Tell Your AA Story Whilst cruising the Flickr this a.m., I came across this photo of a billboard touting a Web site where dissatisfied American Airlines customers can “Tell Your AA Story.” Fitting, of course, to see this today, as the Fort Worth-based carrier canceled approximately 1,000-plus flights today, following…
Over at the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure’s Web site, you’ll find the best nine-hour film this side of, um, Shoah? (Sorry, first one that came to mind.) It’s the entirety of yesterday’s hearing — Critical Lapses in FAA Safety Oversight of Airlines: Abuses of Regulatory “Partnership Programs” –…
The Chicago Tribune today provides a handy recap thus far of today’s testimony in front of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, provided by Federal Aviation Administration officials who blew the whistle on the FAA’s lax safety measures. Chief among the highlights from the hearing — billed as Critical Lapses…
On Sunday, some folks flying into Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport from Europe will be doused with, ah, “Showers of Affection” courtesy the airport’s fire department. Well, technically, only the plane’s will get doused as they taxi to the gate; passengers are free to get wet however they see fit after…
ABC News ABC’s Nightline was all set to do a puff piece on Southwest Airlines — “the all-too-rare story of a U.S. airline that has been so successful, so profitable, so relentlessly cheery that practically no one who works at the airline ever quits.” Only, that was before word broke…
To the man or woman who affixed this famous sticker to a DFW fire extinguisher, I salute you. The Geneva, Switzerland-based Airports Council International — which bills itself as “the only global trade representative of the world’s airport[s]” — today released its list of customer-friendliest airports in the world. Topping…
Flyers Rights Maybe you recall the name Kate Hanni — she was among those stuck on the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport tarmac for some 13 hours in December 2006 after her Oakland-to-Dallas American Airlines flight was diverted due to weather. Hanni and at least one other woman have sued the Fort…
Southwest CEO Gary Kelly, in a photo that ran on Southwest’s blog around Halloween Kind of a good news-bad news Wednesday for Southwest Airlines. On the one hand, in today’s New York Times there’s a really flattering piece about Southwest’s chief executive, Gary Kelly — who, says the paper, “transformed…
Yesterday, American Airlines announced that at long last it would begin testing high-speed Internet service on its Boeing 767-200 aircraft; the Fort Worth-based carrier will begin the trial run this summer, give or take, courtesy three lightweight antennae installed on the outside of the aircraft. Not to be outdone, today…
The Washington, D.C.-based Human Rights Campaign Foundation — which bills itself as “the nation’s largest gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization” — has released its list of the Best Places to Work 2008, and four local companies made the cut: American Airlines, GameStop, Brinker International and J.C. Penney…
More good news for American Airlines, which is starting the year with two false-imprisonment lawsuits hanging over its head. Today, the U.S. Department of Transportation released its Air Travel Consumer Report for November, and of the 20 major carriers in the United States, Fort Worth-based American ranked 19th in on-time…
As it turns out, two women filed suit against American Airlines over lengthy stays on the tarmac in Austin in December ’06. Monday we mentioned Catherine Ray of Arkansas, whose lawsuit alleges she was a victim of “false imprisonment” when her Oakland-to-Dallas flight was stuck on the tarmac in at…
Well, this would have gotten her to Dallas faster than a real American Airlines plane. Catherine Ray says American Airlines held her prisoner. No shit — “false imprisonment” is among the myriad charges the Arkansas woman makes in a lawsuit filed last week, in which she wants AA to pay…
Southwest Airlines is trying to lure folks who think the airline’s boarding and seating-selection process is tantamount to “chaos,” in the word of one business traveler quoted this morning in USA Today. The Dallas-based carrier is also looking to make, oh, an extra billion in annual revenue by 2009. Hence,…
The Associated Press conducted a poll earlier this week to find out folks’ “least-liked federal agencies,” and near the very tippy-top of the list was … the Transportation Security Administration. Turns out, air travelers aren’t terribly delighted with the job airport screeners are doing — and it goes much further…
Cantina Laredo in Terminal D at DFW — not bad at all, certainly better than the Reata Grill outpost The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, originally known as the Village People, today released its annual Airport Food Review — and, like me, it found the Cousin’s Bar-B-Q in Terminal B…
From an October 2007 Today show story — ironic, right? Question for Tim Wagner, The Voice of American Airlines and Friend of Unfair Park: Is it customary for American to return lost luggage to its rightful owner at 3 in the morning? Just wondering, because it happened to Don Teague,…
Save for this tiny story on KXAS-Channel 5’s Web site, there’s been no mention, far as I can find, of Southwest Airlines Flight 438’s engine troubles, which occurred on November 17. The flight, which originated from Love Field, was bound for Little Rock, but turned around 30 minutes after takeoff…
Bizarre as this sounds, I’ve spent the better part of the afternoon calling Southwest Airlines with the express intention of being put on hold. Normally, I despise having to wait on the phone and being held captive by Muzak and that creepy electronic voice that sweetly says, “We’ll be right…
Wait. I think that headline’s supposed to read, “Southwest Jerks Passenger Off Plane Again.” Anyway. But, really, Southwest Airlines. What in the hell is wrong with you people? –Robert Wilonsky…
So, Fort Worth-based American Airlines doesn’t want your cash money any more — plastic, please, and only plastic. At least, that’s the new policy on flights departing from San Francisco, and it’s only for the next three weeks, according to this media release, which says the carrier will only take…
Too bad Senator Larry Craig didn’t go trolling for tail at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, rather than in a Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport bathroom stall. Because here, Craig would have had far less of a chance of getting into trouble, according to this morning’s New York Times: At Dallas/Fort Worth…
