united airlines

After long delay, 787 Dreamliner flights resume

Five months later, Boeing's 787 Dreamliner is once again aloft.

United Flight 1 took off from Houston Monday morning en route to Chicago. It marked the first flight of Boeing's next-generation airliner since the entire worldwide fleet of Dreamliners was grounded by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration in January in the wake of multiple on-board fires.

The fires were found to be related to the plane's batteries, and in the months since then, Boeing and its suppliers have worked to correct the problems. Last month, the FAA approved Boeing's proposed fix to the battery issues, … Read more

United Airlines' computers crash land again

I haven't flown United Airlines of late, having heard a rumor or two about a touch of inefficiency in its computing joystick.

These rumors seem to have occasionally been based on fact.

For the third time since June, its computers have today lost their thrust.

As the Associated Press has it, there are currently thousands of passengers all around the world who are wondering if and when their scheduled United Airlines flight will take off.

Indeed, Lewis Franck,a journalist who would like to get from Newark to Miami for a fascinating NASCAR event, tweeted: "Does anyone have … Read more

Beware: Fake airline Instagram accounts promise free flights

Fake Instagram accounts for American Airlines, Delta Airlines, and JetBlue have been set up with the promise of free flights.

The accounts, @americanairlines_giveaways, @united_giveaways, @jetbluegiveaways, and @delta_giveaways, all work very similarly. They promise a free airline ticket or round-trip ticket to the first several thousand followers, which vary depending on the account.

The accounts have been pretty effective at garnering followers. Delta's fake account already has 21,000 followers after it promised a free trip for the first 20,000 people who followed and shared the account. Likewise, the JetBlue account has 20,000 followers. The American Airlines profile … Read more

United Airlines 'network outage' snarls air travel

United Airlines said this afternoon that it is recovering from widespread computer problems the caused air travel snafus around the county.

The airline blamed the problems on a "temporary network outage" that began shortly after 12 p.m. PT today. United apologized for the disruptions and said it's allowing customers to "cancel or rebook their itineraries without penalty" if they were affected.

The Federal Aviation Administration had issued a "ground stop" for United flights flying into United's biggest hubs -- Houston, Newark, and San Francisco -- according to a USA Today report. … Read more

An inside look at a commercial jet engine

Just as your engine is the most complicated and important part of your car, a jet engine is the centerpiece of a commercial airliner. Sure, the wing is important too, but the engines not only get from point A to point B, but also give the wing the airflow that it needs to do its job.

Recently I had the opportunity to walk through United's engine repair shop at the airline's maintenance base at San Francisco International Airport. If you've ever wanted to see the insides of a modern commercial jet engine, this was the place to … Read more

Zune set to fly the friendly skies

Starting this summer, United Airlines will include 21 Zune music channels as an in-flight listening option. Passengers will be able to listen for free by plugging compatible headphones into their armrest and dialing in the channel of their choice.

The tunes for United flights will be pulled directly from Microsoft's existing roster of Zune Pass subscription music channels, including options for classic rock, contemporary pop, opera, electronica, piano jazz, and others. Channels will be offered commercial-free on both domestic and international flights, with each channel loaded with 3 hours of unique programming.

The partnership counts as a small, yet … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 807: Hey! Price cuts work!

In the midst of the debate over the rising cost of text messages, Microsoft finds that you actually sell more stuff if you lower the price. Then again, we're consuming more text messages than ever, so...we argue about capitalism. Also, the best of DemoFall and TechCrunch50, because dangit, we cover them both.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

EPISODE 807

Best of Shows: Top 10 from DemoFall, TechCrunch50 http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10038846-2.html http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/09/10/yammer-takes-techcrunch50s-top-prize/

U.S. text usage hits record despite price increases http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-12261_7-10038634-51.html

Xbox … Read more

Google News snafu leads to airline stock plunge

What was the unlikely culprit behind a 75 percent drop in United Airlines' stock on Monday? An erroneous Google News search, that's what.

The problem was that an investor news service, the South Florida-based Income Securities Advisors, found a Chicago Tribune article from 2002 via Google News and consequently included it in that day's news digest--which wound up on Bloomberg's news wire. The content of the story wasn't the sort you want to be publishing if it isn't true: that United Airlines had filed for bankruptcy. Considering the state of the airline industry today, it … Read more

The 404 121: Where a little Wilson goes a long way

The 404 guys are back along with their trusty sidekick "The Artist formerly known as MTI." On this good Monday morning, they wax poetic about "Crappening" movies they saw this weekend along with a little "Hulk Smash!" Apparently, the Wii Fit actually makes you less of a fat-ass. Sony Ericsson makes a N-Gage competitor. Hermione Granger got hot and 6 million dollars in a Chanel makeup deal and finally some Asian guy (not Justin Yu) is into armpit sniffing. Find out why it got him 14 years and 18 slashes in Singaporean prison. EPISODE … Read more

$15 to check a bag, but free to charge an iPod

United Airlines has been subject to some pretty bad press recently for being one of several airlines to slap a $15 fee on checked bags, but here's a perk: the commerical carrier announced on Monday that it's starting to install iPod and iPhone connectivity features in its airplanes.

More specifically, owners of Apple's media devices can hook them up to the planes' in-flight entertainment systems; they can navigate through music and video on the seat back televisions while charging the devices in the process. The connectivity technology has been manufactured by Panasonic Avionics.

United is the first … Read more