Savvy-Boomers » Airline travel

Bing Can Help You Find The Cheapest AirFare

Jere — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 23:46:08 +0000

The search engine Bing has certainly got some interesting new tools available for the traveler. They can help you decide when is the best time to purchase air line tickets for you future travel. Take a look at this article http://bit.ly/aXs6be for some great information.

Haitian Airport Taken Over By US Officials

Jere — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 19:58:52 +0000

The recent earthquake that devastated the Island nation of Haiti brought death and destruction to what is said to be one of the poorest nations in the world. Highways buckled, hospitals collapsed, many buildings were reduced to piles of rubble only three or four feet high. Unbelievably the runways at the airport were not badly damaged but the control tower sustained severe damage and communications were none existent. As planes started bringing in supplies to the beleaguered nation it was soon realized that there were no people to take charge of relief operations at the airport and there were no reserves of jet fuel available for the planes that did arrive.

Haitian and US officials entered into an agreement of understanding that allowed communications to be reestablished and the administration of the airport facility was taken over by the US officials. Relief efforts can now be coordinated with military support beginning at the airport where a huge bottleneck had been developing. Planes were arriving from around the world and were forced to circle for hours as there was no place to file flight plans and therefore no arrival schedules.

The US Air Force has now begun to schedule landings and departures for relief flights and many planes are being diverted to airports on other Caribbean islands and into Florida. Haitian airspace is now off limits to planes arriving with little or no advance notification because of the overcrowding of the limited airspace. Nearly 200 flights arrived at the Haitian airport bringing in both military personnel and all types of food and emergency aid.

Armed forces commanders have stated that it is their job to oversee the orderly distribution of food and emergency supplies and no one has said any thing about the US making plans to take over the administration of the nation of Haiti.

Northwest Cancels #2309 out of Detroit

Jere — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 15:10:48 +0000

This morning Northwest Airlines had to cancel flight #2309 from Detroit to Phoenix. They announced that they were not able to get a crew together to man the flight. All passengers were to be given overnight accomodations near the airport and the flight #2309 was rescheduled for tomorrow morning. The flight for tomorrow is now reported to be #2203 from Detroit to Phoenix and should arrive in Phoenix at 9:50am. We will report any further changes if we are notified.

British Airways May Strike For The Holidays

Jere — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 19:06:39 +0000

The cabin crew employees of British Airways have announced plans to strike the airlines over the Christmas Holidays this year. There is a dispute over the possible elimination of positions for the longer transatlantic flights and a disagreement over wages. The union for cabin employees has set December 22 thru January 2 as the dates of the planned strike. If it takes place it would certainly affect the plans of thousands of holiday travelers. British Air shuttles about 10,000 passengers per day on 40 flights between the US and Britain.

In the past six months BA has lost about 346 million dollars as the numbers of first class travelers and leisure travelers has dwindled because of the recession. People are not spending as freely this year as they have in the past and revenues are slipping behind predictions. As a result the union members are becoming very anxious about plans to eliminate jobs.

If you have plans to travel with British Airways in the next few days be sure to have an alternate plan in place just in case you should need to make changes. Be sure to contact BA and inquire about changes to flight schedules.

Your Nickname Could Keep You Off Your Plane

Jere — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 23:41:32 +0000

In their efforts to keep air travel safe and secure the government has implemented a program called Secure Flight. One of the rules to be observed is that full names on the airlines boarding passes must match up exactly with what ever government issued ID the passenger may be using.
If the passenger goes by a nickname or modified version of his given name then the passenger can not use that version of his name on the ticket. At present a delay and extra questioning may be encountered but next year it could well result in a passenger being denied boarding.

If you use an initial and a middle name it will have to be shown that way on your ID. If you use a different version of your given name ie: Bob instead of Robert it will also have to be shown that way on your ID. The time to check on this is right now. Don’t wait till you get to the airport and find that you can’t use the ticket you purchased because there is a problem with your name.

This is supposed to keep terrorists from using an assumed name to purchase a ticket and then an ID that is similar to make a boarding on a plane. That remains to be seen. If you were using a different name wouldn’t you use an ID that was the same as the new name?

Tip of the Day: Make sure the name on your ticket is exactly the same as the name on your gov’t issued ID.

Busiest Flying Time of The Year

Jere — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 18:29:59 +0000

Expect flights to be packed this weekend which is usually the busiest flying period of the holidays. According to the Air Transport Association Sunday and Monday, the last two days of this month, are the busiest days for holiday travel. Expect to see planes packed as the number of flights is reduced but there is an upside. Because of the lighter traffic this year you should see more flights arriving on time.

Be sure to plan ahead and arrive a few minutes early at the departure gates to keep problems under control this season. As an added benefit airlines are reporting fewer lost or damaged pieces of luggage since 2002.

Tip of the Day: Don’t wrap gifts before you travel. You may have to open them for inspection by security personnel.