Passenger Jets Now Fueled by Food Scraps and Vegetable Oil
Posted on 11/01/2017, 7:00 AM
At the end of 1985's Back to the Future, Doc Brown opens his Delorean and dumps table scraps and beer into a "Mr. Fusion" tank to generate the power to whisk Marty McFly into the year 2015. Now it's 2017, and although personal fusion-powered travel is still in the distant future, the ability to fly passenger planes using food waste is here. In September, JetBlue announced a plan to purchase more ...
One More Airline Adopts Basic Economy Pricing
Posted on 10/31/2017, 9:45 PM
Monkey see, monkey do. The biggest airlines have now instituted new, bare-bones "basic economy" fares that strip passengers of the automatic right to checked bags or seat assignments unless they pay extra charges. Now Sun Country Airlines, a long-running Minneapolis-based airline that covers the United States, Mexico, and the Caribbean, has jumped on board. Its pricing structure is even more com...
More Complex Screening Begins for U.S. Passengers
Posted on 10/25/2017, 12:00 AM
You might remember that last spring, several international airlines, mostly from predominantly Muslim countries, were banned from allowing laptops in passenger cabins. That, and the uneven application of the policy across airlines, caused a diplomatic furor, and some carriers even curtailed service to the United States. In response, the U.S. government reversed the requirement but dictated new secu...
One Key to a Successful European Vacation Is Planning Several Months Ahead
Posted on 10/10/2017, 12:15 AM
When is it best to begin planning your trip to Europe? Though some of the experts disagree, the majority of them say just after the start of the new year, when airline tickets tend to be priced at their lowest level. The optimum advance period is 120 days (four months), which means that a smart traveler purchases those tickets in January or February for a vacation in May or June. What about a t...
Date Set for Last Virgin America Flights
Posted on 10/09/2017, 7:15 PM
Your last chance to fly with Virgin America is April 24, 2018. The award-winning and much-loved carrier was acquired by Alaska Airlines for $2.6 billion in late 2016. Alaska later announced that it would axe the Virgin America brand, albeit while adopting many of its most popular features, including distinctive mood lighting (pictured above), above-average meal options, and excellent in-flight e...
Icelandair Joins the Basic Economy Crowd
Posted on 10/04/2017, 12:00 AM
Icelandair has joined the major U.S. airlines in rolling out a new stripped-down fare. "Economy Light," Icelandair's version of Basic Economy, comes with zero checked baggage provisions. Passengers with Economy Light tickets may bring a single carry-on bag weighing no more than 22 pounds (10kg). Fees for changing a reservation are a steep $275, as opposed to Economy's $200. The rules of Economy ...
The Shortest Flight in the U.S.
Posted on 09/29/2017, 12:30 AM
United Airlines has begun operating the shortest commercial flight in the United States. Zipping between San Francisco and Santa Rosa in California's Sonoma County wine region three times a week, the route covers about 60 miles and stays in the air for just 16 minutes. (Factor in taxiing and such and the one-way trip takes a still-speedy 45 minutes.) In addition to putting themselves through t...
Texting Is Now Free on Delta: Here's How It Works
Posted on 09/27/2017, 12:00 AM
Delta Air Lines has announced that starting this weekend, passengers on 90% of its flights will be able to use the carrier's in-flight Wi-Fi network to text with people on the ground for free. The service will be text-only—no videos or photos. To use it, passengers must access the signal using the Gogo app, which you can get at airborne.gogoinflight.com. Texting will then only be permitted via Wha...
U.S. Airlines Are Making a Fortune from Checked Bag Fees
Posted on 09/21/2017, 8:30 PM
Two recent government reports have underscored the huge revenue-generating power of checked bag fees at the airport. First, a Government Accountability Office (GAO) study found that while unbundling airfares from services such as checking bags and priority boarding has indeed resulted in lower base fares, the new fees often more than make up the difference that customers think they're saving. ...
United Airlines Called Out for Hurricane Irma Price Gouging
Posted on 09/06/2017, 9:00 PM
Hurricane Irma is the most severe hurricane ever measured in the Atlantic Ocean, and millions of people are being told to get out of its way. Amid the pre-storm scramble on Wednesday, Dan Rather's News and Guts Facebook page posted a serious allegation for United Airlines (any errors were in the original post): "We are genuinely curious if anyone in South Florida or Miami has tried to book a flig...
Non-Flyers Now Allowed Into Secured Areas at Pittsburgh Airport
Posted on 09/06/2017, 8:30 PM
We've got good news for airport shoppers, chaperones, and prolonged goodbye-sayers. For the first time since 9/11, an American airport is allowing people without tickets into secured areas. The facility in question is Pittsburgh International Airport, where officials have worked with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) over the last two years to develop a program called MyPITpass, ...
Boston's Logan Airport Might Charge You to Drop Off and Pick Up Passengers
Posted on 08/31/2017, 9:45 PM
A new fee could soon be put in place at Boston Logan International Airport—and drivers are not going to like it. The airport has launched a study to look into charging people for bringing their private cars to the terminals in order to drop off or pick up passengers. These are ordinary drivers we're talking about, mind you—not those offering Uber or taxi services. The potential measure is onl...
Four New Cities Get $99 Flights to Iceland
Posted on 08/30/2017, 12:00 AM
WOW Air, which has been earning its name with an aggressive expansion plan and tickets as low as $99 with advance purchase, is adding nonstop flights to Iceland from four Midwestern American cities that, until now, have not enjoyed them. This spring, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Detroit, and St. Louis get their own routes to Reykjavik. Once there, WOW also connects to Northern Europe. WOW already flies...
Airline Releases White Noise Album of Jet-Engine Sounds to Hum You to Sleep
Posted on 08/24/2017, 12:00 AM
Do you sleep well on a plane? How? The seats are so cramped, and the temperature is never right, and you can't recline more than a couple centimeters, and the lack of neck support means that you either get a cramp from going chin to chest or your head continually does that thing where it nods and then involuntarily snaps up, waking you with a start. About the only thing snooze-inducing about th...
The Case of the Missing Gift Certificate: Flying in the Age of Monopolies
Posted on 08/15/2017, 1:15 AM
An airplane aisle separated the haves from the have nots. I’m not writing about the aisle separating business class and economy. No, in this case, the left-side of the plane, on a six hour flight from San Francisco to New York City, was in a 21st century crisis: our seatback monitors were on the fritz. The right hand side passengers were lulled into a stupor by visions of Americans who supposedly h...
Dramatic Drop in Airline Bumping Following United Incident
Posted on 08/10/2017, 12:00 AM
U.S. airlines have dramatically reduced the number of passengers bumped from flights, according to the Department of Transportation. In the agency's latest report card on airline performance, figures show that just one out of every 19,000 customers was not allowed on a plane due to overbooking in the first half of 2017. That's the least amount of bumping since the government began tracking it in ...
Primera to Become Latest Low-Cost Transatlantic Airline
Posted on 08/09/2017, 12:00 AM
Yet another low-cost European airline has announced plans to enter the increasingly crowded transatlantic market. Danish carrier Primera Air will begin offering daily flights between Newark and the U.K.'s London Stansted Airport on April 19 of next year. Daily service from Newark to Paris and Birmingham, England will be added on May 18. By the end of June 2018, the company will also be flying bet...
