Planes Sent Toward Storms to Test Air Traffic Controller

Find tickets, new flights, even lounges

(NEWSER) - Every air traveler armed with a smartphone should load up on these five apps, says the Travel section of USA Today:

• SkyScanner (Free): This app will hunt down the best price for your ticket. It scans not only all of the airlines' websites but all of the online travel agencies (Expedia, Priceline) as well.
• Next Flight ($2.99): Yeah, it's relatively pricey, but worth the cost when needed. If your flight is canceled or delayed, or you just plain miss it, the app provides a list of all available flights from all carriers over the next two days. If none are there, it searches for hotels and car rentals.
• Priority Pass (Free): This app supplies a list of all the lounges at your airport. You can look through photos and amenities before deciding whether to shell out money for a pass.

But there's no one in town to do it

(NEWSER) - The White House called on Congress to end a standoff over the FAA that has put 74,000 people out of work—but there were absolutely no signs it would do so, in part because everyone’s left town. Press Secretary Jay Carney said Obama was “looking at different options” for executive action, but it’s unclear that he has any, the Wall Street Journal reports. Obama himself said Congress had “decided to play politics” with the issue, and called for a resolution by the weekend. More»

GOP, Dems disagree about subsidizing service to rural airports

(NEWSER) - Congress has gone home for the summer without reaching a deal to end a partial shutdown of the Federal Aviation Administration . Some 4,000 FAA employees and around 70,000 construction workers have been put out of work by the shutdown, caused by a partisan standoff, the Washington Post reports. Airport safety inspectors have been asked to work without pay; air traffic controllers and plane inspectors are unaffected, as they're paid from different accounts. The Senate has refused to accept a provision in a House bill that reverses a National Mediation Board decision making it easier for airline employees to unionize. More»

They raked in billions more in reservation and change fees

(AP) - You may want to take a deep breath before reading this one: Airlines collected a whopping $3.4 billion in baggage fees last year, up 24% from 2009. Reservation and change fees accounted for an additional $2.3 billion, down 3% from the year prior. The add-ons are one of the few bright spots for an industry that is caught between rising fuel costs and customers who expect rock-bottom airfares. Analysts say without the fees, the industry would be losing money. More»

For three minutes, planes heard Samuel L. Jackson instead of instructions

(NEWSER) - Note to air traffic controllers: Watching a DVD at work may help to keep you awake, but ultimately it's not much better than napping. A controller in Oberlin, Ohio, learned that lesson the hard way early Sunday, when his microphone was accidentally activated and began transmitting the audio from the Samuel L. Jackson thriller Cleaner to all the planes in his airspace for more than three minutes. The controller and a manager have been suspended, the AP reports. More»