Thought that last cup of water the flight attendant served you tasted a tad funny? Well, hopefully you’ll no longer have to question that agua aftertaste, thanks to new rules set into place by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) earlier this week. Airlines will now be issued schedules for how often the water they serve their passengers (as well as the water supply for the lavatories) must be tested for coliform bacteria, which in itself is not harmful, but is an indicator of disease-causing bacteria. The new tests are affecting 63 airlines and costing $7 million – in our opinion, a small price to pay to wash away in-flight water woes for the traveling masses.

We all loathe luggage fees, but United Airlines is the first to make the burden easier to bear for frequent travelers, with a new offer putting a cap on the sky-high charges of checking bags each time you check-in. Today, the airline unveiled its Premier Baggage program that lets continuous checkers pay $249 up front, then fly their bags fee-free for a full year (both on the homefront and to destinations abroad). Not for everyone, the offer makes the most sense for families who often fly domestically (where the highest bag fees are incurred), as it allows two checked bags per person, for up to eight people per reservation.

In mid-2008, when airlines across the country began tacking on extraneous fees to compensate for lower ticket sales and spikes in fuel prices (like charging upwards of $25 each way for the first checked bag on domestic flights), they created an uproar among flyers who felt like they were being flown for all they’re worth. Since then, said fees have been evolving exponentially, leaving the days of the all-inclusive ticket price to memory – with no proverbial “ceiling” in sight. Now, the revolution in luggage rates can no longer be contained by borders: late last month, overseas operators American, US Airways, and Continental announced they’ll be applying the checked-bag charges to all transatlantic flights (Delta was the first in July) – with the only straggler, United, finally joining the ranks last week. Read the rest of this post »

Last Friday, passengers onboard Continental Express flight 2816 were packed into their tiny plane like sardines during a staggering 7-hour overnight delay. The Minneapolis-bound flight left Houston in the evening and was forced to stop in Rochester, Minnesota due to thunderstorms. While the delay itself was inevitable, the prohibition of passengers to get off the plane to stretch their legs and get some proper sleep has heads in Washington turning – and has now prompted a formal investigation by federal officials. Read the rest of this post »

Twitter may be time consuming, but it may soon be well worth any savvy flyer’s while. United Airlines and Jet Blue are taking notice of the Internet update-obsessed and rewarding them with tempting deals, many of which are exclusive to the social networking and mini-blog site. While following United Airlines’ twares, or Jet Blue’s cheeps, tweeters receive hot prices (some one-way flights have been advertised for under $10 bucks) that often leave the screen faster than a plane has liftoff. In fact, in many cases, fares are only available for as little as an hour or two. Read the rest of this post »

There’s no denying it – most of us savvy flyers have been burned by the major airlines at one point or another. For this blogger, the memories are fresh: A few weekends ago my flight from Bangor to Newark was boarded and then delayed at the tarmac for over two hours. But in the larger world of flight snafus, what I endured was trivial. In the last few years, flyer ire has progressively grown in response to stuck-on-the-tarmac delays – some of which have topped off at more than a staggering 10 hours. As a result, increased pressure rightly fell into the laps of the legislature to pass a law to protect passengers’ rights. Thankfully, the legislation, which was approved by the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee yesterday, will (among other things) limit permitted boarded tarmac delays to 3 hours, except in the most extreme of circumstances (when only another 30 minutes will be allowed).

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Tuesday marked the debut flight of the world’s first all-pet airline, run by husband-and-wife team Alysa Binder and Dan Wiesel.  While nearly all major U.S. airlines allow small dogs and cats to accompany paying passengers in the cabin, anything larger than a lap dog must travel in cargo, a scary place for doting pet owners, that’s somewhat notorious for its drastic changes in temperature. One nerve-racking flight with Zoe – the couple’s Jack Russell Terrier – in the cargo hold convinced Alysa and Dan to find a better way for animals to fly. Their solution is Pet Airways, a five-plane fleet that’s been 4 years in the making – onboard all seats have been stripped and replaced by animal carriers for dogs and cats (reptiles, birds, and even pigs will be welcome in the future).

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Southwest Airlines has opened up its cabin doors to passengers’ furry pals, courtesy of its brand-new P.A.W.S (Pets Are Welcome on Southwest) policy, which permits small cats and dogs in cabin for a $75 fee. While P.A.W.S has triggered delight from pet owners nationwide, it’s also resulted in a whine from customers suffering from pet allergies, afraid of the inescapable dander soon-to-be onboard. Several other commercial airlines (like Jet Blue, AirTran, and United, to name a few) have allowed pets in the cabin for quite some time, however, and serious allergy problems, if they’ve been reported, have not proved to be a large enough issue to lead to cancellations of the policy. Southwest also plans to maintain a five pet-per-plane limitation to keep noise, odor, and allergies under control. Read the rest of this post »

Should passengers get penalized if they are considered obese by a particular airline? United Airlines certainly thinks so, announcing recently that they will soon be charging chubby travelers for two seats if they can not comfortably fit into one. Opponents to this new rule feel that the airlines should instead update their seats, which have remained the same size since the 1960s, in order to accommodate the larger frames of today’s average American body. After all, there’s no doubt that the United States is suffering from a massive obesity issue. But with things as they are, should “smaller” travelers have to suffer because the person seated next to them is taking up too much space? Commence the great weight debate! Read the rest of this post »

Savvy flyers have long been skimming through online travel agents’, like Travelocity’s and Expedia’s, massive databases of airfares to pinpoint the lowest rates – only to skip off to the airlines’ own websites to do their actual booking (to curtail the third-party booking fees). Happily, Travelocity recently announced they would bid adieu to their fees (ranging from $7 to $12) on all domestic and international flights, in response to Expedia’s move in the same direction last month. While both sites claim their fees will only be waived until May 31, we have an inkling that the policy may be here to stay — particularly if the last major online booking site holdout, Orbitz, caves in the coming weeks.