Autopilot Safety Under Scrutiny

Airbus to seek compensation from Rolls-Royce

(NEWSER) - The chief of Qantas Airways has chilled the hearts of nervous fliers—and Rolls-Royce shareholders—by saying up to half of the world's fleet of Airbus A380 jumbos using Rolls-Royce engines need to have their engines replaced. The CEO says the engines need to be replaced because of a faulty component that caused an engine in a Qantas jet to catch fire and disintegrate earlier this month, Bloomberg reports. More»

'Unintended Consequence' fee intended to chide transportation department

(NEWSER) - Spirit Airlines is angry over a new Department of Transportation rule—and it's making sure customers know it, by slapping a $2 "Department of Transportation Unintended Consequence Fee" on all tickets. The new rule, which went into effect last week, requires airlines to give customers a full refund, without additional fees, if the customer requests one within 24 hours of booking a flight, USA Today explains. More»

Former Qantas economist makes his case

(NEWSER) - The former chief economist at Qantas thinks it's about time that airlines charged heavier people more for plane tickets as a matter of policy. "The rationale is simple," writes Tony Webber in the Sydney Morning Herald . "The fuel burnt by planes depends on many things but the most important is the weight of the aircraft. The more a plane weighs, the more fuel it must burn." This kind of fat tax may seem discriminatory, but it's sound business practice, he argues. More»

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.

It's not a great time to ask customers to tweet 'luxury' suggestions

(NEWSER) - It’s been a rough stretch for Qantas. First, the Australian airline abruptly stranded customers around the world amid a contract fight with its unions; then those talks collapsed entirely; this week, the firm ticked off customers again with a contest on Twitter . It asked people to tweet their “dream luxury in-flight experience,” and customers were happy to oblige, Reuters reports. One wrote that luxury was “more than 3mins notice that the whole airline is on strike." More»