First United Airlines Airbus A319 in new livery

Courtesy of United Airlines

An A319 showing the new livery was ferried from the paint shop in Greenville Miss., to Chicago yesterday. From there,  the A319 was put back in service for its first revenue flight in the new livery to Denver, CO. 

Currently, another  A319 and two A320's Airbus planes from United are at the paint shop in Mississippi.

Bid for how much you are willing to be bumped of a flight

Delta Airlines at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson Airport

Up to now if a flight is oversold airlines would make an announcement in the gate area looking for volunteers willing to take a later flight  in return for travel credits on future flights. Delta Airlines is taking a new approach by letting passengers silently bid on a bumped seat. If a flight is oversold passengers can name an amount, during check-in, they are willing to accept in return of taking a later flight. Delta would then consider the lowest bid to be bumped of the flight if it becomes necessary. Full story here.

TSA gets own song from Grammy winner Buck Howdy

In regards to the invasive TSA body searches throughout airports in the United States, Buck Howdy has created a funny parody song.

Win 2 round the world business class tickets with Star Alliance

There's a new contest on www.staralliance.com to promote the Alliance's unique upgrade awards product to frequent international travellers. Customers can win prizes by answering a few basic Alliance questions and entering their frequent flyer numbers.

The product allows customers to redeem miles or points from their FFP accounts to upgrade on 19 other Star Alliance member carriers by one class, either from economy to business or from business to first. Prizes to win in the contest  include 2 round the world tickets in business class, several other tickets in business or economy class and miles credited to the contestant's respective frequent flyer programme.

Finally a home to rest for US Airways flight 1549 ditched in the Hudson?

Courtesy of Gothamist.com

According to the NY Post the Charlotte, NC, based Carolinas Aviation  Museum is intersted in buying the wreckage of US Airways flight 1549. For the past year parts of the remains have been up for auction. See pictures here.
The flight under command of Captain Chesley Sullenberger ditched in the Hudson River January 15th 2009 after suffering a severe bird strike shortly after take off. All 155 souls on board where rescued while the plane sunk slowly.

Update on United & Continental repainting process

Courtesy of United Continental Holdings Inc.

United Airlines reports that 2010 ended with 77 mainline airplanes featuring the new livery. The majority of them are Continental aircrafts since that livery requires less work than the one from United. CO has completed painting 70 planes of various types. UA has repainted seven Boeing 777 with the most recent one out of the paint shop last Tuesday. Additional 17 UA planes will be repainted in January. By the end of 2011 UA expects to have more than 250 mainline planes repainted. See a time laps on the paint job here