Stewardess Helps Land Flight After Co-Pilot Cracks

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.

He also had to forfeit his driver's license and passport

(NEWSER) - A Utah man may have gotten us that much closer to peanuts being banned on planes. Pogos Paul Sefilian is accused of throwing peanuts and pretzels at crew during a flight, and is now prohibited from flying on commercial airlines, reports Connect2Utah . He also allegedly refused to put away an electronic cigarette, opened overhead bins, and physically threatened flight attendants just before landing. He was arrested, had his driver's license and passport taken away, and will now be forced to wear a GPS tracking device. Of the verdict, Sefilian's lawyer says, "I thought it was reasonable." More»

Instead, extra flight attendants!

(NEWSER) - Co-pilots? We don't need no stinking co-pilots. And it would certainly be cheaper to fly without them, so that's what Ryanair CEO (and infamous cost-cutter) Michael O'Leary intends to do—or at least try to do. O'Leary, whose company has already rolled out the genius ideas of charging passengers to pee and offering standing-room-only tickets , tells the Financial Times he's asking aviation authorities for permission to operate short flights with only one pilot aboard, and replace the second-in-command with ... flight attendants. More»

JetBlue employee curses out passenger, exits using emergency slide

(NEWSER) - A potty-mouthed passenger was the last straw for a JetBlue flight attendant who cursed out the customer on the PA system of an arriving flight at New York's JFK airport today, then deployed the emergency slide to make his getaway. Steven Slater was arrested at his home nearby and charged with criminal mischief and reckless endangerment, reports the New York Post . "I can’t believe Steve’s on the run," said a neighbor. "He’s like OJ Simpson. He must have snapped." More»

Flight from Atlanta to Paris has to land in Maine

(NEWSER) - Another plane scare incident: A US passenger forced an international flight to be aborted after claiming he had a bomb in his luggage and a fake passport, the AP reports. The passenger allegedly made threats while in the air on a Delta flight from Paris to Atlanta, causing it to be diverted to Bangor, Maine. More»