This week’s featured link:
Full Text: Twin Hill’s letter to American Airlines’ attendants – USA Today
If you haven’t been following, there has been quite the uproar over the new flight attendant uniforms at American. Many are saying that they’re breaking out in hives and the uniforms are full of chemicals. There’s been a lot of testing, and now, the manufacturer is pissed off. Read the full text of the letter that it sent to the flight attendant union.
Two for the road:
Yaktacular! Flying on a Three-Engined Yak-40 – AirlineReporter
Bernie Leighton does some of the most fascinating flying on Earth. He chases Russian aircraft and has flown more than anyone else I know. This time, he hunted down a Yak-40 and wrote up the experience for AirlineReporter. I wish I had the balls to do something like this, because it would make for some great memories… once I was safely back on the ground.
Fly-Fi is now available on all JetBlue planes – Out of the Blue
Not only has JetBlue finished outfitting wifi on every single one of its airplanes, it now offers it gate-to-gate as well. No more waiting for 10,000 feet. Add in how fast JetBlue’s wifi is, and you have the best offering flying.
13 comments on “3 Links I Love: The American Uniform Problem, Flying a Yak, JetBlue 100 Percent Wifi”
Is Wi-Fi under 10,000 feet really all that useful? I assume flight attendants will still make people put away laptops under that altitude, so pax are restricted to a tablet or phone.
Also, any idea if some companies negotiate fee Wi-Fi on planes into their rates, like some do with hotels?
I assume JetBlue marketing will try to make the most of it’s better Wi-Fi to woo business travelers and corporate accounts.
Very few passengers actually use a laptop on board. Most use is on phones or tablets, which are fine under 10,000. And you’d be surprised at just how much time you spend under 10,000, especially on approach to a hub like JFK.
Kilroy – I find it useful. First time I had it was a couple years ago flying Houston to Austin. The second I boarded, I just flipped on TV and watched streaming content from the United server. Finished an episode of Veep before we were even airborne.
Damn, I never got on the Yak. Did the Il 62M, the TU 134, the TU 154. The Yak 40 always looked so claustrophobic.
Not surprising at all to read the Twin Hills statement and see that APFA has backed out of every invitation to watch the uniforms being tested. I’ve suspected from day one that the whole controversy was an attempt by hardliners to stick it to management once again. There’s a subset of AA flight attendants who are honestly the most miserable people in the world and will do everything within their power to keep their axes grinding.
As a friend at AA once told me, “you could give our flight attendants a $100 bill and they’d spit on you and tell you they wanted five $20 bills.”
Welcome to the airline industry where a certain subset of every airline isn’t happy unless you are unhappy. What a miserable way to go through life.
My first ever flight was on a Yak-40. Unsurprisingly, I was excited to be flying so didn’t care too much about the plane. It’s pretty small and feels crammed. Flight was fine. Nowadays, though, I will never get on one of those.
The AA garment complaints sounds a lot like the infamous Eastern Airlines “red rash” of the 1980s. At the time, Eastern’s flight attendants were in protracted battles with Management over wages and working conditions following deregulation. They began having “mysterious” red rashes that looked like measles.
Turns out the Eastern red rash was flakes of paint that had fallen off the under-seat life preservers on overseas equipped aircraft.
Sounds like a lot of nonsense. Don’t want to wear the uniform? Find another job!
Why does “Yaktacular!” sould like more a review of a flight with really, REALLY bad turbulence?
The catch with JetBlue’s wifi is the coverage area is only over the US. Ten minutes over the water and it’s out! And if they’re going to break into Europe in the next five years, that needs to be addressed.
Michael – I don’t think that’s right. Are you thinking about TV reception? That does cut out much closer to the coasts, but I believe wifi has range well beyond that.
As a frequent B6 flier for my job (hint hint), I can assure you it is correct. A flight from FLL-SJU will have about 10-15 minutes of wifi. One of my flights today up the east coast went too far out over the Atlantic for wifi coverage until we got closer to our destination.
Sounds to me that Twin Hill is using the outcome of the Alaska flight attendant case to help APFA consider the possibility of a lawsuit that APFA will pay for. The fact that national general media is following the case does nothing to help APFA.
Twin Hill might either think twice about taking on airline uniforms or else be grateful for the publicity.