Southwest Airlines launches new ad campaign

Southwest Airlines, which has posed stewardesses in hot pants and the CEO with a bag over his head to sell tickets, is launching a new campaign that tells consumers to get over the recession and fly again. One spot ends with the narrator saying, “We don’t fly around tough times. How about you?” The ads [...]

Airfares: Fees are gone for good at Orbitz and Travelocity

Earlier this spring, the big booking engines all announced a short-term banning of their usual flight booking fees, which had tacked on an annoying $5, $10, or more onto a flight’s prices. The moves, which were supposed to last only through May, are now officially permanent. Expedia started the trend last week. Today, Orbitz and [...]

Airlines will ask birthdates for new TSA program

Don’t be surprised if you’re asked to provide your date of birth and gender when booking plane tickets later this summer. The Transportation Security Administration has launched a new program called “Secure Flight” to improve security and reduce misidentification of passengers who have names similar to individuals on government watch lists. As part of Secure [...]

Mideast Airlines reach for the sky

Arab sheikdoms eager for higher international profiles are ratcheting up their aviation race despite the global economic slump. On Monday, the city-state Dubai plans to launch its second government-run airline — the third major carrier this decade to spring from the United Arab Emirates, a country of less than a million citizens. The new low-cost [...]

Air France plane missing over Atlantic after storm

A missing Air France jet carrying 228 people from Rio de Janeiro to Paris ran into lightning and strong thunderstorms over the Atlantic Ocean, officials said Monday. Brazil began a search mission off its northeastern coast. Chief Air France spokesman Francois Brousse said “it is possible” that the plane was hit by lightning. Air France [...]

Southwest Air to let pets onboard — for a fee

Southwest Airlines Co., which has bashed competitors for charging fees, said Friday it will add new fees for passengers who bring small pets onboard and for unaccompanied minors. It will also raise the charge for checking a third piece of luggage or an overweight bag. Other airlines have raised hundreds of millions of dollars since [...]

New low-cost airline targets smaller markets

A new low-cost airline will begin serving mid-sized U.S. cities that it thinks larger carriers have left behind. Clearwater, Fla.-based JetAmerica said 34 nonstop passenger flights a week will start July 13 at Toledo, Ohio; South Bend, Ind.; Melbourne, Fla.; Newark, N.J.; Minneapolis and Lansing, Mich. Twenty-eight flights start or end at Newark Liberty International [...]