Martha Stewardess Living at 34,000 feet

“Flying With Fish” Reviews iPhone App of the Week, UAL’s Optathlon Games

admin — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 15:24:23 +0000

This review is from the blog “Flying With Fish”. As a frequent flyer, Steven Frischling provides readers with informative and entertaining views on whats happening in the current state of air travel.

iPhone App of the Week : United Airlines Optathlon Games

By Steven Frischling, “Flying With Fish”

Airline iPhone Apps tend to be utility items, focused on schedules, flight information, booking flights, keeping track frequent flyer miles and some include destination information … but this week’s iPhone App of the Week is focused on something else.

This week’s iPhone App of the Week focuses on both having some fun and offers players immediate rewards for playing.

This week’s iPhone App of the Week is United Airlines’ Optathlon Games.

Anyone who has sat at an airport gate waiting for a flight knows the desire to keep themselves entertained easily and immediately … well United Airlines’ Optathlon Gamesprovides not only quick and immediate entertainment, but it also rewards its players!

While players of Optathlon Games can win up to 1,000,000 miles in the United Airlines Mileage Plus accounts, more likely is players instantly winning access to the airlines Red Carpet Club, Premier Line, Economy Plus or a 10% e-certificate.

While I have access to United’s Premier Line and Red Carpet Club as a Star Alliance Gold frequent flyer … I love the chance to instantly upgrade to Economy Plus on flights or win a 10% e-certificate for future flights.

The two games available on the Optathlon iPhone App (since more are available atgames.united.com) are Line Jump Hero and Legroom Legend. Both games deal with the realities and frustrations of airline travel and poke fun at long lines and annoying children on flights … plus they are addictive games and fun to play!

In Legroom Legend players are seated in United’s Economy Plus with an irritating redheaded child in front of them throwing items at them. The goal is to use your legs to kick the items out of the air and onto your tray table. If you watch closely the items being tossed at you are branded with the United logo and include a toy car, football, baseball and Blackberry.

Line Jump Hero, which is the game I find myself playing more and more, allows you to choose if you’re a male or female traveller, who is seated on their rolling suitcase. You must use your quick eye hand coordination to keep the suite case rolling a top speed as you approach a ramp to launch you over a line of people waiting to check in (level 1), get through security (level 2), board a flight (level 3). Once airborne your goal is maximum distance as your suitcase riding character gets wings and rocket power to propel them as far down the line as possible.

At the end of each game you can submit your score and check out leader board, retry or enter to see if you’ve won instantly. Me … I like instant gratification … so I tend to choose instant win and try to rack up the 10% off e-certificates, although when traveling I like to try for the Economy Plus seating upgrade.

Even if you’re not a United Airlines flyer, you’ll enjoy playing United Airlines’ Optathlon.

Below are 13 screen shots of the United Airlines Optathlon iPhone App from my iPhone the other day.

Happy Flying!

Check out “Flying With Fish” and more Boarding Area Bloggers. Click here!

On the go and need security wait time for a specific airport? There’s an app for that!

admin — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 16:55:59 +0000

MyTSA Mobile Application

For Travelers

To provide passengers with 24/7 access to the most commonly requested TSA information on their mobile device, TSA has developed the MyTSA mobile application. No matter where you are, you’ll have easy access to information you need to get through security and onto the plane safely and smoothly.

MyTSA puts the most frequently requested information about security procedures at airport checkpoints right at their fingertips. The application has multiple functions, including allowing travelers to find out if an item can be taken in checked or carry-on bags, view delays at all U.S. airports via a feed from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), get some of the most commonly asked packing and traveling tips, and post and see other passengers’ checkpoint wait times at specific airports.

TSA also has the ability to update the application to give users the most up to date information to help them prepare for security. If a specific item is not listed on the ‘Can I Bring?’ tool, users can submit it, through the app, directly to TSA for consideration to be added to the app.

MyTSA has multiple functions, including the following tools:

Airport Status: Users can see what airports are experiencing general delays (not flight specific) or search for conditions at a specific airport. This information is provided by the FAA.
‘Can I Bring?’: Users can type in an item they plan to bring on a trip to find out if it is permitted or prohibited, and whether they can pack it in carry-on or checked bags.
Guide: Users can get travel tips on an array of some of the most popular topics of air travel, including traveling with children, 3-1-1 rules for liquids, gels and aerosols, special medical needs, packing tips, tips for how to dress for airport security, tips for military members, and traveling with food and gifts.
Security wait times: MyTSA gives passengers the ability to share their wait time and see what wait times other passengers have posted for U.S. airports.
Wait Times: Passengers can also post the approximate amount of time it took them to get through security for other travelers to view.

To get MyTSA on your mobile device, type in www.tsa.gov/mobile.

You can find the MyTSA iPhone app on iTunes.

Pilot Sentenced for Selling Drug Test Masking Product

admin — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 16:36:01 +0000

Pilot sentenced for marketing drug-masking product

By Paula Reed Ward, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

A former commercial airline pilot was sentenced to nine months in prison this morning for selling a product online designed to mask drugs in a person’s urine to beat drug tests.

Stephen Sharp, of Port Orange, Fla., operated the website, yourintheclear.com and sold a powder to be mixed in cranberry juice one to five hours before a scheduled drug test. The website promised a 100 percent pass rate to beat tests for both marijuana and cocaine.

During the hearing before U.S. District Judge David S. Cercone, Mr. Sharp’s attorney argued that his client had already suffered a great deal since federal agents raided Sharp Labs Inc. on May 7, 2008.

Mr. Sharp lost his job working for a subsidiary of US Airlines and will not be allowed to work as a pilot in the future.

The attorney asked for his client, who faced a recommended guideline range of six to 12 months in prison, to be sentenced to either straight probation or home detention.

But Judge Cercone, in strong words, denied the request, asking Mr. Sharp what he would have done had another pilot used his product to cover up his drug use and then crashed a plane with 250 people aboard.

“Did you ever contemplate that? Did you ever think about what your conduct could lead to? Did you even care?”

Mr. Sharp, who tried repeatedly to apologize, couldn’t answer.

“This conduct is really despicable,” the judge said. “The magnitude of the potential harm to others is vast.”.

Mr. Sharp, who pleaded guilty to a single count of conspiracy to defraud the United States, will be permitted to self-report to prison.

More details in tomorrow’s Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Southwest Pilot ‘Flashed’ by Nude Cabaret

admin — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 14:06:23 +0000

Dallas strip club shuts off spotlight after complaint by pilot landing at Love Field

By Gloria Salinas- Dallas Morning News

The owner of a Dallas strip club has agreed to shut off a large spotlight that distracted a Southwest Airlines pilot landing at Love Field over the weekend.

Not actual cabaret light mentioned in this story. Chip's easily amused is all.

The pilot of Flight 939, from Albuquerque, N.M, was just four miles from the airport Sunday when a spotlight shined into the cockpit. The pilot was able to land safely.

“We’re still kind of looking into the situation,” FAA spokesman Lynn Lunsford said. “The cabaret manager indicated that the light has been there since November of 2008.

“He turned it off last night and said it would remain off until a resolution is found.”

Lunsford said this is an unusual type of complaint because most of the interference with flights is the result of people pointing laser devices at planes, usually intentionally.

“This is the first time that there’s been any kind of complaint like this,” Lunsford said. “It’s entirely possible that this was a fluke and nothing will be done, but we have to investigate first.”

Everyone Safe after Quantas Jet Blows Engine Leaving SFO

admin — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 14:42:15 +0000

Quantas 747 Engine Blows Up; SFO Emergency Landing

"Yeah, we're safe. Thank you Quantas!!!" (photo not related to this story. Click below link for full report & pics)

SAN FRANCISCO — A Quantas 747 heading to Sydney with with 212 passengers and a crew of 18 was forced to make an emergency landing at San Francisco International Airport early Tuesday after an engine exploded in flight over the Pacific, authorities said.

Qantas Airways Flight No. 74 had departed SFO around 11:10 p.m. and had been in the air for about 45 minutes when passengers heard a loud bang and felt the plane vibrate.

Among the passengers was Neil Dufty, who was on the flight heading back to his home north of Sydney.

“We were about half an hour into the flight and there was a very strong shutter on the right hand side of the plane,” he told KTVU. “It wasn’t turbulence. It seemed that there was some pretty serious damage. People on the right hand side of the plane seemed very shocked. Apparently, there were flames coming out of the engine.”

Fellow passenger Elizabeth Thomas heard a loud noise.

“I heard a very strange noise,” Thomas said. “It’s hard to describe. I don’t travel that much but I knew it was very wrong. The staff looked a little alarmed and began to move very quickly.”

Nolan Goldstein also knew some had gone wrong

“I heard a thud, a bump and the plane veered off to the left,” he told KTVU. “It was very uncertain for a period of time until the captain announced that we had an engine that blew up…It was a real uncomfortable vibration at first and then the plane began to shake a bit.”………. (continued)

From KTVU.com. Click here for complete story and related pics.

Hawaii Tragedy Leaves Teens Temporarily Stranded

admin — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 13:28:46 +0000

Be sure to click the link at the very bottom for an earlier story about how the kids were cared for by good Samaritan vacationers and hotel staff.

Jessie (14) and brother Dan Molitor (17) were on vacation in Hawaii with their aunt. It took the family nearly 24 hours to change airline flights for the teens after their aunt drowned in a hotel swimming pool on the Big Island.

By Lisa Baumann
Duluth News Tribune

Family calls for change after travel tragedy

Now back in the Twin Ports safe and sound, the teens stranded in Hawaii after their aunt died on Monday are trying to regain some normalcy.

Meanwhile, their relatives have turned to U.S. Rep. Jim Oberstar to help find answers about why, from their perspective, a major airline and online travel company fought them in their quest to get the teens home quickly after the death.

“We’re not taking this lightly,” said Chris Willie, legal guardian of Jessie Molitor, 14, one of two teens on the trip to Hawaii. “These big corporations need to remember the human element.”

It took the family nearly 24 hours to change airline flights for Jessie and her brother, Dan Molitor, 17, after their aunt drowned in a hotel swimming pool on the Big Island.

United Airlines apologizes and offers travel certificates.

Though United Airlines apologized via e-mail to the children’s family after hearing from Oberstar’s office, Willie says he hopes his family and Oberstar can help save future travelers from traumatic run-arounds.

Janis Rider, a lawyer for the Minnesota Legislature, took her niece and nephew for an end-of-summer vacation last week and drowned while in the hotel swimming pool. Family members have said they’re mystified by what happened.

It meant the two teens faced being left alone in a strange place. They weren’t scheduled to depart until Friday — four days later.

Leaving them there that long was out of the question, said Ed Quirk of Duluth, the childrens’ stepfather.

“How many times do minor children lose their guardian?” Quirk said. “We spent 11 hours trying to get those kids on a ride out of there and met stonewalling … and jumping through hoops.”

Relatives dealing with Expedia, the online travel company that provided their tickets, grew increasingly frustrated.

Lori Paulson, owner of About and Beyond Travel Agency in Duluth, said she spoke with Expedia on the family’s behalf Tuesday morning and was surprised that none of the three people she spoke to would help her.

Hearing of the problems with Expedia, Willie started calling United Airlines.

After Willie explained repeatedly to a United customer service representative that the person who booked the tickets had died, their tickets were changed to a Tuesday night departure — for a fee of $75 per ticket. Willie was told it was half the normal rate.

“United (Airlines) eventually worked with us,” Quirk said. “Expedia never did.”

Dan and Jessie arrived at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport about 2 p.m. Wednesday.

On Thursday, Willie called Oberstar’s Washington office. He is chairman of the U.S. House Transportation Committee.

By Friday afternoon, Willie had an apologetic e-mail from United Airlines’ customer relations department. “Our staff certainly could have done more to acknowledge the situation and to better assist you during this very difficult time. I apologize,” spokeswoman Donita Mincey wrote in part.

The airline also promised $400 electronic travel certificates for Dan and Jessie.

Story from TwinCities.com

NOTE: Stranded teens were cared for by vacationing Samaritans. Click below link for earlier story…..

Stuck in Hawaii, teens turn to kindness of a stranger (By Lisa Baumann, Duluth News Tribune)

“Passengers are trying to fit 10 pounds of stuff into a five-pound bag”

admin — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 00:52:55 +0000

A Call for Civility in the Overhead Bins

By JOE SHARKEY, New York Times

Flight attendants’ job of ensuring safe stowage of carry-ons has gotten more difficult in the wake of fees for checked bags, creating shortage of space in bins and shortness of temper in the aisles.

With airlines collecting $2.7 billion in checked bag fees last year, the ever-crowded carry-on situation isn’t likely to improve on its own any time soon.

Spirit recently surprised the airline industry by introducing fees of $20 to $45 each to stow carry-on bags in overhead bins. In a Web video, Ben Baldanza, the chief executive of Spirit Airlines, describes the problem while his body is scrunched inside a bin.

“Had we not implemented this, there’s no telling what people would try to put in an overhead bin,” said Baldanza, who is known as a tireless promoter of his ultralow fare (and, critics say, ultralow service) airline. Certainly some industry competitors might welcome the idea of stuffing the ever-insistent Baldanza into an overhead bin. But the video does highlight one of the most serious complaints that passengers and flight attendants share: As people lug more stuff aboard to avoid the ever-increasing checked-bag fees, there is a chronic shortage of bin space.

It is clear that there are no good solutions to the problem, even though Spirit Airlines has drummed up its own answer. The fact is, most business travelers need to bring onboard a reasonably sized bag that requires overhead stowage. At the same time, crowded planes and limited space guarantee chronic frustration that often pits overworked flight attendants against overstressed passengers.

“I think the airlines are causing a lot of this stress,” said Pamela Eyring, the director of the Protocol School of Washington, a company that offers business etiquette and other social-interaction courses, including training flight attendants for how to manage that bane of air travel: other people.

Airlines, which generated $2.7 billion in revenue from fees for checking bags last year, have basically shrugged off the overhead-bin problem. That has turned the issue over to passengers and flight attendants to work out, usually unhappily. With most flights full, anxieties and tensions associated with stowing carry-on bags are soaring.

This becomes a challenge that requires, among other things, social coping skills and a mutual understanding of the fundamental problems within the environment of an airplane, Eyring said.

She was not impressed with Steven Slater, the JetBlue flight attendant who, after abruptly announcing that he had “had it” with annoying passengers and the travails of the job, grabbed two beers, pulled the emergency chute and slid into notoriety from a parked plane on Aug. 9.

Reports differ about what might have prompted Slater’s tantrum, but “even if he was provoked or insulted or assaulted in some way, he is a professional. Flight attendants receive training, for example, on how to deal with difficult passengers and in managing anger,” Eyring said.

But she has sympathy for the flight attendants who are being asked almost to do the impossible in ensuring safe stowage for all of those carry-ons. She said that often passengers are trying to “fit 10 pounds of stuff into a five-pound bag,” while those around them risk personal injury in the process.

My reader e-mail indicates that the only consensus on how to mitigate the problem is to somehow eliminate big carry-on bags that exceed posted size limits. Passengers seethe at other passengers stumbling down the aisle “dragging their whole lives along” in a bag, as Eyring put it.

It’s been my experience that these oafs who are lugging bags the size of a refrigerator actually are a small minority. Most people tote reasonably sized bags.

And even discounting the airlines’ interest in generating more revenue from checked bags, any new procedure for carefully enforcing exact size limits on carry-on bags at the departure gate would create intolerable boarding delays.

So we are left, Eyring suggested, with a matter of social etiquette and of “being cognizant of other people and showing basic respect,” and an appreciation of social order.

Airlines need to step in, too, said Tim Houlne, the chief executive of Working Solutions, who says his company trains and employs more than 70,000 home-based agents in the United States for customer service call centers, including some for airlines.

Story and photo from StarTribune.com

Big Ooooops! 747 Pilot hits wrong button, announces water “landing”!

admin — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 15:02:56 +0000

We’re about to crash, jet passengers told in error

‘They said the pilot hit the wrong button’

Not to be confused with the "sit back and relax" button.

LONDON — British Airways apologized on Friday after a crew member mistakenly played an emergency message warning Hong Kong-bound passengers that the plane they were on was about to plunge into the sea.

About 275 passengers on a Tuesday flight out of London’s Heathrow Airport heard the message: “This is an emergency. We may shortly need to make an emergency landing on water,” NBC News reported.

“People were terrified, we all thought we were going to die,” passenger Michelle Lord, 32, told Britain’s The Sun newspaper, which first reported the incident. “They said the pilot hit the wrong button because they were so close together.”

“I can’t think of anything worse than being told your plane’s about to crash,” the Sun quoted another passenger as saying.

The plane was flying over the North Sea at the time.

Cabin crew on the Boeing 747 quickly reassured passengers that the message was a mistake and there was no emergency, NBC News reported.

Click here for the full story on MSNBC.com

Pistol Packing Delta Flight Attendant Wants Her Job Back

admin — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 14:10:59 +0000

Ex-Delta Flight Attendant Wants Job Back

By George Franco, MyFoxAtlanta.com

Indianapolis- In June, Delta Flight Attendant Amber Robillard, arrested for concealed handgun

ATLANTA – A former Delta flight attendant was busted in Indianapolis with a gun in a carry-on bag. Amber Robillard talked about her ordeal Thursday and said she hopes to get her job back.

In June, Robillard was arrested in Indianapolis for a pistol in her carry-on luggage.

“I was shocked. I was stunned. It was absolutely my worst nightmare,” said Robillard.

Robillard said she forgot about the gun. The former flight attendant said she picked up the wrong bag as she was leaving her home and it was a bag in which she kept the pistol.

Robillard said she was stowing belongings into several bags after her home had been broken into for the fourth time in a year and a half.

“I had so many things going on, I was extremely frustrated,” said Robillard.

Robillard said she headed to work and boarded a Delta bus that took her to her flight. Robillard said no one screened her in Atlanta, but TSA busted her in Indianapolis.

In a statement, Delta officials said, “We take our airport security programs very seriously and thoroughly investigate any potential violations.”

TSA officials said, “As part of TSA’s layered security approach, airport operators or airlines, depending on the agreement in place, develop and implement security programs specifically tailored for each airport.”

Indianapolis authorities dropped the charges against Robillard, who is appealing her firing from Delta.

“I’d really love to get back to work doing what I love and I want them to help me in this process,” said Robillard.

Fox5Atlanta~ Click here for this story and exclusive TAPED interview with Amber Robillard

DFW First Class passenger wearing thigh highs, halter top, and short shorts. Is ‘he’ showing to much skin?

admin — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 05:07:52 +0000

From CNN.com

Is it what you wear, or what NOT to wear? And does it really matter?

Strike a pose! Shot of a scantily clad passenger in the Dallas Fort-Worth Airport.

Join the conversation on CNN. What’s OK to wear on the plane?

iReporter Lisa Oaks posted an iReport this week that caught our eye — a photo of a man in the Dallas Fort-Worth Airport wearing short shorts and a halter top. “This is ok for a male revue nightclub, but not for public daytime,” said Oaks, whose husband Mark snapped the shot.

According to Mark, the passenger was allowed to board his American Airlines flight, which he said came as a surprise. “If a woman was dressed like that, there’s no way she would get past the parking lot,” he said. Lisa echoed his thoughts. “Rules of dress in public places like airports should be uniform policy and enforced for all sexes,” she explained.

American Airlines’ conditions of carriage state that passengers who are “clothed in a manner that would cause discomfort or offense to other passengers” may be refused entry on flights. We have contacted the airline for additional comments on this issue.

This isn’t the first time airline passengers’ clothing choices have made the news. In 2007, a Southwest flight attendant reprimanded a woman for wearing a tiny miniskirt that showed too much skin. And it seems everyone’s talking lately about the flight attendant who made a dramatic exit on a Jet Blue flight and the frustrated flyer who slapped a baby.

We want to hear your personal take on this issue. Should airlines restrict what passengers can or can’t wear on flights? Should there be different rules for men and women? What kinds of outfits or bizarre behaviors have caught your attention at airports?

Go to CNN.com/iReport Blog and share your thoughts!