The WSJ (subscription required, sorry) has a good article today that finds several airlines will not re-book  travelers stranded by a storm in open seats, preferring to hold them back for sale.  Yes, you read that correctly.  United, Delta and Northwest all say that they will fly with empty first class seats even when travelers [...]

A man was arrested yesterday for attempting to hijack an Air Botswana flight from Gabarone, Botswana, to Johannesburg, South Africa.  The nut banged on the cockpit door and threatened staff and passengers, then demanded to be let into the cockpit.  He was denied entry, and the plane landed in Johannesburg without incident.  I find it [...]

British Airways is hoping to avert a 3-day strike planned for Jan 29-31 by its flight attendants.   The airline has asked a mediation board to step in and help figure out how to come to terms on the pay issues that separate the 2 sides.  If you’ve got flights on BA planned for that day, [...]

United Airlines revised its frequent flyer program policies over the weekend so miles now expire after 18 months.  Worse, this is retroactive to July 1, 2006.  It’s almost worth reading the press release I linked to because somehow they make it sound like this is a benefit to consumers.  Impressive.  Remember, though, you can keep [...]

A Continental Airlines pilot died mid-flight on the way to Puerto Vallarta from Houston on Saturday.  The co-pilot took over and landed the plane without incident at McAllen’s airport.  The flight continued on to Puerto Vallarta with a new crew.

A small bit of self-promotion:  Tripmela (the OTR’s sister site) got a nice mention in an Economic Times (India) article today. 
That’s the end of the pat on the back :)

Spirit Airlines is launching nonstop service from Fort Lauderdale to Port-Au-Prince, Haiti beginning in March.   Special fares start at a nickel each way, and they’re actually available (with tax, it comes to about $85 round trip).   Now, Americans are warned not to go to Haiti, and for good reason (well, many good reasons, not least [...]

A 9 year old who was unhappy in his Tacoma, Washington, decided he would fly to Dallas to runaway from his family.  So he somehow boarded a Southwest flight to Phoenix, changed planes, and ended up mistakenly in San Antonio, not Dallas.  All of this happened without a ticket or boarding pass, which has puzzled [...]

Officials at Auckland’s airport have banned a billboard that features a former Miss Universe in lingerie holding a stuffed rhino.  The tagline on the billboard for the lingerie company reads, "Horny?"  For some reason, officials there thought that was inappropriate.  Go figure.
UPDATE: Thanks to the commenter who suggested that while none of my readers would [...]

Virgin America announced today that it has revised its application to fly in the US, placing additional distance between the carrier and Richard Branson.  Hard to tell what’s going to happen there.  I put the odds at 50-50 that it will fly.  Pretty useful prediction, eh?
If you want to see what you’re missing with Virgin [...]