Airline Strike Updates

It looks as if Hawaiian Airlines has averted a strike. After nearly three years of negotiations, the airline has reached a tentative contract with its pilots union, which had authorized a strike in a preliminary vote, the Honolulu Star-Bulletin reports.

Not so much with British Airways. The airline won a court injunction to stop a strike by cabin crew over the Christmas and New Year’s holidays. But that victory was based on a technicality. The union is expected to vote again and authorize a strike for January, the Associated Press reports.

In fact, transportation in Britain has been a bit janky of late. More than 2,000 people were stranded aboard trains that were stuck in the Channel Tunnel for up to six hours in freezing conditions on Friday, the Daily Mail reports. And the budget airline Flyglobespan suddenly collapsed earlier in the week, stranding thousands of passengers, as the BBC reports.

McDonald’s To Offer Free Wi-Fi

I don’t spend a lot of time at McDonald’s, but I’ll be a lot more likely to drop in when the free Wi-Fi kicks in.

McDonald’s offers wireless Internet at 11,000 of its 14,000 U.S. restaurants, and has been charging $2.95 for two hours of access. In mid-January it will drop the fee, according to the Associated Press.

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Recovery For Airlines In 2010?

Gary Kelly, the CEO of Southwest Airlines, does not much remind me of the Queen of England (maybe a little bit of Dorothy in the “Wizard of Oz”). But he sounded a bit like Her Majesty recently.

Kelly referred to 2009 as an “annus horribilis,” as the New York Times reports. That bit of Latin was famously used by the queen to describe 1992, when her kids were getting divorced and her castle was burning down. It fits the airline industry’s experience in 2009 pretty well, too.

Will 2010 be better for airlines? The experts cited in the Times story think it might be. A little. Possibly.

Kelly himself was notably less optimistic than many of his competitors at a recent airline conference, as Eric Torbensen reported on the Dallas Morning News’ Aviation Biz blog.

Boeing’s New Jet May Fly Next Week

Boeing 787

The first Boeing 787 test flight may take place next week, the Associated Press reports.

The much-delayed aircraft represents a major shift in technology, toward lighter, composite materials, quieter engines and some very pleasant sounding changes to the passenger cabin. These include larger windows, softer lighting and higher pressurization.

Unlike the huge and spectacular Airbus A380, the 787 has the potential to become a workhorse aircraft like the 737 or the 757. This would be good for passengers because it would offer a more comfortable experience.

Unfortunately for U.S. fliers, the 787 has been selling better overseas than it has in the United States. Perhaps that will change as the airlines’ fortunes improve.

Napping At The Airport — For $30 An Hour

Just last week, I swear, I was discussing with my husband my brilliant business idea: renting out little sleeping cubbies in airports. And, of course, just this week somebody opened up such a place at the Atlanta airport.

Minute Suites rents out 56-square-foot rooms with day beds for $30 an hour, USA Today reports. I would sue except I’m guessing the company came up with the idea sometime before last week.

The price seems a little high to me, but then I don’t have an expense account.

Cell Phones On Planes? Hell, No!

A lobbying group has formed to fight for the right to use cell phones on commercial flights, USA Today reports.

Most consumers “want the choice of being able to use this technology,” says leader Carl Biersack, head of the Inflight Passenger Communication Coalition that’s trying to rally passengers.

True enough.  I certainly want the choice. I just don’t want anybody else to have the choice. I know from long experience that their cell phone conversations will annoy the living hell out of me.

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Deja Vu Over The Atlantic

An Air France A330-200 flying from Rio de Janeiro to Paris encountered heavy turbulence over the Atlantic, about four hours after departure on Nov. 29. Sound familiar? 

The circumstances are nearly identical to those surrounding Air France Flight 447, which was lost on June 1, killing 228 people.

The Nov. 29 flight rode out moderate to heavy turbulence and proceeded safely to Paris, the Associated Press reports. French authorities are examining this case, hoping it will shed light on what happened to Flight 447.

In Which I Make Spiced Hot Chocolate

spiced hot chocolate

After a trip to the Museum of the American Indian in Washington, I set out on a quest to replicate the spiced hot chocolate served at its cafe. I have told this chocolatey tale on the blog of my very good friend, the rollicking food guru Leeanne Griffin. So if you want to read it and learn my secrets, click on over to Fun With Carbs.

Airline Customer Service Tip

The always-helpful Consumerist blog has posted a tip on how to get a real, organic, carbon-based human being on the American Airlines customer service line. Turns out there’s a secret code of sorts. That’s useful stuff, at least until the airline changes the code. If you’re dealing with another airline, try gethuman.com, which posts tips of this kind about a wide range of companies. Or you could try being a very important airline customer, which gets you a special phone number that is actually answered by a person, as Laura Bly reported in USA Today.

AirTran Terrorist Story: Not True

There are people who want to believe in conspiracies everywhere. There are people who want to believe the worst about all Muslims. And there are people who lie.

Put them all together, and you end up with an email about how a courageous passenger thwarted a terrorist dry run by a group of Arab men on an AirTran flight out of Atlanta last month.

Except it was very clearly a simple misunderstanding with a man who didn’t understand a flight attendant’s instructions to turn off his camera. And he apparently spoke Spanish, not Arabic. And the self-proclaimed “hero” who wrote the email wasn’t even on the flight, as the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.

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