Flight Wisdom

Today is the fifth anniversary of 2003 Blackout, the worst in U.S. history.

JetBlue will be adding daily nonstop service from Washington-Dulles to Tampa on December 18th and Saturday service to Cancun on December 20th.
JetBlue will be launching twice daily service using its 100-seat Embraer 190s on October 18th between Long Beach and San Francisco. A [...]

Reuters reports that American Airlines has accelerated its 737 delivery schedule, accepting six additional 737-800s in 2010, allowing more rapid replacement of its fuel-inefficient MD-80 fleet. The new schedule means American will get 76 of the new aircraft, 36 next year and 40 in 2010.
We applaud them for putting money into renewing their fleet, and [...]

The Bargainist reports that when two or more travellers book a trip, you can save up to 20%.

Coupon code JETTWO10 cuts 10% off each way for 2 travelers
Code JET15THREE cuts 15% off each way for 3 travelers
Code JET20FOUR cuts 20% off each way with 4 travelers.

Book now for travel between September 3rd and October 31st [...]

Reuters reports that JetBlue is looking for 1000 of its frequent fliers to show up at JFK on August 23rd for a trial test of its new terminal, set to open next month.
The volunteers would be expected to check bags given them by the airline, go thorugh security, and wait at the assigned gate for [...]

Time to catch up with what Delta has been up to since we slowed our weekly roundups.

Delta is adding a fifth daily flight between Atlanta and San Juan from November 22
Starting December 20th, Delta will add additional nonstop service from Atlanta to the Caribbean. A second daily flight to Aruba, a second Saturday flight to [...]

Delta is teaming up with Air Cell, one of the companies working to put Internet back on planes post Boeing Connexxion.
The system, Gogo™, will enable Delta customers traveling with Wi-Fi enabled devices, such as laptops, smartphones and PDAs, to access the Internet, corporate VPNs, corporate and personal e-mail accounts, as well as SMS texting and [...]

It’s been a while since we’ve updated you on new routes. Life gets in the way. We’re trying to get back into the swing of things. Bear in mind, we don’t exactly do this for the money. The advertisements only pay for the web hosting.
JetBlue is one of our favorite airlines. Despite their meltdown a [...]

Delta Airlines today increased the fee to check a second piece of luggage from $25 to $50. These changes apply to all tickets booked on or after July 31st for travel on or after August 5th.
Delta currently does not charge for the first bag, but let’s see how quickly those carriers who do match this [...]

Over a week ago, Chris Elliott pointed out a recent fee applied by ultra-low-class Spirit Airlines. Spirit had hidden a $10 Convenience Fee in their Contract of Carriage for booking anywhere but at a counter.
Now, booking online is certainly convenient, but this fee seemed somewhat dishonest. Spirit’s site is, to quote Elliott, “awash in new [...]

With the announcement that Northwest would be charging for the first checked bag for all flights purchased on or after July 10th for travel on or after August 28th, it brings the total to four legacy carriers who charge for anything you put under the plane. The others are American, United, and US Airways(but they [...]

ExpressJet announced last week that it would suspend flying of several at-risk operations. ExpressJet and Delta have agreed to terminate their agreement for ExpressJet operations under the Delta Connection banner on September 1st. ExpressJet will cease its branded commercial operation under its own banner on September 2nd. The 39 aircraft currently used for these flights [...]

The US Airline Industry, specifically 12 airlines including AirTran, Alaska, American, Continental, Delta, Hawaiian, JetBlue, Midwest, Northwest, Southwest, United, and US Airways, has called upon the public to help them lobby Congress about oil speculation.
The letter blames skyrocketing fuel for the thousands of lost jobs and severe reductions in air service. They attribute the rise [...]

Midwest Airlines…the Cookie, which successfully fended off a takeover bid last year, is racing to avoid bankruptcy in the high-cost fuel environment that has hurt so many carriers.
It will ground 12 of its 37 jets, retiring its MD-80 aircraft, which will produce a reduction in overall flights. They are asking frontline employees to take pay [...]

Dansdeals.com has a great guide to the current standby policies of major carriers effective June 30th. Here is our summary version of it, or you can click the link. The Standby to which we are referring to is when one has a confirmed ticket and wishes to stand by for an earlier flight.
A few years [...]

Buxr.com reports that from now through June 26th, for travel between September 3 and October 31st, you can use the promo code OCTJET2 to save 10% on your travel on JetBlue.
Click here to book.

United Airlines matched American Airlines’ $15 fee to check a single bag today. US Airways announced the same on all reservations booked on or after July 9th.
US Airways will be charging $2 per nonalcoholic drink beginning August 1st. They’ve already rid themselves of free snacks in economy as of June 1st.
In addition, US Airways will [...]

LiveTV, the JetBlue subsidiary that handles the in-flight entertainment for the airline and several other airlines is buying Airfone, Verizon’s now-defunct air telephone division.
Elsewhere, Jaunted reports that its BetaBlue test internet platform is expanding its offering to allow passengers to check their Gmail, AOL, Hotmail, Windows Live, or Microsoft Exchange mail, as well as allowing [...]

A New York couple has filed a lawsuit against American Airlines for putting their son at risk. . Their four-year old son has a severe nut allergy, which they claim they made clear to American when making their reservation and then told by a gate agent that there would be no nuts served on the [...]

The New York Post reports that a Manhattan lawyer is suing Delta Air Lines for one million dollars. He claims that their “absolute incompetence” ruined his elderly mother’s eightieth birthday celebration.
Richard Roth says that he’d arranged for his entire family, including several cousins, to meet in Argentina. Roth started planning the trip in September of [...]

Delta and Northwest have put up a website, announced a merger, , and are scheduled to webcast their official press conference on Tuesday morning. Such a move can trigger a wave of additional consolidation within the industry, as airlines line up to compete with a new mega-carrier.
The consolidation of services, like with USAirways, once the [...]

Today in the Sky reports that Skybus founder John Weikle is working on a plan to revive the carrier. While we commend the saving of 450 jobs lost when bankruptcy was declared, one should not compound a mistake with more mistakes.

Airline passengers think that their ticket gives them the right to have themselves and their luggage transported to their destination. They are wrong on both counts. Most recently, the legacy carriers have now imposed a twenty-five dollar charge for the checking of a second bag.
Chris Elliott, in his blog, commented that United’s chief revenue officer [...]

We were never more disappointed as we were when we heard Skybus was starting flights. Our post on the subject was entitled, It’s the End of the World as We Know It. Why was this?
Skybus’s philosophy was not one we appreciated. Ten dollar fares sound good, but what was the real cost and quality of [...]

American Airlines cancelled 200 flights today, 10% of its flights, in order to allow for the inspection of its MD80 fleet for potential wiring issues. The planes constitute 300 of American’s 655 aircraft. The planes were previously inspected as per an FAA security directive, but a recent audit raised questions that led [...]

We’ve been very behind lately. We keep saying we’ll catch up, but life happens. We are committed to providing the best in airline news and commentary we possibly can, but we do have day jobs, of course.

Delta received preliminary approval to fly from New York’s JFK Airport to Bogota, Columbia.
Spirit Airlines announced starting May 8th, [...]