Poncier said:

oftenreading said:

JOEJOEJOE said:

Poncier said:

JOEJOEJOE said:

Southwest is the best of the discount airlines.

Absolutely.
Only issue with Southwest is the open seating thing which is only an issue when flying with the wife and kid and making sure you get 3 seats together. But other than that they are the way to go. And still not charging for checked bags (up to 2 per person).

I agree the open seating can be tricky but if you check-in online right when you are allowed to, you usually get a good boarding position which translates into better seats.

Can't you also pay a piddly amount, like $10, to automatically get in the first boarding group?

, but a gentleman moved so my wife & son could sit together and I sat separately which was fine,

mcgruff10 said:

Anybody use frontier before?   I see some pretty low fares out of Trenton but am hesitant to use them.  

F Me In The Brain said:

Frontier is not bad for direct
  Flew them from Trenton to Cincy for PJ show and they were fine.  For sure it is low rent, but normal seats and cheap as can be.
Trenton airport is a joke, is funny to fly from there.  

mcgruff10 said:

Anybody use frontier before?   I see some pretty low fares out of Trenton but am hesitant to use them.  

At least 7 killed after historic B-17 bomber crashes, bursts into flames with 13 aboard

A World War II-era plane with 13 people aboard crashed and burned at the Hartford airport after encountering mechanical trouble on takeoff Wednesday, killing seven of them.

The four-engine, propeller-driven B-17 bomber struggled to get into the air and slammed into a maintenance building at Bradley International Airport as the pilots circled back for a landing, officials and witnesses said.

It had 10 passengers and three crew members, authorities said.

The retired, civilian-registered plane was associated with the Collings Foundation, an educational group that brought its Wings of Freedom vintage aircraft display to the airport this week, officials said. The Wings of Freedom tour recently made several stops at New Jersey airports in August and September including flyovers of Jersey Shore beaches during Labor Day weekend. The tour was scheduled to return to New Jersey next week with a visit to Morristown Municipal Airport.

Connecticut Public Safety Commissioner James Rovella said hours after the crash that some of those on board were burned, and “the victims are very difficult to identify.”

Some of the survivors of the crash were critically injured, authorities said. One person on the ground was also hurt in the crash and a firefighter involved in the response suffered a minor injury. No children were on the plane.

The death toll of seven could rise, Rovella said. He said some lives were likely saved by the efforts of people including a person who raced to help the victims and people on the plane who helped others to escape the fire by opening a hatch, Rovella said.

“You’re going to hear about some heroic efforts from some of the individuals that were in and around that plane,” he said.

The vintage bomber _ also known as a Flying Fortress, one of the most celebrated Allied planes of World War II _ was used to take history buffs and aircraft enthusiasts on short flights, during which they could get up and walk around the loud and windy interior.

“Right now my heart really goes out to the families who are waiting,” Gov. Ned Lamont said. “And we are going to give them the best information we can as soon as we can in an honest way.”

The National Transportation Safety Board sent a team of 10 to investigate the cause of the crash.

The plane was a few minutes into the flight when the pilots reported a problem and said it was not gaining altitude, officials said. It lost control upon touching down and struck a shed at a de-icing facility just before 10 a.m.

The airport _ New England’s second-busiest _ was closed afterward but reopened a single runway about 3½ hours later.

Flight records from FlightAware shows the plane had traveled about 8 miles (13 kilometers) and reached an altitude of 800 feet (244 meters).

In recordings of audio transmissions, the pilot told an air traffic controller that he needed to return to the airport and land immediately. Asked why, he said: “Number four engine, we’d like to return and blow it out.”

Brian Hamer, of Norton, Massachusetts, said he was less than a mile away when he saw a B-17, “which you don’t normally see,” fly directly overhead, apparently trying without success to gain altitude.

One of the engines began to sputter, and smoke came out the back, Hamer said. The plane made a wide turn and headed back toward the airport, he said.