Russian Plane Crashes, Another Missing.
posted by johnnydark on Aug 24, 2004 - 41 comments

SkyHigh Airlines is one of the funniest, most well done and fleshed out parody sites I've seen on the web. Try everything, plan a trip (notice the luxurious ports of call they fly into), track your lost luggage - oh hell, just click everything, you'll be glad you did. Even the Chairman's letter is funny.
posted by Dome-O-Rama on Sep 28, 2003 - 22 comments

Flying Cloud flies for the last time On Wednesday, August 6, the last Boeing 307 Stratoliner landed at Dulles [WaPo; may require registration]. [more] [more] [more] This was the plane that ditched off Seattle in March, 2002 after being fully restored. Now, re-restored, it has arrived at its final destination, the Smithsonian's new Hazy Center. Dry eyes were a rare commodity.
posted by SealWyf on Aug 7, 2003 - 9 comments

The horror,the horror. Everybody seems to be an expert on airline travel. Whether it's security issues or the dynamics of flight. There seems to be plenty of places to get it off your chest. With the industry in a nosedive will the survivors have to lift their game. Or just cut more corners to enhance the bottom line. Love those 5 hour on the runway to nowhere tales. Um as long as it's not me.
posted by johnny7 on Apr 20, 2003 - 4 comments

Do you have problems finding the cheapest flight? Well so do computers.
Carl de Marcken, the man who created the engine behind Orbitz and other travel search engines posits that finding the cheapest fare from one point to another is a NP-Hard problem. Even if you fix the specific route between destinations there can be as many as 10³⁶ combinations.
posted by patrickje on Dec 9, 2002 - 18 comments

If you've ever flown commercially in the past 16 years, you had to answer two questions about your luggage before receiving your boarding pass. Starting today, they are no longer required since they "never prevented a bombing or hijacking."
posted by jaden on Aug 29, 2002 - 20 comments

Get laid off in public. Vanguard Airlines suspends operations; posts its system-wide pink slip on its HOME PAGE for you all to see. "Wages and salaries owed you as of today are "prepetition wages" and likely will not be paid for a matter of months, if not longer.... Any Vanguard stock you hold (including stock purchased in the Employee Stock Purchase Plan) is almost certainly worthless and it is likely you will be entitled to claim a capital loss on such stock this year." But not all is gloomy: the CEO "wish[es] you the best in your future career. You will be in our prayers." Aww, shucks.
posted by PrinceValium on Jul 30, 2002 - 29 comments

Man and his family booted off airplane after asking if pilots were sober. Hans von Schweinitz, on his way to go fishing in Canada, asked one of the flight crew whether the pilots had taken a sobriety test. They hadn't. A blood alcohol test kit was sent for. Two and a half hours later, with the plane sitting there on the tarmac, the pilots were found to be clean. Then they ordered von Schweinitz and his family to get off the plane, while the other passengers cheered.
posted by RylandDotNet on Jul 16, 2002 - 43 comments

Ghetto Airlines - they fly all over this bitch
posted by semper on Apr 4, 2002 - 11 comments

Man dies before boarding an airplane? Or did he die in midflight? "Authorities disagree on whether Walsh, who had a history of heart- and kidney-related health problems, died midflight or before he boarded the plane." What really gets me is: how could he get on the airplane if he was already dead? Wouldn't the people helping him onto the plane notice?
posted by Kevin Sanders on Mar 18, 2002 - 13 comments

Russian Musicians brawl during mid-Atlantic Flight In the second incident in a week, a group of drunken musicians create havoc in the air. Earlier in the week, another group of musicians were kicked off a plane stopped at Dulles Airport. They were later allowed to resume their flight only after proving their sobriety
posted by Lanternjmk on Feb 21, 2002 - 2 comments

Now this is progress: FAA-Certified Bomb Resistant Aircraft Baggage Container. Since before Flight 103 exploded over Lockerbee in 1988, this technology has been in development. It has finally passed the FAA test. Check out the cool video of the tests. I, for one, will feel safer in the air.
posted by hotdoughnutsnow on Feb 11, 2002 - 5 comments

érrorplan is a web site apparently set up by unhappy top-tier Aeroplan members documenting Air Canada's poor service and diminishing benefits to their best customers. Air Canada, as you might imagine, is none too happy about it — especially since thousands of érrorplan brochures have been found in their airplanes and airport lounges around the world. (Frequent fliers indeed.) The airline is trying to track them down and stop them — on the grounds that érrorplan is using their intellectual property. Bye bye, air miles.
posted by mcwetboy on Jan 23, 2002 - 2 comments

The Solution?...Fly Naked
So you can sneak a bomb in your shoe. The only solution is to fly naked. You can't bring anything on board; it all has to be shipped separately on cargo jet. There has to be an air marshall on every flight -- no in plain clothes (because nobody's in clothes) but sitting in front of the cockpit, heavily armed and ready. It's getting that ridiculous. What can we do?
posted by riley370 on Dec 28, 2001 - 23 comments

Your tax dollars at work? Apparently the FAA is paying $50 a click to make sure that Americans are well informed passengers. What ever happened to Public Service Announcements? Anyone want to buy a $200 screwdriver?
posted by shoepal on Dec 18, 2001 - 11 comments

Air travel used to be prestigious and considered quite safe, but no more. It seems like it's just one thing after another this past year for the industry. How much of a beating can such a cash-flow intensive business take? What's your feeling about flying these days?
posted by holycola on Dec 9, 2001 - 27 comments

This is fascism.
posted by magullo on Nov 16, 2001 - 86 comments

looking for discount travel? forget priceline and travelocity, just score a fake passport, gather all the electronics you can muster, pack yourself in a box and ship it all to canada.
posted by athensltd on Oct 25, 2001 - 12 comments

Young Philadelphia man refused access to UA flight because of his reading material... This story just made my blood boil. Of all the stupid things... Ack! I just can't type straight! I don't have all the information... there's going to be another side to this... but if this is anywhere _near_ accurate, I hope some heads roll.

[via Evhead, via Dan Gillmor]
posted by silusGROK on Oct 19, 2001 - 65 comments

Sibir Airlines flight downed en route from Tel Aviv. It is not yet clear whether or not this was a terrorist act. It does seem, however, that there was an explosion on board.
posted by jeffvc on Oct 4, 2001 - 17 comments

the passengers on our planes should have the right to bear arms Is this guy, a former pilot, suggesting that we have a constitutional right to carry weapons aboard planes so we can defend ourselves? Is an uzzi ok or a bayonet?
posted by Postroad on Sep 22, 2001 - 28 comments

Fear of flying? New security measures are being discussed. Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta says, "These terrorist acts are designed to steal the confidence of Americans. We will restore that confidence."
posted by prozaction on Sep 12, 2001 - 9 comments

Air rage terrorist in the waiting, or cranky old man? I can understand flight crews taking every caution with their captive audience, but will the new "zero tolerance" policies make for an airline police state, where shoddy treatment is the norm, and passengers dare not speak out Or Else?
posted by Oriole Adams on Aug 23, 2001 - 27 comments

Those darn airmen in their flying contraptions... Interested in hearing other's opinions on this. If I have an airplane should I be able to fly wherever I want to, or should property owners be able to erect an invisible fence 40,000 feet high around their property to keep airplane owners away? Also, if I can keep people with noisy airplanes from flying close to my house, can I also outlaw people with noisy motorcyles from riding on country roads near my home?
posted by fluxcreative on Jul 9, 2001 - 28 comments

Family complains about dead passenger More air rage! Who said the meals on planes were not fresh and nutritious? Get the guy's gin and tonic.
posted by Postroad on Apr 26, 2001 - 12 comments

For the Do-it-yourselfer who's already done it all.
posted by Steven Den Beste on Sep 17, 2000 - 10 comments

Naked Co-Pilot Caused Crash? Is this why it's called a cockpit?
posted by Outlawyr on Aug 11, 2000 - 3 comments