I now quit the Boardingerea.com site. I have always written a blog that is honest and free from promotional deals and the kind of travel journalism represented by the likes of Chris Elliott, and I fear that the Chris Elliott kind of travel promotion now prevails, even though Elliott does not appear to be a part of Boardingarea,com. I will not be a part of travel advertising, as opposed to travel journalism I shall continue doing my kind of honest... 

I now quit the Boardingarea.com site. I have always written a blog that is honest and free from promotional deals and the kind of travel journalism represented by the likes of Chris Elliott, and I fear that kind of travel promotion now prevails in too many online venues. I shall continue doing my kind of honest and opinionated travel journalism, including on  my highly regarded personal blog,  Joesharkey.com, which is titled “High Anxiety.... 

Delta Air Lines plans to spend about $300 million a year through mid-2013 to improve service and inflight amenities for its BusinessElite, first class and elite-level flyers. Among the changes will be adding first-class cabins on some regional jets. This is from the Delta announcement today: * Installing full flat-bed seats in BusinessElite on 90 trans-oceanic aircraft, including 14 Boeing 767-400ERs, 52 Boeing 767-300ERs, 16 Boeing 747-400s and... 

There is apparently no end to the nonsense perpetrated by the TSA and no limit to the amazing tolerance Congress and the President show toward the fact that the agency has been operating without a permanent director for over a year now. This screener’s “prank” was just odious. The link is from Newser.com. And by the way, a TSA screener has no business acting like a law enforcement officer, and the Fourth Amendment applies even... 

A German television program had a close look at the TSA’s vaunted whole-body image scanners and found that while they can show intimate body details, they also can fail to spot concealed components that could be used to make bombs. Here’s the link to the report via Huffington Post. ###  Read More →

American Airlines today reported a $344 million loss in the fourth quarter of 2009, and the numbers behind that look bad for an industry that continues to struggle. Meanwhile, the Air Transport Association said today that passenger revenue for U.S. airlines plunged 18 percent in 2009, a record. Overall, passenger traffic fell 3 percent from 2008. Of American Airlines’ $344 million third-quarter loss, writing-down the dropping value of smaller... 

American Airlines today reported a $344 million loss in the fourth quarter of 2009, and the numbers behind that look bad for an industry that continues to struggle. Of that loss, writing down the dropping value of smaller regional jets (which gobble fuel) accounted for $42 million. Parking other aircraft in the desert accounted for $23 million. Overall mainline seating capacity was off 4.9 percent, reflecting the continuing shrinking of air-travel... 

Saturday, January 16, 2010 Somebody walked through an unguarded door in the secure area of Terminal 8 at Kennedy International Airport this afternoon, causing the terminal to be evacuated and thousands of passengers to be re-screened. Another fine mess for airport security, which doesn’t seem to be able to guard doors — which is, come to think of it, historically the first job of security. And by the way, the TSA has now been without... 

You have previously met here young Jack Anderson, aged 7 when that photo was taken in 2008 with his mother, Christine, near their home in Minneapolis. Now behold the TSA in its full glory, insisting on the “Myth Busters” section of its chatty blog that it is a myth that there are eight-year-olds on the “no fly list.” The Times uses that in  a story today in which it finds an eight-year-old, little Mickey Hicks, who has... 

From Mike Boyd, the well-known airline forecaster, at aviationplanning.com: “ Those F-16s Weren’t Scrambled To Help Serve Coffee “There have been two incidents of fighters scrambled as a result of security incidents on board airliners. Media assumed they were there to ‘guide’ and ‘assist.’ Wake up, guys. They were there to put a Sidewinder up the airliner’s tailpipe if necessary.” ###  Read More →

Continental Airlines suspended operations at its Cleveland hub at Hopkins International Airport through 6 p.m. today because of an airport power outage. What’s going on? Well, I went to the Web site of the Cleveland Plain-Dealer, which used to be a somewhat reliable, if boosterish, regional newspaper. Nada. Their lead story was a routine high school sports article. No news for you! How sad to see these big regional newspapers shrivel into... 

Continental Airlines suspended operations at its Cleveland hub at Hopkins International Airport through 6 p.m. today because of an airport power outage. United, American, Southwest, Delta and US Airways also canceled most flights through at least 6 p.m. What’s going on? Well, this morning I went to the Web site of the Cleveland Plain-Dealer, which used to be a somewhat reliable, if boosterish, regional newspaper. Nada. Their lead story was... 

At the checkpoints, dozens of TSA officers stand around. But I’d always wondered about those exit corridors, used by passengers leaving the airport. Typically, they’re guarded by a lone TSA officer at a podium and a sign that says “Do not enter.” A wide-open corridor! As we know, some idiot shut down terminal C at the hilariously named Newark Liberty International Airport on Sunday when he decided to stroll into the secure... 

The absurdity never ends. Last year, I wrote a lot about the so-called whole body imaging machines the TSA was prepared to roll out to all airport checkpoints starting last fall. The machines see through clothing to detect any material on the body or in, say, a pocket. This means, incidentally, that you won’t be able to carry your wallet through the checkpoint. Onto the belt it goes. (And ignore any reporting that says …  Read More →

Continental is always the first to report its monthly operating results, and the December numbers indicate a solid strengthening in business. The load factor — the percentage of available seats filled with paying passengers — was 83.1 percent compared with December 2008, a record. That comprises a domestic load factor of 85.1 percent and international load factor of 81.9 percent, also records for the month. Especially on domestic flights,...