Flight Blog
News and Tips about Air Travel, Business / Industry, Flying, Airplanes, and other fun

Via the excellent journalism blog, The Scoop (blog post link):

Paula Lavigne of the Dallas Morning News used federal data to show that “despite previous estimates from animal rights groups that thousands of animals were killed, injured or lost on commercial airlines each year, only 56 incidents were reported nationwide in the past year, the first that official statistics were kept.” Most of the incidents involved dogs, with cats, birds and a rat making up the rest. A 2003 article by the Humane Society estimated that up to 5,000 pets a year were lost, injured or killed during air travel.

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Read the Dallas Morning News’ article: Airline statistics show less risk to animals than groups estimated

The digital age continues: Wired passports started rolling out across the U.S. this month. This means passport data will be stored electronically, which the State Department says will speed up customs and bolster security.

Citizens who get new passports can expect to pay a lot more. New ones issued under this program will cost $97, which includes a $12 security surcharge added last year. Not all new passports will contain the technology until it’s fully rolled out — a process expected to take a year. Existing passports without the electronic chips will remain valid until their normal expiration date.

Read the full article at wired.com

Business traveler Brad DeLong sleuths out some sketchy business practices on JetBlue’s Boston to West Coast flights: The planes don’t have enough gas to make it when the headwinds are strong:

Thus a six hour flight that would be turned into a six and a half hour flight by strong headwinds is instead turned into an eight hour flight by an involuntary refueling stop in Salt Lake City.

Read the entire blog post here.

Avoid Delays takes flight arrival and departure information and turns it into something usable. It highlights information like the most-delayed flights, the airports with the longest delays, delays by date, month, just a heck of a lot of information.

They also have a place for you to file a complaint about your air travel experience, and they have some pretty generic advice about steps you can take to avoid delays.

Check out this wealth of information at http://www.avoiddelays.com/