It’s a trio of airline-produced content this week…
This week’s featured link:
Delta introduces auto check-in for Fly Delta app users – Delta News Hub
Checking in for a flight is a relic of the past. It used to be that you had to check in so you could get your paper boarding pass after the agents confirmed your paper ticket was valid. Now it’s just an annoying way for airlines to deny you boarding if you don’t get checked in on time. Continental started auto-check in long ago for return flights. Low cost carriers let you check in well in advance, often at the time of booking. And now Delta is going to start automatically checking people in if they have the app. Good. Some day, checking in will die altogether.
Two for the road:
A fond farewell to the Boeing 747 – United Hub
It’s a two-fer on tributes this week. First, I can’t help but continue to publish any 747 tribute I see. This one comes from United which will be retiring its last 747 within the next month. There’s a great 6 minute video in there will all kinds of good airplane porn.
The end of an era: Alaska retires unique cargo-passenger ‘combi’ planes – Alaska Airlines Blog
…and this one is for the 737-400 Combi which Alaska retired this week.
Just last night I saw a BART train car wrapped in a United ad and a big number 747 written. It had to be something about the final flight, but I was driving so couldn’t check it out better as it went by overhead.
Funny (IMHO) that they make so much noise about retiring this great plane and so little about introducing the replacement, the 77W. For the vast majority of the passengers it is a downgrade in seating comfort. While certainly not great in the 747’s coach cabin, I have flown it many times and been okay. I have zero desire to even set foot on the 10-across 77W to rub shoulders with a stranger for 12 hrs.
On the retirement, the last time I saw a UA 747 in flight was very likely at Fleet Week in SF a couple of weeks ago.
Ahh the 747. Probably the one plane that influenced me the most as a kid to become a closet airplane geek. Not sure the 380 is inspiring kids quite the same way today. Hopefully airplanes can still do that, even though they are seemingly more generic every year as we live in a world of twin engine lookalike planes. The 1970’s and 80’s were a great time to be a kid plane spotting 747’s, L1011’s, DC-10’s, 727’s…miss them all.
Disagree completely. Purchase of a ticket and airport control are two quite separate things. Airport boarding control is bad enough when we have people with confirmed tickets who become no-shos but how do you deal with people who are ticketed, checked in and become gate no-shos? Checking in becomes pointless and some other airport boarding control will have to be instituted. What am I missing here?
Meanwhile, Delta introduced its new A350 this week:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/flights/todayinthesky/2017/10/18/first-look-delta-shows-off-new-flagship-airbus-a-350-atlanta/774849001/?csp=travel