Aircomplane.com™

When Conventional Airline Maintenance isn’t Enough.

Reuters reports today that Nepal Airlines, encountering pesky technical difficulties with a Boeing 757 aircraft, sacrificed two goats to appease the Hindu sky god Akash Bhairab. We are not kidding.

Surprisingly, belligerent passengers were apparently not available.

Read it here.

The Travel Agent - Friends of the Flyer

Over the years, many of us have seen the evolution of the business of air travel. What used to be a service industry gave way to the clicks and tricks of “efficiency” and cyber-progress.

The Internet is an interesting corporate litmus test. Its applications for commerce are endless -- and so seemingly are short-sighted executions.

Somewhere along the line, many of the airlines thought it would be a good idea to offer flights click-click-click like buying books at Amazon. Wow…talk about moving away from service at warp speed.

Well, the Roaming Gnome and promises of cyber-solutions notwithstanding, don’t overlook the power of the travel agent. If you find one with some buying power and balls, you may have some recourse at the concourse. Remember, you’re often dealing with a Destination Dominatrix, er, gate attendant, so stack the deck in your favor. Some guidelines to consider:

1. Select a REAL travel agent. Membership in the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) should be a minimum qualification. Avoid the amateurs who hang a shingle in their club basement so THEY get travel discounts. (If you hear a dog or a parakeet in the background or they ask to place you on hold while they take a call about their blowing league schedule, hang up.)
2. Take some time and read some travel agency websites. See what they’re about and how they offer to help if things get sticky. The 10 minutes you spend doing that may prevent two weeks in a Turkish prison. (OK, you’ll also need a lawyer, but a travel agent can help, too.) Everyone gets bumped, overbooked at a hotel, or misses a connection. Think about who you want on the other end of the phone when you need help.
3. If you do use a website to book your travel, select one that is in some way affiliated with a travel agent. Keep it HUMAN. We’re reminded about the pretty brilliant income tax preparation commercials now on the airwaves about the beaten-down husband facing his wife’s wrath over using software to do their taxes. The audit letter comes. The wife says “Oh, that’s right. We don’t have people. We used a box. Why don’t we ask the box?” Have people. Consider a humanless travel-booking website the box.
4. And if you’re in business and have control over such things, don’t leave booking your company’s travel to Ruthie the Intern, a Google search, and a company credit card. Your people are on the road (and in the air, eventually) to make your company money. THINK about that BEFORE they leave the ground. A corporate travel agency may cost you a few bucks in fees, but losing Rodger-your-lead-closer in La Guardia for a few days will cost you more.

So here’s the bottom line: You have to travel. You will face many if not all of the problems Aircomplane.com was founded to highlight and help you solve. You will encounter confrontations with the airlines. It is you against them. (OK, Aircomplane.com and you against them). Have a travel agent on your side. A truly experienced and qualified agent will speak fluent arrogance and idiocy – two of the languages necessary to communicate with the airlines on your behalf.

Welcome Home...we hope.

Your Spite Attendants at Aircomplane.com hope you had nothing but smooth, uneventful, humane airline travels over the past week. If what the major media was reporting is any indication, however, we think not. Denver and those going through it or over it seems to have been particularly challenging.

Now, Aircomplane.com cannot help with any weather-related challenges and problems that may have surfaced during your flights, but we CAN continue to be your forum and advocate if certain situations were handled poorly and disrespectfully. We suspect that now with everyone landing, most of the situations and related follow up will now surface. If we're right, and if you have something to contribute about your treatment, its resolution, or how we might be able to help, contact us! And remember, there are a number of complaint forms and other resources here for you. Use them!

 

Washington Post Merger Article

Aircomplane.com realizes that not everyone who is potentially affected by airline news has time to source and read all that is printed about the airline industry. Therefore, we will post relevant articles here as they become known to us. Please feel free to suggest any that you encounter.

Del Quentin Wilber of The Washington Post recently wrote an article on December 13, 2006 on the possibility of a Continental Airlines and United Airlines Merger. You can take a look at Mr. Wilber's article here: "Continental, United Discussing Merger: More Industry Consolidation Possible."

(NOTE: Many publications, The Washington Post included, offer "Comments" areas following the online versions of their articles. Please take a moment and let your thoughts be known there, too.)

Thanks, tell a friend, keep Aircomplane.com relevant.

Thank you for your continued positive comments and feedback. For those of you who haven’t had an opportunity to review some of the links related to the pending airline mergers, please do in the posting below. The SEC and other information may affect you in a number of ways. If anyone feels we overlooked something and we can research and post it for you, please e-mail us or post a comment at the end of this one. We will respond.

Also, thanks to contributors and sponsors who’ve contacted us. Although this is truly a labor of spite, that support keeps us going. Any individuals, businesses, or organizations interested in learning more about sharing in our visibility, check this out.

We’ll be launching our inaugural Aircomplane.com™ newsletter shortly. We know everyone gets more e-crap than they know what to do with, so we promise it will be brief, concise, interesting, and relevant. There’s a “Subscribe me” box off to the right.

Special thanks to Bob Sirott and his “One More Thing” program on NBC5 in Chicago. His program this week features not only Aircomplane.com™, but some remarkable lost luggage and (NOT!) “on-time” coverage. Our favorite is the one he describes as mentioned in the Wall Street Journal this week regarding American Airlines flight 1914 from Chicago to Newark. It was reported last month to only be on time only 14% of the time -- with an average delay of 67 minutes. Watch the video featuring Aircomplane.com here. And if you’re in Chicago, catch Bob Sirott on NBC5!

 

AIRLINE MERGERS AND YOU: Sleeping with the Enemy...or at least moving in.

(This Aircomplane.com blog entry originally posted on December 13, 2006.)

We know that our Aircomplane.com™  readers are a pretty well-read and sophisticated audience, so we won’t pretend for a second that we in any way “broke” the story surrounding the potential mergers, takeovers or other high-flying drama taking place within the airline industry. But we know you are all busy (ironically) sitting in an airport somewhere, so we will give you a rundown based on news reports as of this morning:

• Of the six major airlines now in operation (and many needing one), three may soon be gone.
• Consider the US Airways bid for Delta last month.
• UAL, United’s parent (think more the Osbournes rather than the Cleavers) was in talks with Continental Airlines.
• And even the “discount” airlines are getting in on the action with AirTran’s reported hostile bid for its competitor, Midwest Express.

Now, if any of you happen to have one or more of those airlines on your credit card statements, travel itinerary or worse, frequent flyer cards in your wallet, you may want to start thinking about how to protect yourselves.

What’s fascinating about all of this is that with the general oligolopolistic control so few have over airline travel, one would think they would be better at extorting profits from the public and ACTUALLY MAKING MONEY. If Enron taught us anything, it’s that someone is.

Anyway, as your Aircomplane.com Spite Crew, we are here to help you, not [ahem] speculate wildly. So here is what we suggest:

If you are a shareholder or have a history, relationship, flyer miles, or any other connection to a specific airline involved in this latest drama, go to the websites of the airlines that might be affected. We’ll make that easy for you. They are here:

• USAirways www.usairways.com     
  • Link to merger information including letter from Doug Parker, President/CEO
• Delta www.delta.com     
  • Link to November 17, 2006 SEC Filing We had to plug “USAirways” into the Delta search box to find this.
  • Delta does offer this section on its restructuring and bankruptcy
• United www.united.com     
  • Link to SEC Filings including current “Statement of changes in beneficial ownership of securities” 
• Continental www.continental.com     
  • Investor Relations (with sub-link to SEC filings)
• AirTran www.airtran.com     
  • Link to Press Room with Midwest press releases
  • Link to Investor Relations page with webcast on Midwest and names and contact       information for your questions
  • Airtran’s SEC filing for Midwest Please see the 12.13.06 filing. It includes this old chestnut (Or since it’s an airline, perhaps it’s a peanut). “The combination of AirTran Airways and Midwest Airlines would create a truly national low cost airline with pro- forma revenue of approximately $3.0 billion in 2007. AirTran believes that both      companies would benefit from this merger by building greater scale, efficiencies and growth opportunities to better succeed in the face of an increasingly competitive airline environment.”
• Midwest Express www.midwestairlines.com
  -Here's the letter from Midwest Chairman, CEO, and President Timothy E. Hoeksema, to Airtran's Chairman & CEO Joseph P. Leonard. It's called  “Midwest Air Group Confirms Receipt of Unsolicited, Highly Conditional Expression of Interest”

 o SEC filings page  Also see 12.13.06 filing

 
Keep an eye on their “news” and customer pages, and don’t hesitate to check in with their press offices. Look for how they are going to address the issues that concern you. Yes, much of this may be preliminary, but you have a vested interest. Show it! Demand to be kept informed about your “assets” and interests – including frequent flyer miles. You can Google search here from our Aircomplane.com home page and monitor such terms as “airline mergers,” and “airline takeovers.” Use the Google “News Alert” feature to be notified when something on these airlines hits the Internet (which is what we use).

And, please feel free to POST your concerns here on Aircomplane.com™ . If you don’t see a main posting concerning your topic or question, just e-mail us, and we’ll put it up for you. We've made it easier to do so with the links on the right as well. Chances are many of you are asking the same questions and have the same concerns. You are the reason that Aircomplane.com™ exists.

 

Additional Weather Travel Information

As promised, we've been trying to narrow down on some of the most direct and helpful weather travel news resources that we can. Here are a few - please feel free to suggest any others that you find helpful:

www.fly.faa.gov/flyfaa/usmap.jsp - Flight Delay Information.  Air Traffic Control System Command Center. Our tax dollars at work, and in a good way. Nice job - bookmark this if you travel regularly.

www.weatherbonk.com - Aircomplane.com blogger Rob recommended this to us. It's intuitive, current, and offers a great deal of information in an appealing format.

www.nws.noaa.gov - National Weather Service. See posting below.

www.weather.com - The Weather Channel. Great website address, great channel.

www.cnn.com - Has invested a great deal of time and space on national travel conditions and weather updates. 
 

Acts of God and NOAA's Ark

For most of the county, we’ve had relatively smooth weather as it relates to airports and flying. It appears now, however, that Old Man Winter is upon many of us.  Aircomplane.com™ would like to provide you with as much direct access as possible to current, straightforward weather information so that you can make informed decisions about safe and realistic travel plans.

 We’re still digging, so to speak, but you may want to consider keeping an eye on this link at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's website http://www.nws.noaa.gov/. It is very user friendly and likely to be some of the most current and reliable information in the country.

(You may want to bookmark it in your browser and share it with your offices and families so that even if it is slightly off, those on the other end expecting you will at least be working from the same information.) Also, check out the suggestion Rob sent us last night in the Comments section below. Thanks, Rob. 

If anyone has any other recommendations for travelers, including the most effective ways to deal with cancellations, accommodations, tickets, and safety, please either post them as a Comment at the end of this posting or send them to us at info@aircomplane.com and we will conduct some due diligence and post the most helpful suggestions.

And if any airlines or airports would care to share any information that would help airline travelers to get through difficult weather situations together, please let us know. We will make this information a top priority during difficult travel times. Thanks.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Well, the eye of the travel hurricane is above most of us. We at Aircomplane.com™ hope you are all safely where you're supposed to be. The storm returns to shore Sunday when we all begin the long journey back, and we look forward to hearing from you and helping when we can. Stay safe and try not to check your luggage!

I hadn't even left the ground yet and...

Yes, it all starts here. The airport. Whether you have a complaint about parking, ticketing, baggage check, or WAITING(!!) - talk about it here. (Look, security measures are important, so be realistic about those things the airlines are doing to protect everyone.)

But otherwise, have at it! What do the airlines and your fellow travelers need to know about your, ahem, experience. We may have a contest...