During the first successful airplane flight in 1903, Orville Wright had to lie on top of a wing, next to the motor, in the open air. He might feel right at home on many of today’s airliners. Though pilots and passengers now get to ride inside the plane, comfort remains a sore point, according to a new survey by the Consumer Reports National Research Center.
Almost 15,000 readers told us about their experiences on 29,720 domestic round-trip flights in the previous [...]
Director Kevin Smith was in the news, the latest in a string of passengers Southwest Airlines judged as too big for one of their seats. To help sort out the controversy and look at effective solutions we will be joined by Bill Fabrey from the Council on Size and Weight Discrimination, Inc. Bill helped found the Council in 1991, along with seven others, and has served as a director since that time. Bill has been an advocate for size [...]
Southwest Employees celebrate "Bags Fly Free"
NOTE: See airline checked baggage fees
The situation at Southwest Airlines in which a crying 2-year old boy created such a fuss that he got himself and his mother thrown off has me thinking. It seems that though extremely friendly and customer-centric, Southwest’s employees definitely take swift action when they reach their breaking point. There is nothing worse than a crying 2 year old and I bet the mother was just as horrified [...]
Dear Sky Steward,
I am surprised that I am writing you from my hotel room and not a jail because I am so angry about my flight today. I boarded my flight and stowed my bag in the overhead compartment and then, to be considerate to other customers, placed my personal item under the seat in front of me. In the last few minutes of boarding, another customer shifted my bag around in the overhead compartment to [...]
"Don't worry, I'm on airplane mode"
One of the biggest issues that I hear about from readers of Dear Sky Steward and from airline crew on is the electronic device policy debate between passengers and flight attendants. On a recent flight from San Francisco to Miami one of the flight attendants was given a lecture by a passenger about just what airplane mode is. The passenger informed the flight attendant that “airplane mode” is an acceptable alternative to turning the device off for [...]
Has that airline blanket you’re snuggling with been sleeping around? Is it time for you to travel with your own travel pillow and blanket?
We’ve all seen many articles examining the scary condition of communal blankets and pillows being provided on airliners. Many airlines have reduced the number of flights which these are provisioned on, but whenever you are lucky enough to find one you have to wonder where it has been or who it’s been sleeping with.
With so many airlines like Virgin America, United, and JetBlue offering enhanced coach products that provide extra legroom, there is still the problem of BBS (Big Ball Syndrome) which causes many gentlemen to keep their legs spread wide apart. This causes major discomfort to the passengers on both sides of the BBS sufferer. It must be mentioned that symptoms of BBS are often simply imagined by men that wish they actually had BBS.
“Close your legs [...]
Airlines are brining in billions from add-on fees. The airlines have no choice but to add on fees for checked luggage, snacks, etc.; especially since most customers select an airline based on the lowest fare. It seems like yesterday that many airline passengers complained about being charged for goods and services included in an airline ticket that they did not use. Well, be careful what you wish for. Now, you pay for what you do use 
