Free Republic

A United Airlines pilot gave a heartwarming announcement ahead of co-piloting a flight with her mother and fulfilled her lifelong mission. Brooke Patterson Van Howe held the microphone as she stood at the United Airlines Terminal Gate 76A and told passengers she would be their first officer taking them to Newark this afternoon. 'Today is a very special flight for us probably the most special in my aviation career,' Van Howe said in the announcement from an unknown airport. Turning towards the smiling woman standing next to her, who is dressed in a matching navy blue pilot's uniform, said: 'You...

It happened at a New York Airport. This is hilarious. I wish I had the guts of this girl. An award should go to the gate agent in New York for being smart and funny, while making her point, when confronted with a passenger who probably deserved to fly as cargo. For all of you out there who have had to deal with an irate customer, this one is for you. A crowded flight was canceled. A single agent was re-booking a long line of inconvenienced travelers. Suddenly, an angry passenger pushed his way to the desk. He slapped his...

A Delta flight heading to Detroit, Michigan was forced to make an emergency landing on a remote Canadian island after an unruly passenger broke free of his restraints. The 34-year-old traveler was allegedly being 'violent' on the flight and 'wouldn't calm down' on the trip from Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris, France. He was restrained by airline staff but managed to break free before five to six passengers jumped in to restrain him again. The captain took an emergency diversion six hours into the flight and landed at Stephenville Dymond Airport on the Canadian island of Newfoundland at around...

Karen gets into multiple heated arguments before passengers Vote her off the plane on a Frontier Airlines flight to Atlanta . . .

Saindy Pyles thought she was going to die with her baby son, Liam, clutched to her chest as she flew home to Wichita from Miami after photographing a wedding. Midway through the flight Pyles said smoke filled the cabin after she saw sparks and fire burst from a bag in the seat directly behind her. "Honestly, I thought we were going to die," she said. "I looked and all I saw was flashes, just like flashes. I'm like, 'Oh my God, like, what is that?' And [the owner of the bag] is like, 'I don't know. I don't know.'" "Then...

In backrooms and dark corners, airline lobbyists, particularly the Regional Airline Association, are scurrying all over Washington, still trying to undo all the hard work that has been done to make air travel the safest form of transportation in human history. They’re doing this for the usual reasons. They want to try to cheapen pilot training and levels of experience for their own financial gain and expedience. They’re trying to do what is easier and cheaper for them, not what is best for passengers or crews, or for their industry. Once again, it is necessary that those of us who...

In the airline business, there are two cost factors the airlines can never control: fuel and labor. And as technology improves — and pilot salaries increase — there's been a controversial move lately by the industry to try to amend what's known as part 121 of the Federal Aviation Regulations. That's the federal air regulation that requires air carriers to have two pilots in the cockpit at all times. The airlines have been quietly lobbying that the single-pilot approach would quickly solve the staffing problem caused by the pilot shortage and that technology has vastly improved to allow for safe...

Very tall man encroached on other passengers' space, wouldn't allow a reclined seat Users on the Reddit social media site have come to the defense of an airline traveler who informed a tall passenger during some apparently tense moments on board that he should have purchased additional legroom to accommodate his size — rather than infringing on others around him. A Redditor who goes by the user name "Itchy-Smell8152" recently asked others in the subreddit "Am I the A*****e" (AITA) for their opinions about how he handled a tricky travel situation. In essence, he was not permitted to recline his...

The mom took to Reddit to reveal an airplane passenger confronted her for having her toddler in first class — was she wrong to do that? After an airline passenger allegedly accosted a woman because she had her toddler in the plane's first-class section, the anonymous mom took to Reddit to ask others if it was wrong of her to book first-class plane tickets for her young child — and people chimed in. The Reddit user, One-Criticism5777, turned to the "Am I the A******" subreddit on Saturday, Nov. 26. She said a male passenger accused her of sitting in the...

American Airlines is closing its San Francisco base, potentially displacing 400 flight attendants. Two-thirds have worked for the airline for 13 years or more, according to union calculations. 10 flight attendants told Insider a myriad of factors make it difficult to leave the Bay Area. The mass email hit some flight attendants' inboxes mid-flight. "Today it's with great regret that I let you know about our decision to close the SFO flight attendant base," American Airlines executive Brady Byrnes said in the September memo obtained by Insider. In closing its San Francisco base, citing economic factors and shifting customer demand,...

The non-binary drag queen who had been working in a nuclear waste job in President Joe Biden's Department of Energy has been charged with felony theft after they allegedly stole a bag from the baggage claim at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. Sam Brinton, whose full title was as the DOE's Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Office of Spent Fuel and Waste Disposition, is accused of taking the bag in September. He is currently on leave of absence from his DOE job. If found guilty they could now face five years in jail, a $10,000 fine, or both. Brinton made headlines...

Joe Biden’s gender fluid “pup handler” DOE employee Sam Brinton was charged with felony theft for stealing a woman’s luggage last month at MSP airport in Minnesota. According to Alpha News, Sam Brinton took a woman’s bag from the baggage claim area on September 16. Brinton reportedly removed the ID tag from the blue bag, quickly left the area and jumped in an Uber. According to the complaint, Brinton returned to MSP airport with the stolen blue bag on September 18 where he caught a flight to DC. The female victim said the contents of her stolen bag are valued...

Some JetBlue pilots are outraged after the airline hired a violent felon to fly planes even as it refuses to hire people who haven’t taken the COVID vaccine, citing safety. Two pilots told The Daily Wire that JetBlue has hired John Perrys, who served nine years in prison for breaking into the home of a judge and attacking his daughter as she left the shower. Perrys was released from prison in 2014 and is on felony probation until 2044, according to the Florida Department of Corrections. “Apparently JetBlue won’t hire unvaccinated pilots, but they will hire violent convicted felons to...

Virgin Atlantic has suspended a policy allowing staff to wear gender neutral uniforms on the flight taking England to the World Cup in Qatar. The policy, announced in September, allows staff the option of wearing whichever of the airline’s distinctive uniforms best “expresses how they identify or present themselves”. But the airline said it was being suspended for the flight following a “risk assessment”, which considered “laws and attitudes towards the LGBTQ+ community and expressions of identity”.

A passenger on a British Airways plane defecated on the floor before smearing feces on himself and around the cabin earlier this month. The news was first reported by The Sun. Emergency services were called to Heathrow Airport following the incident on a Boeing 777 aircraft due to fly to Lagos, Nigeria. During boarding the male passenger took his trousers off in the economy cabin on flight BA075 on October 7 before defecating on the galley floor, The Sun reported. The man then sat in the feces, "rubbed" it into carpet and ran up the aisle smearing it on seats...

A Southwest Airlines pilot is suing the company, her union and a former colleague who pleaded guilty last year to dead-bolting the cockpit door during a flight and stripping naked in front of her. Christine Janning alleges that Southwest retaliated by grounding her after she reported co-pilot Michael Haak to the company and the FBI. Janning's suit also notes that Haak remained employed despite an alleged history of sexual misconduct and that managers disparaged her in memos. Janning also alleges that the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association conspired with the airline and refused to support her after the August 10, 2020...

Would you feel uneasy flying on a plane built in 1974? Harold Wilson was enjoying his second stint in Number 10, the band Queen was in its pomp, man’s first small step on the surface of the moon was still relatively fresh in the memory. And 1974 was also the year that a Boeing 737-200, with the serial number 20836, made its maiden flight for Transavia Airlines, based in the Netherlands. Forty-eight years on, Harold Wilson has shuffled off this mortal coil, as has Freddie, while Nasa is hoping to start a colony on Mars. But 20836 is still going...

The aircraft had set off for Antalya in Turkey but was diverted.. Passengers on a Turkey-bound flight from Birmingham Airport experienced a mid-air drama after a pilot reportedly "fainted", forcing the plane to make an emergency landing. The Jet2 flight which was travelling to Antalya in Turkey landed in Thessaloniki in Greece because of what the airline described as a medical emergency. The flight was diverted as a "precautionary measure" according to a Jet2 spokesman. They added that teams worked "extremely hard to look after everyone" and apologised for the delay. Some passengers were delayed by the incident, with one...

The airline suspended the sale of short-haul flights departing from Heathrow until Aug. 15. The move comes after Heathrow asked airlines to limit new bookings amid staff shortages. .... LONDON — British Airways suspended the sale of short-haul flight tickets departing from London’s Heathrow after the airport asked airlines to limit new bookings. In a statement Tuesday, the airline said the move was taken in response to Heathrow’s cap on passenger numbers. .... given the restrictions imposed on us and the ongoing challenges facing the entire aviation industry ... Europe’s biggest airport by passenger numbers announced on July 12 that...

The federal government could take action against U.S. airlines on behalf of customers, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Saturday. Many Americans have endured delays, cancelations, and other travel complications during the coronavirus pandemic, and in recent months, after many pandemic-related travel restrictions were lifted. Following Buttigieg’s own flight being canceled, forcing him to drive from Washington to New York, he said his department has authority to enforce action against airlines that do not sufficiently maintain consumer-protection standards, potentially requiring them to hire more staff. "That is happening to a lot of people, and that is exactly why we are paying...