Flashback to Airline - the TV Show (2004-2005)

Who remembers Airline - the TV show from 2004-2005? The programming is based on a UK show, with the U.S. version focusing on Southwest Airlines and their customers. Tempers are flying in this episode due to massive overbooking, ticketing problems, and a potentially drunk passenger attempting to fly. Here is part 1 of 3, with remaining episodes available on YouTube.

How to Avoid the Middle Seat

By Mike Grasso

Assuming you would prefer not to sit between two strangers on a flight, there are several steps you can take to prevent getting stuck in a middle seat:

• Immediately choose seats when booking your flight. If tickets are booked through a travel agency or group tour, you may need to call the airline directly to confirm seats.
• If only middle seats are left on a flight, check back with the airline (online or on the phone) frequently to see if other seats open up.
• Monitor your flight for possible schedule or aircraft downgrades, either of which could result in your seat assignment being changed by the airline.
• Inform the airline of your seating preferences in advance. Frequent fliers may be able to update their profile to indicate window or isle seats. Others may need to call the airline directly.
• Use Online check-in for your flight. This provides you one last look of the seating arrangement, and an opportunity to switch to a better seat.

For more information on picking the best airline seats, consider a visit to SeatGuru.

Flight Control Game for iPhone and iTouch - $1

Flight Control, a popular game which allows you to navigate aircraft to safely land at the airport is now on sale for .99 cents. The game is very simple to learn, but is quite challenging and addicting. No mention as to how long the .99 cent sale will last. Click here to learn more, including reviews and screenshots of the game. 

Reader Question: Should I Be Concerned About My Flight Being Oversold?

Q: I booked a trip to the East Coast for Spring Break and the phone agent said it was a really fully flight with only middle seats open. Should I be concerned about the flight becoming oversold? –Sarah in Los Gatos

Overbooking flights is a business practice in which a company sells more of a product than what is on hand. In the airline industry, that means selling more seats on a flight than physically available. There are many reasons why airlines do this, but the bottom line is not everyone is able to keep their original reservation thereby freeing up seats. Using historical records of past flights, the airline forecasts roughly how many people they can oversell a flight, knowing that an equivalent number will not show up. In a perfect world, the two balance each other out and flights leave 100% of capacity. Often this doesn't happen and the plane either leaves less than full, or the gate agent asks for volunteers to surrender their seat in exchange for compensation.

If you don’t like the concept of overbooking, try JetBlue or Virgin America, two airlines who reportedly do not oversell their flights. But even the airlines that do oversell, rarely does it involuntarily disrupt regular travelers who are intent on arriving at their destination – without delay. In the rare instance an airline is unable to find volunteers for a flight, only then does the airline involuntarily deny boarding to one or more unlucky folks. This latter scenario automatically gets reported to the federal government, who tracks the frequency airlines involuntarily disrupt travelers confirmed itineraries, to ensure they remain a relatively rare event.

LiveATC.net Allows Aviation Fans to Monitor Airport Communications

Anyone who has ever owned (or still owns) a police/fire scanner and enjoys aviation can appreciate this: LiveATC.net allows listeners to monitor aircraft and airport transmissions throughout the world right from the comfort your own home.

San Francisco Tower and NorCal approach are two local channels available. During inclement weather, i've heard some interesting conversations between pilots and air traffic control. Beyond the Bay Area, you can monitor airport frequencies throughout the United States and world. Looks like Botswana was recently added. Visit LiveATC.net and their Top 30 list.

Cathay Pacific Launches 'I Can Fly' Program For Bay Area Students

Cathay Pacific is now accepting applications for 'I Can Fly', a program that offers high school students the opportunity to step behind the scenes of commercial aviation and explore various careers in this exciting industry. The airline provides a 9-week Academy that meets once a week to help them explore various careers in aviation.

Through a series of field trips, lectures and hands-on exercises, participants will learn everything about aviation from engineering to inflight catering, and even meet real pilots and flight attendants.

The program is provided free of charge to high school students in the San Francisco Bay Area. Applications are being accepted now. Visit:www.cathayusa.com/icanfly for more details.

inFLIGHTout Travel Tip: Program Airline Phone Numbers

What's worse than showing up at the airport and finding out your flight has been cancelled? Realizing you will be competing with up to 200 other people from your flight trying to get rebooked as well. Everyone has a story: "We're on our honeymoon," "I have a business meeting to attend," "I have elite status," and the list goes on. At the customer service center in the airport, everyone lines up in proper form, hoping for the best - expecting the worst, to find out whether they will even fly out today.

The key here is to have your situation looked at before the others. Call it selfish, if you must. But there are a limited number of seats and trying accommodate a full plane of customers from a cancelled flight onto later flights can be a challenge. Here is what you can do to improve your chances of of a desirable outcome:

Program airline phone numbers in your mobile phone. (Go ahead and do this now, I'll wait). This way while you are standing in line at the customer service/rebooking center, you can concurrently call the airline. By the time you hang up the phone, many of your fellow passengers may still be in line awaiting their fate.

Virgin Atlantic 747 Landing at SFO (Friday Fun)

Here is a special treat for all the airline fans out there. From the Laughing Squid comes this video of a Virgin Atlantic 747 landing at San Francisco International - viewed from the cockpit. Leading up to the touchdown you get to watch the pilots in action as they go through each of the steps to gently lower this big bird onto the runway.

Fare Sales Often Lost in Translation

In this Washington Times post, writer Nicholas Kralev explains how the U.S airline industry continues to mislead customers when they advertise airfare sales.  A banner advertisement of cheap flights to Orlando, for example, is followed by fine print stating the price is for each direction based on round-trip purchase. Kralev asks, "So if a round trip is required to get the quoted price, why aren't fares advertised in the actual amount you need to pay for a round trip?" Read the rest of the story. 

Pam Ann Global Alliance (Friday Fun)

Had the great pleasure of watching a live performance of Pam Ann a few years ago down in Los Angeles. She is the comedic hero to all frequent fliers. I've included a couple videos circulating the web, but must insist that you see her live if presented the opportunity. The videos simply don't capture her true on stage act. Nevertheless, funny enough for inFLIGHTout Friday Fun.

"No Free Ride" parody brings out the fun in fees

(Thanks Bruce)
Fees are up, and services are down at airlines throughout the U.S. This parody from Parody & Son makes light of the troubling airline industry, and the impacts on passengers. Enjoy!

Why it's unwise to stash away frequent flier miles

By Mike Grasso
(reposted from March)

If you think the interest rate on your savings account is bad, take a look at the rate of interest you earn on frequent flier miles; none. Mastering the art of miles accumulation through travel or everyday chores such as shopping, eating out and drying cleaning is great, but if you simply let your miles build en masse without redeeming them, you're loosing value day after day.

Allow me to illustrate: Visualize your mass of miles as a lake, with a constant flow of fresh water (miles) pouring in. The lake is enormous, with plenty of room to waterski, fish and swim. You have bragging rights to this heap of water. It's all yours! Your earned it. But then suddenly, the dam that has kept all the water (your miles) in place, begins to let the water drain out. Sometimes the release is a few drops, other times it seems the water is pouring over the dam. In this analogy, the dam is the frequent flier program, or more specifically, the airline running the program.

You see, for every opportunity the airline offers you to accumulate miles (inflow into the lake), the airline equally controls the value and redemption opportunities of miles (outflow from the lake.)

How it works: Airlines are slimming down. They are thinning domestic flight schedules, forcing more passengers on fewer flights. The end result is fewer seats available to use your hard earned frequent flier miles on.

How it works: Each year airlines review their program and adjust the miles requirement for certain trips. With few exceptions, 25,000 miles is the standard in earning a free trip within the domestic U.S. But, the airlines have hiked up mile requirements for flying first class, or flying to some international destinations. When was the last time you heard of an airline lowering the miles required to earn a free flight? So as your mountain of miles grows, the airline simply changes its policy on how many miles are needed for redemption.

How it works: Many airlines such as United and American now charge a fee for redeeming your miles "last minute." So if you're having difficulty finding a seat in advance (for the reasons stated above), you might find a seat open up a week or two before the departure date. It's yours - but that free trip will actually set you back $50-$75 for booking "last minute."

Be Smart:

• Don't spread your miles across many different airlines. Find a favorite airline or alliance and stick to it the best you can.


• Don't let your miles sit stagnant, use them before they become devalued.


• If you can't find seats available to use your miles on, keep trying. Seats sometimes open up in the overnight hours when temporarily held tickets never get purchased.


• Monitor inFLIGHTout, flyertalk or other travel blogs to keep aware of pending changes in frequent flier programs


• Maximize your mile redemption's; on International flights, some airlines allow a free stop-over or open-jaw routing.

Delta, Northwest Merger imminent - source

It looks like the airline industry will continue to make headlines this week as a merger between Northwest and Delta is reported to be imminent. According to the Associated Press, people close to the merger talks said it may happen as early as Monday. If it does, the joined companies would result in the largest airline in the world.

The two airlines hoped to announce a deal in February, but their pilots' unions were unable to agree on how to merge their seniority lists. The airlines are now hoping to proceed with merger talks without compiling a list, a move that could potentially cause strong opposition to the merger by pilots.

State of the Skies: Has flying become more dangerous?

In an ABC News closeup report dated January 10th (above), we learned that significant staff shortages are effecting key Air Traffic Control Centers in the United States. Some experts claim that under staffing, as well as fatigue and large numbers of ATC personnel recently retiring may be to blame for close calls by aircraft. The FAA asserts new personnel are quickly being hired to replace outgoing staff, and says regardless, the skies are safe.

Related Link: Fox News report describing close calls on the runway.

Continental doubles fuel surcharge

In a struggle to keep the engines running and show a profit, Continental Airlines announced today a doubling in the fuel surcharge on domestic airline tickets. With the increase, consumers will now pay an additional $40 for domestic airline tickets.

United and American Airlines surprised in the industry last week by charging as much as $50 for fuel surcharges. Although initially matched by other airlines, most of these charges were scaled back or dropped altogether after consumers balked at the higher fees.

The airline industry has been hammered with rising fuel costs. American, United and Delta all came out with 4th quarter losses directly attributed to the cost of fuel. Continental however did show some profit, mainly related to higher revenues from International routes. The fuel surcharges are seen as an immediate way to escape the red and bring the airlines back into profit mode.

Analysts expect other airlines will adjust their surcharges upward in response to Continental's announcement.

United Airlines bumps fuel surcharge to $25

Delta matches increase, expect higher ticket prices system wide
United Airlines said Friday it more than doubled its fuel surcharge price to $25 each way to offset higher fuel costs.

In an email, a United spokesperson said it raised its surcharge price from the previous range of $0 to $10, depending on the market. "Every penny increase in a gallon of jet fuel costs our industry $195 million annually, and while we operate more efficiently, we must be able to pass commodity costs on to customers, as other industries do." According to Rick Seany of FareCompare, Delta Airlines has matched this unprecedented increase as well.

Pulling out the classics: Old Airline commercials

Was forwarded a link to some classic airline commercials dating back a few decades. What blast from the past! The fine dining, the introduction of non-smoking planes, and the mm mm fresh baked honey rolls on every flight. Those were the great days of flying. Enjoy.



Check out these other videos
United Airlines, Sweet Rolls ad
United Airlines, friendly skies ad
Northwest Airlines, no more smoking ad
American Airlines, doing what we do best ad
TWA, a taste of Europe, flying in the USA ad

United Airlines Cancels over 600 flights past 3 days

According to the Chicago Tribune, United has canceled over 600 flights in the past 3 days due to weather and staffing problems; this has left thousands of people delayed or stranded throughout the country. Initially caused by the severe winter weather across the Midwest, a backlog of delays and cancellations resulted in flight crews being unable to report to other scheduled flights on time. While other airlines have been impacted this week, none to the degree of United's problems.

Priceline Eliminates Airline Ticket Booking Fees
This month, Priceline began eliminating airline ticket booking fees on all published domestic and international fares. The change does not apply to Priceline's Name Your Own Price airline ticketing service, which offers already discounted tickets.

There are many pro's and con's to using Priceline and other travel sites such as Expedia, Orbitz and Travelocity. A con has historically been the added service charge for airline tickets, though often only $5-$15 per ticket. This policy change at Priceline may be a wake up call to the other travel sites to reexamine their fees, while at the same time making such travel sites a more attractive option to consumers.

Fare Basis Code: Unscramble to reveal the mystery behind your fare

By Mike Grasso
Decoding the Fare Basis of your Airline ticket. Oh what fun!
Understanding the pricing strategy behind the fare basis can help you realize the different fares available for a particular route, saving ya oodles of money.
Caution: Now entering the murky waters of airfare pricing.

A fare basis code (different from the confirmation number) applies to all purchased airline tickets. Each code explains how your fare was calculated, the restrictions on it and more. They usually aren't printed on your boarding pass, occasionally found on your receipt, or sometimes no where to be found & you just have to call the airline directly to find it out. Hint: Travelocity is pretty good about giving at least the first letter "booking class" when you view rules of a selected airfare. Let's look more into fare basis codes:

Below is a sampling of fares available for San Francisco to Las Vegas:

The "L" fare basis code is the cheapest $44 each way. The "14" in the code signifies the ticket must be purchased 14 days in advance. The remainder of the codes can signify peak or off peak or minimum stay requirements. If you were purchasing a ticket 10 days before departure, the computer would display a $99 "W" fare because you meet the requirement of a 7 day advance purchase. Of course if the airline has sold out of the "W" fares, then it looks for the next higher priced tier- in this case a "V" fare. Finally, the "Y" fare is a refundable fare with 0 day minimum purchase; you can walk up to the ticket counter to purchase - and pay the $407 fare that luxury comes with.

Fare Basis Purchase as early as Fare
LA14ON9 29 Oct 07 $ 44
WA7NGZ 22 Oct 07 $ 99
VA3NGZ 18 Oct 07 $ 109
YTED0 15 Oct 07 $ 407

This is a simplified version of how to unscramble your fare basis code. In reality there are several fare basis codes, and sub-categories, since airline pricing is pretty complex. Here is a link for SFO-SEATTLE (scroll to the bottom part of the screen) if you want to look at some additional fare basis codes. You can also check your own itineraries and try to decode the mystery behind fare basis. BTW - fare basis codes are different from the airlines confirmation code.

An important thing to remember is the airline allocates a particular number of seats for each fare basis. They don't want the plane full of people buying cheap tickets! So maybe 10 of the "L" cheap cheap tickets are available, and 15 of the "W" still pretty cheap tickets. Once the "L" tickets are sold out, then everyone else gets "W" or higher fares. So when you book a ticket for 2 or more people, if there is only 1 cheap cheap seat left, most of the time the computer doesn't split your reservation where 1 person gets the "L" and other the "W" fare - both end up getting the "W" more expensive fare. In other words, if your buying for 1 person, the fare is cheap, but buying for 2 in this example, the fare isn't as cheap per person. In this example, you might consider booking this as 2 separate reservations so at least 1 person can take advantage of the lower price.

Of course the fare basis is only 1 piece of the pricing pie. The airline may not offer multiple tiers of pricing on some routes because of a lack of competition or expected higher demand. In this case, all the fares may be high when you perform a search. Best advice: Keep at it. Check prices periodically, airlines have sales, and sometimes they even have unannounced short-term deals which the general public never hears of unless they just happen to stumble on it.

In the meantime, have fun with your fare basis code - decode. Use the link provided above and change your cities and dates in the address bar line to suite your needs. With this information, you can find all fares published and the restrictions with each, enabling you to make an informed decision for airline tickets.