Canadian musician Dave Carroll released the final part of his United Breaks Guitars Trilogy this evening, with a live webcast. United Breaks Guitars was an Internet phenomenon, showing that someone, after making a legitimate effort to settle his problems with a company, can call them out in a public forum.
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This week in Routes...Southwest to start Philly-Boston, United adds service in 13 markets, and more.
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Last week, the Airline Industry Examiner asked the question Whatever Happened to United's Friendly Skies? We wonder about that too, although not always specifically in relation to United. For years, United Airlines was the free world's largest airline. Now they are third.
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This week's latest in route developments.
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The singer, who is Canadian, was flying to Colorado Springs, was forced to fly United again because they were the only carrier he could. For more than an hour on Sunday, he was told he could not leave the international baggage claim area at Denver International Airport, where he had flown from Saskatchewan, because...
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The Premier Baggage program unveiled by United Air Lines yesterday is something of a mixed bag. For $249 a year, you (plus up to eight people traveling with you on the same reservation) get to check up to two bags per person, per flight for free all year.
United charges...
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Airline Route Updates has a comprehensive list of the new JetBlue-Lufthansa codeshare, found here. The flight numbers will be between LH8500 and 8700 and cover both Boston and New York-JFK routes. Booking are already open for service on or after November 1st.
Also effective today, South African Airlines will interline...
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United Airlines will retire the last Boeing 737 jet from its fleet on October 28th, after forty-one years of service.
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We haven't done a service roundup in a while. Mostly because there hasn't been as much news in this area as there once was. Airlines don't announce discontinuance as much as they do inauguration. But this week had some interesting developments.
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Dave Carroll is back with his promised second United Song, included the promised tuba. It is a much slower tempo than United Song #1, but the video goes a bit farther, and incorporates many more volunteers.
The song incorporates some of the same amusing elements. In lieu of three guys in sombreros, this time we...
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The Chicago Tribune announced that United Airlines may be announcing today a move of 2,800 employees and its operations center to the Sears(now Willis) Tower in downtown Chicago from its home in the suburb of Elk Grove. The city would be giving the airline millions in incentives and paying for the move...
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We previously reported that Republic Airways had put down a bid to buy out Frontier Airlines. Today, another airline put down a bid, Southwest Airlines. Southwest announced it was preparing a bid to compete with the Republic bid, which had been given tentative approval.
If it is successful, Southwest plans...
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Earlier, NYCAviation, who earlier in the week reminded us of other anniversaries, reminded us that on July 19th, 1989, United Flight 232 made a crash landing in Sioux City, Iowa, after a loss of all hydraulic controls.
296 Passengers were on board the flight from Denver to Chicago when one of the plane’s...
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In a final note on the impact of United Song #1, which we previously reported on, United Airlines has decided to donate $3000 to the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz for music education for children.
Taylor, the manufacturer of the guitar, did give Dave Carroll, the artist responsible a gift. They are giving him a...
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Artist Dave Carroll(appears above) thanked the Internet community for its support of United Song #1(remember there are two more).
United has offered compensation to Carroll, but he has declined, asking them to donate the money to a charity of their choice, and share that news with the public. We hope they take him up on...
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Yesterday, we reported on one musician’s unique way of dealing with poor customer service. The L.A. Times travel blog reports there has been a quick response to his song.
United Airlines has made contact with the musician, Dave Carroll. We’re not surprised, with a video that has had over 100,000 views and prompted...
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We love any excuse for a musical interlude, or a classic Youtube video. In this latest one, musician Dave Carroll comes up with a creative way to protest United’s refusal to take responsibility for the guitar they broke.
Carroll spent nine months trying to get United to do so. They admitted they had broken it,...
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Earlier, we were commenting on the lack of pride in customer service as a part of business, specifically referencing United Airlines, among others, and discovered this, a 1989 United commercial on the very same subject. It so perfectly illustrated some of our thoughts. We wonder if someone at United should see it?
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New service is proudly announced, but cancellations are usually not. One day, we discover that a flight we recall is no longer on the books. Of late, many flights are being cancelled, airlines are slashing capacity.
Air Canada launched its Portland, Oregon to Calgary, Alberta service yesterday. The service, operated by 50-seater CRJs, operates once...
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For those of you following us, we’ve been away for a bit, and posting a bit less frequently, and we’re starting to catch up on our backlog of issues we wanted to discuss. In that vein, this is a roundup of all the route and related news we haven’t...
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United Airlines, as you may have heard, has instituted a policy for oversized passengers. To quote United, courtesy of the Middle Seat Terminal:
For the comfort and well-being of all our guests, today United has matched eight other U.S. airlines and adopted a new seating policy that requires customers to purchase...
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Mr. T, we’re sure, would say, “I pity the fool airline who mistreats their passengers.” Once again, here are some recent tales we’ve noticed of travel experiences.
When a man tried to check in for his flight on Spirit, he was told the flight was oversold. When he tried to fly the next day, Spirit...
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B.net has an interesting report on Delta taking over a Northwest route from Los Angeles to Las Vegas, reducing the plane operated from 148 to 76 seats and breaking the flight’s connection to Tokyo service, the original reason for putting the flight on in the first place. The new Delta Connection service connects with...
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United Airlines is dropping a call center that took compliments or complaints after a flight, instructing passengers to send a letter or email instead. It will stop publishing its customer relations number. It will be training its call centers in Chicago and Honolulu to respond to written customer comments,...
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Ray LaHood is now the US Secretary of Transportation. Mr. Hood is opposed to the slot auctions at New York airports, dedicated to a new generation of air traffic control equipment, and we’ll see how he is for the country’s transportation network.
3M has issued a press release that it...
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