Delta Death

I could make a terrible tie-in between the following sad travel incident and the fact that Delta Airlines just announced it will now be charging passengers on domestic flights $50 to check in a second bag, but out of respect for Michaele Carnahan, I will restrain myself. According to news reports, the 61-year-old was found dead in the restroom of a Delta Airlines plane shortly before the aircraft landed in Atlanta yesterday morning. A spokeswoman for the airline said it was unclear how the woman died or how long she was in the plane’s lavatory before she was found. Responding … Continue reading

One Flight You Wouldn’t Want to be On

Quick… think back to the strangest flight you have ever been on. Now, compare it to the one passengers onboard a recent American Airlines flight experienced and see how it stacks up: As if the emergency landing in Oklahoma City wasn’t bad enough consider what travelers onboard American Airlines Flight 725 were thinking when they saw a naked man strolling through the cabin and later watched as he tried to open an emergency exit door while the plane was 30,000 feet in the air. According to authorities, the flight, which left from Boston en route to Los Angeles last Friday … Continue reading

Why Passengers Don’t Mind Being Delayed in Hong Kong

No one likes to be stuck in an airport when they should be somewhere over the Pacific. But according to a recent survey, if you have to be delayed anywhere, it’s best to be held up at the Hong Kong International Airport. For the seventh year in a row, the massive airport was ranked the best by millions of passengers around the world. Visitors chose the Hong Kong International Airport over 190 others in an annual survey conducted by Skytrax, a privately owned research company. The London-based firm reportedly collected more than 8 million questionnaires from travelers flying into and … Continue reading

Honest Pilot Refuses to Fly

Is honesty truly the best policy? It’s a question passengers onboard a cancelled United Airlines asked themselves yesterday after their pilot announced he was too upset to fly. It may be the first time in commercial aviation history that an emotionally distraught pilot has walked off the job minutes before he was set to take flight. His decision left hundreds of travelers stranded and many more scratching their heads wondering how a situation like this could have happened in the first place. According to news reports, the angry United Airlines pilot was scheduled to fly a plane full of people … Continue reading

Freaky Flight Attendant Starts Fire on Plane

Talk about a disgruntled worker. Be happy you weren’t on this flight: A Compass Airlines jet carrying 72 passengers and four crewmembers was forced to make an emergency landing in Fargo, North Dakota last week when an angry flight attendant deliberately set a fire in the plane’s restroom. Luckily no injuries were reported, but those on board the flight said the incident led to some very frightening moments. According to news reports, Eder Rojas, a 19-year-old flight attendant with Compass, was allegedly upset about his work schedule so he decided to set the plane on fire. But he only partially … Continue reading

JetBlue’s “Toilet Man” Talks

You had to know this guy wasn’t going to stay quiet for long. Think your last flight on JetBlue Airways was bad? Well, I doubt it was as horrific as the one Gokhan Mutlu sat through a couple months ago. The New Yorker says his flight from San Diego to New York stunk—-literally. And, guess what? He’s now suing the airlines for more than $2 million because of it. “It” includes being forced to sit on the plane’s toilet for more than three hours during a flight from San Diego to New York. According to court papers, Mutlu maintains that … Continue reading

Airlines Turns Tables On Under-Dressed Passenger and Major Fallout Ensues

In a previous blog I discussed the state of airline passengers’ attire following the highly publicized incident involving college student Kyla Ebbert. Since my blog posted (shortly after Ebbert appeared on NBC’s “Today” show wearing the same controversial outfit she did on the Southwest flight in question) the college co-ed has made the rounds on various other talk shows, including “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” and Fox News. During those interviews Ebbert complained that she had yet to receive an apology from the airline and specifically from the customer-service representative who told her earlier this summer that she’d have to “cover … Continue reading

Airlines and Dress Codes: Woman Is Threatened For Wearing Skimpy Outfit

What do you usually wear on an airplane? If your typical plane attire includes a mini skirt and tight fitting shirt you may want to bring along an extra outfit just in case. At least if you are flying Southwest Airlines. The air carrier is currently embroiled in a nasty PR war with a 23-year-old woman who boarded a Southwest Airlines flight bound for Arizona in attire one flight attendant considered “too revealing.” Two months ago Kyla Ebbert was escorted off her flight from San Diego when an airline employee became disgusted with her outfit. Ebbert says she was wearing … Continue reading

Teen Flies High Without Parents’ Permission—Is The Airline To Blame?

By now I’m sure you’ve heard the story about the 15-year-old girl who bought a ticket and boarded a plane without ever being asked to show her ID. The teen from Alaska apparently neglected to ask her parents permission to take the flight and now the girl’s mom says the airline is partially to blame for her daughter ending up hundreds of miles from home. In all fairness to the mother, she’s not slapping the airlines with a lawsuit (at least not yet anyway), though she is lobbying to get the carrier to reconsider its current policies. For those of … Continue reading

Being Polite At 35,000 Feet (It’s Really NOT That Hard)

Can’t we all just get along? Following the recent incidents involving rude airline passengers and ruder flight attendants, one is left to question whether airplanes are carrying any travelers who are not disgruntled. Which is not to say that most peeved passengers don’t have a right to be, especially when they have to endure record-breaking delays, a less than patient flight crew and countless airline lavatories that simply don’t work. But, as we head into the last long weekend of the summer season, perhaps, we could commence a moratorium on travel-related complaints and practice some common courtesy. For example: · … Continue reading