A site that advocates for you
When Stephen Oualline and his daughter arrived at the gate in Kona, Hawaii, for their Alaska Airlines trip San Diego, they were told that the plane had already departed. After a rebooking and an unplanned overnight in Oakland, Calif., Oualline wanted the airline to reimburse him for the money he spent to get them home, but it refused. Now he wants us to help him — but can we?
As any commercial airline passenger who had to contort her body into a economy class seat knows, airline seat pitch — a rough measure of legroom — has shrunk over the last several decades, from an average of 35 inches to as little as 28 inches. Seat width has been reduced from an average of 18.5 inches to 17 inches.
If I’ve seen Melinda Ashton’s complaint once, I’ve seen it a hundred times.
The Federal Aviation Administration funding bill is out this morning, and while everyone else is focused on privatizing air traffic control, there are a few noteworthy proposals that will directly affect you.
Corporate America wants us to pay more for less. As a result, chips are disappearing from bags, cereal from boxes
From bankruptcies to terrorist attacks, air travelers have seen it all in the last decade or so. But I can’t think of a week that’s been jam-packed with so much bad news for airline passengers since 2001. Maybe you can, but stick with me for a moment while I review the list.
The Halloween weekend stranding of more than 1,000 airline passengers at Bradley International Airport in Hartford, Conn., brought the tarmac delay activists out in full force again, pushing for new laws that they claim would prevent lengthy ground delays.
Katie Anderson’s son is 6′ 7″. The average economy class seat “pitch” on a Spirit Airlines Airbus A321 — the distance between seats on an aircraft — is between 30 and 31 inches, hardly enough room for a big guy.
No one would claim that any of the new travel-related laws scheduled to take effect in 2010 are game-changers for travelers. They’re relatively minor: a new credit card rule here, a new airport security policy there. But what kind of law would really improve your travel experience next year?
Beware of the airline seatback cops. They recently nabbed Cheryl Smith, and they could be coming for you.
It looks as if the airlines have no intention of loosening their inflexible change fee requirements to prevent a Swine Flu outbreak on planes. The Federal Aviation Administration has confirmed that it has begun testing hand sanitizers for flammability, and at least one source close to the agency says carriers intend to deploy bottles of the gel on their planes as flu season gets underway.
In yet another sign that the government has adopted a “get tough” approach in dealing with the airline industry, the Federal Aviation Administration today proposed near-record penalties against two airlines for safety violations.
Laura Brown is the acting assistant administrator for communications at the Federal Aviation Administration. After the death of Billy Mays yesterday, she was quoted as saying the TV pitchman wasn’t wearing a seatbelt on a plane that made an emergency landing. I asked her about the interview and the importance of seatbelts.