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That is exactly what the scruffy, pint-sized and nasty Atlanta based Delta Airlines Captain said to me. He spoke in a tone of voice reserved for junior and very inferior officers under his command. His facial expression and confrontational body language dared me to say something that would give him the excuse to remove me from the flight soon to depart from Atlanta to Tel Aviv. I was saved by a fellow traveler who injected, "We would, but no one else flies to Israel from Atlanta. I had booked and paid for my international flight back around May. I chose...

<p>After a difficult year battling the recession, the airline industry appears to be headed toward a recovery as fuller planes, fewer discounted fares, lower fuel prices and revenue from a variety of formerly free services start to pay off.</p> <p>The signs of improvement are most advanced at low-fare carriers that focus on domestic flights. Passenger miles and unit revenue—the money taken in for each seat flown one mile—at discount king Southwest Airlines Co. soared 12% last month from a year ago.</p>

Cover-up hinted as case recalls 'flying imams' Evidence that an incident on an Air Tran flight from Atlanta to Houston could have been a "dry run" for a possible hijacking is mounting, with analysts hinting at a cover-up because of an airline gag order on employees and more witnesses coming forward to say they were afraid. The airline, meanwhile, is sticking to its prepared statements that there was an issue with a passenger and a cell phone but the matter is considered closed. ... Charges of suppressed information now are being leveled. "Two and a half weeks later, the incident...

Thanks again, Marietta Daily Journal, for doing what news organizations are supposed to do: investigate and inform.

The Department of Homeland Security has initiated unspecified personnel actions against individuals involved in the bungled online posting this spring of a government document that revealed airport screening secrets, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told senators Wednesday morning. A contract employee was responsible for failing to properly redact a 93-page Transportation Security Administration operating manual onto a government procurement Web site, allowing computer users to recover blacked-out information by copying and pasting them into other documents, Napolitano said. TSA supervisors were also involved, Napolitano said. "The security of the traveling public has never been put at risk," Napolitano assured the...

Rumors continued to circulate Monday via e-mail and the Internet about what exactly happened on an AirTran flight at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in November. At the time, AirTran told Channel 2 Action News that an unruly passenger on a cell phone forced the pilot to take the plane back to the gate. Monday, a passenger said the situation went well beyond that. “It was extremely intense. I’ve never experienced anything like that,” said passenger Brent Brown. Brown runs a security consultant company and is a frequent flier. But even for him, he said the events of Flight 297 were...

slideshow In the age of balloon boys and party crashers, regular people just don't know what to believe any more. Last week, I spent more than my share of hours trying to track down the truth about an incident on an AirTran flight out of Atlanta on Nov. 17. Flight 297 to Houston, with about 70 passengers onboard, departed gate C-16 at 4:43 p.m. Until something happened that caused the pilot to turn around and come back. Two and a half weeks later, the incident is in high dispute, thanks to some passengers who have spoken out on the Internet...

It's a little easier to understand why a man who claimed to have thwarted a potential terrorist attack on a plane has not answered repeated requests to tell his story. He was not on the plane, according to AirTran Airways. "After conducting additional research into this situation, we have verified, according to flight manifests (legally binding documents) that the individual that allegedly created a first-hand account of events on-board AirTran Airways Flight 297, a Theodore Petruna, was never actually on-board the flight," AirTran said in a statement, which the AJC was the first to obtain. An e-mail from a Tedd...

Economy class flights are cramped at the best of times, so imagine being stuck next to someone so large they take up half the aisle, too. This image was captured by an air stewardess who wanted to demonstrate to her boss exactly why obese passengers should be made to buy an extra seat. The photograph has since appeared on web forums used by flight attendants, where many appeared to agree with the crew member. One user posted the comment: 'Sympathise with the guy or not, he's a major safety hazard in an evacuation and a gross inconvenience for the cabin...

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, Inc. website, the bracelet would be worn by all airline passengers (video also shown below). 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...

A reader called me, then sent me an email Wednesday morning about an incident that occurred Nov. 17 on an AirTran Airways flight. According to an Atlanta Journal Constitution story, the flight was delayed two and a half hours after a confrontation between some passengers and the flight crew. The AJC story quoted a passenger sitting toward the back of the airplane who recounted what she saw. That passenger thought it was just a problem with miscommunication. But there's an email circulating, apparently going viral, from a Texan on the flight, who describes what appeared to him to be a...

This squib appeared on the KHOU website on November 18 but is seems to be only a fraction of the story. Read the comments below the story please. ATLANTA -- AirTran Airways says a flight from Atlanta to Houston with more than 70 passengers on board was delayed when a passenger refused to end a cell phone call. ... Flight 297, a Boeing 717, was taxiing on the runway in Atlanta Tuesday afternoon when a crew member asked a passenger to turn off his phone. ... after several failed attempts by the crew member to end the conversation, the captain...

An image of an obese passenger squeezed into an economy airline seat has reopened a debate about how airlines deal with growing numbers of oversized passengers. The picture, posted on an aviation blog, was reportedly taken by a flight attendant to illustrate to airline managers the difficulty of dealing with passengers who cannot fit into seats.

The National Mediation Board, which oversees labor relations in the air and rail industry, this month moved to overturn 75 years of labor policy. The board plans to stack the deck for organized labor in union elections. Under a proposed rule, unions would no longer have to get the approval of a majority of airline workers to achieve certification. Not even close. Instead, a union could win just by getting a majority of the employees who vote. Thus, if only 1,000 of 10,000 flight attendants vote in a union election, and 501 vote for certification, the other 9,499 become unionized....

A QANTAS plane was just 400 feet off the runway at Melbourne Airport when the pilot was forced to abort a landing this morning, because of congestion. The 747 jumbo from Los Angeles was carrying 300 passengers when it had to pull out of the landing at the last minute. The pilot was forced to circle the airport until the runway was cleared.

A QANTAS plane landed safely in Perth this morning after calling for assistance when a pilot became incapacitated. The airline confirmed that flight QF593 from Adelaide had issued a “pan" alert and asked to be met by an ambulance after one of the pilots suffered a health issue, The Australian reports. The Qantas 737-800 from Adelaide carrying 110 passengers left Adelaide about 6.50am (local time) and touched down in Perth at 7.30am. An emergency was declared by the co-pilot and air traffic control vectored the aircraft onto the longest runway 21/03, thewest.com.au reports. After touch down the aircraft came to...

US Airways Group and American Airlines said Wednesday they will continue to downsize their operations next year in the wake of falling air-traffic demand. In a statement, US Airways (LCC 3.13, -0.01, -0.32%) said will realign its business and reduce departures from Las Vegas and Philadelphia, and close stations in Colorado Springs, Colo., and Wichita, Kan. In turn, it will focus on its core strengths in Charlotte, N.C.; Philadelphia, Phoenix, and Washington's National Airport. By the end of 2010, the Tempe, Ariz.-based carrier said those four cities will represent about 99% of its capacity, compared to 93% today. "These centers...

Struggling US Airways said on Wednesday it will cut some 1,000 jobs next year, shift nearly all of its flying to its three hubs and Washington, and suspend several international routes.

Armed F-16s from the Wisconsin Air National Guard were on the runway and could have shot down the errant Northwest flight, officials said today. "As a force of last resort, NORAD is always prepared to do whatever is necessary," NORAD spokesperson Mike Kucharek told ABCNews.com. Air traffic controllers feared Northwest Flight 188, might have been hijacked after its pilots failed to respond to radio transmissions for more than an hour. Air traffic controllers reported the pilots initially failed to respond to commands as it passed from the air space controlled by the FAA Denver Center into the area controlled by...

MINNEAPOLIS - There was concern at the White House about that wayward Northwest Airlines jet that flew past its scheduled destination in Minneapolis. White House spokesman Nick Shapiro told The Associated Press on Saturday that senior White House officials were alerted by the White House Situation Room and they closely monitored the incident. Shapiro didn't say if President Barack Obama was informed about the wayward plane. Story continues below ↓advertisement | your ad here Northwest Flight 118 was out of communications with air traffic controllers for over an hour Wednesday night. The plane carrying 144 passengers and five crew members...

President Obama signed a proclamation declaring the H1N1 influenza a national emergency, giving doctors and medical facilities greater leeway in responding to the flu pandemic. Obama signed the declaration late Friday, which the White House said allows medical treatment facilities to better handle a surge in flu patients by waiving federal requirements on a case-by-case basis. "The foundation of our national approach to the H1N1 flu has been preparedness at all levels -- personal, business, and government -- and this proclamation helps that effort by advancing our overall response capability," the White House said in a statement. In the proclamation,...

In between keeping her passengers safe and comfortable, Delta flight attendant Robin Schmidt tends to another mid-air mission -- passing journals among the rows so passengers can help her thank American troops. Over the last five years, Schmidt has filled hundreds of passenger-written journals and sent them to the troops she "adopts" in Afghanistan and Iraq. Not connected in any way to the military, Schmidt said, "This is just part of who I am. This is what I do." And on the other side of the world, she's got a lot of grateful military men and women. "The soldiers often...

Many a person has missed their stop on a bus or train at one time or another because they were engrossed in a weighty conversation or a book. But when the pilots of Northwest Airlines flight 188 became distracted it had more serious consequences as they overflew their Minneapolis destination by 150 miles. "They were in a heated discussion over airline policy and they lost situational awareness," the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) explained. When the pilots got their "situational awareness" back they turned the Airbus A320 around and landed it safely on Wednesday evening, apparently without any of...

A Sudanese man used a knife from the in-flight meal to threaten crew members after the plane left Turkish airspace and demanded that the flight be diverted to Jerusalem, the official said.

An attempted hijacking by a man wielding a knife from an in-flight meal has been thwarted by guards, EgyptAir officials said. The incident happened shortly after the plane, carrying almost 90 people, took off from Istanbul, Turkey, heading to Cairo. The Sudanese man threatened crew members and demanded that the flight be diverted to Jerusalem, officials said. He was detained by air marshals, and the flight landed in Cairo.

Despite signs of an improving economy, Southwest Airlines Co. /quotes/comstock/13*!luv/quotes/nls/luv (LUV 9.58, -0.46, -4.61%) Chief Executive Gary Kelly said Thursday that the worst was not yet behind the low-cost carrier because of higher energy prices and the lack of business travel. "But we're going to continue to work vigorously on implementing more new revenue initiatives and of course as always, do all we can to control our cost and look no further than the improvement in our productivity in the third quarter yet again," Kelly said on a post-earnings call. Earlier, Southwest reported a better-than-expected third-quarter profit on an adjusted...

TSA Secure Flight Information The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is introducing Secure Flight, a program to help enhance the security of domestic and international commercial air travel through the use of improved watch list matching. In accordance with this new policy, you will notice changes to our reservation process which have been made to obtain the necessary Secure Flight Passenger Data for reservations purchased beginning September 15, 2009. Please note that SFPD is not being collected from AA passengers whose tickets were issued prior to September 15, 2009, regardless of their travel date. How will this affect you? When you...

Plane Makes Emergency Landing In Nashville Passenger Subdued After Threatening Other Travelers NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- A jet that took off from Seattle bound for Atlanta made an emergency landing in Nashville after a passenger had to be subdued, according to Nashville International Airport officials. Officials said Paul Benjamin Paul Marchuk III was threatening passengers and quoting Bible passages while on board Delta flight 1050. Other passengers managed to subdue him. Marchuk, 22, of Canton, Ga., was turned over to Metro Nashville police. According to a police arrest warrant, "The suspect would not allow the person sitting next to him to...

An Aeroflot Airbus A330-200, registration VQ-BBF performing flight SU-334 (dep Oct 7th) from Havana (Cuba) to Moscow Sheremetyevo (Russia), was enroute overhead the Atlantic at FL350 about 320nm southeast of New York, when the crew talking very good English reported a passenger (German citizen) had become sick and requested to divert to New York's JFK Airport, but changed their diversion destination to Toronto,ON (Canada) just before reaching the top of descent into JFK about 120nm southeast of JFK. The airplane landed safely on Toronto's runway 24R about 2.5 hours after the first decision to divert and about 4.5 hours after...

At least two passengers were removed from an LAX flight bound for New York's Kennedy Airport after a man insisted on using the restroom just before takeoff. According to LAX spokesperson Nancy Castles and passengers, United Flight 22 was preparing for takeoff when a passenger said he needed to use the restroom. An attendant asked the passenger to sit but he refused. The attendant considered the passenger's behavior suspicious and alerted the captain. The plane returned to the gate. Authorities removed two men and took them into custody, according to LAPD spokesperson Lt. John Romero. Passengers reported a third person...

I really feel for parents flying with small children. Over the last 20 years, I have seen a sad degradation of the available in-flight entertainment. It used to be that you might be bored by what the airline chose to show — but you didn’t ever find yourself wishing that your children weren’t on board because of it. I can remember about ten years ago or so starting to see airlines warn that the in-flight entertainment might not be appropriate to all ages; parents might want to think about whether this was something that they wanted their kids to watch....

A former CEO of American Airlines on Tuesday backed imposition of a three-hour time limit on how long airlines can strand passengers on airport tarmacs, but he also warned of unintended consequences. Robert Crandall parted company from his former industry colleagues and joined passengers rights advocates as they took their case to Congress, Hanni, executive director of FlyersRights.org, pointed to the example of Sun Country Flight 242, which sat on the tarmac at Kennedy International Airport in New York for nearly six hours last month before it was allowed to take off for Minneapolis. Of the 136 passengers aboard the...

A hero pilot who saved the lives of 152 people by landing a stricken passenger jet at Heathrow airport is facing joining the dole queue - because he has a crash on his CV. Captain Peter Burkill, 44, was commended for his actions while safely bring down a Boeing 777 after both engines failed two miles short of the runway. The British Airways pilot, fought to keep the plane in the air, narrowly avoiding houses and also flying over the Prime Minister's motorcade which was on a nearby road at the time of the accident in January last year. Despite...

MELBOURNE, Australia — An Emirates jetliner carrying more than 225 people slammed its tail into the runway as it took off from Australia, sending smoke into the cabin and forcing the pilot to make an emergency landing, officials said Saturday.No one was hurt, but passengers described being terrified after learning something was wrong soon after the Airbus A340 took off from the southern city of Melbourne about 10:30 p.m. Friday, bound for Dubai.After the strike, which reportedly left debris strewn on the runway and knocked out some runway lights, the pilot flew over the sea, dumping fuel, before returning to...

MEXICO CITY -- A 44-year-old Bolivian drug addict and alcoholic who describes himself as a church minister was the sole person responsible for the brief hijacking Wednesday of a commercial jetliner, a Mexican official said. The suspect -- Josmar Flores Pereira -- told authorities he hijacked the Boeing 737 jet because the date -- September 9, 2009, or 9/9/9, and 666 reversed -- held some significance for him, said Genaro Garcia Luna, the secretary for public safety. "He said that because of that divine reference he wanted to alert Mexico City of an earthquake," Garcia told reporters. Flanked by two...

PARK FOREST, Ill. (CBS) ― They say what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. But one south suburban couple found themselves forced to stay in Vegas a lot longer they wanted. CBS 2's Mike Puccinelli reports that their trip out West went South when a man claimed he was picked on because of his size. The man flew from Midway Airport to Las Vegas without incident. But when he tried to fly home to Midway several days later, he says he was prevented from doing so because of his girth. Emery Orto has a canceled ticket from Southwest Airlines, which...

September 7, 2009 Mass murder at 30,000 feet: Islamic extremists guilty of airline bomb plot Philippe Naughton Three British Muslims were found guilty today of conspiracy to murder thousands of passengers and crew in an unprecedented airline bomb plot that could have proved as deadly as the 9/11 attacks. After a retrial at Woolwich Crown Court, jurors found the ringleader, Abdulla Ahmed, and two other men, Assad Sarwar and Tanvir Hussain, guilty of plotting to use liquid bombs to blow up airliners en route from Heathrow to the United States. Another defendant, Umar Islam, was found guilty of a more...

Woman took items while bags were being screened. A 30-year-old former Transportation Security Administration worker was sentenced to 90 days in jail and five years' probation Thursday for stealing jewelry, gift cards and other things out of tourists' bags as the items were undergoing security screening at Kahului Airport. Devie Darla Dale Feig... The agency already has reimbursed the victims. "I'm not a bad person. But what I did was wrong. I wanted to say I'm sorry," Feig said ... Deputy Prosecutor Terence Herndon called the case egregious and asked that Feig receive the full 90-day jail term. "I believe...

Local TV: An Air France jet has been intercepted by the Indian Air Force after using an incorrect communication code. No further details. Just posted on BNO on Twitter.

Fees for Airline Carry-Ons Could Lead to Universal Bag Sizes, Less Waiting. BY RICK SEANEY You know you want to, airlines. You're dying to do it. So which one of you will go first? I'm talking about charging passengers a fee for toting a carry-on bag. I know, it sounds crazy -- and I have no specific insider info -- but it's all the buzz with air travelers and you have to admit it's a logical progression: First the airlines charged a fee for a second checked bag, then for a first and, well, what's left? At the very least,...

An American Airlines flight from San Diego to Dallas Fort-Worth was forced to make an emergency landing at Los Angeles International Airport because of a cracked wing. The plane, carrying 194 passengers and crew, landed safely at 4:46 p.m. with a jagged crack visible on its right wing. AA Flight 414 left San Diego Friday around 3:45 p.m. The FAA's Ian Gregor said the place made "a perfectly safe landing." Passenger Jim Borta said he heard loud, unusual noises at take off but thought it was an engine issue. He said as the plane continued to climb, the noise continued...

Starting this year, Americans will have to get government approval to travel by air. As Privacy Journal revealed last fall, henceforth "Permission Now Needed to Travel Within U.S." Getting a reservation and checking-in for air travel will soon require Transportation Security Administration authorization. That permission is by no means assured: For example, if your name matches a "no-fly" list, even mistakenly, you can be denied the right to a reserve a seat on a flight. If your name is on a "selectee" list, you and your possessions will be searched more thoroughly before you can board. What is going on...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- JetBlue Airways will offer an "all-you-can-jet" pass for $599 in which passengers can book an unlimited number of flights within a one-month span

By its sixth hour sitting on a deserted tarmac, Continental Express Flight 2816 had taken on the smell of diapers and an overwhelmed lone toilet. What should have been a 2 1/2-hour trip from Houston to Minneapolis had moved into its ninth hour, and the 47 passengers on board had burned through the free pretzels and drinks handed out early in their Friday night flight from Houston. It took 12 hours and a new flight crew for Flight 2816 to complete its journey. Passengers on another flight that had been diverted to the airport in Rochester, Minn., because of storms...

Southwest Airlines said Monday it has submitted a binding cash offer of more than $170 million to acquire Frontier Airlines, which will be sold at auction as part of Frontier's bankruptcy case. As part of the offer, Southwest would acquire about 80% of Frontier's existing Airbus fleet, or 40 aircraft, plus all of Lynx, Frontier's short-haul subsidiary. "We believe our bid ultimately should be seen as the strongest offer by all interested parties, including Frontier, its creditors, employees, and customers," said Southwest Air's Chief Executive Gary Kelly in a prepared statement.

ExpressJet Airlines says it's sorry 47 passengers aboard a flight to Minneapolis were forced to spend a night trapped in a grounded plane during the weekend. Airline spokeswoman Kristy Nicholas told Monday's (Minneapolis) Star Tribune that weather problems at Twin Cities International Airport Friday night forced the pilot of a Houston-to-Minneapolis flight to land in Rochester, Minn., where the regional jet sat on the tarmac for nine hours. ExpressJet was operating the plane as a Continental Express flight, the newspaper said. ExpressJet's Web site says it flies more than 200 50-passenger Brazilian-made Embraer ERJ145 aircraft for Continental Airlines. Nicholas told...

<p>MINNEAPOLIS — When Link Christin boarded a Continental Airlines flight from Houston to the Twin Cities on Friday night, he expected to be on the ground in about three hours and ready for a comfy bed.</p>

Northwest jet blows 5 tires on landing in Minn. The Associated Press Aug. 2, 2009 MINNEAPOLIS -- A Northwest Airlines jet blew five tires as it landed at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, closing a runway for a few hours. No injuries were reported in Sunday's incident. Fifteen employees were on the plane, but there were no passengers. The plane landed without crashing or going off the runway, although one runway was blocked for the rest of the afternoon. It's not clear why the tires blew. Metropolitan Airports Commission spokesman Pat Hogan says the pilot reported his brakes were overheating....

Even though there was a slight hitch in their plan, a group of Boy Scouts who while on their way to a national competition in Indiana found themselves stranded in Atlanta, are now on their way. After exhausting all other options to find a flight that would get them to Indiana before 8 a.m. Sunday, the Scouts were able to rent a charter bus, which Delta will be covering the cost, said Carlos Santos, Delta spokesman. Although they bought their plane tickets in April, the group of 30 Boy Scouts and their eight chaperones were forced to rent the bus...

Federal arson investigators have been called in to help determine the source of a fire inside the cabin of an American Airlines jet last month en route to Zurich from New York, according to U.S. government and industry officials. ... * flight attendants used several fire extinguishers to put out a lavatory blaze * air-safety investigators and law-enforcement officials are still trying to determine the cause * The probe is unusual and has created a stir among air-safety experts, these officials said, because the airline initially asked U.S. law enforcement to get involved when mechanics failed to find the source...