We can’t all fly with small children or require special assistance at the gate, but for the last few years, thanks to Neville Aga and his website CheckinSooner.com, we’ve been able to bounce to the general boarding zone of our dreams — for the low, low annual price of $79…
I mentioned this in passing Sunday: The Arizona Daily Star discovered, or so it thought, that Southwest Airlines’s attorneys snuck into its contract of carriage a new definition of “act of God” should you find yourself delayed: “mechanical difficulties.” To which the Love Field-based airline responded that those two words…
Some random notes while I attempt to get myself out of a murky land deal:Dallas Theater Center’s revisal of It’s a Bird … It’s a Plane … It’s Superman closes today, following the 2 p.m. matinee. Which prompts this New York Post piece that wonders: “It’s a big hit in…
Yesterday Luke Metzger at Environment Texas passed along the group’s latest look at the good things DART’s doing for the air. The most interesting nugget’s right there in the lead: the group calculated that DART’s annual ridership accounts for 8.8 million gallons of gasoline saved — as much as 15,000…
A little light lunchtime reading …To begin with, the U.S. Census Bureau released its population estimates today, and, as usual, Texas — and the DFWA (as in, Arlington) — fared bestest in all the land. “Star of the Sun Belt,” says here. And that means you, Frisco and McKinney and…
A few weeks ago, you no doubt recall, The New York Times wondered whether American Airlines was becoming “a waning star of air travel.” To which many Friends responded, as they often do when the subject of the Fort Worth-based carrier comes up: Why, yes, yes it is. Among the…
This morning’s New York Times wonders: How much longer can Fort Worth-based American Airlines limp along without merging with another airline, a la Delta-Northwest and, more recently, the proposed United-Continental union? AA, which held a “sparsely attended” shareholders meeting in New York yesterday, is in danger of becoming the nation’s…
That ad you see at right — that’s on Page 13A of this morning’s Morning News courtesy the Transport Workers Union of America, which wants you, dear reader, to text “EXCESS” to a number that will “register” you for upcoming protests. Like the one planned today at Terminal D of…
Say what you will about Kenneth Copeland, but the Wise County televangelist isn’t one to over-share. Copeland, with wife Gloria, was one of six televangelists hand-picked by Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley back in November 2007, over concerns Kenneth Copeland Ministries was enjoying the privileges of its tax-exempt status a little too much. In…
A Friend of Unfair Park directs our attention to this Adweek blog item from today about a pissing contest involving Love Field-based Southwest Airlines and AirTran Airways — though, from the looks of the Google Machine, this first became a thing at the end of last week. In short, Southwest…
Before I head out for the day, a little housekeeping …First off, if you live near Hillcrest and Alpha Roads, mazel tov! Not only do you live next to Temple Shalom and the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church, but according to this list, you also reside in Dallas’s safest neighborhood…
So, let’s see … Larry King now wants Kevin Smith to come on his show to talk about getting booted off a Southwest flight Saturday. Smith would rather go on Jon Stewart with a row of Southwest seats to prove, yeah, he can fit just fine, thanks. Meanwhile, the locally…
A Friend of Unfair Park intimately familiar with the doings at Southwest Airlines says, yeah, today was hell at the Love Field-based airline, but Monday’s sure to be worse as SWA attempts to overcome the PR nightmare caused when director Kevin Smith got kicked off an Oakland-to-Burbank flight yesterday. The…
If you loved American Airlines’ decision to charge for blankets and pillows, you’re bound to go nuts over today’s announcement: Starting with tickets bought on February 22, you won’t be able to fly stand-by on the Fort Worth-based carrier unless you’re willing to pony up $50 for a confirmed seat…
I went over to Southwest Airlines’ blog to read more about Friday’s Wi-Fi announcement — as in, it’ll be available on all planes by early 2012. Just don’t ask how much the service will cost: “We don’t have an answer to that quite yet.”But while there, I saw the airline’s…
Yesterday, American Airlines announced that it’s keeping up with the Deltas, Uniteds and Continentals by jacking up checked-bag fees another $5: from $20 to $25 for the first piece of luggage, from $30 to $35 for the second. To which The Consumerist responded late yesterday with this:If you want to…
If you’re traveling this holiday season, take note: USA Today has reviewed the food-inspection records for 10 airports — including, of course, Dallas-Fort Worth International — and dug up some unappetizing demerits. The story in this morning’s paper doesn’t detail the findings at DFW, but does point us in the…
Back to that story about John Reed, the first-class passenger on that Sacramento-to-Dallas American Airlines flight earlier this month who asked a flight attendant for a glass of orange juice and wound up with a federal warning for bad behavior instead. A Friend of Unfair Park sends along Reed’s appearance…
Too bad we still don’t do our Ask An American Airlines Spokesman bit. Could come in handy on a day like today, which we begin, thanks to one good Friend of Unfair Park, with Dallas consultant Dave Koss’s lengthy tale of an AA flight attendant’s bizarre response to a first-class…
Southwest Airlines had its Media Day today, so expect myriad deep-think pieces in coming hours about the Love Field-based carrier’s newfangled “Green Plane.” Um, which is …? Well, here’s the press release that inventories all the “environmentally friendly interior materials” being used, among them Flor carpet panels, a “Life Vest…
Speaking of Southwest Airlines …The Love Field-based carrier reported this morning a $16-million third-quarter loss, which, given the current state of the aviation industry, Southwest is treating like a big victory. Hence, CEO and president Gary Kelly sunny(ish) disposition on Fox Business this morning. And a Friend of Unfair Park…
Dallas-based Southwest Airlines releases its third-quarter financials tomorrow. Will the numbers go up? Dunno. Down? Could be. Hard to say. Kind of like whether Southwest is gaining passengers or losing money because it refuses to charge for luggage. BusinessWeek — which spoke with Kevin Krone, Southwest’s vice-president of marketing and…
