Happy Birthday Virgin, Southwest and Delta
Just wanted to say congrats to Delta Airlines for turning 80, Virgin Atlantic making it to 25 and to Southwest Airlines for turning 38!
With Delta’s recent merger with Northwest Airlines, Virgin’s innovative vision and Southwest Airline’s long history of profit (I am sure they will return), I am sure these three carriers will be celebrating many more!
Images (L to R): gTarded, kaszeta, Thomas Becker,
Airline cabin -- where all the action happens. Pic by The Airline Blog
The annual survey of frequent fliers conducted by Seatguru.com is out and it doesn’t look so great for some domestic airlines compared to their international counterparts. About 1,600 frequent travelers (most of whom fly 8 or more times per year) were asked to rate their airline experiences.
When a domestic airline actually serves a meal, it is rated among the lowest. Meals on United Airlines, US Airways, and American Airlines fared the worst. The best were Singapore, British Airways, Air France, and Continental Airlines (the only U.S. airline to make the top 4).
American, United, and US Airways are seen again on the bottom for comfort in economy class seats, while JetBlue made it to the top of the list.
Unfortunately for American, United, and US Airways they also topped the list for “rudest flight attendants” while Singapore and Southwest Airlines made top marks.
Matthew Daimler, founder of Seatguru.com stated, “Domestic airlines have been making strides in recent years to better compete with international airlines, but it is clear that they still have a ways to go in the eyes of fliers.”
Other interesting results:
* 13% of fliers say they have knowingly transported banned items through secuirty
* When asked which celebrities a person would want to sit next to, 56% said none
* 42% are willing to shell out 10% more for more legroom
* 26% think the front of the plane is the safest, 17% middle, and 6% the back.
* 17% of travelers self-medicate before a flight
In response to suspicion of missed inspections, the FAA is arguing that they are prioritizing needed checks based on “risk analyses” and no critical inspections were missed. FAA spokesperson Diane Spitaliere states, “It is our position that the critical safety issues have been dealt with and are always dealt with first. Some of the less critical ones may not have been accomplished, but we’re currently working to accomplish them.”
The renewed interest in the FAA missed inspections come in the wake of the tragic crash of Continental Express Flight 3407 on February 12th.
The missed inspections are being reported by a government watchdog. They state that the FAA has missed safety inspections at major airlines and that some of the inspections were already two years overdue. Calvin Scovel, the Transportation Department’s inspector general, states, “We have found that these missed inspections were in critical maintenance areas.” Scovel had previously mentioned missed inspections at Southwest.
Source: AP
Winglet to winglet on Southwest Airlines
Southwest Airlines will now charge $25 for an unaccompanied minor and $25 for overweight or a third piece of luggage. They will also allow pets to fly and will charge a “pet fare” of $75. Up until last fall Southwest did not post a loss in 17 years, but it has had to post losses for the past three quarters, mostly due to their locked in fuel prices.
Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly stated, “We truly believe in setting the right customer expectation and not charging for those amenities that a customer would ‘expect’ to get for free.” He also points out that all other major airlines in the US already charge these fees.
Although it might be disappointing that Southwest is adding some minor fees, I think it can be understandable in the given airline industry climate.
Source: Baltimore Sun Image: Rob Speed
Virgin American's RED where you can order food and drink right at your seat.
In an age where almost everyone has an Debit or Credit Card and that airlines are charging for more things on flights than just movies and alcohol, it seems obvious that airlines should be taking credit cards in flight.
Going cashless has many benefits (not having to have cash on the plane, don’t have to ask for change, encourages people to spend more, etc), but some flight attendants are worried what happens if the card reader doesn’t work? And there are concerns that the credit cards will slow down service.
Although airlines that have already implemented the service show there is a learning curve, but once learned, service can actually pick up.
Virgin America probably has the coolest system where you can order items on the entertainment module in the seat back and actually swipe your credit card there.
Current American cashless airlines:
* United Airlines: Since late April
* AirTran
* American Airlines by June 1
* JetBlue
* AirTran
* Southwest Airlines
* Sun country Airlines
* Frontier Airlines
* Alaska Airlines
* USA3000
* MidWest Airlines
* Virgin America
There could be more — there doesn’t seem to be a full list of airlines and I tried to search down as many as I could.
Although the additional charges might be bothersome, at least most airlines are making an effort to make paying them easier.
Image: NotCot.com