MD 80 jets. A pilot that was flying one of the jets complained about the poor condition of the jet he was flying and the jet in question ended up being ferried from Dallas to Tulsa for maintenance.
Through preliminary testing, the FAA found up to 16 of the MD 80 jets were being operated for MONTHS with the sub-par repairs.
So, eventually the FAA has to find someone responsible for the shoddy repairs right? It looks like throughout the investigation the FAA will begin taking punitive action against not only supervisors that signed off for the work for the mechanics, but actual individual mechanics themselves.
Thankfully nothing bad happened and the pilot noticed the plane’s issues before something bad could happen to someone or a full flight of people.
For a lot of people, flying isn’t an everyday thing and it is pretty intimidating. I like to fly sometimes just because it is something new and different and I really hate awfully long car rides. However, I get nervous when a flight takes off or lands. I even get nervous when the plane hits a pocket of air and the engines cut back.
Flying shouldn’t be that scary, but when you hear stories like this sometimes you have to wonder if you’re really that safe.
Related posts:The airlines have decided to gouge you during the holidays this year.
Tags: bulkheads, everyday thing, airline
The airlines have decided to gouge you during the holidays this year.
Jennifer McClelland | RSS | Tue, Sep 29 2009 | 2 Comments
It looks like the airlines are at it again. They are really wanting to get any money that they can from you, the flyer, whenever and however they can. They pull dirty, sneaky tricks and expect consumers to just fall for them or accept them as the way it is. However, it kind of is “just the way it is” because I think in the United States, we have become accustomed to being kicked around by the airline industry.
So, what have the airlines done this time? Well, they have decided, all within hours of each other, to start charging an extra $10 per ticket if you decide you want to fly during the busiest travel days of the year.
The $10 charge that the airlines are imposing will be in the form of a “miscellaneous surcharge” that will be added to all the tickets that are for the days of November 29th, January 2nd, and January 3rd. The four airlines that have all decided to go this route are American Airlines, Delta, Northwest, and U.S. Airways.
Of course U.S. Airways has decided to take part in a new kind of charge. This is the same company that keeps increasing its baggage fees and even charges you an extra $5 if you want to check-in your baggage at the desk in the airport. That is outrageous in my honest opinion. When I was in Maryland for my cousin’s wedding in July, I asked my uncle if I could use his computer to print out my check-in information and when I told him that it would cost me an extra $5 if I waited until I got to the airport he looked at me and said, “Wow…that’s outrageous.”
So, when you go shopping for those plane tickets for this holiday season, remember that not only will you be paying extra for checked baggage, but now you also have to consider this new fee. That means when you’re looking at Orbitz or wherever you go to buy your tickets, the price that you’re seeing is not the price that you will pay. In some instances, your ticket will cost $30 or more than what the internet says. At least that is my understand of how this fee will work.
My guess is that the airlines don’t want to give you an upfront quote due to the fact that the lower price they actually see on the website will draw some customers in who are simply looking for the cheapest fare.
No related posts.
Tags: airline industry, busiest travel days of the year, american airlines
British Airways Expects Employees to Work for Free
Michael Bowler | RSS | Wed, Jun 17 2009 | 2 Comments
Yesterday, United Kingdom airline British Airways, who has seen the largest one-year loss since being privatized in 1987, asked employees to save the company money by working for free. Naturally, a struggling company would try to save money wherever possible, but that might be a little extreme. It is a bit difficult to tell employees that you are expecting them to work for free.
Willie Walsh, chief of British Airways, said he will not draw a salary for the month of July, demonstrating that no employee is exempt to the expectation and that it really is that important to the company. He urged other employees to work for blocks of time entirely unpaid. In a company publication, Walsh commented, “I am looking for every single part of the company to take part in some way in this cash-effective way of helping the company’s survival plan. It really counts.”
BA said it was a request that meant employees would basically volunteer to take a cut in base pay, allowing the lost income to be spread out over the course of several months. The company said last month there was a chance it would ask employees to consider working unpaid hours or shifts.
The UNITE union, which represents airline employees, including thousands of British Airways ground and cabin crew, did not respond well to this idea. UNITE said that while British Airways chief Walsh might be able to afford working a month for free, the employees could not. After all, most employees nearly live paycheck to paycheck.
British Airways said last month that it had lost 375 million pounds ($595 million) in their fiscal year which ended March 31. Compare this with a profit of 712 million pounds in the previous fiscal year and you understand their concern. They are trying to curb their worst totals in more than twenty years of public business. The previous low point was a loss of 200 million pounds in the 2001-2002 year.
Related posts:When did British Airways Become A Discount Airline?
British Airways wants more customers so they’re dropping their fares
Tags: United Kingdom, Willie Walsh, UNITE
Boeing fails to bring in any orders at the Paris Air Show
Jennifer McClelland | RSS | Tue, Jun 16 2009 | 0 Comments
With the Air France disaster still very fresh in everyone’s minds, especially those in Paris (where many of the victims were from), the Paris Air Show wasn’t the same spectacle it usually is. With it being the 100th anniversary of the show, it seems that the disaster of Air France Flight 447 is still weighing heavily on airlines.
At the opening day of the Air Show, Boeing didn’t get one single order and its main competitor Airbus was only able to get just one sell from Qatar Airways for 27 jets.
The purchase from Airbus for the 24 A320 single aisle airplanes is worth $1.9 billion, well that’s the list price anyway. Usually airlines, especially given the global economic condition, are able to haggle down the price to a much more reasonable level.
The big winner of the day ended up being Canada’s Bombardier aircraft. The Canadian plane maker announced that it had 35 offers for its CRJ100 jets offered by Air Nostrum, the deal is worth $1.75 billion. Bombardier are typically smaller planes and don’t travel the vast distances that Airbus and Boeing jets do.
Boeing has been having a hard time peddling their wares considering the lack of commercial flying and even weakening military sales. If you look at commercial flight inside the confidential United States, the majority of flights are on smaller regional jets like the Bombardiers now. When I booked a flight from Memphis to Washington D.C., I was only able to fly on smaller regional jets versus just a couple years ago when the same flight could have been booked on a Boeing 727 or Airbus.
Boeing did try to liven up the mood regarding its sales however:
“At this point it appears to us that the economic conditions have bottomed. If they have bottomed and a recovery comes next year, I think we have a shot at getting through,” said Scott Carson, president and CEO of Boeing’s commercial division.
Hopefully things will get better for the Chicago based company, or perhaps it is time for them to start producing the smaller jets that seem to be selling better.
Related posts:American Airlines could be facing some heafty fines for sub-par repairs
Tags: airline, paris air show, boeing jets
