DOT Again Raises Specter of Inflight Phone Calling

Airfare costs for domestic flights are expected to level off and even drop this month before rising again ahead of the holiday season, according to a new report.

As thousands of flight disruptions on Monday due to severe storms spanned across the East Coast, U.S. airlines have called on the the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to extend a waiver that allowed them to cut back on service.

In 2014, at the behest of Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.), the DOT’s Office of Inspector General began an audit of U.S. frequent flyer programs, and the DOT’s monitoring thereof, with a particular focus on unfair and deceptive practices (summary, with a link to the full .pdf report, here). The audit results were published this month, with the following headline: “Improvements needed in DOT’s process for identifying unfair or deceptive practices in airline frequent flyer programs.”

To all appearances, the hot-button issue of inflight phone calls has been settled. If you’ve flown on a U.S. carrier lately, you’ve almost certainly heard no one yakking on a cellphone or other mobile device while airborne, and you might well assume that there’s an outright ban on inflight calling.

Update, September 18: The FAA has issued updated guidance regarding usage of Samsung Galaxy 7 phones in flight, stating “passengers may not turn on or charge the devices when they carry them on board a plane. Passengers must also protect the devices from accidental activation, including disabling any features that may turn on the device, such as alarm clocks, and must not pack them in checked luggage.” The statement does not mention if any penalties are associated with failure to comply with this guidance. Read the full statement here.

Smoking traditional tobacco-packed cigarettes has been banned on most U.S. commercial flights since the late 1980s. But the “No Smoking” signs didn’t specifically prohibit the latest nicotine-delivery device, e-cigarettes.

When American Airlines merged with US Airways, American’s disgruntled unions were unanimous in their support for what amounted to a hostile takeover of the much-larger American by Doug Parker and his mid-sized US Airways.

Lufthansa pilots are striking for the 14th time since 2014 in their attempt to extract better wages from the carrier.

Tired of slow, expensive inflight WiFi? So is American, and it’s suing Gogo, the industry’s largest supplier of inflight WiFi, demanding that Gogo either up its game or allow American to switch providers for 200 of its planes.

Last week the State Department released a vague warning about Mexico travel to Playa Del Carmen, saying it had “received information about a security threat,” and prohibited government employees from traveling there for several days.

Consolidation is the enemy of competition. That’s an axiom of economic theory. And it’s a truth known to any kid who was forced to cut the price of his lemonade when the neighbor opened another lemonade stand across the street.

In case you hadn’t noticed, the Big Three legacy airlines have changed their pricing policy for multi-city trips. And yes, you guessed it: The new policy makes such trips more expensive. In some cases, much more expensive.