Cracker Rage Costs United Airlines $550,000

(6/25/2015) Last week, United Airlines Flight 971 flying from Rome to Chicago made an emergency landing in Belfast. Around 270 passengers are forced to sleep in the airport terminal because Belfast has not enough hotel to handle so many passengers. This type of air traffic disruption became more common recently and most of them are caused by unruled behavior of passengers. This episode was the same. However, after investigation, we found that the cause was because a male passenger demanding extra crackers several times and become a safety concern. The cost of this landing is estimated to be around $550,000.

Airlines try to save time with speedier boarding process

(6/2/2015) If you fly with several different airlines, you will notice the processed that airlines use are very different. Southwest does not assign seats and board passengers by A/B/C groups that passengers compete (with extra payments) on their seats. Other airlines that assign seats normally have different boarding groups, among them some board passengers in the front first, some board passengers in the back first. You may wonder what is the operational logic behind their processes. Now, Southwest and Delta are trying new approaches to improve their boarding process. If you are their frequent flyer, check if their new process makes a difference.

Future Transportation in the US Is Not Pretty

(2/5/2015) The Department of Transportation in the US released US's future traffic report and it does not look good at all. Here is a quick summary from Popular Science. Think your commute is bad now? It can be worse.

BTW, US DOT warns about Climate Change's impact on transportation.

US DOT on flight delay and in-flight phone call

(9/29/2014) On cntraveler.com, there is a report about the most recent DOT's perspective about flight delay, in-flight phone call and airline mergers.

Here is a page summarizing the passenger's Air Travel right. While FAA is standing up to protect passenger's right due to past serious delays. Airlines cancel flights when the delay may be caused by weather or other uncontrollable factor in order to avoid huge penalty (examples of American Airlines). In the last two years, there are way more flights canceled than before, which causes more travelers missed their flights, canceled their business trips and vacations, and found it more difficult to reach their destinations.

Frontier Pilot Orders Pizza for Passengers Stuck on Plane

(9/29/2014) When you are stuck in the airplane due to air control or whatever reason, you are hungry and thirsty. Imagine warmhearted pilots brings you some nice pizza? This is what happened to 160 Frontier Airlines passengers.

Costly Winter for US Airlines

(3/3/2013) It has been a very costly winter for U.S. Airlines. Snow storms pounded onto the U.S. midwest and east one after another and the cost to the airlines can be as high as $6 billion. Passengers are frustrated too. Not only the flights can be canceled, it take a longer time to rebook an alternative flights since the airlines have been cutting flights in increase its load factor. When my flight back to Taiwan early January was canceled due to a snowstorm, my travel was delayed for two full days.

Runway Competition: Someone's Give Becomes Someone's Take

(12/6/2013) The landing and taking off time slots in busy airports are very precious. For the American Airlines and US Airways merger to be approved, they have to give up some spots to Southwest and Virgin. Well, I think it is good for travelers in New York, right?

Southwest And Airtran's Painful Merge

(11/20/2013) If you were an Airtran's loyal customer, you probably are not happy with its new boss: Southwest Airlines. Since its merger from 2011, these two companies' merger has been painful and frustrating many customers (probably more on Airtran's customers since Southwest will change Airtran's operations into Southwest's style). Wall Street Journal had a good article showing the complexity of process integration between Southwest and Airtran. Overall, the merger and system integration was not as bad as United and Continental if you judge from media exposure. As a Southwest happy customer, I hope one day I can have an easy flight to Cancun or Aruba via Southwest.

Budget Airlines and Pickpocketing Gangs

(10/11/2013) We know budget airlines are very popular in Europe. You can fly between German and England with 10 euros. The tickets are so cheap, the members of pickpocketing gangs just fly out of Romania, do their works, then fly home with their loots. They don't stay in one city and they can do a lot of sight seeing and traveling. What a great life, right?
I think these thieves probably have cumulated quite a lot of mileages on the budget airlines. Do they redeem their mileages?

Smaller Seats and Overbooking Piss Air Passengers

(4/8/2013) Smaller seats and overbooking are major complaint of air passengers in 2012 and it's getting worse. I noticed that overbooking is more common than before. Do you feel the same?

First Airline Charging Passengers by Weight.

(4/2/2013) We know heavier passengers will consume more fuel on the plane (well, same as on any vehicle). Now Samoa Air will charge the passengers by their weight (of course, including your baggages). Will this pricing scheme come to the US? Imagine this: passengers carry all their stuffs and weigh on the scale, and other people are in a line. You will hear someone scream "What????.." Isn't it funny? Pricing by weight is reasonable. If it becomes real, we will probably be more careful in stuffing our luggages.

A la Carte Pricing Might Be More Normal in The Future

(12/12/2012) Buying airline tickets now need to pay attention to a lot of add-on fees: bag fee, early boarding fee, aisle-seat fee, etc. I think a la carte pricing might be more normal in the future. We used to buy flight tickets only by its class. Want more room and better service? pay more money for a higher class seat. A la carte pricing came to existence in recent years as airlines struggled to make profit. They started to 'invent' these add-on fees. It is a disaster to consumers. As consumers will not know what is the final price (s)he may end up paying, there is plenty of room that airlines can confuse consumers to pay more than they originally wish. The Department of Transportation wants to solve this issue which the airlines and third-party sites are battling, but it seems the problem is more complicated. Recently, Southwest Airlines will charge $40 for those B/C group passenger to get an A class boarding pass.

A la carte pricing is nothing new (relatively new in the airline tickets). Our cellphone bills, home phone bills, cable bills, ... are obvious examples. Do you really understand all items and the compositions of your bills? Most consumers don't understand at all. In business, we call it "revenue management." Through proper arrangement of the service packages, consumers often need to select several service items to fulfill its needs. Each item may not cost much, but combining them together may turn into a stunning sum when the consumer receives the bill. In economics theory, it is based on "price discrimination" or "price differentiation." Through proper pricing scheme, the supplier can maximize its profit and consumers with various needs can find the right 'product/service' that fulfill their needs.

On 9/11/2013, NBC News says that the airlines collected $27B in various fees in 2012. It is obvious that these fees keep many airlines afloat. Without those fees, many airlines will have been in deep financial troubles. Note that the passengers are not forced to pay those fee.

World Longest Flight Will Be Canceled.

(10/25/2012) Want to have a non-stop flight from Singapore to New York? This flight won't last much longer. This world longest non-stop flight is currently offered by Singapore Airlines, and the distance is 9500 miles with 18 hours of flight time. Interestingly, another long flight from Singapore to Los Angeles will also be canceled. The flight between Singapore and Los Angeles is only around 8000 miles, but the flight time is 18.5 hours. How come? It is because the great circle distance between New York to Singapore is shorter than the great circle distance between Singapore and Los Angeles.

Southwest Airlines Shutdown Auto Check-in Website

(10/25/2012) If you fly Southwest, then you want to get your boarding pass in A group. Southwest Airlines' passengers now can pay $10 early-check-in to get an earlier boarding number. If you are Southwest.com, you won't be happy that your revenue is encroached by this backdoor. However, I have to say this student is very brilliant, his talent won't be ignored too long.