Not Your Average Air Travel Stories: Week of Aug. 27
Quite a week for China: Two separate Chinese-based flights were diverted and forced to land after unspecified threats.
The trouble with trains: Passengers riding to JFK were stranded for hours after the AirTrain system malfunctioned. Passengers had to walk nearly a mile to the closest station.
For the better: The TSA is either firing or suspending 20 agents from Boston Logan after employees didn’t screen bags properly. These firings had nothing to do with the recent racial profiling incidents, by the way.
Uncalled for: A gay couple from Virginia are suing United/Continental after airlines employees removed an adult item from their luggage and tapped it to the outside of their bag for all to see when it traveled around the baggage carousel.
That’s dedication: Woman aboard Emirates flight gives birth during trip, names child EK, after the carrier’s flight code.
Penalty, 10 yards: On its way out of Dallas, The Miami Dolphins plane clipped the tail of another plane, forcing both planes out of service.
Hey, Houston flyers: Beginning Nov. 4, you could be flying on one of United’s new Boeing 787 Dreamliner planes.
History comes alive: An unexploded World War II bomb was found during construction at Amsterdam’s Schiphol international airport. A bomb squad was brought in and caused delays.
Flying Fido: JetBlue is offering a limited number of “All Your Pet Can Jet” passes, which for one flat price, entails your pet to fly with you as much as you want. Don’t worry, there are plenty of rules and details you have to follow.
Oh, Ryanair: Forgetting to press the “Print” button cost a family $370 to get their boarding passes.
Well that’s a kick in the pants: Footwear scanners – not coming to an airport near you anytime soon. Turns out, they don’t do what was intended.
What?: This is why I don’t get on boats: hairy chest competitions.
On the road again: Some 33 million people will travel at least 50 miles for vacation over Labor Day weekend. The preferred method of transportation: car.
