Flying sucks. If your crotch isn't felt up by the rubber gloves of Safety and all your coke isn't confiscated, then chances are they'll stick you next to a colic-y set of twins or Alec Baldwin. And that's if the flight isn't delayed or cancelled. Now, the gross noroviruses that have been known to ruin grandma's cruises have been plaguing airlines, including several successive Air New Zealand flights. Symptoms include vomiting, diarrhea, and calling people "Shirley." more ›

[UPDATED BELOW] Developing! It seems that actor, and future mayor of New York, Alec Baldwin has been booted from his flight out of LAX. So far the only confirmations are from fellow passengers—Grant Cardone Tweeted around 4:15 p.m.: "Alec Baldwin is getting kicked off of AA flight as I tweet this!" Which was followed by a Tweet from Michael J. Wolf, saying, "On an AA flight at LAX. Alec Baldwin removed from the plane We had to go back to the gate. Terrible that everyone had to wait." Don't these people have camera phones? We'll update when we have more details. more ›

A pilot in a LaGuardia-bound flight from North Carolina got locked in the bathroom of his own plane last night, triggering an accent-fueled terror scare that was completely, totally, absolutely, ridiculously unnecessary. more ›

Laser pointer pranksters, be warned: the Federal Aviation Administration is coming for you! The FAA has launched a manhunt for laser-wielding criminals after a spate of suspiciously connected attacks against pilots at LaGuardia Airport over the weekend. more ›

Southwest Airlines is starting to have a serious celebrity problem. First there was the time that Kevin Smith got kicked off a flight for being too fat, then there was the time Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong was kicked off a flight for wearing his pants too low and now former L Word actress Leisha Hailey is going around the Internet saying she and her girlfriend were kicked off a flight for kissing each other. We probably shouldn't be too surprised though, considering what we learned this summer about Southwest's racist, sexist pilots. more ›

Woe is the plight of an "American Idiot"—Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong claims he was kicked off of a Southwest Airlines flight because of his sagging pants. He Tweeted on Thursday: "Just got kicked off a southwest flight because my pants sagged too low! What the f--- No joke!" more ›

Some guy harnessed the power of science to cut down on air travel boarding time... but will humans throw a wrench in his system? The Daily Mail reports on "The Steffen Method," named for the astrophysicist who came up with the process, John Steffen. They break down the method as such: "Airlines should first put passengers by the window in an alternating pattern, then people sitting in the middle seat, and finally the aisle." The method is apparently twice as fast as the normal seating block system. It's all explained in this video: more ›

Airlines have begun cancelling hundreds of flights to and from New York-area airports as Hurricane Irene draws closer—bad news for travelers trying to get the hell out of Dodge. more ›

Sacre bleu! Is this the start of an unseemly new trend? French actor Gerard Depardieu hopped on the "drunkenly peeing on a plane in public" bandwagon last night, allegedly relieving himself on the carpet of a City Jet flight from Paris to Dublin. more ›

It's the Orthodox-Rabbi-who-groped-a-female-Israeli-army-officer-on-an-airplane story that just keeps giving! The children of convicted grabby-hands Rabbi Gavriel Bidany pleaded with the court for leniency for their father, who faces up to six months in prison, because it hurts their chances to get married: "Today I am 21 and I need to start my own family...and without my dad it is impossible. It would hurt my match-making possibilities," said Avishar Bidany. more ›

An Orthodox rabbi faces up to six months in jail for groping a female Israeli army officer as she slept next to him on a flight from Tel Aviv to JFK at the end of March. Rabbi Gavriel Bidany, a 47-year-old father of 11, was found guilty of molestation today, even though he had claimed that his hands were moving involuntarily while he slept and that any contact with the unidentified 23-year-old woman was accidental. "If these were random reaches of a sleeping man why is it the defendant had such precise accuracy, reaching private areas?" asked Assistant U.S. Attorney David Sarratt. more ›

Something was missing in the new rules for the Passangers Bill of Rights. Peanuts. Though last year the Department of Transportation asked for public opinion on how to deal with passengers with nut allergies, it turns out there is a law that makes it currently impossible for it to ban or restrict them from flights. more ›

Airplane tantrums aren't just for disgruntled employees and Ivana Trump: a cranky vegetarian on a Newark-bound Continental Airlines flight yesterday became agitated when she was served the wrong in-flight food. So she decided to handle it the mature way, and write a complaint to the airline company threw her food tray at a flight attendant in the midst of a self-absorbed tempter tantrum. more ›

A Moscow-bound Delta flight had a scare this evening after a blown engine forced it to land back at JFK. Initial reports claimed that Delta Flight 30 had an engine fire, and some of the 193 people on board called 911 claiming to see flames or sparks. The plane circled around JFK dumping fuel; although the plane could fly with just one engine working, it was told to come back to the airport. Nobody was hurt, and now reports say that the blown engine may have been caused by a "bird strike," similar to what happened to U.S. Airways Flight 1549. more ›

On November 5th, Kanye West was on a Delta flight to New York City and decided to give his fellow passengers an impromptu concert. According to Hollywood Life, Kanye was sitting in First Class and after about 30 minutes in the air he came on the loud speaker and rapped The Good Life and Gold Digger. One passenger on board told them, “He was like, ‘Yo, this your n***a, Kanye.' Then he couldn’t decide if he wanted to do The Good Life or Gold Digger, so he was like, ‘I’ll just do a little bit of both.’ It was awesome… but I still have no idea how he got into the cockpit.” (Note: it's unclear if he actually was in the cockpit or not.) more ›

Steven Slater is back in the limelight for a moment today, appearing on CBS's Early Show. The former JetBlue flight attendant went from folk hero to zero in August after making a dramatic departure from his job, and the aircraft he was on. As we all know by now, Slater told a passenger off over the intercom, deployed an emergency chute, grabbed a few Blue Moon beers, and took his leave. more ›

The European Union says that by 2013 they will get rid of the ban on carry-on liquids, thanks to some new explosive-liquid screening machines. The new restrictions are part of an initiative to make the post-9/11 security requirements more streamlined, and EU Transport Commission spokesman Helen Kearns said there “should be a significant improvement in terms of convenience and ease of travel." The liquid ban was put in place in 2007, after a London airplane bomb plot was found to involve liquid explosives. So bring on as much soda and water as you want!—just make sure you have enough change to pay for the toilets when it gets through your system. more ›

“My earliest memory was at dinner with Dad using a knife to show us how the controls of a plane worked,” Elinor Smith told The New York Daily Mirror in 1942. At 16 she got her flying license; at 18 she set records for altitude and endurance by a female pilot; at 23 she became the first woman to have her picture on a Wheaties box; and recently at the old age of 98 she died, reports the Times. Known as the “Flying Flapper of Freeport” the Long Island native was one of the youngest flying pioneers in history and the first female test pilot for two major aircraft companies. more ›

Despite invasive full body scanners popping up at our nation’s airports, Janet Napolitano says you’ll still have to take your shoes off to get through security. According to the Homeland Security Secretary, shoes are so impenetrable that they can’t be fully screened while they’re on your feet, reports the AP. Too bad these never caught on. During a live video chat session, she also spoke to the shortage of air marshals on domestic and international flights, and about incidents, like the Newark airport kisser, where non-passengers cause security meltdowns by entering unauthorized areas. She said that for now only ticketed travelers would be allowed in secure areas but that "It may be possible to change that as we move forward." more ›

The airline that diverted a flight when a Jewish passenger started praying said it was forced to treat the incident as a bomb scare because the teen didn't clearly explain why he had strapped his tefillin — two small black boxes worn by Orthodox Jews during weekday morning prayers — to his head and arm. According to Chautauqua Airlines, which was operating the US Airways Flight from LaGuardia to Kentucky, "[w]hen our crew tried to discuss the issue with the passenger, they did not receive a clear response." more ›

Sen. Charles Schumer called on airlines to stop servicing foreign airports with security practices that don't meet American standards, according to NY1. In a move he hopes will close the "gaping holes" in overseas air travel security, the senior Democratic senator wants carriers to report any security issues at foreign airports and threaten boycotts if measures aren't changed. more ›

Sigh: WCBS 2 reports that a passenger who flew into LaGuardia Airport last night "was questioned by FBI agents" because he allegedly boarded the flight with a 4" long, 3/4" wide firecracker: "Officials confirmed Monday that a crew member on board Piedmont Airlines flight 4126 was cleaning the plane after it landed in New York around 7:30 p.m. when he found [the device] wedged between two seats. Port Authority officials contacted FBI agents, and the passenger from that seat location, identified as 67-year-old Thomas Ouelette, of Bonita Springs, Fla., was tracked down and taken into custody." While terrorism is not suspected (at this point!), "Ouelette already had two outstanding warrants in Florida for 'unlawful flight.'" more ›

Just one day after a man attempted to explode an airplane before landing, Ivana Trump blew up at passengers before take-off, launching obscenities at children aboard the flight to New York and police officers. Her outburst caused a two hour delay for other passengers headed from Palm Beach International Airport to LaGuardia. more ›

The U.S. government charged Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a 23-year-old Nigerian man, with attempting to destroy a Northwest Airlines plane as it was landing in Detroit yesterday. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said, "ad this alleged plot to destroy an airplane been successful, scores of innocent people would have been killed or injured. We will continue to investigate this matter vigorously, and we will use all measures available to our government to ensure that anyone responsible for this attempted attack is brought to justice." And the Justice Department's statement notes: more ›

Some 2 million pets and other animals travel by commercial airline each year, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. And considering how much airlines charge for the service, it all amounts to big business for the industry. But how much should it cost to take your pet with you on a flight? One area woman is up in arms after realizing that her cat's ticket to fly from New York to Virginia actually cost more than her own ticket! more ›

Even though the average New Yorker has a smaller carbon footprint and uses about one-half less energy than other Americans, our Mayor — who has been widely praised for his ambitious environmental agenda — might be one of "the worst individual polluters ever to hold public office," according to the Times. more ›

According to a survey, New Yorkers don't like the idea of building another airport to relieve the god-awful congestion in the skies. But they're also opposed to pricing plane tickets based on the time of day. So what can they agree on? Apparently: redesigning flight patterns, updating the air traffic control system, and using Stewart International Airport in Orange County. more ›