A 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.

The people who fly with British Airways will have to do something that people who fly on other airlines will NOT have to do: Pay for a particular seat on the plane. If they want to sit somewhere in particular they will have to pay some kind of fee according to the airline. The extra charges will only affect those who want to sit next to the window or the aisle (SO I suppose, if you want to be stuck in the middle of two people you don’t know, you should be alright?).

The change will take place starting on October 7th. The lowest fee that will be assessed will be 10 pounds for those who are booking their seats on an economy flight throughout Europe. The most expensive seats will cost the customer sixty pounds for long trips in the business class. Those who are expecting a seat somewhere near the emergency exit will have to pay an extra fifty pounds a flight.

British Airways says this measure will give customers more control over their seating. British Airways currently allows customers to select their seat for free 24 hours prior to their flight. If customers want to book ahead of time, they can do it before 10 and 4 days before take-off.

“Customers frequently request specific seats, but in the past we’ve only been able to confirm them 24 hours in advance or on the day. We know people want to secure them in advance and have real control over their flying experience. This will allow them to do that,” said a BA spokesman.

With this new fee and probably others that will follow, BA tries recover after £401m loss last year. Earlier this year, BA decided to no longer offer free meals on short flights and cut luggage allowances.

It is really annoying when any company decides to take advantage of a customer when there is some kind of demand for a product. In this case, the airlines are trying to squeeze money out of the consumer because they are paying rock bottom prices for airline tickets. It’s a funny thing though because these customers are still waiting in airports for delayed flights and sitting on tarmacs waiting for their planes to take off. I should know, I spent over an hour on a tarmac in North Carolina waiting in the past few months. I hate flying on airplanes.
Source

Southwest, for example, is offering $39 one way tickets between its airport in Houston to other Southwest airports nearby.

It’s reported that some are even finding great deals to other parts of the world:

Qantas Airways is offering one-way fares between Australia and California for $299, and New York for $399. United Airlines is selling a new Moscow route for as low as $119 one way, before taxes and fees. American has fares from Chicago to Dublin for $147

I haven’t been able to find deals like these for a trip after graduation from Memphis, but I suppose knowing that the airlines are offering them is better than not knowing even where to begin.

Source

This year, many airports (including Chicago O’Hare) were plagued with awful weather and caused many families to miss Christmas with loved ones. The roads weren’t much better, with icy conditions on the 23rd as far south as Memphis.

There are a few tips for getting through the airport a bit faster like not carrying on wrapped gifts (they will most likely be unwrapped) and snow globes are not allowed, but there really isn’t much any one can do in anticipation for poor weather other than to check the weather often.

I hope everyone got to their destinations and made it home this year!!

The FAA is launching an investigation into why the glitch occurred, but couldn’t find the culprit as of today.

So after paying ridiculous prices for tickets, fliers have to be forced to be stuck in an airport waiting for the FAA to fix a problem that should have never happened in the first place. Back up systems should be held to the same standards that main systems endure on a day to day basis. What if one airplane had to go out of service due to a malfunction, then the back up plane looked like something that wouldn’t roll down the runway, let alone fly? Standards should be upheld for all systems.

The union that represents the workers requested a 9.8% pay increase earlier this year, when Lufthansa offered 6.8% and a one time bonus, the union declined.

The German government is trying to get both sides to reach an agreement quickly to minimize damages caused by the strike. Ver.di spokesman Harald Reutter said that the strike would cost the airline nearly $7.8 per day.

It really seems like a strike is the only way to get things done anymore. Too bad people can’t come to an agreement without it escalating to such a drastic measure. People don’t get paid when they’re on strike.