Smokey Cold Engine Start

On cold days, jet engines have smokey start ups when first turned over in the morning.  It looks troubling until a pilot explains the behavior as normal and nothing to worry about. It makes an interesting show though. 

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Scotish Independence

If Scotland votes for independence, will British Airways need to repaint their fleet?

No Blue Without Scotland

New Look For Frontier Airlines

Last week Frontier and Southwest decided to re-brand, though I'm not sure why.  Anyway, I spotter the new Frontier design when going through Denver this week. It looks good, but the old design looked good too.  

New and Old Frontier Designs

New Frontier Design

Fan Error

My laptop wouldn't start because of a fan error.  It's fixed now and posting will resume shortly.

A much more reliable fan

Orbitz and American Are Friends Again

Orbitz and American Airlines are friends again and will play nice. This is a bummer, I was hoping this fight would last more than a day.

American Will Play Nice With Others

Orbitz Worldwide (NYSE:OWW) announced today that it had reached an agreement with American Airlines to continue to offer American Airlines and US Airways flights on all of its sites. Consumers should see all available flights immediately. All tickets previously purchased on Orbitz Worldwide sites remain valid.

"We are pleased that our long-standing relationship with American Airlines allowed us to quickly resolve business matters and that we continue to offer a broad range of options, including American Airlines and US Airways flights, to the millions of shoppers who book travel on our global sites each day," said Sam Fulton, president of Orbitz.com.

American & US Airways Won't Sell Tickets on Orbitz

I use Hipmunk and Travelocity to book tickets and rarely pay to fly American or US Airways, so the news that American Airlines (US Air too) will stop selling tickets through Orbitz doesn't impact my travel rituals.  It is interesting that a major airline is removing their tickets from a major(ish) online travel site.  The fees Orbitz demands must be ridiculous.  American will lose some business from this, but it must be worth it.  Fighting the booking engine fees will also show the seriousness of threats made to other websites; American isn't bluffing.

Now Departing Orbitz for AA.com

None of this matters to Southwest flyers because Southwest tickets are only sold through Southwest.  Other major carriers can't copy that model now because too many people prefer comparison sites and won't check other airlines that aren't listed.

Not a Problem for Southwest

Fun Photo

United and Southwest 737's in Denver