Tagged: william-mcgee

Your Personal Airline Data Is Secretly Being Sold to U.S. Homeland Security

Perhaps it surprises nobody that in this age of meaningless digital privacy protections, the U.S. government has been secretly buying up data about airline passengers.But that's what…

Newark Airport is a Mess. Has it Become Less Safe to Fly in the U.S.?

Even people who live nowhere near New Jersey have been shaken by reports of chronic flight delays and cancellations at Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) due to ATC. There's…

America's Air Traffic Control Needs Fixing—Here's What to Do (and Not to Do)

About the author: William J. McGee is the Senior Fellow for Aviation & Travel at American Economic Liberties Project. An FAA-licensed aircraft dispatcher, he spent seven years in…

Why We Need Travel Advisors Now More Than Ever

It’s that time of year when you’re likely to be booking holiday travel, and undoubtedly you’ve logged onto travel sites to seek the best deals in flights, hotels, resorts, car rentals,…

How We Helped to End Family Seating Fees, the Worst Airline Junk Fee Ever

About ten years ago, airline greed reached a new low when every carrier in the nation refused to waive seating fees for families with young children to sit together inflight. I was at…

Airplanes Don’t Like Extreme Heat: Tips for Avoiding Flight Delays in Summer's Hot Weather

Flying in the summer always presents challenges. But flying this summer promises to be particularly challenging. Airlines are already dealing with tremendous stress, including pent-up…

How Consumers Can Game Our Over-Mergered Travel Industry to Their Advantage

Last month on Frommer’s, I detailed how the U.S. airline industry has never been more concentrated thanks to mergers and acquisitions, and I expressed hope that the U.S. Department of…

Yes, You Can Survive a Plane Crash: Tips from a Longtime Safety Expert

By now, we’ve all seen coverage of the horrific runway collision at Haneda Airport in Tokyo on January 2. Five crew members on one aircraft were killed, but despite the conflagration…