What is the difference between customs and immigration is a great question. It is also one that a reader asked Steven Frischling over on his blog Flying With Fish.
“While many nations have merged Immigrations and Customs into one larger agency, such as US Department of Homeland Security and Canada’s Border Services Agency, their roles are quite different at the airport.
In short, here are the roles of the Customs and Immigrations” ’¦ CHECK OUT HIS BLOG TO READ MORE
Houston Airport's Food Court
Sometimes bad things happens and there is no one to blame. Some how William Ogletree, a lawyer from Texas, didn’t get that memo. Ogletree was flying from Houston to Las Vegas back last December and went to the food court in Terminal C for some food. When leaving, he accidentally left his $800 black leather jacket, which unsurprisingly, someone ended up stealing.
Yea, that sucks, but it is a fact of life. I have lost a few coats in similar fashions (not $800 ones thanks goodness), but I didn’t blame anyone but myself. Ogletree on the other hand is threatening to sue the City of Houston, Continental Airlines and the food court’s management for failing to have “collected the coat, kept it in a secure place and held it for a reasonable time” until he was able to claim the jacket. The bitter passenger claims the defendants, “breached their duty” in connection with how they “manage lost and found items for which they are responsible.”
The letter written to the defendants, obtained by The Smoking Gun, shows Oggletree gave them ten whole days to pay him the $800 or they would also be burdened with, “court costs, attorney’s fees, investigation, expert witnesses and other damages.”
I am sorry you lost your coat Mr. Ogletree, but seriously get over it. It is not the city, the food court or Continental Airlines’s fault (I don’t even get how could come close to blame Continental — for not asking every passenger if they remembered their coats?). There are only two people to blame. Oggletree and whomever stole the jacket.
No official word if Ogletree ever got his money or his jacket.
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Source: JetBlue’s B6 Blog Image: jgdillard
Croatia Airlines Airbus A320 (9A-CTF)
Can anyone take a guess where Croatia Airlines might be based? If you guessed Croatia, give yourself a pat on the back. The airline is based at Zagreb Airport and is a part of the Star Alliance.
They have a fleet mostly Airbus A320/A319, but also four Bombardier Dash 8 Q400’s. They fly to just under 30 destinations and have been in operation since 1989.
The airline started running cargo for UPS using Cessna 402 aircraft. At the time the airline was called Zagreb Airlines. After the first democratic elections were held in Croatia, the name was changed to Croatia Airlines in 1990. In 1991, Coatia Airlines leased a MD-82 and started passenger service.
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Image: johannes papeIn the late 1940’s passenger airline transport was booming and there were a lot of new jobs to go with it. This classic video shows some of the jobs and requirements (“stewardesses” had to be single for one) of the time. Most of this film was shot at Chicago’s Midway Airport. Be sure to check out all the old planes in the video.
Often an airline will purchase or lease an aircraft from another airline and keep the majority of the previous livery until it is re-painted or the lease is over. The result is a mixture of two airline liveries and are treasures of airline nerds. Southwest Airlines recently took a look back at some of interim liveries of the past. I thought it would be interesting to see who can match the livery with the previous airline the aircraft was with.
Without cheating, how many liveries can you match with the previous airline? It is ok to guess and be wrong (I guess one wrong myself — oops)
PLANE #1: This Boeing 737-200 photo was taken in 1991
PLANE #2: This Boeing 737-200 was first leased in 1983, then purchased by Southwest in 1984
PLANE #3 This Boeing 737-200 was leased by Southwest for about a year in 1987-88
Plane #4: This Boeing 737-200 is unique not having the white "Southwest" on the tail due to the tail being white
Plane #5: This Boeing 737-300 is pretty tricky (and the one I missed)
I will give you the weekend to guess in the comments and on Monday I will reveal the answers. Prizes? I will give you a shout out and you will have the satisfaction of being a true airline livery nerd!
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Images from Southwest Airlines