General

Category Archives for General.

Perennial Basket Case Alitalia is on Brink of Collapse

alitalia plane
Apr 25 2017

They’ve been a basket case for years, with powerful unions and a long history of political meddling. Every so often they get a bailout from one place or another. Air France put money in though it was obvious to nearly everyone they’d lose their shirt. They walked away, though leaving the airline even worse of with a joint venture that benefits Delta and Air France more than Alitalia.

Next in line with deep pockets was Etihad, who learned a lesson not to trust promises made by the Italian government and which ultimately pushed out its own CEO in part based on bad investments in foreign airlines. New uniforms, service training for flight attendants, and new business class seats were not going to turn around the airline.

Continue Reading »

Who’s Watching the Watchers? Official Overseeing Chicago Airport Security & Investigating Has… Issues

Apr 24 2017

The Chicago official who oversees O’Hare airport security and “is a point person” investigating the United Airlines incident where a passenger was dragged off a plane by Aviation Police officers called to the scene by the airline, was hired for the role after being terminated by the Illinois Tollway for allegedly seeking “sex and money in exchange for work-related favors” according to the Chicago Tribune.

Continue Reading »

US Government Working on Facial Recognition For Boarding International Flights — Or Enter Airline Lounge

Apr 24 2017

The administration’s executive order on travel included a lesser-noticed provision fast-tracking border exit controls in addition to the greater attention given to restrictions on who could enter the country.

Once the government has facial recognition database in place, the government’s project head says “it may be used for far more than simply verifying departures” and that it could be used by TSA (for domestic airport security as well) and even shared with airlines “to use facial matching for access to their lounge.”

Continue Reading »