What we’re reading: United may buy more planes, SWA pilots reject contract, fee-free weekends at National Parks, a missing ashtray

by Stephanus Surjaputra on June 5, 2009

United may purchase 150 planes from Boeing or Airbus

United Airlines said that it will negotiate with Boeing Company and Airbus SAS for an aircraft order of up to 150 planes.

UAL Corp., United’s parent, asked both planemakers this week to submit bids, and could place an order before year end, Chief Executive Officer Glenn Tilton told employees today. The “potentially significant number” of planes may replace United’s 111 widebody aircraft and its 97 Boeing 757 narrowbodies, he said.

Southwest pilots reject contract

Southwest Airline pilots have rejected “the five-year tentative labor deal reached in late March with ‘nearly’ 51% of those voting casting their ballots against ratification.”

“The group has stated there is more work to be done,” SWAPA President Carl Kuwitzky said. “This contract, despite some financial gains, contained too many other negative aspects to ratify it.”

Catch a fee-free weekend at your favorite national park this summer

Certain national parks will waive their entrace fee when you visit any of them during certain weekends this summer.

The weekends that you’ll want to mark on your calendar are:
1. June 20-21, 2009 (Father’s Day weekend)
2. July 18-19, 2009
3. August 15-16, 2009

Just a few of the national parks that are included: Grand Canyon (Arizona), Bryce and Zion (Utah), Yosemite (California), Haleakala (Hawaii), Yellowstone (Montana/Wyoming), Glacier (Montana), Grand Teton (Wyoming), and Acadia (Maine).

For a complete list of the parks, go to the National Parks website.

British Airways flight delayed because of missing ashtray

A BA flight bound for Mexico was held up in Heathrow because it was missing an ashtray in the lavatory, even though smoking is banned on flights.

The plane was grounded while airline staff searched for another ashtray to replace one that had been removed from a lavatory door.

The captain even suggested that ground crew “go and rob one” from another aircraft or even have the entire door replaced, according to the Daily Mail.

Eventually a suitable tray was found and the jet took off 25 minutes late.

British Airways apologised for the delay but said that it was only abiding by European flight regulations.

“It is a legal requirement, under air navigation orders, to have ashtrays because while smoking is not permitted on flights, if someone were to light a cigarette on board there must be somewhere to safely extinguish it,” a spokesman for the airline said.

“We apologise to customers for the inconvenience but their safety is always our overriding priority.”

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Tagged as: airbus, Boeing, national parks, southwest, united

  • The man who notices things

    “It is a legal requirement, under air navigation orders, to have ashtrays because while smoking is not permitted on flights, if someone were to light a cigarette on board there must be somewhere to safely extinguish it,” a spokesman for the airline said.

    Uh, there is a toilet and sink with water – right there. Can you imagine the confusion of hte person who ‘accidentally lights up a cigarette’ going ‘oh my dear, there is no ashtray, how do I put it out – oh my gosh, oh my gosh, I’m panicking’

    Yet another sign of the apocalypse . . .

  • Frank

    Uh, there is a toilet and sink with water – right there. Can you imagine the confusion of hte person who ‘accidentally lights up a cigarette’ going ‘oh my dear, there is no ashtray, how do I put it out – oh my gosh, oh my gosh, I’m panicking’
    ===========================================================

    I worked countless flights where smoking was permitted up until the smoking ban of 1988. In fact, for many years we didnt have smoke detectors in the lavatory either. I used to watch teenagers sneak into the lavatory and light up. I could smell the smoke in the lavatory. I would BANG on the door, yelling, “PUT THAT OUT.” The last place you want a fire is at 30,000 feet. It’s dangerous. Passengers didnt understand this issue of walking around with a lite cigarette in the aisle either. A little bit of turbulence and that cigarette could end up in someone’s eye!!
    What if…………………………..someone put the cigarette under the water and then throw it in the waste basket filled with paper towels…………..BUT, it wasnt out all the way.

    LAVATORY FIRE.

  • Frank
  • Frank

    (correction)
    LAVATORY “FIRE” did:

  • The man who notices things

    Ok – well – Ryanair is stepping up the challenge =

    PAY toilets to be installed on its airplanes -
    http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/jun/02/ryanair-airline-oleary-toilet-charge

    read the bottom where it says you can also be expected to load the airplane.

    How come THIS article did not make the Tripso list of what you are reading?

    hahahahaha – I think they ought to take it a little bit further and have the passengers arrange to pay for the pilots too. Passengers have their choice of Jeff, a 10,000 hour veteran pilot – or – they can pay for Roger – a 14 yr old who has thousands of hours playing flight simulator who can take you from London to Rome using the joystick on his computer while he sits and eats kitkats in the basement of his parents Surrey home. Substantial difference in cost, so, we’;ll leave it up to the passengers to decide who to pay for on their trip. Jeff adds $7 to their trip while they can save $5 by hiring Roger for $2.

  • Chris

    @The man who notices things: “read the bottom where it says you can also be expected to load the airplane.”

    The article doesn’t say anything about passengers being expected to load the plane.

  • Chris VH

    I love how that article in The Guardian quotes it as a “lavatory pay-per-pee fee.”

    Thanks for sharing, got a kick out of this one haha!

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