We get our entry in the now-regular Ask American Airlines Spokesbot Tim Wagner series early this week, as news arrives this morning of AA’s fare increase on all domestic flights. Due to rising fuel costs, Tim tells the Associated Press, the Fort Worth-based carrier is hiking its U.S. ticket prices…
A TSA researcher volunteered to show what the body scanners will do. They’re very slimming. So, yeah, don’t be surprised when, later this month, you’re traveling through Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, and you’ve gotta first walk through one of those “security devices that reveal intimate body parts.” For the past…
After the jump, the Southwest Airlines ad that appeared in today’s Wall Street Journal. Which brings me to this week’s installment of Ask American Airline Spokesman Tim Wagner: Is that ad brilliant or what? –Robert Wilonsky…
Southwest Airlines is launching these three ads — courtesy Dallas-based ad agency Dieste, Harmel and Partners — on Univision, Telemundo and other Spanish-language networks beginning today. It’s part of “a new ad campaign for the Hispanic Market titled ‘Relax!'” notes the media release this a.m. And no matter the language,…
Saw this morning where an American Airlines flight, from Dallas/Fort Worth International on its way to Fort Myers, Florida, made an emergency landing last night back at DFW “after a window pane broke and was ingested into one of the plane’s engines.” Which sounds bad. Of course, the windows are…
As many Friends know, Tim Wagner is the spokesman for American Airlines. He’s also a frequent contributor to Unfair Park’s comments — especially, oh, when it comes to items concerning American Airlines, which are more and more frequent during these troubled times in the airline industry. To that end, Tim’s…
American Airlines’ decision to charge $15 per checked bag gets a rave review this morning from Claes G. Fornell, a professor of business administration at the University of Michigan: “Seems really, dare I say it, stupid.” Also noted in there: American does not plan to offer refunds if suitcases do…
You know who hates these brilliant ads? The Parents Television Council, duh. Also can’t stand MILF Island, which isn’t even real. After the jump, the entirety of a media release we just received from the Parents Television Council, which showed up to the American Airlines shareholders meeting in Fort Worth…
Look at it this way — at least Flight 48 to Paris wasn’t late. It’s the little things that matter. Editor’s note: Edmund Newton, managing editor of our sister paper in Fort Lauderdale, sends along the following tale: Here’s the question: Is it safe to fly during times when commercial…
No doubt you heard yesterday that Fort Worth-based American Airlines will, beginning May 12, charge $25 for a second checked bag — if, course, yer flying coach. The reason’s obvious: rising fuel costs and the need to cover the tab, one piece of luggage at a time. Well, today Fortune…
Busy day at City Hall: Aside from the animal-ownership restrictions under consideration today during the Quality of Life and Government Services Committee’s powwow, the Transportation and Environment Committee will take up the discussion of modernizing Love Field Airport, per the Wright Amendment Reform Act of 2006. The city’s among the…
Courtesy the Associated Press today, another reason why you picked the wrong day to stop sniffing glue: The Federal Aviation Administration is trying for a second time in three years to stop its managers in Texas from covering up air safety violations. FAA chief operating officer Hank Krakowski said Thursday…
Intriguing item just posted to The Wall Street Journal’s Deal Journal blog. Something to do with the headline: “American Airlines: Preparing For a Sale?” It’s a short item, but a complicated one involving AMR, American’s parent company, and the pending sale of its asset-management business, which is owned by Dallas-based…
Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport All the seats in Terminal C at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport were empty late Thursday afternoon. At each gate, 20 to 30 people, most loaded down with duffel bags or with small suitcases at their feet, stood bewildered in queue. I was scurrying to gate C20…
The New York Times this morning recounts the tale of seven Navy recruits stranded at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, courtesy American Airlines’ copious cancellations this week. Among their lot: 25-year-old Karin Peyregne, a mother of two from Mobile trying to get to the Great Lakes Naval Station in Illinois, who…
At this point, we’re sticking with Braniff. In the comments section of an earlier item today, our good (and beleaguered) Friend Tim Wagner — ya know, The Voice of American Airlines — offers further details regarding the airline’s compensation package for those left stranded by the airline’s copious cancellations this…
Some 150,000 folks were put out yesterday when American Airlines canceled more than 1,000 flights — “or more than 45 percent of its daily schedule,” says the Reuters video below. And there’s plenty more where those came from. But, back to the video for a moment: Really, do you wanna…
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…
