Musings
- Information Security Travel Guide
Stephen Northcutt, an Information Security Researcher, United Airlines 1k, Writer and Instructor, documents the struggles of the travel and hospitality industries as we all face rapidly increasing energy costs. He and his peers share their travel experiences and give you quick tips and short reviews of the companies they do business with as they travel. If you came across this article because of a Google search, what you want is probably here, just use find with your browswer (CTRL - F), it is easier than reading from top to bottom; however, you may get some useful tips if you stick around and read. Each major cluster of trips is documented in a separate file.
United Airlines News - Updated September 2nd, 2010
United 1K News Archive - July 16th, 2010
Information Security Travel Guide Edition 17 - Updated September 2nd, 2010
Information Security Tour Guide Edition 16 - Updated April 27th, 2010
Things to See, Do, Absorb on Kauai - Updated July 19th, 2010
Information Security Travel Guide Edition 15 - Stephen Northcutt - Updated February 23rd, 2010
Information Security Travel Guide: Tips for Traveling - Updated November 22nd, 2009
United Airlines News
September 2nd, 2010
By Stephen Northcutt
[September 2, 2010] Hurricane Earl, recently downgraded from a Category 4 to a Category 3, is rapidly moving up the East Coast. United Airlines is warning passengers about probable travel delays and are also waiving flight change fees for passengers who are affected by the storm. It is predicted by the weather service that "the core of the hurricane will approach the North Carolina coast" by late tonight. Although the storm should gradually weaken overnight and into tomorrow, it still looks to be a sizeable storm and will be strong when it touches the East Coast.
SANS is here at Virginia Beach doing what we can to make sure our students get their training but also stay safe; for several days now we have been starting early, running late and using working lunches to accelerate the training, and have arranged for a bus to get any students up to IAD tonight if their original flights out of Norfolk are cancelled. The temperature is starting to drop a bit, everything gets greyer by the hour, the Weather Channel was just outside the hotel filming the ocean, the waves are just starting to pick up, guess the surfers are loving life, we have not yet had any rain, but you can feel the mugginess. You never know what is going to happen, but the hurricane is projected to pass by here tomorrow (Friday) morning, Day 6 of the conference.
[September 1, 2010] The two men arrested Monday in Amsterdam have been released after no evidence of terrorist conspiracy was found against them. Unfortunately, United Airlines is involved in another international incident. A delegation of high-ranking Pakistani military officials were removed from a United flight after boarding a plane at Washington's Dulles International Airport en route to Tampa for a meeting with the U.S. military's Central Command. The details are unclear, but apparently a flight attendant or a passenger was alarmed by a comment made by one of the military officials. The comment was something to the effect of "I hope this is my last flight". The delegates were detained for over two hours, and reportedly were not able to telephone their embassy or contact the U.S. military officers who had invited them to the meeting. After the ordeal was over, the delegates canceled their meeting and returned home to Pakistan in protest against the treatment. Apologies have since been given by United Airlines, the Pentagon and Central Command.
[August 31, 2010] Two men traveling on a United Airlines flight from Chicago to Amsterdam were arrested yesterday at Schiphol airport based on suspicions of a terrorist conspiracy. Officials were concerned about a possible "dry run" attack, due to suspicious items being found in the travelers' checked-in luggage. The items included a cell phone taped to a medicine bottle, several cell phones taped together, watches taped together, a knife and a box cutter. According to Today Online, "the incident could have been an attempt to test what items could pass through airport security, in preparation for a future attack." Both men were headed to Yemen, and missed their original flight connecting in Washington Dulles International Airport from Chicago. They were re-booked on a flight to Amsterdam. Their luggage, however, was still shipped to Washington. The men have not yet been charged with anything, and Homeland Security is encouraging people not to jump to conclusions.
[August 30, 2010] It's hard to hear stories like this in the news. Two teenagers were on a Hawaiian vacation with their aunt when an unexpected tragedy occurred, and the teens were left stranded on their own. The aunt drowned last Monday in a hotel swimming pool, leaving the kids in an unknown place without a flight for four days. Back in Minnesota, the family talked with Expedia, through which the tickets had originally been purchased, but apparently Expedia completely refused to help. The family eventually called United Airlines directly, and were able to change the children's flights for a fee of $75 each. The children did not arrive home until Wednesday afternoon. On Thursday, the guardian of the children called U.S. Rep. James Oberstar, U.S. House Transportation Committee chairman and United's current arch-nemesis regarding their seemingly inevitable merger. By Friday, the guardian received this apology from United: “I am truly sorry for the difficulty that you report encountering when contacting United to make arrangements for Daniel and Jessie to return home,” wrote Donita Mincey. “Our employees should be attentive to your needs and make every attempt to minimize the inconvenience to you. Our staff certainly could have done more to acknowledge the situation and to better assist you during this very difficult time. I apologize.” The guardian was also promised $400 electronic travel certificates for each of the children. No word has been received yet from Expedia yet; at least United owned up to their mistake.
[August 28, 2010] We have lift-off!! Late Friday night, the Department of Justice gave their seal of approval for the merger between United and Continental Airlines. Concluding their antitrust review, the DOJ was sufficiently convinced that the merger will not result higher fares and less flight choice for consumers, despite the fact that it will result in the world's largest airline. The clincher in the deal was the agreement that 36 slots at Newark Liberty International Airport will be given to Southwest Airlines in order to promote more competition in that area. This is a major victory for Southwest, who has been trying for 14 months to gain a greater stronghold in the New York area. The next step in the merger is the shareholder meeting next month. Although critics of the merger are screaming louder than ever, it looks as though it will take place, as anticipated, in October.
[August 27, 2010] The heat continues to rise for American Airlines as they are slammed with the proposal of a $24.2 million fine by the Federal Aviation Administration, the single largest fine in FAA history. The fine was proposed for alleged maintenance violations occurring in April 2008. Apparently the maintenance issue forced American to ground hundreds of planes at the time and led to thousands of cancelled flights and hundreds of thousands of stranded passengers. The airline seems shocked at such a lofty bill, pointing out that this incident occurred more than two years ago and they had not been notified by the FAA about any pending actions. They have 30 days to appeal the fine and are stating "American Airlines has always maintained its aircraft to the highest standards, and we continue to do so. We assure our customers there was never a safety of flight issue surrounding these circumstances more than two years ago." According to AOL travel, it appears the FAA seems "determined to make American a scapegoat for industry maintenance issues". American isn't the only airline in trouble with the FAA, but it is by far in it the deepest. United has a $1 million fine hanging over their heads from a maintenance issue back in June of 2004.
FAA fines are only one of the problems plaguing United Airlines right now. In California, a United pilot was arrested and charged with trafficking marijuana. The pilot is being held in the Cleveland County Detention Center on a $5 million bond. United also has 30 fare complaints lodged against them by customers, not to mention the 24 complaints against Continental Airlines, their soon to be partners. One complaint against United stated: "Tuesday, the price [of a United Airlines trip from Boise to Kona, Hawaii] was $1,072. Wednesday it went up to $2,133!!! If there isn’t, there should be a law that prevents PRICE GOUGING when they know you are about to book a flight." Ouch.
[August 26, 2010] Stocks drop as tempers rise in the contract negotiations between American Airlines and their mechanics. After four years of negotiations, the recent contract proposing higher pay and reduced retiree medical benefits was rejected by over 60% of the mechanics. With this strong reaction, Reuters reports that "the union said the 'no' votes amount to strike authorization." In light of these foreboding results, along with lingering difficulties between US Airways and former American West pilots, United and Continental are encouraging their unions to come to agreements now in preparation for the upcoming merger.
[August 24, 2010] Are we alone in the universe? This has been a question for the ages... and apparently for Stephen Colbert as well, who resuscitated an old UFO incident on his show yesterday. His interview with journalist Leslie Kean, author of "UFOs: Generals, Pilots and Government Officials Go on the Record", sparked new interest in the alleged appearance of a metallic-looking, disc-shaped object hovering over Chicago's O'Hare International Airport back in 2006. The object was first seen by none other than a United Airlines ramp worker, and was reportedly seen by several other United employees, including a mechanic who was working in the cockpit of a Boeing 777 at the time. United Airlines and the FAA were questioned on the matter, and the FAA chalked it up to a "weather phenomenon". What the object actually was remains to be seen, but it sounds as though United employees are on the lookout for more than just planes in the skies above.
[August 23, 2010] The numbers are in. In the second quarter, United spent $660,000 lobbying with the federal government on a myriad of airline issues, same as 1st quarter, each 10% more than 4th quarter 2009. The airline industry has been a hot topic in Congress this year, and United has been especially attentive as they've been trying to stay in favor with the approaching merger. Regarding the merger itself, debates continue to rise about its dubious fairness. Shareholders are demanding the disclosure of more details, while the two airlines contend that this is "a 'merger of equals' not a takover."
On a somber note, Mrs. Obama and Mrs. Bush will be in Pennsylvania next month for ceremonies remembering the forty victims lost on United flight 93. These ceremonies will mark the ninth anniversary of that harrowing day, and will commemorate the brave souls aboard that tragic flight.
[August 20, 2010] A little light has been shed on the process that will be undertaken for the merger between United Airlines and Continental Airlines. Three steps will be taken over the course of approximately a year. Step one is the legal merger, which is expected to occur near the end of this year, and will blend the management and stockholders of both airlines. Step two is being referred to as "Customer Day One" when we, the public, will only see one airline. This requires a lot of behind-the-scenes work for marketing and IT, and it is expected sometime next spring. The third step is the operational one, in which the two airlines' operational certificates will be replaced with a single one, and hopefully everyone will be on the same page with how to operate the newly birthed airline. This should occur about a year after the legal merger. Shareholders are set to vote on the merger plan on September 17th, so let the blending begin!
[August 19, 2010] American Airlines has jumped on the bandwagon of taking the nickel-and-dime game to the extreme. They've announced their new option of "Express Seats", charging passengers an extra $19 to $39 to sit in the front rows of coach. Yes, plain old coach. At least United's "Economy Plus" seats offer extra leg room. With all their faults, United does show some semblance of common sense. I can understand paying more for an extra five inches of leg room, but American is simply slapping a price tag on something that was free yesterday and offering one small carrot of an earlier boarding group. At any rate, they haven't stooped as low as RyanAir...yet. When coin-operated restrooms and "vertical seats" hit airlines in the states, you know we've reached the bottom.
Actual Flight Experience: Dayton to Seattle by way of ORD. We finished with InfraGard early and I am not sure where my brain was, but I did not ask about an earlier flight when checking in. But I did walk up to the gate and United was willing to let me stand by on an earlier flight, this took some work on their part since they had to get my checked bag to my new flight. Anyway, I caught UA 6396 which left on time, had two flight attendants, served drinks, this time I had ice with my orange juice. Chicago was massively crowded, I ducked into the Red Carpet Club, there were no seats available, so I hovered for ten minutes until I got a seat. I know I read about the soft economy and the double dip recession in the Wall Street Journal, but you could not fit many more people into the United part of this Chicago airport. The economy at the restaurants and bars here is booming, there are no empty seats. It is several more hours till my flight, so it will be tomorrow before I can report about ORD to SEA.
[August 18, 2010] On the upside, the AOL Mystery Flyer rates their recent international flight via United Airlines as having been better than expected, and in fact they would do it again, which is in itself pretty high praise. The United/Continental Merger 2010, more talk: According to Crain's Chicago Business, a hearing is scheduled at the end of the month for a lawsuit disputing the merger between United and Continental Airlines. A group of passengers is rallying against the merger, arguing that it will result in higher fares due to less competition. It sounds like they're worried about the beginning of a monopoly, although I'm not sure how much of a case can be made there since, in the past, there has been very little overlap between the routes of the two airlines. The merger is broadening the companies' horizons, so to speak. This is the second class-action suit these airlines have faced since their announcement in May; while the first was settled earlier this month, it doesn't sound like the new lawsuit stands much of a chance to stop the merger, but it may slow down the process.
Actual Flight Experience: Pittsburgh to Dayton OH. Got to PIT early, we settled in at the gate. They were filming a movie ("Abduction") according to one of the extras. That made for some fun people watching. Plane was on time, no real problem with turbulence. Chicago [ORD] was crowded, I wanted a deep dish pizza, settled for a Quiznos sub (if you get the prime rib, I suggest skipping the sauce.) Flight to DAY, UA 8075 was also on time, short flight, 25 minutes, only one flight attendant and she made a heroic effort to give everyone a drink, I had apple juice no ice, because I knew there wasn’t time for the ice to melt. The folks in the Dayton OH area need an OPSEC refresher. The lady behind me kept talking on her phone about the C130 delayed in England that was going to bring the plane back, but they were not sure the propeller assembly would fit. The gents in front of me were talking about bringing up a VPN in XXX, going to the T17 and something about a Predator, which I think must be an aircraft.
[August 17, 2010] United announces their "Fly across the Atlantic for less" offer. It is their fall/winter promotion of flights from the U.S. to Europe. The booking deadline is August 25th, and you have to travel between October 24, 2010 and March 31, 2011. This might be helpful for those of you taking the November course at SANS Geneva, or anyone who hasn't seen Ireland in early spring.
[August 16, 2010] Surging bookings lead United and British Airways to recall 747s from desert storage and put them back in service. USA Today report on Lithium-ION batteries, a Lithium powered curling iron went out of control in baggage claim in Japan, and a single customer had 58 phones with him which were confiscated. More on the upcoming branding for United/Continental. Faulty warning light triggers evacuation of a United flight in O'Hare, 40 of 114 slid the slide before rescue workers announced there was no fire, no injuries this time.
Actual flight experience. United Airlines - Richmond to Pittsburgh. First flight August 15, UA 7994, boarded on time. On taxi out, one of two hydraulic systems for the rudder failed, returned to airport. Had to deplane because the AC unit was not working. I called the United 1k desk and they gave me an alternate booking on US Air that would put me in about 11 PM, not ideal, but it beats mission failure. They fixed the plane and I decided to fly to Dulles even though I knew I missed my connection. I had been told whenever United fails, a team starts working on your itinerary so the best thing to do is go to customer service and use the kiosks; I tried, and the offer was a standby at 10 PM Aug 15, near certain mission failure. I called the 1k desk and he put me on a flight to Pittsburgh leaving in 30 minutes, UA7503, so I headed for D gates. Got there five minutes before boarding, got my new boarding pass, the time for boarding came and went. Twenty minutes later a flight crew showed up, then the flight attendants got off the plane, fifteen minutes later they returned with Subway sandwiches, the folks in the Red Carpet line were not impressed. Fifteen minutes later we boarded, the pilot apologized and explained they had been scrambled as well. Easy flight, comfortable seat to Pittsburgh. Got there, no bag. United baggage claim called hotel to let me know it was in IAD and would arrive to PIT about 11 PM. I decided to have hotel not call me when it came in, I would pick it up in the morning. Woke up 4:30 A.M., bag was here, opened it up, no suit. Whoops. Did I forget to pack it or did it get removed from the bag? Who would steal a suit, they are custom fit for the guy that wears it; anyway, I will look a bit frumpy today and try to pick something up off the rack tonight, have a lot of business meetings. Finally, we have a blogger, Stefanie, that is unhappy with United Airlines, I couldn't really follow the story, but the part about the fuel truck crashing into the plane really got my attention. I know that a couple years ago an empty United Express jet hit a fuel truck, and in April on Boeing field there was a similar mishap, but this story is below the radar line.
PART 2 United Airlines - Richmond to Pittsburgh on Sunday, August 15. I received an email from Customer.Relations@united.com with an apology and gift of award miles:
From: Customer Relations [mailto:Customer.Relations@united.com]
Sent: Monday, August 16, 2010 7:57 AM
To: STEPHEN@SANS.ORG
Subject: United Airlines MA - REF:XXXXXXX
Dear Mr. Northcutt:
Please accept my personal apologies for the delay and misconnection when you flew from Washington to Pittsburgh.
You were inconvenienced and this runs counter to our team efforts to run a great airline. To assure you of our intentions to improve your next trip with us, I'm depositing 9,000 award miles into your Mileage Plus® account.
Sincerely,
Nancy Castro
Manager Customer Solutions, Customer Relations
Interesting, I had not submitted a formal complaint, although I had reported my missing baggage, and the above message included a link to a survey that explains more; apparently, this is a "proactive" outreach with "goodwill product" offerings, and they want to know if my satisfaction level has changed since the time of the incident. In the end, it is a start at customer satisfaction recovery, and though it is nice of them to give miles as make-up gift for the hassle, those mileage miles don't mean as much to me as they used to, it is much harder now to redeem those miles for upgrades and real flights.
[August 14, 2010] Actual flight experience. I will not say that I will not fly Air Tran again, but I will say that I witnessed a near total meltdown of an airline. We started flying on August 13 from Branson. There were thunderstorms over Atlanta. The Branson sign said the flight would be delayed 45 minutes. We decided to get a leisurely meal at Famous Dave's. However the pilots had this whacky idea of loading all the people on the plane and moving out on the tarmac, A 45 MINUTE CHANGE IN THE ANNOUNCED BOARDING TIME. There was an amazing scramble of people to pay for their meals and board. I did not get to eat much of my meal, but I will say the Georgia Mustard sauce is pretty good stuff. Then they put us on the plane, it was really hot, and they said they were going to start another engine to cool off the plane. It was not cool and the pilot said, and I quote, "WE HAVE PLENTY OF FUEL." His plan was to be ready on the tarmac and maybe get in a few minutes early. The plane did not cool off, we sweat through our clothes and we did not leave early. AND WE RAN OUT OF FUEL IN FLIGHT and had to divert to Huntsville Alabama. This was the kiss of death and, of course, we missed our connection. When we got off the plane (thank heavens we booked business class), the person that met the plane was very slow witted, we kept asking RIC, RIC, and she just wanted to read her long list. They sent us to a gate (C 18) where there was one person to help everyone on the plane. Thank heavens were were number two position in line. Our flight to Richmond had already left. Their story was that we would have to stay in a hotel in Atlanta on our nickel, it was beyond their control *BZZZZ* wrong! So, we asked if we could divert to IAD or DCA, there was a flight to DCA, two actually, one leaving in 22 minutes, but the gate was "closed". Okay, 1.5 hours till the next flight, find food! It was five minutes till 11 P.M. and we raced to the Grilled Subs place. We did get food, but they actually told people behind us in line that they could not get food. Kathy was spun up and wanted a drink, so we took our food to a bar across the hall that had stopped serving food fifteen minutes earlier. The staff was so bloody rude there, but I reminded myself they had been through a stressful day too. They were out of all tap beers except Killians, OK then, we must like Killians. We called James Limo and arranged a pickup in DC. The flight happened, but with minimal service, and James Limo did pick up as requested and got us home at 4 A.M. Now we are trying to get our checked bags and none of the Air Tran phone numbers work and the only phone call back from Air Tran says you have to pick them up if it is weather because that is out of their control. Yeah, weather and every other thing on the planet is apparently out of their control? I am out my famous Dave's 2 meat BBQ platter, $200 for the limo pickup, and I don't have my bags. But, in the end, I travel enough to count myself lucky since I am at home and thousands of people are stranded in Atlanta, sitting in the airport, waiting for space available seats they have no chance of getting. Again, I will not say I will not fly Air Tran again, but for all the people that say bad things about United Airlines, you have no idea how bad it can really get, at least United answers the phone. (Specific data: confirmation AyP5XT )
PART 2 Recovering the bags. OK, I was wrong, I will attempt not to fly Air Tran again, not because I am mad, I understand weather happens, but because they are incompetent. We left a voice mail before we crashed - needed some rest. They called and left a voicemail from 800 965 2107 x1966, Tiffany the supervisor or x 1964, saying they would not deliver the bags because weather is beyond their control, we needed to pick them up, but they needed our address *again*. So, we called but could not get through. First thing I did when I woke up was called, and the phone # did not work. We decided to get the bags, Kathy went to the airport so I could work. They were closed. Kathy, called me and asked for help. So, I got their contact information on their web page and called the system baggage service x 8900. The first guy said he would put me through to RIC baggage, no pickup there. Called again, this time I tried Customer Relations, 866-247-2428: it said if it was baggage, press 1, so I did; it said, if this was baggage, press 1, I did; it said, if this was baggage, press 1. At this point, I realized it was an intelligence test and I was failing. Sent Kathy a quick note, sit with your mother, relax, I will get through. Next, I called baggage again; the lady said they closed at noon, but the ticket counter was open, she transferred me, it said to leave a message. Called baggage again, lady said she was in a call center in a warehouse and there was nothing she could do. I said, all airlines have contracts with companies that deliver lost bags to hotels and houses, call them. She said there was nothing she could do. I asked that she escalate to a supervisor, she put me in touch with customer relations. I told him my story, he said he would call operations. Meanwhile Kathy, also an experienced business traveler and United Airlines 1K, had managed to get a call put out on the Richmond Airport intercom system if anyone could open the Air Tran baggage room, please go do it. An airport custodian showed up, had keys, opened the room and handed out bags (yes there were other stranded people as well, one lady had even booked a second ticket just to get home), all without checking any baggage claim checks, of course. But, hey, the adventure finally ends, we are only out my famous Dave's 2 meat BBQ platter, $200 for the limo pickup, and a couple hours dealing with Air Tran. But, I know there are people that do not travel as much as we do that must have been totally, totally worked over. They seem to be nice people at Air Tran, and if I was going somewhere like Bermuda, I would fly them again, but I would do it defensively: try not to check a bag and make sure I return on a Saturday so that if anything goes wrong, I have Sunday to get into position. Of course, there is much more to the story, if anyone from Air Tran wants to debrief, you can reach me at stephen@sans.edu; but I warn you, I have fast memory fade from bad experiences, so if you want details, don't dally.
[August 13, 2010] It is hard to say that more fees attached to the airline industry could be good news, but this may be. According to the LA Times, long airline delays have decreased since June, when federal officials started giving fines to airline carriers that stranded passengers on grounded planes. United recently got hit with these fines for three flights stuck on the ground in the infamous foul weather of the Chicago O'Hare airport. I'm glad to hear someone is trying to stand up for the passengers for once, though I must wonder how long it will be until the airlines decide those passengers should absorb this new cost as well. We shall see.
[August 11, 2010] United Continental merger, press release on the design, logos, airplane paint jobs, etc. of the merged airline. Another actual airline experience: Airtran #244 from Richmond to Atlanta. Two hour wait, I was fairly brain numb, so essentially went into a vegetative state. Airtran #1580 to Branson. We were on time. Branson is a cool airport, I like what they did with the stick chairs and all that. I was really glad that I paid the extra money to upgrade to Business Class; the only on airport rental car counter is Enterprise and when I got to the line I was number three, but there was no one there. They finally found the employees and processed me fairly quickly.
[August 9, 2010] Actual United flight experience. Flew UA #897 from BOS to IAD. Was not able to check in online, tried curbside, unable to check in. Went inside the airport, stood in line, United employee was not able to check me in, put me back in the line apologizing for doing that to a 1k. The fourth person was able to check me in, did not get First Class, did not get the exit row, did not get United Economy Plus, sigh. We were late, some sort of mechanical where they "rebooted" some part of the Airbus. I try to never stress over being late because the majority of the time I make my connection. Sure enough, when we got to Dulles, we found our connecting flight UA #7994 was also late. Made our way to the C gates. At that point the flight was even later, and then later. Apparently there was weather in Chicago. The line at customer service was not too bad about 20 people in the C gates area at any one time.
[August 8, 2010] Bloomberg and others report a United flight from London made an emergency evacuation after smoke was observed on the underside with most attention on the landing gear. Three people were slightly injured, two women hurt ankles and a man had chest pains. Etravel reports United extending deal with Travelport (travel agency) for two more years. Human Interest story, I have not yet verified the accuracy, of Air Canada breaking a dying boy's wheelchair and not fixing. Bloomberg has upgraded UAL's debt, yayyyy, I need United to keep flying. Blogger talks about why she hates United, "I loathe United Airlines with the fervor of 500-some burning forest fires. Their flight attendants are, hands down, the rudest I have ever encountered." OK, tell us how you really feel. Another blogger says you can get cheap fares to Australia, but the blogpost is undated, I am sure it was true at some point.
[July 30/31, 2010] AJC posts United offering $140 one way fares to various western cities, wish I had known that. Flew UA 66 from Lihue (LIH) to LAX 7/30. Ten minutes late departure passengers could not seem to get their bags in the overhead bins, decent service, had the Sezchuan Beef instead of the Citrus Chicken. Movie was Date Night (I have seen it on United twice now). Pilot tried to make up the time, but when we got to LAX there was no where for the plane to do. Boarding for UA was at 10 P.M. most of the shopts were closed, completely full flight. The sign said you could only have one carry-on. The announcer said "according to FAA regulations you can only have one carry-on, a small item like a purse or laptop"; is that a change or was he blowing smoke? After all that they did not enforce it, lots of people in seating area 3 and 4 had three carry-on items or more. Turkey Panini sandwich snack, movie was Last Song, I had been wanting to see that and will say that it drew me in. American Airlines settled a class action suit for price fixing; say it isn't so. Looks like they have the dots of their eyes on the United Continental merger agreement. Wall Street Journal on airline economy, this is way past my pay grade. More related WSJ includes a blog post on flying pasties to shield your private parts from body scanners and were the good ol' days of flying that good.
[July 28, 2010] AP reports just released government data says airline prices are going up, hey, I could have told them that! June 2009 - June 2010 18% increase, good thing there is no inflation. Aviation Week says, United Airlines’ CFO Kathryn Mikells and President John Tague will leave the company if the proposed merger with Continental Airlines, currently being considered by the U.S. Department of Justice, is approved. The article goes on to say who will be taking the leadership positions in the new company. Several news outlets say the Aviation Safety Bill is close to passing. The families of ill fated Continental 3407 are some of the strongest proponents of the bill. The bill raises the experience requirement to be a captain from 250 hours to 1,500 hours. Bloomberg points out this may make it harder to hire pilots for regionals.
[July 27, 2010] Another smoke in cockpit emergency landing. Guess that is two for the month for United. Airlines are not going to roll back fees for everything, that is hardly a surprise, United and American between them collected 1.8 Billion dollars. Blog says they are going to charge for traveling with pets, here is the United fee schedule. Huffington Post reports Sen. Charles Schumer wants to implement stiff fines for preparing airline food in unsanitary conditions. According to the article, "The FDA has cited LSG Sky Chefs, Gate Gourmet and Flying Food Group for having poor sanitary conditions in their kitchens, including reported sightings of mice, roaches and listeria." CNN reports, "Schumer, D-New York, said he personally contacted officials at American Airlines, Delta Airlines, JetBlue, United Airlines and US Airways, and secured commitments from all five companies." not to charge for luggage stored in overhead bins. Chicago Tribune broke the story of " the fourth-grader, who was flying alone from his father's home near San Francisco and waiting for a connecting flight to meet his mother in Ottawa, was forgotten by United Airlines' workers." and missed his flight. Someone is going to be looking for a new job I guess. Bloomberg: Delta is making a run against the United Chicago - New York shuttle. United/Continental are deciding who is going to be in charge. Bloomberg: merger approved by European Union. Another post about GetThere selling United Economy Plus seats, I can feel the back of the plane getting closer. Interesting, probably wrong assertion that Carrol's United Breaks Guitars cost United $180 Million based on stock priced drop, well they have made it back up by now, what do we attribute that to? Mediabistro: The New York Observer has tapped Aaron Gell, former editor in chief of United Airlines in-flight magazine Hemispheres. Singapore Airlines posts a whopping profit ( I like United, but I have always wanted to experience Singapore).
[July 23, 2010] Heads roll at American Airlines, can't lag behind the other airlines in profit and keep your job. Not sure what this next article is really going to mean, but you should read it. Some company called GetThere is going to start selling United Economy Plus seats through the Sabre network. I think that means some of us will be flying further back in the plane. United is dropping the prices on flights from SLO San Luis Obispo to LAX, I guess some competitor was walking away with all the business. Washington Post Blog, wearing your seat belt reduces risk of turbulence risk, so very, very true. I suspect there are some unhappy campers right now, I was trying to book a flight and the United web site was not working right and they were experiencing a high call rate, storms late yesterday must have had a trickle down effect today and flightstats shows Chicago as the chokepoint. Not seeing a lot of complaints from the Twitterverse though.
[July 21, 2010] Why didn't I think of that? ZDNet blog suggests if you are using your iPhone as your boarding pass, to take a screen shot of the boarding pass. To take a screenshot on an iPhone, hit the sleep and home keys and the image appears in your images folder. UAL 967 (IAD - LAX) encountered severe turbulence over the midwest and had to be diverted to Denver, there were injuries, Denver channel says 26 passengers, 4 crew and they have a great blow by blow if you want gory details. You will see it on my blog many times: never take turbulence lightly, tighten that seat belt when the bumps start. Here is an interesting article, should airlines return to a regulated status. I hate to get political, but Congress seems to have enough trouble passing legislation, trying to run insurance companies, financial companies and car companies hasn't worked out that well so far. I do not like everything the airlines do or charge, but they do a pretty good job of getting me from point A to point B without the government's help.
[July 20, 2010] Washington Post Article on near collisions. Sobering, three events in 8 weeks, two of them involved small aircraft, the last is clearly an air traffic controller failure. There is a related article here, the key appears to be that all the air traffic controllers hired when President Regan took on the union are having to retire ( 56 years of age or 25 years of service). Worse, there is a pay freeze so there is no incentive for experienced controllers to leave regional airports and work the complex airports like Chicago. Finally got around to reading the ATSB report on the March 2010 EMB-120ER Brasilia training check flight mishap in Australia. I think I must agree with their conclusions that shutting down an engine on takeoff is best practiced in a simulator. In this case, both pilots were killed and the plane destroyed. On the financial side of things, United Airlines profit exceeded analyst expectations with $273 million in profits, best quarter in three years. Part of that is staff reductions, they have 2.7% less employees, UAL now employs 46,200 and leaner staffing is a trend across the industry. American Airlines /One World has been granted immunity from anti-trust, so you can expect to start to see larger players in the industry especially as the United Continental merger completes.
[July 19, 2010] Read one of those "on this day in history" about the heroic work to save as many as possible on the ill fated DC 10 July 19, 1989 that had a catastrophic failure in the tail destroying all hydraulics. The pilots managed to actually put the plane on the ground more or less on the runway simply by adjusting the engine speed. Here is the story. A Boeing 787 Dreamliner took off from Seattle and did a fly by at the famous Farnborough Airshow followed by a landing. United Airlines already has 25 orders for the jet. Five are already in the air in testflight mode. They are now expecting the Dreamliner to ship in early 2011. On the financial side Delta stocks went down after announcing second-quarter profit that beat Wall Street estimates, but revenue fell short of expectations. United is expected to announce earnings tomorrow.
[July 15, 2010] Happy 94th birthday Boeing! Great article with a short history of Boeing, I just drove by Boeing field a couple times last week while relocating to the Seattle Tacoma area. And of course, Boeing has a ton of history on their web site. Wall Street Journal article saying airlines are going to have a profitable quarter, not just reasonable fuel prices, SEATAC airport was packed out last week, people are flying. A bid for $17M has been accepted to renovate the west concourse (United and Southwest) at Tulsa. They say they can do it in 550 days, we will see! @UnitedAirlines, United's Social Media experiment is about to hit 100k followers, wow!
[July 14, 2010] Another customer service black eye, putting passengers through a walk of shame? @unitedairlines tweets that they are looking into the incident, but passengers waiting to board a United branded flight from Burlington to Washington are singled out by a gate attendant (and it is announced on loud speaker) and bumped from the plane because they paid discounted fares. In economic news, it's interesting to note that United, under the umbrella of Star Alliance, wants to expand service in China, especially Shanghai; makes sense, since China's plans include building 97 new airports.
[July 7, 2010] A military family frequent long distance flier gives a very enlightening description of United Airlines employees giving either very bad customer service, or downright rude attitude. I'm amazed at his calm description of some very disturbing behavior by gate and flight service staff, on an ill-fated trip from Singapore to Baltimore.
[June 29, 2010] The United/Continental Merger 2010, more talk: A suit was filed today in an attempt to block the United/Continental merger; attorney Joseph Alioto, who filed the case in San Francisco's US District Court claims he represents U.S. consumers and small businesses and that the proposed merger would restrain airline competition at the expense of the consumer.
[June 17, 2010] A United Express airplane skidded off the runway in rainy conditions at the Ottawa International Airport this week; they don't know the reason(s) yet, but certainly the pilots did an outstanding job of (eventually) stopping the plane, with injuries only to the two pilots and one passenger! And, American Airlines has joined United, Southwest and Europe's Ryanair with their latest airline fee that gives passengers the chance for early boarding; that is one privilege United 1k members and other airlines' VERY frequent fliers get as part of their percs, and I am usually happy for that since standing in long lines can really chew up time and energy. This is an interesting possibility, since I still haven't gotten a chance to fly on one: consolidation may bring the A380 to U.S. airlines, but many are skeptical.
The United/Continental Merger 2010, more talk: United Airlines and Continental Airlines feel the merge is neccessary to compete with low-cost and foreign carriers, and the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA-CWA) is asking for more employee protection.
[June 14, 2010] A new service partnership has been agreed to by United Airlines and Beyond Sports; Beyond Sports "develops and funds the use of sport to drive positive social change across the world", I am not really a sports fan, but I like the sound of their goals. According to a survey by Embassy Suites, business travelers are on the move again, with some flying coach and others sharing rooms while on travel to cut back on expenses.
[June 9, 2010] Continental Airlines shareholders are suing in hopes of getting a better price than what United Airlines offered in its merger deal. Delta Air Lines on Tuesday began operating flights between Osaka and Seattle, reopening the route closed by Northwest Airlines in 2001. Investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS have been advised that United Airlines parent company, UAL (Nasdaq: UAUA), has received the Fool's dreaded one-star ranking.
[June 4, 2010] United Airlines is working with NAV Canada to conduct two trans-Atlantic flights using state-of-the-art flight planning to reduce environmental impact and save fuel, however there are skeptics who believe this is not new. And, United seems to still have buying power, they recently finalized an order of 25 Boeing 787’s, with the option to buy 50 more.
Might be fun to see how this works - United now offers customers more choices for free music, up to 21 separate playlists from Microsoft's Zune.
[June 1, 2010] A Senate committee is hearing the pros and cons of the United/Continental Merger and they are going to enter it with an "open mind," according to Senator Kohl.
More fliers are packing lighter and deciding that it's smarter to save when flying. It's not something one can get by with at every airport - some, such as United at SFO, are closely monitoring carry-on luggage; this guy had to go back and pay a $25 fee because his carry-on was slightly larger than 45 inches.
One blogger describes how airlines are lobbying against a bill before the Senate that would bring funds to the FAA by raising the passenger facility charge (PFC) caps from $4.50 to $7 per segment. "After swilling down profits from ancillary fees of $25 or more per passenger, airlines have the gall to protest $2.50 that would fund capital projects such as runway improvements, safety improvements and equipment purchases by airports." On the other hand, a colleague of that blogger says the airlines are doing passengers a favor by complaining, he sees a difference between the airlines' fees (somewhat optional) and taxes (required).
[May 29, 2010] I read one observer's suggestions for finding least (or less) expensive air travel that highlight the need for flexibility of travel dates due to airlines creating "peak travel surcharges" instead of raising fares, while it is also recommended in a Seattle Times article to search for less traveled airports and avoid checking baggage if you want to pay less to travel by air. And, I've been trying to follow the recent story of the woman who was sleeping when her Trans States Airlines flight landed in Philadelphia and was left locked inside the plane because the flight crew didn't see her when they left. Apparently, a cleaning crew later boarded and found the passenger still asleep, but because of anti-terrorist procedures they did not wake her and left her locked in the plane until law enforcement could be present. Ginger McClure, the sleeping passenger, has decided to sue the airline for false imprisonment, among other reasons.
[May 26, 2010] In real time yesterday, there were differing web reports about injuries from excessive turbulence for passengers and crew members of a United Airlines flight from London LHR to Los Angeles LAX, diverted to Montreal; the last report I can find available on the internet is that 1 flight attendant and 9 passengers were injured, a crew member and 1 of the passengers quite seriously. However, today there are no discussions or formal announcements - shows how quickly we move to "new" news. As I have said before, seatbelts fastened while in flight are key to your safety.