With so many fees coming from airlines, it is difficult for one to catch my eye anymore. I have come acustomed to them and realize they won’t be going anywhere anytime soon.
Now, American Airlines will start charging passengers to fly stand-by. Previously if a passenger got to the airport early and there was another flight leaving, they could catch the earlier flight for no additional charge.
That model makes sense. You already paid to fly on the exact route, there is an empty seat on the flight before yours, why shouldn’t you be able to cut down on your travel time a little bit?
Any ticket bought after February 21st, passengers will have to pay an additional $50 to fly stand-by. However, American Airlines states this is more than just making some extra money.
“You get one of those Friday afternoon scenarios when you have more than 100 people standing by for a flight out of a business market.It really does become chaotic getting everyone processed. You have to process each and every one of these people individually. Those who don’t make it, then you have to roll them over onto the next flight and start it all over again,” Tim Smith, American Spokesperson said.
Smith states that getting a lot of people on an earlier flight, can delay flights. He stated that “Premium” (Executive Platinum, Platinum and Gold members of the AAdvantage frequent-flier program and passengers flying business or first class) passengers and their guests won’t have to pay anything additional. He also admits this is not just to cut down on rare stand-by related delays, but to make additional revenue for the airlines.
The additional $50 ticket-change charge has been around American since 2005 and flying stand-by has always sort of circumvented the fee. Are passengers going to pay this new fee? If history shows us anything, yes they will. Will it be worth $50 to get home a few hours earlier? Probably depends on the situation and if the airport has a good bar.
Air Force One (a modified Boeing 747-200), visiting Paris in 2008
Happy President’s Day! I figured this would be a good excuse to take a look at the aircraft that have been used to fly the President of the United States around the world since 1943.
First off, I realize that any US Air Force aircraft the president is in, is called “Air Force One.” For the sake of this post, when I will be talking about the aircraft whose sole mission is to safely fly the President of the United States to his destination, I will refer to this particular aircraft as “Air Force One.”
The first Air Force One has its roots in 1943, when Franklin D Roosevelt was the first president to fly while in office. He flew on a Pan-Am Boeing 314 5,500 miles to Morocco. Previously presidents did not fly, because airplanes were not well equipped with communication devices. That changed for Roosevelt, when the threat of German U-Boats made him think twice about going via boat.
Thinking that commercial air travel was not reliable enough to transport the President of the US, the Air Force converted a Consolidated C-87 Liberator Express to be used to transport Roosevelt on international flights. However, the C-87 was not known for a stellar safety record and the Secret Service refused to let Roosevelt fly on the aircraft. Instead, a Douglas C-54 Skymaster (DC-4) was converted to fly the president around the world. Roosevelt flew on the C-54 Skymaster, called “Sacred Cow”, only once before his death in the spring of 1945. In 1947 Harry S Truman replaced the C-54 with a modified VC-118 Liftmaster (DC-6).
Before an incident in 1953, the president’s aircraft all had standard flight numbers, like any commercial airline flight. The Dwight D Eisenhower administration changed that, when he was flying on Air Force Flight 8610 and an Eastern Airlines flight with the same number received similar orders and got too close to the president’s aircraft. After that, any flight that held the president would be called “Air Force One.”
Eisenhower added the Lockheed C-121 Constellations to the presidential fleet in the mid 50’s and then the Boeing 707 was added in 1958. In 1962, the John F Kennedy administration created the first aircraft used exclusively for presidential travel. The modified Boeing 707-353B (referred to as SAM 26000) had its livery designed by First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy in the familiar blue, silver and white design.
Eisenhower added the Lockheed Constellation to the Presidential Fleet
During the Reagan administration, a new plane was requested for the president. They wanted a minimum of three engines, wide-bodied and a range of at least 6,000 miles. Boeing proposed the Boeing 747 and McDonnell Douglas pushed the DC-10. Boeing won the proposal and the US government ordered two identical Boeing 747-200’s.
The Boeing 747-200’s (VC-25A) were delivered in 1990 to sitting president, George HW Bush and still remain in service today. The VC-25A’s have been retrofitted and interiors re-done multiple times since 1990. The US Air Force Air Mobility Command (USAF MC) is currently looking at a replacement for the aging Boeing 747’s.
In January 2009, the USAF MC stated they would start flying a new Air Force One by 2017. Shortly after the announcement, Airbus stated it would not be bidding on the contract, leaving only Boeing. It is most likely the Boeing 747-8 will be the replacement, however there is talk the Boeing 787 could be the replacement.
What is your favorite Air Force One aircraft or which would be the best one to use in the future?
This video gives a great inside look at the process of painting a plane in a special livery. As a big fan of airline livery, I always love seeing the special liveries that airlines come up with. I just with the industry had more!
A Condor Boeing 757-300 (D-ABON) in 50th Anniversary Livery
Hope everyone has a great Valentine’s day!
This Condor livery works perfectly for today. Here is a little big of information on Condor Airlines, whose 50th anniversary livery is shown in the photo:
Condor Airlines was founded in 1955 and is a no-frills airline based in Germany. In 2003 the airline’s name was changed to “Thomas Cook”, but then changed back to it original name in 2004.
The airline has a fleet of just over 30 aircraft, made up of Airbus A320-200’s, Boeing 757-300’s and Boeing 767-300ER’s.
Condor Airlines flies to over 70 destinations on five continents around the world.
Some advertising ideas can look great in concept, but not work out so great in reality. I am guessing the advertising agency didn’t think this one all the way through before designing an airline ad for an escalator.
Why design it so the plane goes into the floor? Why not point the plane up, going into the sky?
UPDATE: Steven with Flying with Fish told me the ad was taken down in two days. The ad agency saw it in concept and didn’t think about the reality of its location. Shelby (aka: @FlyAAway) sent me link of the ad from the other side of the elevator, showing the plane going up. A lot of people say any publicity is good publicity and really I think this probably has gotten Turkish Airlines some good publicity (and it isn’t even bad really).
