Free Republic

Athens (AFP) – Flights at Greek airports were cancelled or delayed Sunday after a technical problem knocked out airspace radio frequencies, the country's civil aviation authority said, calling the outage "unprecedented". At Greece's main airport, Eleftherios Venizelos in Athens, passengers were stuck in long queues as several domestic and international flights were delayed or grounded altogether, an AFP reporter saw. The radio frequency loss was first reported around 0700 GMT. "No plane landed or took off for at least two hours," said the press office at Athens airport, where 31.6 million passengers transited in the first 11 months of 2025....

An Alaska Airlines customer exploded at staff after they refused to let her stash two cats under her plane seat. The passenger, who later identified herself as Alexandra Compton, from Portland, Oregon could be see lashing out at the workers Sunday as they calmly explained their pet policy. 'Show me the policy, then, before I booked the flight, that said that I had to have a certain weight of cat to go under the seat,' Compton, who lives in Las Vegas, fumed. She then accused airline staff of 'ruining Christmas' after they explained that the cats would not have a...

Forget, ‘no good deed goes unpunished’. More accurately, no corporate wokeness goes unpunished by those taking advantage of it. Affirmative action is one of the worst examples as companies set themselves up for lawsuits like this through their illegal and immoral pursuit of diversity. A group of 18 former student pilots sued Fort Worth-based American Airlines this week, alleging the company misled them and racially discriminated against them while they were enrolled in a flight training program. The federal lawsuit, filed Tuesday in a federal court in San Diego by a group of plaintiffs who identify as Black, Asian or...

Air travel has grown more chaotic in recent years, and one trend stands out for its brazenness: passengers requesting wheelchair assistance to board early, only to walk off the plane unaided at their destination. Social media has dubbed these “miracle flights,” with the sudden recoveries credited to a tongue-in-cheek figure called “Jetway Jesus.” The practice exploits a system meant to help those with genuine mobility needs, and it’s drawing sharp criticism from fellow travelers and industry observers. The issue gained fresh attention this Christmas season with reports of passengers faking mobility problems to skip security lines and claim priority boarding....

This potty-mouthed passenger took a stand — and lost her seat. A United Airlines passenger’s meltdown went viral after the irate woman lobbed a few choice words at a poised flight attendant during a delay on the tarmac at Newark Liberty International Airport. A fellow traveler captured the woman’s entire tirade — which quickly garnered nearly 500,000 views on TikTok since it was posted on Nov. 10. Then, in a moment of karmic glory, the testy traveler realizes she’s being recorded and goes dead silent. She drags her gaze away from the phone and tries to play it cool. From...

U.S. airlines are predicting another record Thanksgiving holiday travel period and are upbeat now that the travel-snarling government shutdown has ended. Airlines will carry more than 31 million people between Friday, Nov. 21, and Monday, Dec. 1, Airlines for America, a lobbying group representing the largest U.S. carriers, predicted Thursday. The busiest days are expected to be the Sunday after Thanksgiving, with about 3.4 million people flying, followed by the Monday after Thanksgiving, with around 3.1 passengers. Airline executives have expressed relief after the longest-ever government shutdown ended Nov. 12. Shortages of air traffic controllers, who were required to work...

Two planes collided on the tarmac at LaGuardia on Friday evening, according to The New York Post. This is the second time that planes have collided on the taxiway at LaGuardia this month. A United Plane bumped into another United jet on taxiway amid delays due to bad weather and staffing shortages on Friday evening. Emergency vehicles responded to the scene. No injuries were reported. The New York Post reported: Two planes collided on the tarmac at LaGuardia Friday as the airport grappled with intense delays brought on by weather and staffing shortages, The Post has learned. A United Airlines...

As the Schumer shutdown drags on, the dam is starting to break against Democrats. Airline CEOs lined up on Thursday to demand the passage of a clean CR, citing the possibility of future delays and cancellations. Air traffic controllers are currently working without pay, and if the system shuts down, it's game over for commercial air travel. Over the past few weeks, ALPA and SWAPA, which represent most major airline pilots in the United States, publicly called for the passage of a clean CR. But while you'd expect pilots, who still tend to lean right, to take that position, having...

Some airlines are stepping in to help feed air traffic controllers and other unpaid federal aviation workers who missed their first full paycheck on Tuesday, Day 28 of the government shutdown. United Airlines told CBS News that it is helping support essential workers who are going unpaid during the stalemate in Washington, D.C.

A flight en route from Hangzhou, China, to South Korea's Incheon International Airport on Oct 18 was diverted to Shanghai after a fire broke out in the cabin. A lithium battery stowed in a passenger's carry-on luggage in the overhead compartment had caught fire, the airline said in a statement on Weibo. "The crew immediately handled the situation according to procedures, and no one was injured," they said. They added that the plane was diverted for an unscheduled landing at Shanghai Pudong International Airport to "ensure flight safety". In a video circulating social media, flames could be seen emitting from...

What was meant to be a simple hop from London Luton to Alicante turned into a mid-air episode of Lads Behaving Badly, when a stag party went a little too far with their in-flight celebrations. The Ryanair flight was forced to make an unscheduled stop in Toulouse after the group’s antics escalated from “rowdy but amusing” to “someone call the police, please”. According to fellow passenger Tania Nichols, the fun started long before the wheels left the runway. “They were already swapping seats, making noise and ignoring the safety rules. It was like herding cats in the cabin,” she told...

The radical Left’s poison has seeped so deep into American institutions that even the people entrusted with our lives at 30,000 feet are openly glorifying political assassinations. According to Milo Yiannopoulos, Andrew Schweizer, a pilot affiliated with United and SkyWest Airlines, was exposed for celebrating the assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, calling him a “f***ing Nazi” and sneering that the “only good kind of Nazi is a dead Nazi.” In now-viral posts, Schweizer left no doubt about where he stood: “This is all going to be over one way or another soon and so I don’t want...

Adios, German Beltran-Escobar. Enjoy your trip.

A shocking video shows the moment a family attacked a woman after she complained that a young boy was persistently kicking her seat throughout their 3-hour 47-minute flight. When the China Southern Airlines flight CZ6164 landed, chaos erupted when the family reportedly surrounded the woman and physically confronted her, insisting she should have more empathy because 'he's only a child.' The incident occurred on 7 August after the flight from Shenzhen to Dalian, and is now under investigation by the Dalian Airport Public Security Bureau. Passengers reported that the boy, seated directly behind the woman, repeatedly kicked her seat during...

Key Points The airline issued a going-concern warning in its quarterly filing, months after emerging from bankruptcy, The budget airline icon has tried to attract bookings by marketing more upscale products like premium economy. The carrier has been challenged by an oversupply of domestic flights, changing consumer tastes and an engine grounding. ============================================================== Spirit Airlines has warned it might not be able to survive as a going concern if it doesn’t raise more cash, five months after the budget-travel icon emerged from bankruptcy. After cutting its debt during restructuring, Spirit has tried to attract bookings by marketing more upscale products...

All flights grounded due to a system wide failure. Thats is all they are saying. Currently stuck on the tarmac in Denver

Airline travel is actually exceptionally safe compared to other forms of transportation such as driving your car, but it probably did not feel that way to passengers aboard a Southwest flight headed from Burbank, California to Las Vegas Friday. The plane came oh-so-close to disaster, and the pilot had to make a bold move to save the day:Two flight attendants were injured after a commercial Southwest Airlines jet suddenly dropped 475 feet to avoid a “midair collision” shortly after takeoff at a Los Angeles-area airport Friday, with one frightened passenger saying the aircraft “was just in a freefall.”Southwest Flight 1496...

A Southwest flight that departed Burbank, California, en route to Las Vegas, Nevada, nosedived to avoid a mid-air collision on Friday. Two flight attendants were injured after the plane quickly descended to avoid colliding with a Hawker Hunter. “The other plane, a Hawker Hunter with the N number N335AX, was at an altitude of approximately 14,653 feet when the Southwest flight began to descend,” ABC News reported. Passengers reportedly flew out of their seats. ABC News posted the flight tracker showing the near miss: ... A Southwest flight rapidly descended 475 feet to avoid a Hawker Hunter aircraft on Friday,...

Major airlines said Monday they oppose a new effort to advance legislation that would reduce fees charged by Visa and Mastercard on transactions, saying the bill could force them to stop offering rewards credit cards that give consumers frequent flyer miles for making transactions. American Airlines, United Airlines, Southwest Airlines and others including Boeing, Airbus and GE Aerospace, said in a letter to senators the legislation sponsored by Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Roger Marshall (R-KS) could sharply reduce air travel and harm overall tourism. Airlines generate billions of dollars annually in fees for branded credit cards. Durbin has called...

Some of the biggest U.S. airlines are quietly charging solo travelers more than passengers who book as a pair.. American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines have added new fare rules that in some cases require passengers to book at least two tickets to access the cheapest fares. That means solo travelers could end up paying as much as 70 percent more for the same flight. ... On a short United hop from Chicago O'Hare to Peoria, Illinois, a single ticket cost $269. But the same ticket dropped to $181 per person when booking two travelers. In some cases,...