Entries from Foolish Questions tagged with 'Airlines'
Airline Fees
Since we'll be climbing back in the saddle in a few weeks and resuming our globe trotting, or at least continental trotting ways, I've been thinking a bit about the current state of the domestic airline industry. Like, for instance,...
In Dearth of Common Sense
You know I could have just written an Airline Behaving Badly article about this because it's easy and fun, and did I mention, easy? The Airline Behaving Badly articles are enjoyable because they're often kind of funny, the kind...
Airlines Behaving Badly VII, VIII, and IX
There are some airlines that you really should have second thoughts about booking. For instance, any airlines that are using Aeroflot hand-me-down planes. That's hardly ever going to end well. I'd also be careful about airlines recently launched in...
German Airports
On this past trip we flew out of Munich airport and I have to say, I like German airports. At least I like them if they're like Munich. Previously, I'd only flown in or out of Frankfurt airport and I...
Open Letter to Sir Richard Branson
Dear Sir (and I'm using the title here - not the generic greeting), May it please your Excellency but we, poor misguided commoners that we are, doth humbly and abjectly beseech thee to forgive us our wayward ways and...
British Air Terminal Five
Terminals. Always sound somewhat ominous. "You'll be proceeding to Terminal Three where you'll slip the bonds of earth and ascend into the skies. Make your peace with God now and may heaven have mercy on your souls". Wouldn't that be...
Magic Eight Ball Says 'The Times Are Not Propitious'
So while perusing the news lately (which sounds much more classy than just reading the news), it might be understandable how one could come to the conclusion that times are bad, nations are in peril, and nature is running...
Airlines Behaving Badly VI
Ahh, Ryanair. Who'd ever guess I'd have another chance to write about this airline? Well me, and the three or four people who might, occasionally, glance at this blog. Hi, Mary! Revisiting my extensive list of articles related to...
Airlines Behaving Badly V
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Passengers Gone Wild V
Normal 0 MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} In the latest report on passenger foibles in the sky we...
Virgin Goings-On
Normal 0 MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} One of my favorite airlines (Virgin Atlantic) had announced...
Airlines Behaving Abominably I
I decided to rename the category formerly known as Airlines Behaving Badly to Airlines Behaving Abominably because it just sounds cooler. And in the case of Ryanair, well, they really deserve a category all their own, but in this...
Airlines Behaving Badly IV - Well Kind Of
In a new survey, via SeatGuru.com, frequent flyers contended that food and service on US domestic airlines did not measure up to foreign carriers. In other news, grass is still green and scientists have established that water is, indeed,...
Airlines Behaving Badly III
It is possible that Ernst Stavro Blofeld did actually get plastic surgery and resurface with a new identity. I'm going to go out on a limb and say it is - dum, dum, da, dum, Michael O'Leary of Ryanair....
Airlines Behaving Badly II
Also from Upgrade: Better Travel, is a report that Air Jamaica which I can truthfully say I didn't even know existed, has implemented a new and really fascinating variant on the charging for a second bag scam. See most airlines...
Airlines Behaving Badly I
Via Upgrade: Travel Better, a report that Dr. Evil, umm, Michael O'Leary, CEO of Ryanair, has devised yet another dastardly scheme aimed at either world domination or just general jerkishness, it's sometimes hard to tell which. Apparently they want to...
Airline Food Revisited Again, Once More
I know complaining about food in first class is frowned upon. I mean you're getting sustenance and imported beer (really, as much as you can drink, at least up to the point where you start seeing gremlins out on the...
Absinthe!
Timing is everything. Mine often seems to entail the generation of negative atmospheric pressure or in the vernacular of urban youth - it sucks. A case in point. One: I've wanted to try absinthe, a liqueur, for a...
Sleepless Over The Atlantic
So we fly over to London because the pound has sunk to levels that permit Americans, the few that still have a couple of dollars left, to buy a manorial house or three. Not that we really want a...
Ryanair
A couple of weeks ago there was a major burble of discontent around the travel blogosphere about purported plans by Ryanair's CEO, Michael O'Leary, to outfit his planes aerial cattle cars with pay toilets. Many were not sure if...
Virgin Around the World
V Australia, the newest addition to the mighty Branson aerospace empire has started service between Sydney, Australia and LAX. With that, the last link in a chain of airborne aluminum is completed, encircling the globe. You can now fly...
Baggage Options
A couple of weeks ago the Wall Street Journal had an article on a luggage shipping option that United Airlines was offering with FedEx. I thought it was kind of interesting in a 'how much money can they extract...
Baggage Fees
Well, the last of the big six legacy carriers, Delta, envious at the torrents of money flowing into their competitors' coffers, has decided to institute bag fees. Looks like $15 a bag each way. Since fuel prices are dropping...
Bag Fees Again
Mary, my wife, who is, if anything even more obsessed with information than I am, reminded me that she had put together a chart with data about bag fees for various airlines. So if you're looking for a simple...
Alitalia Woes Redux
As mentioned in an earlier article, Alitalia, the major (I hesitate to use the word premier) Italian airline has been hampered in their efforts to find a buyer by the actions of the unions at the airline. Just to...
Bag Fees - Not Going Anywhere
So United decided to up the fee for a checked second bag to $50. The first bag checked still costs $15 each way. This, for the math impaired, means that a round trip for someone taking two checked bags...
Alitalia Woes
So it isn't just North American airlines that are suffering during this season of discontent, with no glorious summer on the horizon. Obligatory Shakespeare reference to shore up my literary credentials. I'm pretty sure that won't work but a...
Zoom Has Been Zapped
And yet another airline has bitten the dust. Although I can safely say that I neither knew nor heard anything previously about this airline except the name. Zoom, a Canadian-British low cost airline, just started flying JFK to London...
United Backs Down - Free Food For All!
So United has backed off plans to eliminate meals in coach on international flights and sell snack-paks and meal-paks. And who doesn't like a Meal-Pak? Alas, apparently, people flying on United internationally. Or least they don't like Meal-Paks they...
No Free Lunch...or Dinner Either
United Airlines has decided, according to Bloomberg, to stop serving free meals in coach on some international flights. Basically all flights to Europe from Dulles airport will now offer BOB (Buy-On-Board) meals in coach. Well, I use the...
Airlines Say "Oxygen Ain't Free - Gotta Pay To Breathe"
At least this is what I assume we'll see someday as the airlines continue to layer on fees for almost everything. The latest is JetBlue that is charging $7 for a pillow and blanket set. From the title...
And Then There Was One
So British Airways announces yesterday that they're buying L'Avion which was the last of the all-business class airlines flying the trans-Atlantic route. L'Avion was the one French entry in the snooty class airlines. BA announced that they intend on...
WiFi Mania
Ok, well not mania. Perhaps some rather mild excitement. Like when Starbucks rolls out yet another new coffee drink. Anyway, American is rolling out their new wireless broadband service for domestic flights. Well, only a few domestic flights. Actually,...
Silverjet Adieu
So the third of the business class only airlines has cratered, or flamed out, or gone down, or experienced a sudden loss of cabin pressure, or whatever airline related simile you want to use. Silverjet we hardly knew you....
Delay Insurance
Interesting article in the Wall Street Journal last week about the rise of travel delay insurance. Basically, you buy insurance that will pay for hotel rooms, rescheduling flights., meals, etc. if your flight becomes delayed or cancelled and you...
May You Live in Interesting Times - Airline Edition
Oh, this is certainly looking to be one humdinger of a summer, as grandpappy used to say, if grandpappy had lived on a farm in Kentucky or something. Since mine lived in San Francisco I'm pretty sure he never...
Enticing Business Class Fares to London.
Silverjet, an all-Business-Class airline serving the New York to London route, is known for its exceptionally quick check-in (you can check-in at the Silver Lounge just 30 minutes before departure if you only have hand baggage and 45 minutes...
Airline Roulette (Part Two of What Promises to be a Umpteen Part Series)
Minutes after I finished posting the last note on airline bankruptcies, along comes Frontier Air with their bankruptcy. I really hate it when everyone jumps on the bandwagon. One difference and this is probably major for those holding...
Airline Roulette
So in the past week or so a number of airlines have given up the ghost as it were. Let's see what the rollcall is at this time: Skybus - a super cheap carrier based in Columbus, Ohio...
Virgin America Longings
There is yet another reason to yearn for the privilege of flying Virgin America (besides seat back video systems). Now, first class passengers have access to the Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse at San Francisco for $40. At first blush that...
Japan Air Lines
After Cathay Pacific, we were most looking forward to Japan Air Lines or JAL for short. As it turned out, it was well worth waiting for. Although the equipment might not be as ultra-modern as Cathay's, the service might...
Cathay Pacific Airlines
Of all the airlines that we have planned to use for the round the world trip, I think we probably looked forward to Cathay Pacific the most. Over the years we had heard lots about the Asian carriers and...
Hawaiian Airlines
During the Round the World trip we're going to try a few airlines with which we have no previous experience, so we thought that since you're already surfing this blog when you're supposed to be compiling the first quarter...
Round The World Report #1 - We're Off!
So the Big Trip has finally begun. We packed and weighed, repacked and reweighed, took care of a thousand and two details, felt our adrenaline ratchet upwards till we were giddy with excitement and finally the morning of our...
How We Will Travel Round the World
It's time for another article in our Frugal Hedonist series, from my wife Mary. In this installment she reveals that the Round-The-World insanity isn't quite as insane as it appears. Continue reading below. As our departure date grows...
Round the World Redux or Part Two or Partie Deux - Your Choice
An update is in order. It looks like we're going to do this thing - this Round-the-World trip. After a couple of weeks of discussion or more accurately, conversations where Mary told me where we were going and I...
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