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Seriously though, the Washington Post got a piece on the famous Continental Complaint yesterday (registration required). Nothing too new (for the details and to see the actual complaint, check out this post on Flight Blog) — but they did dig up good information on the “bathroom seats” on various airlines. Here’s what they wrote:

Continental is obviously not the only airline that has seats adjacent to the lavatory. American Airlines’ 757-200 has three rows of seats near the lavatories. Row 26 is so situated on Northwest’s Airbus A320s. Same for Delta’s Boeing 737-800s.

Other aircraft are configured differently to avoid such placements. For example, one of US Airways’ most popular planes, the 737-300, has two galleys between the last row of seats and the lavs. United Airline’s 737-500 has two galleys and two exits between its last row of seats and lavatory.

For more information, check out SeatGuru.com.

Hey, been away for a while … here’s a roundup of some recent off-kilter airline news, enjoy.

• British teen launches cheap-flight airline from bedroom (thanks, Jon)
• Drunken airline pilots sentenced to prison (thanks, Christopher)
• 10 unforgettable in-flight fights
• USA Today analyzes wait times at major U.S. airports

This blog is not a Continental Airlines hate-parade, but seriously: that airline keeps popping up, and not in a good way. I’m glad I’m not flying with them today, for they would take revenge for this pile-on … here’s another Continental customer service complaint:

Another airline squanders a customer service opportunity

Now that customers can broadcast their complaints across the internet I wonder if that’s changing how major corporations think about customer service.

The numbers are in and they’re not too bad. In the first month of tracking pet injuries and deaths, ten incidents were reported. Continental lead the fray with two pet deaths (that pet rat and the dog with a heart problem) — but the 20,000 injuries and deaths per year that the animal-rights group claimed is totally high. Two million animals fly each year, so 10 incidents out of about 166,000 pets flying last month, well, that’s penny-change.

Too bad for Continental, though. It doesn’t take much to win the top-pet-killer crown.

» Read the article: Report documents few incidents of pets that died on airline flights

USA Today has a useful air travel web application on their site. I love news sites that realize there’s more to news than stories: there are web applications, like this one, that improve peoples lives.

» Check out the airport delay updater

(from Poynter)

KITV News in Honolulu says airport security screeners are seizing so many butane lighters that collecting the confiscated lighters has become a storage and safety problem. Screeners seize 30 to 40 pounds of the lighters each day and have collected 1,700 pounds of butane lighters since April 14. The airport has confiscated so many lighters that the Transportation Department now wants the lighters moved offsite from the airport because they are a safety hazard.

» Read the news article