Air Travel

TSA Will No Longer Electronically Undress You at Airports

First public nudity is banned in San Francisco, and now the

Supervisor David Campos Wants to Name SFO After Harvey Milk

Harvey Milk is to San Franciscans what George Bush is to Texans -- a friggin' hero. That's probably why Supervisor David Campos has decided our international airport should be named after the gay civil rights guru, an honor that's typically reserved for former presidents. According to KTVU, Campos ... More >>

SF Giants Trophy to Fly First Class to Second-Class City

The airlines just found one more way to dehumanize your flying experience. Virgin America Airlines has reserved a first-class seat for the non-breathing SF Giants' World Championship Trophy to ensure the award has plenty of leg room and a comfortable trip to New York City. The well-deserved trophy ... More >>

Continental Airlines Allegedly Humilates Gay Couple With Dildo

A gay couple has accused Continental Airlines employees of making their trip home less than satisfying, using the couple's own private dildo.  Christopher Bridgeman and Martin Borger filed a lawsuit against United Continental Holdings and Continental Airlines in Harris County Court this week, c ... More >>

Another Unsavory Needle Found in Airplane Food

You can go ahead and add Air Canada to the list of airlines whose food you won't want to eat. The airline confirmed yesterday that a passenger found a sewing needle in his pre-packaged sandwich served aboard the Toronto-bound flight.We'd chalk this up to an anomaly probably not worth reporting if a ... More >>

Delta Airlines Serves Turkey Sandwiches With Needles

Delta Airlines hasn't come up with any reason as to why or how some needles got into the turkey sandwiches served on some of its weekend flights. And no, the pre-packaged sandwiches weren't bought in the Tenderloin.  The airlines confirmed that sewing needles were found in five sandwiches on fl ... More >>

SFO Is One of The Worst Airports, Study Says

As you already well-traveled folks know, catching a flight out of SFO sucks. Just ask Terri Weissinger, who lived at the airport for eight days because of unpaid baggage fees. And then there's the issue of flight delays, which is clearly a chronic problem in San Francisco, according to a new study r ... More >>

How to Deal With Airport Security When You're a Famous Musician

The problem with being famous and getting special treatment everywhere you go is that you sometimes forget that rules actually apply to you. Yes, music stars, we know you think you're more important than the rest of us plebeians, but make no mistake about it: In the eyes of airport security, you're ... More >>

Pilots Say Flying United Airlines Isn't That Safe

A flock of United Airlines pilots will stand post at the doors of San Francisco International Airport this weekend, but not to greet frequent flyers or to help you with your carry-on. They will be there to rail on the airlines, like every other frustrated flyer. Pilots have been in contract negoti ... More >>

Portland Man Literally Shows TSA Screeners What S.F. Nudists Won't

The year 2010 was anticlimactic for San Francisco nudists after they chickened out on their much-hyped plans to strip for TSA screeners to protest the new and invasive security measures at the airport.Well, it seems a Portland computer programmer showed us -- literally. According to press reports, 4 ... More >>

Last Night's Thunderstorms Are Giving Everyone Something to Talk About

Last night's rare lightning and thunder that boomed across the Bay Area are as newsworthy as a blizzard in Texas, which is why it's okay for everyone to drone on about the weather today and not sound like an English dolt. There a lot to talk about: Thursday evening storms created all sorts of drama, ... More >>

Brian Wilson's Beard to Fly Through Bay Area Skies -- Literally

​If the airlines are deficient at anything, it's making the skies friendlier -- or friendly at all. But in its never-ending quest to be cute, Virgin America Airlines has made another attempt to show us just how much personality the Silicon Valley-based company has.   SFist snapped  this ... More >>

Virgin Airlines Emblazons Jet with Popular Steve Jobs Quote

​It's not quite on par with Hungary's idea to erect a statue of the late Apple CEO Steve Jobs, but Virgin America Airlines -- based in Silicon Valley -- came up with its own creative way of honoring Jobs' memory. According to MacRumors.com, Virgin Airlines -- perhaps best known for flying homeless ... More >>

American Airlines Flight Attendants Join Occupy SF Today

Today, the flight attendants would be serving coach first. ​With bongos sounding and dread-locked protesters fearing eviction from the Occupy SF encampment this morning, a group of well-coiffed adults in sharp uniforms converged at Justin Herman Plaza. Like the "Sesame Street" jingle, these p ... More >>

SFO-Bound Plane Evacuated, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Flight

It was just a movie ​A United Airlines flight was abruptly stopped at Dulles International Airport just after noon today, and passengers were evacuated via the emergency slide, according to news reports. UA flight 757 was leaving Washington, D.C. when a pilot smelled smoke in the cabin. The pilot ... More >>

Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong Expelled from Southwest Flight for Sagging His Pants

Christopher VictorioGreen Day's Billie Joe Armstrong, in better-belted times.​ Safe to say your Labor Day weekend is off to a better start than Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong's: On Thursday night, Armstrong was kicked off a Southwest Airlines flight for sagging his pants.

NAACP Calls U.S. Airways Racist for Kicking Man with Saggy Pants Off Plane

They must have toured by bus​U.S. Airways' decision to kick a football player wearing sagging pants off one of its planes in San Francisco is provoking the ire of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, which says that the move was racist.Deshon Marman, a black college foot ... More >>

Fiona Ma Demands State Boycott of Southwest Airlines After Pilot's Rant About 'Gays and Grannies'

Fiona Ma is not taking shit from Southwest​Assemblywoman Fiona Ma isn't going to stand for trash-talking. The San Francisco Democrat slammed Southwest Airlines today, asking her fellow lawmakers to stop flying Southwest after a pilot was busted for bashing gays, women, and overweight people via a ... More >>

Crossdressing Man Allowed on US Airways Flight

Is this G-rated enough for US Airways?​Last week, SF Weekly told readers about the University of New Mexico football player who was booted from a US Airways flight because he refused to pull up his sagging pants. At the time, US Airways spokeswoman Valerie Wunder told reporters that Deshon Marman' ... More >>

Football Player Wearing Baggy Pants Gets Booted From Airplane at SFO

Nobody wants to see your junk ​University of New Mexico football player, Deshon Marman, was boarding a plane in San Francisco when a airline employee noticed his sagging pants were just a little too low, a look that started in jail and has politicians now trying to legislate it out of style. Accor ... More >>

Nudists Not Welcome On American Airlines

​SF Weekly has been uncovering the naked truth this week, discovering that San Francisco nudists will not face problems if they opt to walk through TSA inspections in the buff. As far as strolling, nude, through the terminal, San Francisco International Airport is under the jurisdiction of th ... More >>

Airlines Accused of Price-Fixing in Class-Action Lawsuit

​A hangar-ful of airlines is facing a class-action lawsuit filed in San Francisco that alleges an "international conspiracy" to fix prices and bilk travelers.The suit was filed yesterday in U.S. District Court by San Francisco resident Caroline Joy, who is represented by the law firm Moscone Embli ... More >>

Exploding Engine Forces Qantas Flight's Return to SFO

Unharmed in yesterday's air emergency at SFO...​An explosion that punched a hole in an engine on a Qantas passenger jet forced the 747 to curtail a journey to the land down under after only 45 minutes, and return to San Francisco International Airport shortly before 1 a.m. this morning. The plane ... More >>

Terrorism at San Francisco Airport: a History

Yes, there has been lethal airport terrorism in San Francisco -- back when this ad wasn't nostalgic​Thursday's all-day hijack threat at San Francisco Airport, if nothing else, illustrated how little it takes to disrupt the nation's transportation system. You don't need guns. You don't need bombs. ... More >>

United Airlines Forgets Young Passenger, Force-Feeds Him McDonald's

First United gets everyone to refer to Gershwin's 'Rhapsody in Blue' as 'The United Airlines Song' ... and now this​United Airlines is facing a brewing Internet-driven PR disaster following a boy's horrible, horrible flight out of San Francisco.  Julien Reid, 9, has told his parents that he w ... More >>

SFO to Offer Free WiFi

Mercury News is reporting that San Francisco International Airport will offer free WiFi come September 1st, joining other Bay Area airports Mineta San Jose International and Oakland International which offered the free service as a way of attracting passengers.

Another Volcanic Ash Travel Casualty: No Gary Numan Shows

 With 17,000 flights canceled because of the volcanic ash clouds that traveled from Iceland over much of Europe, UK acts are having a very difficult time making their shows here in the States. It's still unclear when air travel will be able to resume, and in the meantime, more shows have b ... More >>

Mile-High Club for Molesters Purportedly Inducts New Member

​Last year SF Weekly published a story about child molestation on airplanes. SFist even made fun of for getting "all "To Catch a Predator" on Airlines." But as today's Chron story demonstrates, the problem isn't going away. This time, it was a 39-year-old Oakland man named Aboubacar Soumah who mov ... More >>

Predators are free to move about the cabin

The girl flew as an unaccompanied minor, and she's still experiencing turbulence.

Adoration

Exporting the Dead

Every year, the corpses of hundreds of immigrants are flown from San Francisco to their home countries.

Preventive Medicine: How S.F. Politicos Saved The World

Now that Wall Street investments have collapsed in value, it's fair to credit Nancy Pelosi's lead in the 2005 battle against Social Security privatization for saving us all from spending old age in abject poverty."In this downturn in the financial -- the stock market, thank God we won that fight," ... More >>

Flipping the Bird: Local Airports' Methods of Repelling Winged Obstacles

If the US Airways flight that yesterday took off from La Guardia and got only as far as the Hudson River suffered the "double bird strike" claimed by its pilot, it would just be the latest incidence of a two-pound creature downing a 91,000-pound plane. The Bird Strike Committee USA (yes, such a body ... More >>

Air Heads

SFO officials deserve some blame for an air disaster in Honduras. By Matt Smith

Southwest: It's Cheap for a Reason!

Bangalore to Be SF's New Sister City - Keeping IT in the Family

Man Turns Airport Security Check Into Instant Party, Nearly Dies

Jimmy Carter Was a Democrat

A complex play about air traffic controllers never gets off the ground

Letters to the Editor

Week of Wednesday, February 4, 2004

Uncle Sam Needs You to Be a Suspected Terrorist

Wise-ass humor is the best way to fight the Bush administration's anti-terror excesses. And, hey, wise-ass humor is what we do best.

Come Fly With Us

Ogling airline collectibles with Kelly Kelly, and reintroducing cougars into S.F. parks

The Price of Citizenship

A quirk in immigration laws, and tougher security rules, demand a terrible choice from Filipino baggage screeners at SFO: their jobs or their families

Brownout at SFO

Mayor's attempt to end-run city voters on runways-in-bay reflects dimming of his political star

Earlier Warning

Hijacking on the East Coast. It was predicted.

Flight Capital

How SFO officials used city employees and money -- in apparent violation of state and federal law -- in a very odd attempt to privatize the airports of Honduras

San Francisco International Airpork

How the SFO construction program went $1 billion over budget. Yes, billion. With a B.

An Endowed Chair

Sen. John McCain's push for campaign-finance reform has helped his presidential bid. Donations from special interests haven't hurt, either.

Letters

Checchi's Checkered Record

Megamillionaire Al Checchi thinks he piloted Northwest Airlines so well that you should elect him governor. Actually, he sucked in public subsidies, strong-armed unions, reneged on promises -- and still almost flew the firm into the ground.

Publish or Perish