Category Archives for Airports.
Will anyone pay attention now that we know thousands of people are getting their own armed agents watching them on flights for no reason whatsoever, even if TSA now says they’ve stopped reporting back when we sleep and go to the bathroom?
Last year’s Air Canada Toronto – San Francisco flight AC759 that lined up to land on taxiway C could have been the worst aviation disaster in history.
Four planes were waiting on the taxiway to take off. Air Canada descended to as low as 59 feet — just three above the height of a United 787. Just after was a Philippine Airlines Airbus A340.
It seems the woman wasn’t as unable to communicate as her son reports. And she wasn’t actually left overnight at the airport. Nor was her family left unaware of her situation — indeed, they rebooked her travel.
We’re inclined to believe the worst stories of customer service about an airline though, because in large measure dealing with an airline is like dealing with the IRS, DMV, and TSA all wrapped into one.
Two years ago someone was pretending to be Melbourne, Australia air traffic control. A Virgin Australia flight from Gold Coast was instructed to land by this person — the plane came witin 275 feet of the runway before the real air traffic control waved them off. The Boeing 737 climbed to 3800 feet and made a go-round.
Frighteningly that seems not to have been a one-off. A man has been arrested for pulling that same stunt in Buenos Aires.
Air travel brings people together from all sorts of backgrounds and experiences. So there are bound to be cultural clashes. And we’re not just dealing with people, we are also dealing with pets. And we’re dealing with how those people deal with their pets.
Walking through Washington Dulles airport on Thursday a passenger in front of me had their dog on a leash….
Donald Trump used to own a whole airline. He purchased the Eastern Shuttle in 1989 and renamed it the Trump Shuttle. He lost $100 million on the deal, and also lost big in a takeover attempt of American Airlines the same year. The Trump Shuttle is now the American Airlines shuttle.
Trump does still own a Boeing 757 (as well as a Cessna). He acquired the jet in 2011.
A United Airlines pilot has been charged with indecent exposure for standing naked in front of his window at the Denver airport Westin during his run for President of the airline’s pilots union.
He admits he stood naked in front of his window but denies he did so waving at TSA and doing other stuff.
Passengers want to accompany friends and family to the gate. Airports want more people shopping and dining, they earn a percentage of the revenue at all the merchants at the airport. And by the way airlines usually share in this revenue, too.
The TSA wants to limit the number of people going through security. They also want to limit the bags they have to screen at the checkpoint.
As of today a second major US airport will allow passengers to clear security without a same day boarding pass.
iBorderCtrl is a new lie detector project being tested in European airports at immigration checkpoints in Hungary, Latvia and Greece. They all border countries outside the EU.
Passengers entering from outside the EU will be asked questions “by a virtual border guard avatar.” A computer will decide whether it thinks the passenger is lying, and if so the tone of voice of the electronic border official should get “more skeptical.”
I don’t know about you but on a flight less than four hours I may not use the lavatory, especially if I’m in a window seat. I’ll just make a stop in the restroom on the way out of the terminal.
That doesn’t always work if you’re flying into New York JFK, though. This morning in terminal 5 a water main break caused the airports to lose pressure and close down the bathrooms.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
