In-Flight Experience tips

Delta CEO Ed Bastian has a bold idea: Perhaps the future of his airline’s success lies less in low fares and more in steadily improving service, amenities, and reliability. Delta has made inroads with high-paying business travelers through improved business-class service, but the AP’s Scott Mayerowitz reports that Bastian has no plans to hang the main cabin out to dry.

Porter is a Canadian-owned budget airline based out of Billy Bishop Toronto Airport and Toronto Pearson International Airport. Launched in 2006, Porter operates flights connecting cities across Canada and the larger North American continent and select overseas and tropical destinations.

WOW Air, the Iceland-based no-frills carrier that raised eyebrows with its $99 fares from Boston and Baltimore to Iceland a year ago, now has something in common with Spirit Airlines, the U.S. carrier notorious for its nickel-and-diming and generally customer-unfriendly ways.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has responded to a court order seeking airline seat size minimums by saying it does not have a responsibility to regulate airline cabins in such a capacity. The court order was brought in response to action by an independent consumerist organization called Flyers Rights, which requested the FAA take on the issue.

For most of us, premium economy is just the scenery we walk past on the way to our coach seat. But of all the upper class seating options, premium economy is the most accessible and perhaps the easiest to justify purchasing, especially on long-haul transoceanic flights.

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.

In 2015, flyers filed 15,260 complaints with the Department of Transportation. That was a 34 percent increase over 2014’s 11,365 complaints.

It’s not just hoverboards we have to worry about any more. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) just released an alarming warning to airlines in the U.S. and abroad, strongly urging them to perform safety risk assessments regarding allowing lithium batteries to be transported as cargo.

Travelers who grumble that the airlines have gone too far in shrinking the width and legroom of coach-class seats won’t be getting any relief from Congress any time soon.

JetBlue’s principal claim to fame has long been its relatively roomy coach seats. Sure, the airline has been ahead of the curve in onboard WiFi, and inflight entertainment generally. And there’s that undeniable cool factor to flying Blue that American and Delta just can’t match. But JetBlue’s substantive edge came from its willingness to put passenger comfort ahead of company profit, fitting its Airbus A320s with fewer seats and thereby giving every flyer a bit of extra space.

The whole unhappy story about the doctor hauled off a United flight raises the question of what to do if you’re ever caught in a similar situation. Here’s what you need to know about involuntary bumping.

JetBlue today announced an amendment to its existing purchase agreement with Airbus to increase the number of Mint-configured A321s, and add the option to acquire A321LRs (“LR” for long range) beginning in 2019.

Is this the “golden age of flying”? I’m in daily contact with many travelers, journalists, and industry analysts, and I don’t know anyone who would consider such an assertion to be anything but ludicrous. So my answer is an unqualified “No.”

If the results of a new study of mice by scientists at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel and the University of Bristol in England prove to be extendable to humans, the end of jet lag may be in sight.

Two months ago, when Alaska Airlines bought Virgin America for $4 billion, the consensus prediction was that San Francisco-based Virgin would be slowly integrated into Alaska until it was nothing more than a historical footnote. In other words, what customers love about Virgin would be lost in transition.

Eight years ago, seat maker Avio showed off an airline “seat” that supported passengers but didn’t really seat them. Instead, passengers would lean against a padded backrest and tiled semi-seat attached to a vertical pole, but they’d still support some weight on their feet. Dubbed the Skyrider, the seat would allow passenger rows with a front-to-rear spacing, or pitch, as low as 23 inches, compared with the minimum of 29 inches for today’s worst economy cabins and 30-31 inches for most giant lines.

“Lay back, relax and enjoy the flight in the comfort, privacy and exclusivity of your own suite. Delta Air Lines is redefining international business class travel with the introduction of the Delta One suite, the first business class cabin to feature a sliding door at each suite.”

For the average flyer, squeezed into a cramped coach-class seat and nickel-and-dimed to distraction, air travel has never been worse. But flush with outsized profits, and under fire for keeping airfares high even as fuel costs have plummeted, the full-service carriers are taking steps to stem the rising tide of anger and frustration.

Did you feel that? Did the earth just move below our feet?

Airline quality. Quality airline. Either way, that combination of words will strike many flyers as an oxymoron.