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HOUSTON, Sept. 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Continental Airlines (NYSE: CAL) today announced a $15 service fee for the first checked bag for certain customers who purchase economy-class tickets. The service fee will not apply to EliteAccess customers, including those seated in First or BusinessFirst, OnePass Elite and SkyTeam Elite members, customers traveling on full-fare economy (Y) class tickets, or military personnel and their families traveling on official orders. The policy will apply immediately for tickets purchased for destinations within the U.S., and between the U.S. and Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Canada for travel commencing on or after Oct....

Airlines were urged yesterday to implement safety measures to reduce the risk of ice restricting fuel flow, after the crash of a British Airways jet at Heathrow earlier this year. A report, the fifth to be released by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) into the incident, concluded that the crash, on January 17, was probably caused by ice within the fuel-feed system. Now the AAIB wants aviation regulators to introduce interim measures for all Boeing 777s powered by Rolls-Royce Trent 800 engines to prevent a similar incident. It also wants watchdogs to consider the implications of the findings for...

United Airlines has said that it will not end free meals in coach class on international flights, as announced earlier this summer. The carrier had said it would trial a program on transatlantic flights from Washington Dulles International Airport, in which travelers in coach class would be charged for food, and meals in Business and First Classes would be free......

Fox says there is an AA plane circling LAX with a blown tire, burning fuel before it attempts an emergency landing.

It has been 25 years since Korean Airlines Flight 007, carrying 269 passengers and crew, including Congressman Larry McDonald of Georgia, was fired on by a Soviet fighter jet off the coast of Siberia. At the time, McDonald was chairman of the John Birch Society (a subsidiary of which publishes THE NEW AMERICAN). Although several speakers eulogized McDonald at a Washington, D.C., memorial service 10 days following the September 1, 1983 attack, the words most remembered by both this magazine’s editor, Gary Benoit, and this writer were delivered by the late Senator Jesse Helms, who passed away on July 4....

Russian, Delta Jets Nearly Collide Over Caribbean WASHINGTON (AP) ― Federal authorities say two airliners were a minute away from colliding when they turned away from each other over the Caribbean this week. The National Transportation Safety Board says the Delta Air Lines flight and a Russian-registered passenger jet were heading toward each other north of Puerto Rico on Thursday when cockpit alarms went off. In a statement Friday, the NTSB says the pilot of the Russian plane -- a Transaero Boeing 737 -- descended 200 to 300 feet to avoid Delta Flight 485. The planes were 33,000 feet over...

MONTREAL - An Air France Boeing 747 skidded off the runway at Montreal's Trudeau International airport after it landed Tuesday afternoon. Early indications are there were no serious injuries and video of the airplane shows no signs of major damage, Montreal police confirmed. Emergency vehicles surrounded the jumbo jet at the airport as crews worked around the aircraft, which was stuck in the grass beside the runway. The airport remains open and television footage shows planes continuing to take off and land. More to come © Canwest News Service 2008

I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes "The database used by the government to generate lists like the No-Fly List is 'crippled by technical flaws,' according to the chairman of a House technology oversight subcommittee. And the upgrade may be worse than the original. Rep. Brad Miller (D-NC) says that 'if actually deployed, [the upgrade] will leave our country more vulnerable than the existing yet flawed system in operation today.' It seems that the current database doesn't have any easy way to do plain-text matching, forcing users to enter SQL queries. That might not sound so bad until you learn...

Antonia Martinez Jimenez, 27, has told relatives that she normally sat at the back of the plane during take-off and landing, but on the ill-fated flight to Gran Canaria last Wednesday she was rostered to sit up front in seat 1E. All the other 17 survivors of the crash were sitting in the rows around her, and when the plane broke apart on impact, most were propelled out of the wreckage and away from the subsequent explosion that engulfed it. In a further stroke of good fortune, they landed in a stream where the water shielded them from the blistering...

You KNEW This Was Coming... In an announcement likely to surprise absolutely no one, pilots for United Airlines are against the carrier's latest, desperate move to raise cash. In a statement issued Wednesday, the pilots say they "strongly oppose" the airline's plans to drastically change its onboard meal service by raising prices for food and drink on most flights and by discontinuing complimentary meal service on many flights to and from Europe, affecting both economy and business class passengers. As ANN reported, United claims rising fuel costs require these changes... but the pilots say the real reason may be to...

Announces Latest Missteps In Never-Ending Race To Bottom Of CSI Rankings Attention, US Airways: it appears you have some serious competition for the title of Stingiest Major US Carrier. Starting next month, United Airlines will stop handing out free pretzels and cookies to coach fliers across North America... and will even drop free meal service in business class on most flights. "In the wake of high fuel prices and a challenging economic environment, we must continue to examine every aspect of our business and find new ways to improve our day-to-day operations through efficiencies that still meet our customers' expectations,"...

No more free lunch. United Airlines Drops Free Snacks In Coach And So Much More... The San Francisco Chronicle is reporting that United Airlines will no longer offer free snacks in coach starting September 2nd. They are also dropping complimentary meals in business class except for "premium transcontinental flights from San Francisco and Los Angeles to New York." Shockingly, this move coincides with the airlines' expansion of their "buy-on-board" food offerings, says the Chronicle. The adjustments are outlined in an internal United Airlines memo that was distributed to flight attendants Monday and obtained by The Chronicle. The changes are all...

Damaged TAT Probes On Nine Jets While Conducting 'Security Checks' They're the government... and remember, they're here to help. A bumbling inspector with the Transportation Safety Administration apparently has some explaining to do, after nine American Eagle regional jets were grounded at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport on Tuesday. Citing sources within the aviation industry, ABC News reports an overzealous TSA employee attempted to gain access to the parked aircraft by climbing up the fuselage... reportedly using the Total Air Temperature (TAT) probes mounted to the planes' noses as handholds. "The brilliant employees used an instrument located just below the cockpit...

Northwest Airlines announced it will waive the fee for a third checked bag by military personnel traveling on NWA and Airlink flights in its continued support of military efforts around the world. Effective Friday, military personnel traveling on orders domestically or internationally may check up to three bags, up to 70 pounds each, at no fee. If military passengers are not on orders, then the regular luggage fees apply. Excess luggage fees will apply if military luggage is over 70 pounds. The decision comes the same day that Delta Airlines announced it would waive all excess baggage fees for active...

DEVELOPING — Federal aviation authorities accused American Airlines on Thursday of safety violations and problems with its drug and alcohol testing, which carry potential penalties of up to $7.1 million.Among the violations, the Federal Aviation Administration alleges that American last December improperly deferred maintenance work on safety-related equipment when returning two aircraft to service after pilots had reported problems. The planes then flew 58 times, according to the FAA.

LAX: Air India's departure is part of a slate of expected cuts. Air India will withdraw its three weekly round-trip flights from Los Angeles International Airport in September, signaling a trend that finds more overseas carriers cutting service amid record-high fuel prices. Tuesday's announcement comes as international air carriers are expected to slash 213 weekly takeoffs and landings at LAX by November, an 11 percent drop compared to the same period last year. As a result, 33,452 fewer seats will be available to airline passengers each week by late fall, an 8.4 percent drop from last year, according to data...

Tue, Aug. 12, 2008 American Airlines has truth on its side, still gets beaten up By TREBOR BANSTETTER tbanstetter@star-telegram.com It sounds like another of those "greedy airline" stories that are always so popular around the water cooler: American Airlines is forcing soldiers heading to combat duty in Iraq to pay baggage fees for checking duffel bags loaded with military equipment. It’s a great story, except that it’s largely untrue. (snip)

Expect airlines to keep fleecing us FIRST it was fuel. Next it was baggage. Then it was soft drinks and water. And now it’s blankets and pillows. Just when it seemed like airlines were running out of things to charge more for, along comes news that passengers on JetBlue, an American airline, will now have to pay for blankets and pillows on flights that last more than a couple of hours. Times are undoubtedly tough in the airline industry, which is struggling to cope with high oil prices and the related fallout. Rumours of efficiency-boosting alliances are rife, including a...

American Airlines is charging troops for their extra baggage, a practice that forces soldiers heading for a war zone in Iraq to try to get reimbursement from the military. One of the country's largest veterans groups is asking the aviation industry to drop the practice immediately. American, which recently charged two soldiers from Texas $100 and $300 for their extra duffel bags, said it gives the military a break on the cost for excess luggage and that the soldiers who incur the fees are reimbursed. (snip) Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) spokesman Joseph Davis said service members destined for Iraq...

LOS ANGELES (August 7, 2008) – Rentech, Inc. (AMEX:RTK) today announced that the Company has successfully produced synthetic fuels at its Product Demonstration Unit (PDU) in Commerce City, Colorado. Rentech’s PDU is the only synthetic fuels facility in the United States today producing transportation fuels. The facility is designed to produce approximately 420 gallons per day of synthetic jet and diesel fuels and demonstrates the successful design, construction and operation of a fully-integrated synthetic fuels facility utilizing the Rentech Process. D. Hunt Ramsbottom, President and CEO of Rentech, said “The initial production run of ultra clean synthetic fuels at our...

Fate of Delta-Northwest Airlines link-up now rests chiefly with US regulators. The European Commission has approved Delta Airlines’ bid to buy Northwest Airlines, a deal that could create the world’s largest airline company. In a statement on 7 August, the Commission said the deal “would not significantly impede effective competition in the European Economic Area (EEA) or any substantial part of it”. Air passenger services between European the US are “mainly complementary” as the two airlines have hubs in different US cities, the Commission said. Overlapping routes are limited to Amsterdam-Atlanta, Amsterdam-New York, and Paris-Detroit. The EU’s competition authorities also...

A packed holiday jet flew across the Atlantic despite a passenger finding a note claiming there was a bomb on board. The terrified holidaymaker found the hand-written note in a toilet only 20 minutes into the flight from the Dominican Republic to Newcastle International Airport. He immediately alerted a stewardess and, when two more notes were discovered, the pilot left the cockpit to see for himself. He decided the notes were a hoax and decided to continue with the scheduled flight rather than divert to the nearest airport.

The Federal Aviation Administration has fined Victoria Osteen, wife of Lakewood pastor Joel Osteen, $3,000 after determining she had interfered with a Continental Airlines crew member aboard a flight late last year. And this week, a flight attendant filed suit claiming she was assaulted by Victoria Osteen during that flight to Vail, Colo., for the Christmas holidays. Osteen has paid the penalty, which is not an admission of guilt. On the civil matter, Rusty Hardin, Osteen's attorney, called the lawsuit a "ridiculous" attempt to seek money from Osteen, whose husband is a best-selling author as well as the pastor of...

Can a crankiness land you in court? The case of Sandra Brown v. Victoria Osteen is the story of a chance encounter on an airplane that turned into a nasty legal battle. Osteen is the wife of popular self-help author and television minister Joel Osteen, who heads the Lakewood Church, Houston's largest congregation. Brown is a flight attendant for Continental Airlines. The lawsuit, filed in Harris County Civil Court in Houston, alleges that Victoria Osteen "shoved, grabbed and pulled the flight attendants." The suit goes on to claim that Osteen elbowed Brown, who was the flight manager, while allegedly trying...

JetBlue now charging for pillows on planes Mon Aug 4, 2008 12:21pm EDT NEW YORK (Reuters) - JetBlue Airways Corp, which made its name providing free television and leather seats on its flights, started charging passengers for pillows on Monday, marking the latest attempt by struggling airlines to claw back some of the cost of soaring fuel prices. The U.S. No. 7 carrier said it will no longer provide pillows, but passengers on flights longer than two hours can buy a pillow and blanket kit for $7, which the airline is touting as healthy and eco-friendly.

Delta Air Lines doubled the fee for checking a second bag on domestic flights to $50 each way, the most of any of the six biggest U.S. carriers, to defray record spending on jet fuel. Tuesday's move raises the bar again for baggage charges as the industry struggles with losses. United Airlines led its large peers in adopting a $25 second-bag fee Feb. 4. American Airlines went a step further in May by announcing a $15 charge for the first piece of luggage. Delta, the third-biggest U.S. airline, said the first checked bag on U.S. flights will still be free,...

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Plane hole 'not due to corrosion' Engineers have begun inspecting the damaged plane in Manila Qantas boss Geoff Dixon has denied corrosion caused a hole in the body of the plane that was forced to make an emergency landing in Manila.Safety engineers have begun examining the plane to establish the cause. More than 360 people were on board the flight when it was forced to land. They have since arrived back in Australia. Possible causes include corrosion or accidental external damage but Mr Dixon said preliminary checks showed corrosion was not the problem. The Qantas chief executive said he...

Safety concerns were raised as long ago as February about the Qantas aircraft that had to make an emergency landing after a 9ft hole opened up in its fuselage at 29,000 feet, it has emerged.

A GAPING hole which ripped through the belly of a jumbo jet mid-flight may have been caused by an explosive device or a damaged fuselage, aviation experts say. The packed Quantas Boeing 747 was forced to make an emergency landing in the Philippines today after the hole ripped through the plane’s belly. Some passengers were so terrified they vomited when oxygen masks has to be used as the Melbourne-bound flight touched down. Air expert David Learmount said: “It’s possible there was some kind of explosive device in the suitcases. There’s a hole where there shouldn’t be.” But Mr Learmount, who...

MANILA, Philippines — A Qantas flight en route to Australia from London made an emergency stop in Manila on Friday after a loud bang punched a hole in the Boeing 747-400's fuselage, officials and passengers said.

A MELBOURNE-BOUND Qantas jumbo jet plunged 20,000 feet today after a 1.5m hole in the fuselage caused a rapid decompression. Witnesses said there was a bang and a rush of wind before oxygen masks fell and the plane began an emergency descent. The plane was about 320km out of The Philippines capital Manila en route from Hong Kong when warning lights alerted pilots to the decompression in the cargo hold. “The aircraft had a rapid decompression and at the same time there's been some damage to the fuselage,” an Australian Transport Safety Bureau spokesman said. “As a result of the...

The Biz Flog for July 23 covers the cost of jet fuel to the airline industry. While reports like to use the phrase "nickel-and-dime" to describe airline fees, the real story about oil and airlines gets buried.

NEW YORK (MarketWatch)-- American Airlines said it expects to lay off about 1,300 aircraft mechanics and 200 management and support staff positions as it begins retiring its A300 fleet later this year.

Common sense is a trait that you don't normally associate with airlines, yet they have just enough to figure out they shouldn't be burning $167-a-barrel jet fuel to fly empty planes to nowhere. In mid-June Northwest Airlines subsidiary Mesaba Aviation gave notice it would terminate twice-daily service between its Minneapolis-St. Paul hub and Iron Mountain, Mich. (pop. 8,154). Even with $1.1 million annual subsidy from the feds to fly the route, it can't make a profit. Prudent move, except it can't stop flying without a nod from Department of Transportation, which is under orders from Congress to keep carriers serving...

You can almost touch the planes as they roar over Point Shirley in Winthrop on their way to Logan Airport. The passengers were checked for explosives before they got on, however, a growing concern is what could happen away from the airport: Terrorist firing a shoulder launched-missile just outside the airport's property. The light weight weapons are becoming and more available on the black market, as many as 150,000 are believed to be in circulation and can easily bring down a plane. But now American Airlines is flying with new defensive technology on some of its New York to Los...

The full-page ad inside Wednesday's edition of USA Today is as scary as it is unprecedented. The union representing more than five-thousand US Airways pilots accuses the airlines of threatening "termination of their careers" if pilots fail to "reduce fuel levels" "to save money." "Fuel is very critical to any mission. When you start varying the amount of fuel and getting it below a captain's comfort zone, that's why we have an issue here," said Capt. James Ray of the US Airline Pilots Association.

The FAA has offered an unprecedented $100,000 bonus to air-traffic controllers throughout the country to lure them to the New York area's five understaffed radar centers - and has even begun trolling local high schools to recruit for the jobs. The FAA began its recruitment efforts in high schools and through online ads on MySpace and Craigslist because of a severe staffing shortage and lack of experience among workers at its air-control towers.   (edit) By 2011, 59 percent of all controllers will have less than five years on the job.  

Terminal 5 came in for renewed criticism yesterday after it emerged that passengers transferring between planes at Heathrow's troubled new £4.3bn building are losing more than 900 bags a day. "Passengers will be surprised and disappointed to learn that there is still a one in 12 chance of losing their bags,"

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Hundreds of grounded planes. Thousands of lost jobs. Nearly two dozen price hikes. Record oil prices have battered the airline industry, and Wednesday the airlines called on Congress to act. In an open letter to all airline customers, CEOs from 12 of the nation's airlines said lawmakers must curb excessive speculation to scale back record fuel costs. "Normal market forces are being dangerously amplified by poorly regulated market speculation," the letter said. "The nation needs to pull together to reform the oil markets and solve this growing problem." The airline industry said that Congress' previously established...

WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- Expecting to lose an estimated $10 billion this year because of skyrocketing fuel costs, chief executives of the country's biggest airlines Wednesday resorted to begging their customers to press Congress for tougher regulation of energy markets.

AIRLINES are desperate. With jet fuel over $4 per gallon and still climbing, American, United and other major carriers are raising fares, cutting flights, trimming fleets and laying off pilots. They're also ordering fuel-efficient Boeing 787s and Airbus A350XWBs — the new generation of plastic planes. These new aircraft promise 20-percent-lower fuel consumption. Replacing heavier traditional aluminum alloys, 50 percent of their skins, panels and load-bearing structures are comprised of lighter, stiffer carbon-fiber-reinforced-plastic (CFRP) composites. Then add the latest, most fuel-efficient engine technology. Sounds good. But beneath these advantages danger lurks — novel maintenance challenges for which neither airlines nor...

Don’t blame a bird for the punch that the Northwest Airlines plane took in the nose on Sunday. Northwest is now examining the dented nose cone of a Boeing 757 jet that was damaged during a flight from Detroit to Tampa. Images snapped by passengers... show the front tip of the plane looking a bit like a beer cup smashed in after a football game. Kathleen Bergen, a spokeswoman for the F.A.A. in Atlanta, said pilots heard a bang when the plane was at 18,000 feet during its descent into Tampa. Its radar went out, prompting the crew to suspect...

Just when you thought you’ve heard it all... A senior government official with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has expressed great interest in a so-called safety bracelet that would serve as a stun device, similar to that of a police Taser®. According to this promotional video found at the Lamperd Less Lethal website, the bracelet would be worn by all airline passengers. This bracelet would: • take the place of an airline boarding pass • contain personal information about the traveler • be able to monitor the whereabouts of each passenger and his/her luggage • shock the wearer...

New York - America's aviation system could be at risk of collapsing by the beginning of next year. --snip- .. there is agreement among airline officials and analysts that Washington and the two presidential candidates need to recognize the severity of the crisis and take some action now to avert an economically crippling collapse in the near future. "Unless something is done to move toward some kind of fix, we're going to see every one of our major airlines in bankruptcy," says Robert Crandall, former chairman of American Airlines. ... As a result of the spike upward in oil prices,...

An American Eagle flight taxiing to a Raleigh-Durham Airport runway was turned around Monday, but not because of a terrorist threat. The crew was kicking an autistic Cary toddler and his mother off the plane. As the American Eagle flight headed down the taxiway, two-and-a-half-year-old Jarett Farrell wasn't a happy traveler. His mother says she was doing all she could to calm the autistic boy, but got no sympathy from the flight crew. "If they just would have been a little more understanding I think that none of this would have been a problem," Mother, Janice Farrell said. But it...

Continental Airlines said Thursday that it will switch global alliances, joining United Airlines in a deal giving customers full access to both carriers' networks while allowing them to earn frequent-flier miles. The companies described the deal as more than a traditional code-sharing arrangement, saying cooperation on "frequent-flier programs, lounges, facility utilization, information technology and procurement" will boost revenues and cut costs. Shares of both airlines, burdened like their peers by soaring jet-fuel costs, rose sharply Thursday. Houston-based Continental plans to partner closely with Chicago-based United and join the global Star Alliance, a 20-airline group that includes Lufthansa and Air Canada....

The airline industry and embassies of 34 countries, including the members of the European Union, are urging the U.S. government to withdraw a plan that would require airlines and cruise lines to collect digital fingerprints of all foreigners before they depart the United States, starting in August 2009. Their opposition could trigger a battle with Congress and the Bush administration, which want the new plan established quickly. Airlines said the change would cost the industry $12.3 billion over 10 years, not $3.5 billion as the Department of Homeland Security estimated in unveiling the proposal in April. Representatives of the nations...

Airlines To Require Minimum Stays NEW YORK (AP) ― United Airlines said Friday it will start requiring minimum stays for nearly all domestic coach seats beginning in October. It is also raising its cheapest fares by as much as $90 one-way. The second-largest U.S. carrier said the moves are among a number of changes, including flight and job cutbacks, it is making to combat record high fuel prices. The Chicago-based airline has been among the industry's most aggressive in pushing fares and fees higher in recent months, and those efforts have often been matched by other carriers. The industry is...

U.S. military personnel and Defense Department employees won’t have to pay new fees for checked baggage as long as they’re traveling on official government orders in most instances, according to military officials. The fee exemption applies to permanent-change-of-station and temporary-duty travel, according to Staff Sgt. Erica Hix, Transportation Management Office passenger travel specialist at Yokota Air Base, Japan. "As long as you have a set of orders and present it at the counter, they’ll waive the baggage charges," she said. Several U.S. carriers charge or will soon charge a fee for checked bags. This month, American and United airlines began...