The personality of airlines in the United States has changed dramatically since the golden age of airline travel. Airline travel was once a luxury, following the 1978 Deregulation Act legacy airlines sought to differentiate themselves from each other and the new upstart airlines that were coming into existence. In an industry where customers began…
A seemingly consistent stream of headlines catches travelers’ attention regarding Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Transportation Security Officers (TSO) being arrested for theft from checked baggage.  While statistically very few thefts occur, the ones that do and get those who get caught make headlines. Since the TSA moved to 100% screening of checked baggage the…
I started to write a long blog post on 2011, highlighting favourite blog posts, discussing stories I skipped writing about and what I was look forward to in 2012. Ultimately in the end there were so many things to write about I realized my blog post would cover nearly 9 pages, in Times New…
Long flights, love them or hate then one thing is undeniable, they are uncomfortable, especially in economy class. Seats are cramped, knees are banged and seat mates are annoying … OK, there is no known cure for an annoying seatmate aside from good noise canceling headsets and pretending to not understand the language you…
As the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) continues to expand the deployment of its Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response (VIPR) Teams, it is also increasingly mentioning Federal Air Marshals (FAM) as part of the agency’s ground based, non-airport focused, and security operation. Looking past the legally questionable aspects of the TSA’s deployment of VIPR Teams,…
The Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) ban on liquids over 100ml has been in place in the United States, and by aviation and security authorities around the world, since the 9th of August 2006 … and has been a thorn in the side of travelers since it has been instituted. As travelers continually wait for…
Over the past ten years the changes in commercial air travel have been extensive, airlines have disappeared, mainline flights have been down gauged to regional jets, airline meals are hard to come by … and of course airport security has become an irritating process, with one of the top complaints being the forced removal of…
Are airlines apologetic for a poor passenger experience? Many travelers would say no. With more travelers interacting with airlines via social media and airing their complaints with airlines publicly through Twitter, I decided to pick fifteen active airline Twitter accounts, from the 100 most active airline Twitter feeds I follow, and find out. …
Complaining while traveling used to involve standing around and muttering to yourself, picking up the phone, standing in line to see a supervisor or writing a letter … now travelers can stand in place whining to themselves while simultaneously kvetching on Twitter and Facebook. If you plan to complain through social media channels, be…
Airline passengers often complain that airlines offer them increasingly few options in flight and that airlines are disconnected from passengers needs. Whether or not airlines are in fact how passengers perceive them is not relevant … because sometimes we just need to laugh at the whole travel experience. I have to credit Jon Norris,…
