airline industry

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Flier's Rage Over Blanket Fee Gets His Flight Diverted

Hawaiian Airlines flight makes unscheduled landing at LAX

(Newser) - An outraged passenger caused a plane to be diverted—all over a $12 blanket fee. The brouhaha began shortly after the Honolulu-bound Hawaiian Airlines flight left Las Vegas on Wednesday morning, KHON reports. The 66-year-old man complained of being cold, asked for a blanket, learned the price, and demanded to...

'Cheapest Ever' Flights Get You to Europe for $65

But Norwegian Air will only be offering a limited number of them

(Newser) - This could be the summer to go to Europe, so long as you live in the Northeast. Norwegian Air International is launching $65 one-way flights on 10 routes between Europe and the US this summer, using the smaller Boeing 737 Max. There are three points of departure stateside: Bradley International,...

Latest Turbulence in the Skies: Kid-Free Zones on Planes

Some say they're great, others say they're discriminatory

(Newser) - You can now fly on one of India's largest airlines without fear you'll get stuck in front of a screaming baby or a kid who likes to kick seats. IndiGo is the latest airline to offer "Quiet Zones" on each of its flights, with two sections of...

People in Plane Crashes Keep Risking Their Lives for Their Luggage

And they really need to stop doing that

(Newser) - Everyone involved in the airline industry is "apoplectic" about a video showing passengers on an Emirates Airline flight that crash landed in Dubai on Wednesday grabbing their luggage before evacuating, even as the cabin fills with smoke, Bloomberg reports. Everyone successfully escaped before the plane burst into flames, but...

Airline's Jet Nearly Impounded Over $680 Debt to Customer

4 years after a 22-hour flight delay, traveler still hadn't been reimbursed

(Newser) - An airline nearly had one of its jets, worth "tens of millions" of dollars, impounded Friday because it wouldn't pay a customer the $680 it owed her for a delayed flight, NBC News reports. The EU requires airlines to reimburse travelers for delays depending on their length. A...

Alaska Air Deal Makes It Bigger Than JetBlue

Airline strikes deal to buy Virgin America

(Newser) - Alaska Air will leapfrog JetBlue to become the nation's fifth-largest airline after striking a deal to buy Virgin America, reports the Seattle Times . Alaska Air announced the deal Monday morning after what the Wall Street Journal reports was a "frenzied" bidding war with JetBlue, one that resulted in...

Women Land Plane in Country That Doesn't Allow Them to Drive

They're Royal Brunei Airlines' first all-female pilot crew

(Newser) - Royal Brunei Airlines' first all-female pilot crew landed in Saudi Arabia last month to celebrate Brunei's National Day. It was a bit of an ironic moment—a fact not lost on the Telegraph , which states it highlighted "the absurdity of laws preventing women from driving cars." Women...

US, Cuba Will Have Commercial Flights Again

The countries signed a deal for up to 110 daily flights on Tuesday

(Newser) - The United States and Cuba signed a deal Tuesday restoring commercial air traffic for the first time in five decades, allowing dozens of new daily flights to bring hundreds of thousands more American travelers a year to the island as early as this fall, the AP reports. Immediately after the...

For Fliers, 2015 Was an Unbelievably Safe Year

No fatal jetliner accidents happened globally

(Newser) - It once seemed impossible, but the airline industry has finally pulled off a long-sought-after global goal: It got through an entire year without a single jetliner fatality due to pilot snafus, plane malfunctions, and/or weather conditions, per the Wall Street Journal . Stats issued by the International Air Transport Association called...

Lawmaker Vows to Fight Ever-Shrinking Airline Seats

'Consumers are tired of being squeezed both physically and fiscally by airlines'

(Newser) - Cramped airline passengers, Steve Cohen speaks for you. The representative from Tennessee plans to introduce the Seat Egress in Air Travel Act on Thursday, USA Today reports. According to Consumerist , Cohen doesn't want to see airline seats continue to get smaller. The SEAT Act would force the FAA to...

Get Excited, Fliers: Free Snacks Are Back

American is the latest airline to bring back some small perks

(Newser) - After 15 years of near austerity, US airlines are restoring some small perks for passengers crammed into coach. Don't expect ample legroom or free checked bags. But fliers will find improved snacks, a larger selection of free movies, and—on a few select routes—the return of free meals....

Lawmaker to Airlines: Don't Even Think About 'Pee Fees'

Illinois rep's bill looks to ban any future fees for bathroom, crack down on baggage fees

(Newser) - Your typical airline passenger is stuck in a cramped box several miles in the air—already peeved by baggage fees , reduced legroom , and a generally miserable experience—so why not, when nature calls, hit them with another fee to hit the bathroom? Ryanair floated the idea in 2010, disastrously , but...

Flight Attendant Who Wouldn't Serve Booze Suspended

Muslim woman files discrimination complaint

(Newser) - A flight attendant who stopped serving passengers alcohol after she converted to Islam says things were going perfectly until a colleague complained. Charee Stanley says that after she found out that her faith didn't allow her to serve booze, her supervisor at ExpressJet suggested that she work out an...

Drunk Co-Pilot Was 7 Times Over Legal Limit

And the pilot wasn't exactly sober

(Newser) - Too drunk to fly, and possibly too drunk to walk: A co-pilot who went on a drinking binge with three other airBaltic crew members hours before a flight was found to have a blood alcohol level around seven times the legal limit, the BBC reports. The 38-year-old told a court...

Airline Says It Has to Weigh You Before You Fly

Uzbekistan Airways brings in 'special weighing machines'

(Newser) - Uzbekistan Airways has introduced what it says are "special weighing machines" at departure gates—and you need to get on one before you fly. In a press release , the Central Asian airline says that under International Air Transport Association regulations, "airlines are obliged to carry out the regular...

Judge Grills Airline Lawyers Over His Lost Luggage

In a completely unrelated case

(Newser) - Anyone whose luggage has been lost by an airline now has a patron saint in the form of Justice Peter Smith in Britain. When lawyers for British Airways showed up in his court to argue a $4.6 billion price-fixing case, Smith had smaller fish to fry: He wanted to...

Scary Mistakes on Asia Flights Kept Secret: Report

WSJ reports many air incidents go unreported in Asia

(Newser) - Asia's aviation market is booming, with passenger counts jumping more than 200% over the last 10 years in India and Indonesia and 300% in China. Perhaps passengers are encouraged by the low number of incidents among Asian airlines, but all is not what it seems: A Wall Street Journal...

Feds Suspect Airlines Are Ripping Us Off

Justice Department launches investigation into collusion

(Newser) - Because extra fees and delayed flights weren't enough reason to sour on airlines, the Justice Department has added one more: Federal investigators suspect that the airlines are colluding to rip off passengers. The Justice Department has launched an antitrust investigation and demanded all communication airlines have had with each...

White House Going After Airplane Emissions

EPA says they endanger health, first step toward regulations

(Newser) - Actual regulations are still a good five years away, but the EPA took the first step today toward stricter rules on airplane emissions: The agency released a finding that the emissions contribute to air pollution and thus pose a risk to public health. Next will come years of wrangling over...

Why You Might Have to Buy a New, Smaller Carry-On

IATA guidelines could shrink bags by 40% from previous rules

(Newser) - Your carry-on bag might be getting downsized. In an effort to regulate carry-on sizes internationally, the world’s largest airline group, the International Air Transport Association, has proposed a standard carry-on size of 21.5 inches long by 13.5 inches wide by 7.5 inches deep, report the Los ...

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