news about cheap fares and airlines from travel search engine Trabber

The parent company of American Airlines filed for bankruptcy protection Tuesday, seeking relief from crushing debt caused by high fuel prices and expensive labor contracts that its competitors shed years ago.

American’s parent company, AMR, has incurred $12 billion in losses since 2001, and analysts say it is on track to lose $1.1 billion more this year.

With industry profits of less than 1 percent forecast for 2012, American had little hope of a significant rebound in the coming months.

source: Washington Post

Kindle users are complaining that airport x-ray machines zap their electronic ink displays.

Some users of Amazon’s Kindle eBook reader have complained that their device has been ruined by baggage checking equipment at airports.

Users suspect that the radiation emitted from airport scanners has permanently affected the Kindle’s electronic ink display, although other culprits might include a static electricity charge.

source: eweekeurope.co.uk

Reports now show that the low-cost airline, Spirit Airlines, has just been fined some $50,000 for violating federal rules prohibiting falsely advertised prices. For those that do not know, the company did this advertising on Twitter.

According to the most-recent reports, Spirit Airlines sent multiple tweets advertising flights for just $9. This is a deal that some figured sounded too good to be true. As it would turn out, it was.

source: self-catering-breaks.com

Airline Regional Express (Rex) has confirmed a passenger’s iPhone started glowing red and emitted smoke on a flight from Lismore to Sydney last Friday.

The airline says the flight had landed in Sydney when the phone started emitting a “‘significant amount of dense smoke, accompanied by a red glow'”.

A flight attendant was able to extinguish the glow and no passengers on board were injured.

source: abc.net.au

A Jumbo jet flew for five days before ground crews noticed that 30 screws were missing from one of its wings.

The Air France Airbus A340 plane had had routine maintenance in China, before flying to Paris and then on to Boston in the US before the blunder was spotted.

The plane, which can carry up to 440 passengers, was grounded for several days in Boston while a “‘large protective panel’” was screwed back into place.

Air France has blamed aircraft mechanics in Xiamen, where its jets are often serviced due to lower costs.

source: Mirror.co.uk

Ryanair has hailed the success of its reCAPTCHA anti-screen scraping security measure claiming two Spanish sites have stopped displaying its prices.

The low-cost airline included the additional security measure from last week, prompting some in the trade to claim it was putting at risk one million of sales, a claim denied by Ryanair.

In the last few moments the carrier issued a statement hailing the move and saying both Edreams and Bravofly had stopped scraping its site for inventory.

source: Travolution.co.uk

While embattled private carrier, and rival, Kingfisher Airlines has decided to dump low cost services in a bid to increase revenue yields, financially beleaguered state-owned carrier, Air India, has opted for the reverse route and is considering adding more economy seats on its domestic flights to increase yields.

Air India management has constituted a committee to look at ways to increase per flight yields in accordance with occupancy ratios, and one of the options under consideration is cabin restructuring by adding more economy seats.

source: domain-b.com

Deutsche Lufthansa has decided to freeze all non-essential investment for the next six months due to the weak global economic environment.

Lufthansa currently has 202 aircraft worth 19 billion euros ($25.37 billion) at list prices on order for delivery through 2018. Like peers, it is banking on newer, more fuel-efficient planes to help it keep costs under control.

Soaring fuel costs and the euro zone debt crisis have taken a toll on European airlines this year, with Lufthansa cutting its 2011 outlook two months ago and industry body IATA forecasting a weak end to the year for the sector.

source: Reuters.com

Irish airline Ryanair said it will pursue Aer Lingus directors for a breach of company law if the former state carrier refuses again to hold an extraordinary general meeting.

Ryanair, Aer Lingus’s largest shareholder with a near 30 percent stake, said on Thursday it had the right to request a meeting at which it wanted to discuss Aer Lingus’s 400 million euros ($534 million) pension deficit and a tax settlement.

While Ireland is considering selling its 25 percent stake in Aer Lingus as part of a wider sale of state assets under an EU-IMF bailout, the airline’s pension deficit, larger than its 380 million euros market value, is a major stumbling block.

source: Reuters

Two major storms in the Northeast and the Pacific Northwest are complicating matters on one of the busiest travel days of the year.

At the same time, the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI have issued a joint intelligence bulletin saying terrorists could choose to strike during the holidays and everyone should stay vigilant.

Flight delays were spreading Wednesday afternoon, with Newark International, LaGuardia, San Francisco International and Boston’s Logan International airports reporting problems.

The busiest air travel days for the Thanksgiving holiday period are expected to be Sunday and Monday, the Air Transport Association of America said.

source: CNN