Monthly Archives

Apr 10 2017

The story of how a passenger got dragged off a United Express flight just keeps getting crazier and crazier.

United CEO Oscar Munoz sent a letter to United employees beginning with the most important question of why the passenger defied the police rather than why the police bloodied the passenger. What ‘compounded’ the situation was the passengers refusal of the airline’s ‘polite’ request to deplane, making it ‘necessary’ to contact the police officer who appears to have beaten the passenger.

Continue Reading »

Apr 10 2017

Delta cancelled several thousand flights between Wednesday and Sunday. They cancelled flights at a rate 3 to 7 times as high as other airlines across those days, and fewer than a third of their flights operated on time Thursday and Friday.

Atlanta got a storm to start things off, and even flights out of other hubs were affected because of aircraft cycling through Atlanta. New York and Detroit saw a storm on Thursday. But the airline didn’t come close to recovering on Friday or even through the weekend.

Continue Reading »

Apr 10 2017

By now we all know the story of the doctor dragged off a United Express flight by police after he wouldn’t give up his seat when the airline asked.

I hadn’t seen this video of what the man looked like when he returned to the plane. He mumbles, ” “just kill me, just kill me.”

Continue Reading »

Apr 10 2017

When a crisis event happens, don’t run from it run towards it so critics have nowhere to go.

Munoz shouldn’t say the customer was inconvenienced, he should say it was a terrible, horrible experience. He shouldn’t say it’s upsetting, he’s angry and he’s going to get to the bottom of it. Be active. Show actual concern, don’t be mealy mouthed.

Continue Reading »

Apr 10 2017

While there wasn’t an oversale in this situation, most airlines in North America will sell more seats than they can carry passengers. They use historical information to determine how many passengers are likely not to show up for a flight. They want each seat to go out with a passenger in it.

Continue Reading »

Apr 10 2017

I wrote earlier about a doctor who was dragged off a United Express flight (operated by Republic Airlines) last night when the airline needed to transport crew instead of four passengers. He needed to get to work at a hospital the next day. United, though, needed crew in place in Louisville.

United didn’t just decide crew were more important than passengers, they needed those crewmembers in place in order to work a flight in the morning.

Continue Reading »

Apr 10 2017

Last month I flew Etihad Dallas – Abu Dhabi in first class using American AAdvantage miles. The flight has been pretty easy to book using miles, much easier than New York JFK – Abu Dhabi on their Airbus A380, and living in Austin it’s much easier to connect to.

Continue Reading »

Apr 10 2017

Reader @JayseDavid was on board United flight UA3411 from Chicago to Louisville, a United Express regional jet operated by Republic Airlines.

The flight was overbooked and United was looking for 4 volunteers to give up their seat, reportedly “for personnel that needed to be at work the next day.” There weren’t any volunteers, so United moved on to bump passengers involuntarily.

Continue Reading »

Apr 09 2017

There’s an 844 mile flight between Conakry, Guinea and Ouagadougou, Burkina Fasao. It’s operated twice a week with a Boeing 737 by Turkish Airlines.

It’s a short hop, but Friday’s early morning flight was just long enough for a baby to be born onboard.

Continue Reading »

Apr 09 2017

A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.

Continue Reading »