For American Airlines, this has been more like “the week in travel and hell.” The airline began seven days of getting smacked around in the public sphere with a weekend OPED piece in the New York Times, in which Gary Shteyngart detailed a horrific 30-hour extravaganza from Paris to New York. The lede (that’s how journalists spell it, ok?) to the column is a classic takedown:
“You, American Airlines, should no longer be flying across the Atlantic. You do not have the know-how. You do not have the equipment. And your employees have clearly lost interest in the endeavor. Like the country whose name graces the hulls of your flying ships, you are exhausted and shorn of purpose. You need to stop.”
Oof.
But that was just the beginning. Soon after that story hit the interwebs, bolts started coming undone on American’s planes. Specifically, as CNN’s George Howell reports, seats on two planes came loose this week, impacting three flights and giving the already – struggling airline a big PR black eye.
Delays often seem to be an inevitable part of flying, but the Wall Street Journal’s Scott McCartney has some advice to get you where you’re going faster
But flying doesn’t have to be an excruciating experience. In fact, there is increasing evidence that convenience and comfort while flying is making a comeback. USA Today’s Charisse Jones reports on the proliferation of mobile devices and how they are changing the way a lot of people fly. And at CNNGO, Natasha Stokes writes about the new wave of apps that can help your trip go more smoothly, even if you forget your passport. (As far as we know, we’re still waiting for an app that will help you screw your seat back in to the fuselage of the plane.)
Looking ahead a couple of months to the always-busy holiday travel season, the New York Times’ Emily Brennan offers up some strategies for saving on holiday airfares
We write a lot about eating healthily while traveling, which is much easier said than done. USA Today’s Nancy Trejos offers some tips for keeping the pounds off while you’re away from home. Here’s an important statistic Trejos offers up – 29 percent of people in a recent survey said that they gain weight while traveling – don’t be part of this group!
And, lastly, we found this great idea this week – Pack for a Purpose. The concept is simple: If you’re heading to a place that has a portion of its population living in substandard conditions, take something for those people – pencils, bandaids, etc. – anything really that could be of use to people who just don’t have the abundance that you have.
