NASA is reversing itself; the agency now says it WILL release the results of a never-completed airline safety survey, a survey the Associated Press said indicated there were far more near-collisions and other problems than we knew about (and apparently, a lot more than the FAA knew about, as well).

You know things have gotten bad with the airline industry when Congress is mulling over potential legislation and presidential candidates are getting air travel questions on nationally-televised debates.

Last night, amidst arguments over health care, war, education, and other topics that generally fuel political discussions, Democratic presidential candidate, Barack Obama, had an airline question thrown his way:

A CNN crew endured an eight hour flight ordeal from Chicago to New York.

Click here to watch the video documenting the air travel ordeal that many of us have experienced this past year…

Usually when the major airlines lower prices significantly (airfare sales), they tend to highlight the large hubs and most popular destinations they’re offering deals for.

It’s rare that our airfare processing system notes new airfare deals to some of the “really” small airports out there.

It was fun to see on Halloween that United Airlines has seen the light (or the darkness as it were) and has offered savings ranging from $20 to $300 on new 21-day advance tickets to/from some of the smallest airports in the U.S:

Here’s a gift you can open early: cheap airfares for your winter holiday travels.

Click on the links to these airlines, and see what goodies they have in store for you: Southwest, American, airTran and jetBlue are all offering big savings.

Get in on it while you can!

This morning in the 10:00am airfare distribution — American Airlines released new low airfares for dozens of cities that appear to be matching a Southwest Airlines Christmas Holiday Sale.

Finally a brief respite from relentless airfare increases.

Don’t get your hopes up to high, they have blacked out the most popular days around the holidays, but if you are flexible you should be grabbing these up now.

In a twist of fate today, while the legacy airlines are pounding out their 6th airfare increase since Labor Day, AirTran as well as JetBlue (mentioned in previous post fired out substantial airfare sales for travel on the cheapest (slowest) days of the week Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday (other days are $40 higher).

This particular sale is good for travel through the end of February and some blackout days apply around holidays. Tickets must be purchased by November 13th.
This is a perfect time to get those tickets for loved ones coming in for the holidays or returning from college.

I noticed in this morning’s 10:00am EDT airfare distribution a significant number of price decreases on JetBlue (Unfortunately I was tracking the latest airfare increase by Continental and the matching airlines when i noticed this).

Domestic airfare sales have been in such short supply recently that I thought it was worth the time to document the sale here.

I pulled this list from one of my internal reports (which I hope to have automated so everyone can see shortly) - (I sorted them in departure order so you can track down your favorite city) (remember prices work both ways…):

No. You CANNOT open the door of a modern, pressurized commercial airliner in midflight.

That’s a myth. One less thing for you to worry about, okay?

Now, do idiots try to open these doors? You bet.

The latest incident happened aboard an American Airlines flight to Dallas this week; some woman yanked on the handle of an emergency exit door but was restrained by crew members and arrested.

Some great stories from some great bloggers this week.

Make sure to give them a read. I don’t have much time, but I always make time to read these…

Several months ago, I wrote a piece in my newsletter about a reader who had booked a flight from Savannah, GA to Shannon, Ireland (with one stop at ATL). While checking up on her reservation, she noticed that a stop at JFK had been added on top of the stop in Atlanta.

This called for overlapping arrivals and departures, lost aisle seats and a variety of other headaches. I got her info to the airlines, and she was eventually able to work things out with scheduling, but the added stop couldn’t be changed.

The airline had dropped the Atlanta to Shannon nonstop route on the days she was traveling. This is an unfortunate and annoying occurrence, but it does come up on international flights, and it is within the airline’s right.

JFK is a mess. This summer, a third of all its takeoffs and landings were late. So what do you do?

In what the New York Times characterized as a “pep talk“, the Transportation Secretary suggested charging higher fees for the most popular (and most crowded) slots. If that happens, the thinking goes, airlines won’t over-schedule.

Now it’s Continential’s turn. They’ve come out with a $10 round-trip airfare increase, on over 13,000 city-pairs, and we’re talking both business and leisure fares (I spotted this significant activity last night, thanks to FareCompare’s superior airfare processing engine).

This travel myth drives me crazy, because it misinforms travelers about their rights.

For those of you who haven’t heard the myth, I will let Peter Greenberg put it out there for you. Mr. Greenberg is not the only person perpetuating the Rule 240 travel myth, but since he is the travel editor for The Today Show, a columnist, an author and the “expert” that countless other writers and bloggers turn to for information, I figure he has probably passed the myth on to more people than anybody else:

Over the summer, we saw a number of airlines rely on cheap airfares to woo travelers their way. However, these cheap airfares didn’t seem to make up for the long delays, lost baggage, stranding on the tarmac, and all of the other frustrations that have led to the dismal customer service ratings the airlines have been chalking up of late. In order to stem the tide of customer anger, at least one airline, Delta, is turning to the government for guidance…

The long wait is finally over. After seemingly countless delays and setbacks, the Airbus A380 has made its first commercial voyage. The new Singapore Air super jumbo jet, said to be unlike any other commercial craft, departed Singapore’s Changi Airport on-time and headed out on its journey to Sydney, Australia. The mood onboard is said to have been a festive one, with champagne toasts and rounds of applause. It’s important to remember that many of the people aboard the flight paid big money for their tickets in online auctions (with proceeds going to charity).

Keep reading to get all the details of the super-jumbo’s maiden commercial voyage…

As Singapore Air prepares for the maiden commercial flight of the Airbus A380, I thought it might be nice to highlight some of the luxurious possibilities of the new Super Jumbo. French fashion house Givenchy designed pumpkin color leather bedroom suites, fine linens, and intricately detailed dinner plates for the Singapore Air Airbus A380. These “class beyond first” suites will also include upholstery crafted by those who have created interiors for Ferrari and Maserati, and a 22″ flatscreen TV. The suites will be available for about 1/4 more than you would expect to pay for a standard first class ticket. While the Givenchy design could reshape the way we think about commercial travel, there are custom versions of the Airbus A380 that will trump anything we regular fliers get to see (and probably anything most private jets have to offer).

Keep reading to catch a glimpse of the new standard of airborne luxury…

Over the last few months, I’ve spent a lot of time reading and writing about Richard Branson and Virgin America (VX). Branson’s latest shindig to celebrate VX’s first flights to Vegas reminded me of an article I read back in August. It was a piece done by Ric Romero of abc7 in Los Angeles, and it focused on Skybus CEO Bill Diffenderffer.

Diffenderffer strikes me as sort of a blue collar Branson. Both are dedicated to creating a different customer experience, and both have their eccentricities. But where Branson loves a bit of glitz and glamor, Diffenderffer seems to be a little more “no-frills” about things. However, glitz or no, Diffenderffer, like Branson, could play an integral role in shaping the future of American air travel…

It’s been a big news week for JetBlue. The airline saw a profit in the third quarter, experiencing a top-line increase of 22%; they performed better than most analysts predicted; their capacity growth outlook is up to 11% - 13%; and they pulled out of Columbus and Nashville…

Imagine if our government spent $8.5-million on a safety project that found problems with U.S. air travel (problems like near-collisions and runway interference)…and then, they decided NOT to release this information.

Crazy, huh? But that’s exactly what has happened.

This safety project was overseen, then dumped, by NASA (yes, the space agency). As part of this project, NASA’s team interviewed 24,000 pilots. And according to the Associated Press, these pilots told NASA they were involved in many more dangerous incidents than reflected in FAA numbers.

But NASA never released any of this data; according to Thomas S. Luedtke, a senior NASA official, the information is being withheld essentially for our protection, because it”could materially affect the public confidence in…the air carriers and general aviation companies.”

Personally, my confidence is already a little shaken, just by the fact that this information is not being released. A congressman from North Carolina has said, “There is a faint odor about it all.” Faint? Odor? Let’s speak English: this stinks!

I am excited to be part of a piece on holiday travel written by Scott McCartney, the travel writer for the Wall Street Journal. Over the past month, I’ve spent a lot of time talking about Thanksgiving travel and some of the issues that we’re all going to face if we take to the skies over the holiday. However, in the Wall Street Journal piece, it was time to talk about Christmas travel. The truth is, most low Christmas fares are gone, and the few remaining are dropping like flies. If you haven’t bought yet, you need to buy now.

For more details on Christmas airfare pricing and for some Christmas travel insight, please read Scott McCartney’s “Cheap Holiday Fares? They Aren’t in the Cards This Year.” It’s in the Middle Seat column of the Journal.

After a difficult summer PR-wise, many of the major domestic carriers have laid out plans for change. We’ve seen everything from former Disney employees being brought in to liven up customer service to American’s very specific list of improvements it will make for its passengers. However, United’s chief executive Glen Tilton has now put forth a 5-year plan that seeks major changes for the airline that go well beyond the realm of customer service.

Keep reading for a breakdown of the newly prosed United Airlines 5-year plan.

Here are a few of the stories that have caught the attention of some of my favorite bloggers this week.

Make sure to give them a read:

Travelers who have procrastinated on purchasing airline tickets for holiday travel can now be officially worried — amid the swirl of four domestic airfare increases since Labor Day weekend, last night in the 8:00pm EDT domestic U.S. airfare filing the proprietary FareCompare.com airfare tracking software noted a significant increase (fifth since Labor Day) by United Airlines…

If you want to learn about the real reasons for a flight delay, it can be helpful to check with the airlines Cargo flight information. Keep reading to learn what cargo sites can do for commercial travelers.