Call it The Landmaid's Tale: two girls were barred from boarding a flight by a United Airlines agent Sunday, and the airline confirmed that leggings are against a dress policy it applies to people traveling on passes issued to employees and their dependents. — Read the rest

A man with physical disabilities was forced to crawled off a plane at Reagan National Airport in Arlington VA, when United Airlines failed to provide him with help disembarking. — Read the rest

Remember: to airlines, your pet is nothing more than luggage

Gawker's Garielle Bluestone on the flight from hell: "Traveling means inevitably forgetting something at home, but America's most hated airline, United, took it to another level this week."

Yesterday morning, I flew the final leg of my 23-city book-tour. I was supposed to fly Kansas City -Chicago -Toronto, but the Kansas/Chicago flight was delayed, because United had scheduled the crew too tightly on its turnaround, and the FAA grounded them until they got a full night's sleep. — Read the rest

Shum sez, "California Attorney General Kamala Harris has been working to oversee tech companies so they better protect consumer privacy–notably forging an agreement with the 6 leading mobile platforms to require the apps they host have privacy policies–these policies give both the state and individuals standing to sue if they are breached. — Read the rest

Maggie Rizer, a well-known fashion model, blames United Airlines for the death of her Golden Retriever, Bea, who suffered heat stroke and died during a cross-country flight two weeks ago. From NY Daily News: "Their plane had been delayed in New York and the captain told passengers to turn on their air vents to help circulate air, but Rizer believes gusts of hot air killed her dog in the belly of the plane, where there isn't the same quality of circulation as there is in the cabin."

Bob Sutton writes about a horrible ordeal his friends Annie and Perry Klebahn had in late June and early July when United Airlines "lost" their 10 year-old daughter, who was traveling as an unaccompanied minor.

Here is the headline: United was flying Phoebe as an unaccompanied minor on June 30th, from San Francisco to Chicago, with a transfer to Grand Rapids.

United Airlines threw nine high-ranking Pakistani military officers off a Washington-Tampa flight on Sunday and turned them over to Dulles security, who detained and grilled the men. The officers were on a junket in the USA, and had been travelling extensively; one of them said words to the effect of, "I hope this is my last flight." — Read the rest

Boing Boing partner John Battelle was on a WiFi-enabled flight last night, and wanted to say bedtime-goodnight to his kids using videochat. Lots of parents tuck their kids into bed over video when they're far from home. What gentler, more loving example of the power of the internet could there be? — Read the rest

United Airlines has a new policy that would make large people buy two seats, if a flight attendant can't find two open seats together. The carrier is the latest of several airlines to adopt this policy.

The carrier, whose parent company is Chicago-based UAL Corp.,

United Airlines' Mileage Plus signup form has an unbelieveable array of options for "Title," including "Swami" and "Cantor."

Mr
Ms
Mrs
Miss
Dr
1sgt
1st Lt
2nd Lt
Adm
Baron
Baroness
Bishop
Brig Gen
Brother
Cantor
Capt
Cardinal
Cmdr
Cmst
Col
Count
Countess
Cpl
Cpo
Dean
Duchess
Duke
Elder
Ens
Father
Fleet Adm
General
Governor
Gysgt
Hon
Imam
Judge
Lady
Lcpl
Lord
Lt
Lt Cmdr
Lt Col
Lt Gen
Lt Jg
Ma
Major
Major Gen
Mcpo
Mgysgt
Minister
Monsignor
Most Rev
Mother
Msgt
Mstr
Pastor
Petty Off
Pfc
Po1
Po2
Po3
President
Prince
Prof
Pvt
Rabbi
Rear Adm
Rev
Right Rev
Scpo
Senator
Sfc
Sgt
Sgtmaj
Sir
Sister
Smn
Smn1
Smst
Sp4
Sp5
Sp6
Sr
Sra
Srta
Ssgt
Swami
Tech Sgt
Very Rev
Vice Adm

Link

(Thanks, Ken!

Another day, another flight diversion — and lately it's not just bad behavior that is grounding flights. From loose bolts to an entire door panel flying off mid-flight, planes are falling apart a little too often these days. Which is what happened yet again on a United Airlines flight carrying 165 passengers. — Read the rest

"I'm angry," Alaska Airlines Ben Minicucci told NBC News, reporting that inspections of its Boeing 737 Max 9 were supposed to take hours and ended up revealing more problems with the jets. "This happened to Alaska Airlines. It happened to our guests and happened to our people." — Read the rest

United Airlines canceled 167 of their Boeing 737 Max 9 flights on Wednesday after a door panel flew off the same type of jet on an Alaska Airlines flight last week. But that didn't stop an alarming mechanical issue from happening on another type of United plane, which made an emergency landing later in the day. — Read the rest

CBS News reports that the U.S. Department of Transporation is investigating reports that United Airlines kept passengers trapped on a plane in 80-degree heat for seven hours without giving them water or food. The claims are corroborated by viral video that shows one of those complaining, Christine Ieronimo, describing their experience after they were finally allowed to disembark the delayed flight. — Read the rest

An airplane evacuation slide on a United Airlines flight from Switzerland to Chicago fell from the sky mid-flight, landing in a backyard near O'Hare airport.

People inside the house heard a loud "boom" around 12:15 p.m., then noticed the crumpled mass in their yard. — Read the rest

A business-class passenger flying from Houston to Amsterdam on United Airlines became so unhappy about his dinner options, the flight diverted to Chicago two hours after takeoff so the flight crew could kick him off the plane — and into the hands of law enforcement. — Read the rest

A laptop battery caught fire aboard a United Airlines flight headed for Newark this morning, sending four people to the hospital.

The plane, a Boeing 737 MAX 8, took off from San Diego but then returned to the San Diego International Airport about half an hour later after a laptop's external battery pack ignited in the cabin, according to The New York Times. — Read the rest

An airline SNAFU caused a United flight to spend hours taxiing around the tarmac, boarding, deboarding, reboarding, and finally, after 8.5 hours of this, cancel. I hope they played the Benny Hill theme.

Aeroxplorer:

Ultimately, after 2.5 more hours of taxiing—8.5 hours of taxiing in total—the on-board crew clocked out and the flight returned to the gate to be anulled.