“Friendly” and “airline;” you don’t really see those two in the same sentence these days. In fact, I can’t remember the last time I saw “friendly” and “airline” in the same paragraph. If you’ve taken to the skies in a commercial airliner with kids in the last decade or so, then you know flying can be anything but friendly. A true sign of this is can be seen by looking at the evolution of United Airlines’ slogans. The carrier’s catchy tag line “Fly the Friendly Skies” debuted in 1965. The airlines stuck with the slogan until 1996. Today United’s slogan … Continue reading →

There’s been a lot of talk about the new government imposed changes to air traffic controllers’ schedules. I touched on the some of them in a previous post, but failed to go in-depth regarding the fact that controllers can no longer switch schedules “in order for the convenience of them if they are not well-rested.” That’s according to Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. During his recent press conference LaHood also mentioned that he would not allow controllers to take naps on the job, despite ongoing input by sleep experts that doing so would benefit overnight workers. Experts from the FAA and … Continue reading →

Not for nothing, but human beings were not designed to work all night long. Of course, this doesn’t excuse the air traffic controllers who have been making headlines for sleeping on the job during their overnight shifts. One of my first jobs out of college required me to clock into work at midnight. I produced and anchored a morning show for a small CBS news affiliate in Wisconsin, and would typically end my workday at 9:30 a.m. To put it mildly; the hours sucked. I would sleep from noon until 6 or 7 p.m., eat dinner, take a shower and … Continue reading →