God bless Air Canada — they rescind baggage fees
Air Canada announced that it will do away with the C$25 second checked bag fee introduced back in the spring. It also plans to roll its fuel surcharges into airfares. These moves are all in the wake of “moderated” fuel costs, and far different from the actions of US legacy carriers.
Traveling with a pet? Do your doggone homework
For Anna Mallea, that headline may be an unfortunate play on words. After a flight from Texas aboard Continental Airlines, her family dog, Sassy, is missing. David Burns has some advice for shipping pets by air.
Are Continental’s “crisis” cuts a harbinger of travel industry implosion?
Continental Airlines has announced deep capacity cuts and personnel cuts for its airline operations. It is slashing 3,000 jobs, 67 aircraft and reducing capacity in the fourth quarter by 11 percent in what it calls a “crisis.” This is serious.
Peanut plaintiff feeds airline lawsuit surge
Is it too soon to say frivolous lawsuits against airlines have become a full-blown trend? The latest court action involves Tehmina Haque, a New York ophthalmologist who is suing American Airlines because it served peanut snacks on a flight.
A touch of merger sanity, finally
Continental’s announcement that it would not seek a merger with United Airlines (and I expect with any other airline) demonstrates corporate sanity.
U.S. airlines’ old-aircraft handicap
Airline consultants have sobering words about the age of the U.S. legacy carriers’ fleets. Even if the carriers were to make new orders today, planes would not be delivered until 2012-2015.