The most common airport locations where laptops are lost or missing include security checkpoints (40%) and departure gates (23%) according to US airport representatives. Only 33% of laptops within the Lost and Found departments in airports are reclaimed.

The other 67% of subsequently found laptops remain in the airport until they are disposed of.

Declining demand for air transport forces airlines to cut capacity. A way to reduce the number of seats is using smaller planes implying that fewer seats are available.

Another way is to cancel flights, which means that fewer planes are needed. No wonder that airlines have announced plans to take nearly 1,500 aircraft out of service.

An airplane was making a flight from New York City to Washington, DC. The people on board were the pilot, a politician, a Boy Scout, and a priest. Suddenly, the engine stalled.

The pilot said: “There are only three parachutes on board. I have got a family down there. I need to take care of them." He grabbed a parachute and jumped out of the plane.

The politician said: “I am the world's smartest politician. There is an election coming up. I need to win it to lead the country into a better future." He grabbed a parachute and jumped out, too.

American Express (Amex)  and KLM have developed a common card that is both a credit card and a membership card of Flying Blue, Air France/KLM’s frequent flyer program.

The card is fairly expensive for European card holders. However, not all costs are visible for card holders.

After every flight, pilots fill out a form describing problems that need repair or correction. The mechanics correct the problem and respond what remedial action was taken.

Read some actual logged maintenance complaints and the solution recorded by maintenance engineers.
(P = the problem logged by the pilot.
S = the solution and action taken by the engineers.)

Several web site visitors let us know that they received mysterious emails and letters both in Dutch and in English from Flying Blue, Air France/KLM’s frequent flyer program.

Flying Blue thanks them for their letter or email, but they are unaware of a letter or email they would have sent to Flying Blue.

The dream of every economy class passenger is an upgrade to first or business class.

What are your chances this dream will come true? Frankly speaking, they are negligible for regular travelers.

However, there are two groups with more potential for a courtesy upgrade than others:
1. top tier members of an airline’s frequent flyer program;
2. passengers traveling on a full fare economy class ticket.

Effective January 12, 2009, all Visa Waiver Program (VWP) travelers to the USA will be required to obtain a travel authorization via the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) prior to their departure.

Otherwise they will be denied boarding their plane to the USA.

A British pilot observed that the engine of his World War II-era Tiger Moth stalled just after takeoff southwest of London. Therefore, he made an emergency landing.

However, when he was about to touch down in a field a cow wandered into his way. Watch the cow being knocked to the ground and watch other (near) accidents.

A passenger flies to Kiev on Malev Hungarian Airlines, a member of the OneWorld alliance led by Anglo-Saxon airlines: American Airlines, British Airways and Qantas.

On arrival in Kiev, the checked bag’s padlock appears to have been broken open and removed. Fortunately, the bag did not contain any valuable and no item was missing. However, the bag is damaged such that it cannot be locked anymore, not even with a new padlock.

The traveler files a complaint with Malev about the incident to make sure the airline is aware of the occurrence, so that measures may be taken to prevent this kind of incidents in so far as this is possible.

The airline responds promptly and positively by advising the passenger to mail the original bill of the new bag that the traveler has bought to replace the irreparably damaged bag to Malev.

A passenger flies Aerosvit Ukrainian Airlines from Kiev’s airport Borispol to Simferopol.
The flight appears to be delayed, but Aerosvit does not provide any information about the delay’s cause and duration.

Eventually, the flight departs two hours late. The service during 2 hours waiting time and 2½ hours flying time is limited to a cup of water.

A strong earthquake hit the Chinese province Sichuan on May 12, 2008. At that moment a passenger was in Chengdu, located at 130 kilometers from the epicenter.

When the earth trembles at 2:30 pm, I am in one of the safest places in the whole region: Chengdu airport. I am sitting in a KLM aircraft waiting for clearance for takeoff. Although the quake is very strong, nobody on board the plane is aware of the earthquake.

It is not uncommon if an airplane shakes a bit while it is on the ground.

I received an email from Lufthansa inviting me to check in online for my flight from Amsterdam to Kiev (via Munich). However, when I clicked on the link for check-in, I could only select a seat on the first flight (Amsterdam-Munich), not on the second flight (Munich-Kiev). The system assigned me automatically a seat that was inconsistent with my own preference. Why am I unable to select a seat on a connecting Lufthansa flight?

The so-called 3-1-1 rule applies to air travelers’ carry-ons. It means that passengers boarding a plane can carry liquids in 3 ounce bottles packed in a 1 quart-sized, clear, plastic zip-top bag, while only 1 bag per passenger is allowed. Do these strict rules for carry-on baggage make air travel safer?

According to the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) they do. However, according to explosives expert Schöyer they probably do not. Only few explosives are liquid. 

Glycerol trinitrate is liquid. Less than 3 ounces of glycerol trinitrate would be sufficient to bring down an airplane, illustrating the (in)significance of the current rules.