- Boeing pilots took United Airlines’ first Boeing 787 Dreamliner on a test flight around the skies of Seattle yesterday. Various systems were checked, including cabin pressurization, avionics, navigation and communications systems. United expects to take delivery of the aircraft in late September.
- Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group’s CEO, Hubert Joly, resigned suddenly on Sunday to take over the top spot at Best Buy. The Carlson chain of hotels includes Radisson, Radisson Blu, Country Inn & Suites and Park Inn. The company’s current CFO, Trudy Rautio, was subsequently named as its new president and CEO.
- Hotel surcharges – resort fees, phone calls, mini-bar charges, room service delivery fees, etc. – are expected to increase 5.4% in 2012, according to a NYU study. About 3.5% of the increase, though, is thought to be due to overall increased occupancy from last year.
- The week is new, but we already have an “air traveling idiot of the week.” A JetBlue flight from New York’s JFK to Los Angeles diverted to Denver due to an unruly (drunk) passenger late on Sunday. The flight eventually landed in Los Angeles after 2:00 a.m. on Monday.
- Southwest Airlines flight 24 from El Paso to Houston Hobby today received a bomb threat. A note was found onboard the Boeing 737, but the aircraft landed safely and nothing suspicious was found.
- The Department of Transportation fined Orbitz $25,000 for failing to properly disclose baggage fees. For a brief period after new regulations went live January 24, 2012, Orbitz didn’t prominently display the fees, instead disclosing them at the bottom of the screen requiring consumers to scroll down.
Not sure how recent the news is, but also notable is that United is only expecting 4 787s this year. Down from the expected 6 at the start of the year.
@Kris: Thanks – I hadn’t yet heard it dropped from 6 to 4.
It was at five for some time, which most places I read didn’t publicize. Understandably I couldn’t find press releases about the drop in deliveries, but it is in their 2012 fleet plan from July.