Archives: March 2010

Southwest Airlines: Angling for Access at LaGuardia and National

Posted by: Justin Bachman on March 26

What if your company were allowed to select its competitors? An aggressive upstart could be dispatched in favor of competing against a plodding, bureaucratic rival that doesn’t watch its...

Why the New EU-U.S. Open Skies Accord Leaves Europeans Grimacing

Posted by: Justin Bachman on March 25

The United States and European Union on Thursday announced an accord for the second phase of the 2007 Open Skies treaty that opened the EU to U.S. airlines. The...

A First-Class Sales Innovation from United

Posted by: Justin Bachman on March 24

United served up an interesting promotion today to move first-class inventory around the Easter weekend, offering a $419 round-trip fare for first class seats between Chicago and Los Angeles, San...

Continental Scraps the Free Food

Posted by: Justin Bachman on March 15

And another one bites the dust: No more free food on Continental Airlines. The company said Monday it will begin selling food to economy-class travelers on domestic flights this fall,...

Why I Don’t Want a Child Talking to My Pilot

Posted by: Justin Bachman on March 10

The recent case of a young boy speaking to airplane crews at JFK International Airport produced a rather passionate response here and elsewhere. Many readers consider this a case where...

Continental Boss Raises the Flight Cancellation Bogeyman

Posted by: Justin Bachman on March 09

Continental Airlines' chief, Jeff Smisek, offered a rare public CEO tantrum on Tuesday at a J.P. Morgan investor conference. He was asked about the general tone in Washington toward...

Continental Sells the Exit Row; Are You Fit For It?

Posted by: Justin Bachman on March 05

Continental Airlines took a new step this week to boost revenue, announcing that it will sell exit row seats starting on March 17. “Seats with additional legroom are higher-value seats,...

Freddie's Dead, and Airline Mileage Fanatics Mourn

Posted by: Justin Bachman on March 04

The most prominent annual recognition for hotel and frequent flier programs, the Freddie Awards, has ended after 21 years. Randy Petersen, the publisher of Inside Flyer magazine, who started...

The NYC Air Traffic Control Kid and Aviation Professionalism

Posted by: Justin Bachman on March 03

The Federal Aviation Administration has suspended all “unofficial visits" to its air traffic control centers after a boy was allowed to speak with planes at New York’s John F. Kennedy...

JFK: Close a Runway and Charge More?

Posted by: Justin Bachman on March 02

The closure of a runway at Kennedy International Airport this week has been accompanied with a respectable dose of angst about worse flight delays at an airport that already...