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…
NASA’s Earth Observatory “Similar in shape to the traditional metropolis made up of a central city core and its commuter-linked suburbs, the Aerotropolis consists of an airport city core and outlying corridors and clusters of aviation-linked businesses.” That’s University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill professor John D. Kasarda writing…
FareCompare, with its HQ at the intersection of Preston and Frankfurt roads, gets a profile in Condé Nast’s troubled Portfolio today, and the low-airfare-finding Web site is touted as oh-so-much more: FareCompare’s most recent incarnation has been its most unexpected. It’s not just offering a reliable way to save money…
This morning, American Airlines issued a press release announcing its partnership with Illinois-based AirCell, which promises broadband Interwebs access on commercial airline flights. Says AirCell on its Web site, the service would be available on “personal Wi-Fi devices including laptops, 802.11 a/b/g -equipped devices, and mobile handheld devices,” but not…
For frequent flyers who hate peanuts and don’t buy their toiletries in containers of four ounces or less, there’s hope yet: Later this month, a 13-foot-wide machine will be installed in Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport’s Terminal A, near Gate 29. It’s offered by a company called Shop24, and it will…
From Fort Worth’s Robert McKee (via Dallas Morning Views’ Rod Dreher) comes this seven-minute video — a short film, really, to which I give two thumbs up — documenting his seven-hour sit on the the JFK Airport tarmac two days back. Seems Delta just didn’t want to get McKee and…
Is it us, or does Russ Berger looks a little like The Ticket’s Norm Hitzges? Russ Berger owns a company in Addison well known for its “acoustical and architectural design for recording studios and broadcast facilities,” among them the tony joints belonging to NFL Films, Whitney Houston, Billy Graham, National…
Having just flown through Chicago O’Hare International earlier this week, where the security lines were a few thou deep and the food tasted like foot and the vibe was generally Third World, I could not agree more with Salon’s assessment today that the joint’s among of the world’s worst airports…
