Pinnacle Airlines cancelled one of their flights recently for a very novel reason, two flight attendants got into a debate that according to some witnesses led to fisticuffs. The spat began just before takeoff.
The pilot ordered the travelers on board the flight to leave the plane just after the two women decided to go at each other. The flight was scheduled to leave Rochester (New York) and arrive in Atlanta (Georgia). One of the passengers stated that the captain made them disembark because the attendants’ arguments came to blows.
A Pinnacle Airlines representative stated that the argument broke out after one of the passengers felt sick. He added that there were no injuries and the brawl was verbal.
Notwithstanding the fact that there was no physical contact, the airhostesses have been suspended from duty while an airline investigation is carried out. Alternative travel plans were made for the people onboard. The acts that were described are not acceptable by the airline’s standards.
Another commuter said that they told everyone that they had to get off the plane, because of the clash. There was no physical contact between the two women despite what others may have said. The fight between the two was completely a verbal disagreement, and this is something that can sometimes happen in the workplace from time to time.
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Pinnacle Airlines cancels flight over fistfight
Thursday, March 4th, 2010British Airways passengers safe for the Easter holidays
Thursday, January 21st, 2010British Airways seems to be unimpressed by the fact that Len McCluskey, assistant general secretary at the trade union Unite has said that if a strike by BA cabin crew goes ahead it will not take place during the Easter holidays. McCluskey announced that the union wanted to avoid dates when families were most likely to be travelling together so they would be able to book their holidays with confidence. A spokesman for BA has said that he doubts such a promise will be of much comfort for all those who need to travel on dates not included in the Easter holiday calendar.
If members of BA’s 12,000 cabin crew decide to strike then they will be legally allowed to do so at some point after March 1st. This will of course depend on whether or not Unite have ironed out the creases in their balloting system which wrecked the chance of a walkout over Christmas. The High Court ruled the strike planned for the festive season unlawful because some of the ballots cast in favour of strike action were by employees who had already taken the voluntary redundancy packages offered to them. This irregularity meant that millions of BA passengers avoided the consequences of a twelve-day walk out over the holidays.
Unite is continuing to argue with Willie Walsh, BA’s chief executive about staff cuts and pay reductions. Walsh has announced that BA will be offering training to all staff who wish to take the place of members of the airline’s cabin crew should they choose to walk out.
Money worries affecting the health of British drivers
Wednesday, January 13th, 2010A recent survey of 1,000 drivers in the U.K. shows that stress brought on by the effects of the economic crisis is causing a lack of sleep, more dependence on alcohol and health problems. The poll was conducted by car hire comparison site Carrentals.co.uk and shows that money worries could be impacting on the driving capabilities of many of the country’s drivers.
Over half of the men who responded to the survey admitted that they often get behind the wheel when they know they have not had an adequate amount of sleep. 44% of women who replied also said they drove when they were too tired to do so. Gareth Robinson, managing director of Carrentals.co.uk points out that 20% of all accidents on the road come down to drivers being too tired. Residents in London reported that they were most likely not to get enough sleep whereas most people in the North East claimed to be able to manage at least seven hours per night.
Nearly 25% of those questioned admitted to turning to alcohol as a way of dealing with financial worries. Those aged between 41 and 50 were most likely to drink. Those in the age group were also most likely to have encountered an increase in their mortgage repayments, pay cuts and job losses.
Female drivers admitted that stress was causing them health problems. Headaches were the most common problem followed by panic attacks. Over 50% said that because of stress they also suffered from breathing difficulties.
Sixt voted best car hire company by Travel and Leisure Magazine
Tuesday, January 5th, 2010Car rental firm Sixt has been voted top car hire company for 2009 by Travel and Leisure Magazine. Sixt received its award alongside other prestigious travel companies such as Singapore Airlines and Virgin America. The awards are given out to those companies which excel in the travel industry and are voted for by over 300,000 professionals within the travel sector. On learning that Sixt had managed to secure the top spot the company’s U.K. managing director, Ian Lawrence was quick to point out that the award was particularly special because it was the consumer who had voted to give it to Sixt. He said that he was excited that Sixt was being presented with the award alongside a number of other extremely prestigious names in the travel industry. He went on to say that Sixt was constantly trying to make its product and its service the best it could be whether it was an executive renting a vehicle for business from them or a family wishing to spend some time together.
Malcolm Cooper from Sixt U.A.E. said that it was the confidence that customers had in the rental firm that pushed Sixt to constantly try to supply a better service to them. He said that Sixt offices around the world would be inspired to try as hard as they possibly could to deliver excellence to those wishing to hire a car through their offices.
Sixt car hire is available at over 3,500 different locations around the world in more than 90 countries.
Heightened airport security causes delays
Monday, December 28th, 2009Extra security measures imposed by America on all those wishing to fly to the country have resulted in delays on most flights leaving British airports. The new security measures were ordered within hours of the Nigerian man who attempted to set of a bomb on a Northwest Airlines plane travelling from Amsterdam to Detroit was taken into custody. The new measures, imposed indefinitely by the U.S. Transport Security Administration, will now require every America bound passenger to undergo an extra pat down as well as have their hand luggage thoroughly searched just before they board their aircraft.
As well as the extra searches passengers will be told that they must strictly observe the one piece of hand luggage per person rules. Passengers will also be told that they will be unable to leave their seats for the final hour of their flight. The cabins mapping system which shows passengers how far they are from their destination must also be disabled on all flights coming into the U.S. according to officials. This has caused some airlines to have to abandon their whole in flight entertainment systems.
Head of security at BAA until 1996, Norman Shanks points out that the imposed security measures are unlikely to do anything more than delay passengers. He pointed out that people did not need a mapping display to tell them when they are about to land, the careful use of a window could do this, and that being seated was no guarantee that a bomber would not be able to detonate a device. He points out that Richard Reid was seated as he tried to set off his shoe bomb in 2001.
Car hire situation still dire in Spain
Thursday, December 17th, 2009The situation for the car hire industry in Spain shows little sign that it has improved much, if at all, since the world went into economic meltdown in 2008. Customers are reporting a scarcity of vehicles and those who manage to find a car say that prices are exorbitant. Spain was hit particularly hard by the global recession. Car hire companies found themselves unable to restock their fleets as the banks refused to give any money to the lease companies so they in turn could no longer supply vehicles to the car rental firms.
The result of all of this is that there simply aren’t enough vehicles to satisfy demand from travellers requiring car hire when they visit Spain. The recession has also affected the number of people visiting Spain. In 2008 the figures for those visiting Spain from the U.K. for a winter break were down by eighteen percent. Suffice it to say this made the people involved in the countries tourism industry slightly nervous so car hire companies hiked prices by way of compensation for lost revenue. During the summer many customers were booking car hire at rates that were more than double the price of just a year ago. One holidaymaker said that she was shocked to find that the modest run-around she usually hired each year for £200 had suddenly sky-rocketed in price to over £500. She went on to point out that she was seriously considering buying a car and keeping it in Spain as it would probably work out cheaper than having to hire every year.
New investment for Cairngorms railway
Wednesday, December 9th, 2009In the hopes of attracting a new private sector operator Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) has announced that it will be investing in the region of £4 million in the Cairngorms funicular railway. The money will be spent over the next few years on improvements which should bring the railway up to the standard which HIE expects will encourage bids form private operators.
HIE is a public agency and has already given £19.42 million to the building and maintenance of the railway which it took over last year. HIE also took over the Cairngorm ski resort after an agreement was reached over debts owed by CairnGorm Mountain Limited with Bank of Scotland and CairnGorm Mountain Trust. Highland Council has also found itself having to write off a loan of £1 million to CairnGorm Mountain Limited.
The Cairngorms funicular railway was first opened in 2001. Last year HIE say that 400,000 visitors used the car park where the funicular runs from and that around half of those visitors used the railway. HIE says that it is looking at the idea of charging customers to use the car park.
£26 million has been spent on the railway so far and members of the Scottish parliament are looking into how HIE have been using that money. An audit committee from the Scottish parliament has started to put together information on the spending following an independent investigation into funicular finances by Audit Scotland.
It is expected that as soon as the new wave of investment has been completed the railway will be put out to tender.
Hertz appoints head of car sharing arm Connect by Hertz
Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009Hertz Global Holdings has just announced the name of the man who will be taking the helm of Connect by Hertz, the company’s car sharing arm. Senior vice president of global sales, Robert J. Stuart is now the man in charge. As well as this announcement Hertz have said that senior director of global car sharing, Griff Long will extend his responsibility for Connect by Herz from North America to include operations in Europe. He will answer to Robert J. Stuart.
Connect by Hertz was launched by the company at the end of 2008 in an attempt to tap into the car club market. Customers can now take advantage of hourly rates which include fuel, 180 free miles-per-day, top of the range satellite navigation systems, comprehensive insurance cover and 24-hour-a-day roadside assistance. The scheme has already rolled out in London, New York and Paris as well as across a number of university campuses in the U.K. and the U.S.
Chairman and C.E.O. at Hertz, Mark P. Frissora said that now Connect by Hertz had successfully been launched the company needed to concentrate on expanding the car club’s membership and making sure that customers were satisfied enough to keep coming back. Mr. Frissora said that the appointment of Mr. Stuart would mean that the global Hertz sales force could be directed at growing Connects presence in the car sharing market. He continued that by doing this it would allow Hertz to make more informed decisions about which areas of the car sharing market to invest in based on customer demand.
Enterprise offers customers holiday solutions
Friday, November 20th, 2009Enterprise Rent A Car say that they are seeing an increase in people wishing to hire cars with them over the Thanksgiving holiday compared to the same time last year. Holiday makers are turning to the nation’s largest car hire firm to utilize vehicles for holiday excursions, to visit friends and family and to go on shopping trips.
Vice president of leisure business development for Enterprise, Steve Short said that this year people are turning to the car to make trips home over the holidays. He said that they were also coming to Enterprise for vehicles that will make their post Thanksgiving bargain shopping trips that little bit easier. He continued to say that customers realized that it was preferable to use a car hire rather than the family run-around because they could get more boot space as well as more miles to the gallon from a car rental.
Short was keen to point out that Enterprise would be opening many of its local branches on the Friday following Thanksgiving and that the hire firm would also be rolling out some money saving deals to customers over the holiday period. He went on to say that at Enterprise they often called their rental vehicles virtual cars because they were used by customers for situations where their own cars would not cope as well, such as providing a bigger space in which to transport the family or go on shopping trips or a more fuel efficient form of transport for those long journeys.
Scott P Sider to become President of Hertz car rental in the Americas
Tuesday, November 10th, 2009After thirty-three years with the company Joseph R. Nothwang will be leaving his senior executive position as President of Hertz Global Holdings in the Americas in December when Scott P. Sider will step into his shoes. Sider currently holds the position of president of off-airport operations.
Sider’s new title of Executive Vice President and President, Car Rental and Leasing The Americas will be effective as of December 12th. Since joining Hertz in 1983 Scott P. Sider quickly rose to the position of Manhattan Area Manager. Before being given his current title he has looked after various regions such as West Central, New England and the largest region in the Hertz car rental network, the Western Regions.
Head of Hertz Global Holdings, Mark Frissora said that Mr. Sider’s appointment as president would allow the company to build on the excellent achievements of Mr. Nothwang. He said that Mr. Sider’s management experience and ability to generate profit growth and revenue along with his team building abilities made him the right man for the job. He went on to say that he had the utmost confidence in Mr. Sider to build the business across the Americas.
Michael Taride is now set to take over Hertz car rental and car leasing businesses in the Asia/Pacific region. Mr. Taride moves over from his position as executive vice president and president for car rental and car leasing in Europe, The Middle East and Africa. His new responsibilities will cover the territories of New Zealand, Australia, India and China.
