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

From the Mile High Club news wire:
A California couple are facing federal charges after allegedly refusing to stop “overt sexual activity” on a flight to Raleigh, North Carolina.
I don’t know who’s more at fault here: Southwest Airlines, the Raleigh airport police, or the couple. According to the article, the couple got rude with the [...]

From Derek Willis’ excellent journalism blog,
Ronnie Greene of the Miami Herald used federal data and records obtained through FOIA for a three-part series on cargo plane crashes, finding that “from Texas to Alaska to Colorado and beyond, cargo pilots are dying in large numbers.
Read the blog post here, and read the Miami Herald’s report here.

I have never seen a flight-fare search program do this before: List the cheapest fares for one route for an entire month. This one does that, and it does more. Here’s a screenshot of the best deals when flying from Chicago to Denver in December:

You have to register before you can use it, and it’s free to use, and it’s well worth it. Check it out at http://matrix.itasoftware.com/cvg/dispatch/

Check out TravelPost’s list of wifi access locations and cost — it covers 218 U.S. airports. Useful information … if you’re looking for internet, that is. It was updated two days ago, which means this is something they keep an eye on. It looks like he information is pulled from TravelPost editors and readers…

Check out the list here, and view the full list here.

I’m not making fun of airline safety or anything, but I’m intensely curious why the U.S. Transportation Security Administration felt the need to single out “Toy Transformer Robots” on their list of what you can and can’t bring in your checked luggage and in your carry-on.

Also, and this is something I didn’t know: It’s okay to bring saline or eyedrops with you, as long as the container is four ounces or less. Mascara and toothpaste are still no-nos, that is, unless you feel like putting them in your pocket.

» View the TSA’s full list of banned stuff here.

From last week’s New York Times (via TheLobby.com): Tips and strategy on what to do when you don’t make your flight.

1. Choose your airline wisely. Continental, JetBlue and Southwest are among airlines that re-book you manually, which puts your flight destiny in your hands (as in, whoever gets re-booked first, wins).
2. Call your airline or travel agency as soon as you know you got bumped.
3. Use the “Rule 240 transfer.” This is a remnant from the pre-1978 world of air travel, when things were more regulated, and airlines sort of had to book you with another airline if you were bumped and the other airline could get you where you were going faster.

Read the article here.

From the BBC:
Aircraft hand baggage restrictions imposed after an alleged terrorist plot to attack airliners are likely to be eased next week, the BBC has learned.
Read the article here

Wednesday, says Travelocity. That is, if you’re flying domestic, and your trip is within the next two weeks. Travelocity says all airlines release tickets each Wednesday for weekend travel this weekend and next. So says CNN.com here in The best time to buy everything…

(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

There’s a new player in some United States airports (both Houston airports, New York’s LaGuardia, Liberty in Newark, N.J., and Dulles in Washington): ReturnKey (www.itemreturn.com), which promises to ship items confiscated at the airport security check.