After a few months of hemming and hawing, Lufthansa has finally started to make its mark on bmi. The airline announced a big restructuring that will involve cutting routes, moving airplanes around, and just generally aligning itself better with the growing Lufthansa empire.
When Lufthansa took control of bmi thanks [...]
What are Scope Clauses and Why Are People Fighting Over Them? – BNET
If you’ve heard people talking about scope clauses and wondered what they are, here’s your guide.
Think a Lot of People are Using Wifi In the Air? Think Again – BNET
Runway Girl Mary Kirby caught [...]
It’s certainly a coincidence that the winner of the signed Southwest timetable is none other than Robert Stack, the author of the True Meaning of Thanksgiving. Robert by far had the most comprehensive entry, and in fact took many photos of timetables, airplanes, and a little alcohol. [...]
Let’s face it – this is a slow news week with Thanksgiving approaching here in the US. Though there isn’t much news, it’s a huge week for traveling. I know I promised to write about what’s happening with Cranky Concierge, and I thought this was a good time for [...]
Is there any airline more sad than Air Jamaica these days? I think not. The latest fight for control of the airline shows just how bad things are there and in Jamaica in general.
In case 
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First Space Hotel Set to Open in 2012 – Asylum.com
I was asked about travel to space. Fun topic, but I don’t see it anytime soon.
Milwaukee sparks air wars – BusinessRockford.com
A thorough piece on what the low cost carrier expansion into Milwaukee might mean for Rockford. I [...]
It’s certainly interesting to watch the Japanese market these days. JAL is turning in record losses and is effectively sitting on a cliff waiting to jump. Meanwhile, ANA has decided to pour a bunch of money into seriously improving its product. This is some pretty impressive looking stuff. [...]
I suppose it’s inevitable. Any time two airlines move closer together, the speculation that it means they’ll merge picks up. Right now, the noise surrounding a United-Continental merger is deafening thanks to the announcement that elite members will now get upgrades on each airline. That doesn’t necessarily mean a [...]
Has there been a stranger courtship than that between British Airways and Iberia? The airlines, which have been talking for years, have finally agreed to merge, sort of. I mean, it’ll get there eventually.
I believe talks began in 1784 when King George III, still sad about losing that whole American [...]
Winglets on airplanes are nothing new. We’ve seen them big and small on all kinds of airplanes. The most visible ones these days are the huge ones that you see on 737s, but what the heck is a sharklet? Well, that’s the Airbus-designed winglet for the A320, and here is [...]
This past weekend, my wife and I were planning on driving up to wine country to spend the weekend with some friends. As the weekend drew closer, I decided that I really didn’t want to drive, so I went to look for flights. Three days before departure, I saw that [...]
American and British Airways Still Waiting for Feds Antitrust Immunity Decision – BNET
The waiting game continues as the DOT has gone past its own deadline for ruling on the BA/American deal. This is getting tiresome.
Capacity Restraint Leads to Fewer Empty Airline Seats in October – BNET
October [...]
Virgin Atlantic has teamed up with Taxi2 (and it’s oddly-registered Tongan website taxi.to) to help passengers share cabs to their destination. This to me is a great idea, but they haven’t taken this far enough. Hopefully this is just the first step.
I remember back in my college days flying [...]
I have never written a more surprising post than this one. Alitalia, the queen of red ink, has actually, shockingly, found that by making more money than it was spending, it could post a profit. This past quarter, the airline made 15 million euros in operating profit (pdf). Holy [...]
You might have seen the Cardinal’s guest post here on Cranky a couple weeks ago on the Association of European Airlines’ (AEA) efforts to protect its member airlines despite there being little to no apparent public benefit. Well, apparently the AEA reads blogs, has no problem commenting on them, [...]
Frontier has been surprisingly quiet about its latest product change, a new premium economy section called Stretch. I saw it mentioned on their Facebook page, and I believe they mentioned it on their earnings call, but I haven’t seen much else. This will be good news for some and [...]
If you think back 15 years ago, the 50 seat regional jet was the hot commodity. People seemed to be willing to pay for jet comfort over a turboprop, and airlines raced to add as many as they could. It’s pretty much been all downhill from there. United is the [...]
Cranky Concierge watches your back – Hartford Courant
More on Cranky Concierge. It’s picking up steam.
Delta Air Lines Rips Into International Association of Machinists – BNET
The IAM has postponed its representation efforts for Delta’s fleet service workers, and Delta is pissed.
If you’re an airline dork, you love timetables. It’s just the way it’s always been. And with Southwest finally issuing its last timetable this year, the era of printed timetables in the US has come to [...]
You cheeseheads may still be hurting from your second Favre-related beatdown this year, but you can rejoice that you now have yet another airline coming to town. SkyWest (yes, the regional airline) will begin flying for AirTran in Milwaukee.
It’s very clear that this is happening because of the AirTran [...]
This may seem like a footnote to some, but just two days ago, Midwest officially stopped flying its own aircraft. That doesn’t mean, as we all know, that the Midwest brand is going away. It just means that now it is nothing more than a brand. So I think a [...]
It’s no surprise that when you make something completely free, people use it a lot more often than if you make them pay. Duh. And that’s why it’s not surprising to see airlines scrambling to find a way to offer wireless internet for free. Just in the last few days, [...]
I know very little about private jet chartering. I’ve never done it, and in fact I’ve never even been on a private jet. So when PR guru Gareth Edmonson-Jones (formerly of Virgin Atlantic and JetBlue) asked if I wanted to learn more about [...]
