четверг, 18 июня 2015 г.

uAre Spirit Airlines Pilots Striking? Customers Say Yes, Airline Remains Mumr


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  • Courtesy of Spirit Airlines

    Courtesy of Spirit Airlines

    Travelers around the country with tickets for Spirit Airlines flights are reportedly dealing with a lot of delays and cancellations right now. And many passengers say those hiccups aren’t only due to bad weather, but a possible pilot strike.

    Several passengers have contacted Consumerist sharing their story of being stranded at airports, sometimes for several days this week, after the airline canceled or repeatedly delayed their flights.

    When reached for comment, a spokesperson for Spirit blamed the travel issues on weather. She did not provide comment on the possibility of a strike.

    “The bad weather over the past few days has adversely affected us,” she tells Consumerist. “Basically we have had to cancel many flights because of the bad weather.”

    While it’s true that certain areas of the U.S. are being drenched by Tropical Storm Bill, many stranded travelers say the bad weather is nowhere to be found at their location.

    One person who reached out to Consumerist on Twitter says for the past two days the airline canceled all flights out of Myrtle Beach, SC, to New York’s LaGuardia Airport, citing what she called “non-existent bad weather.”

    Weather over the past few days show little to no precipitation in either Myrtle Beach or New York, according to Weather Underground. Of course, that doesn’t account for any adverse weather in between the two locations, or for changes in crew/aircraft that could be affected by delays and cancellations in other cities.

    Several Spirit passengers posted on Twitter that their flights had been delayed because of no-show pilots and crew members, leading to further speculation of an unofficial strike.

    Additionally, WKYC-TV reported today that passengers at Cleveland Hopkins Airport have waited nearly two days to leave the area and been given several reasons for the disruption from Spirit employees, including a strike.

    Customers initially slated to travel from the airport to Atlanta on Tuesday were told their flight was canceled due to weather. When they returned the following morning they were reportedly told the trip was delayed because of a pilot strike.

    The flight was eventually canceled and passengers rebooked with other airlines.

    Stranded customers who turned to social media to express their displeasure to Spirit over the continuous delays received little recognition.

    That’s because the airline put its Twitter account on “Autopilot” earlier this year instead of employing real live humans. Spirit says the measure was put in place to “save [customers] cents on every ticket.”

    Consumers who engage with the company on Twitter receive the following response:

    As one might expect the automated responses haven’t been welcomed with open arms by passengers affected by recent delays and cancellations.

    While many of the passengers affected by the weather delays – and possible strike – are still waiting to make it to their destination, others say they’ve been rebooked with other airlines.

    Consumerist has once again reached out to Spirit regarding its social media responses and clarity on whether or not a pilot strike is taking place, and we’ll keep you posted on any updates.



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  • by Ashlee Kieler
  • via Consumerist
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uSprint Stops Throttling Data Speeds As Net Neutrality Goes Into Effectr


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  • Net neutrality only became well and truly legal on June 12, and yet already the new rules are prompting change: Sprint stopped intermittently throttling data speeds for its heaviest wireless Internet users during busy times as of Friday, the same day the Federal Communications Commission’s net-neutrality rules went into effect.

    The third-largest U.S. wireless carrier is now a common carrier under Title II and as such, is not allowed to muck around with customers’ connections — no slowing down, blocking or otherwise choking.

    Sprint says its policy would’ve been in line with the new rules but decided to go the route of better safe than sorry.

    “Sprint doesn’t expect users to notice any significant difference in their services now that we no longer engage in the process,” a Sprint spokesman told the Wall Street Journal.

    Another policy that may have run afoul of the rules has also been nixed, one that had given Sprint the right to prioritize data traffic depending on a subscriber’s plan. It hadn’t done that yet, but now it’s a non-issue so might as well chuck that one, too.

    Not all carriers are having such an easy time with the FCC and its view of unlimited data plans this week: Yesterday the agency said it’s planning to fine AT&T $100 million for allegedly misleading customers about how its unlimited data plans work.

    Both AT&T and Verizon Wireless stopped offering unlimited plans to new subscribers years ago, leaving only T-Mobile and Sprint to peddle those plans. A spokeswoman for T-Mobile told the WSJ the company doesn’t have a policy of throttling customers other than in extreme circumstances for network management.

    Verizon tried to throttle its unlimited LTE users in 2014, but walked that one back after ticking off customers and getting a stern eye from the FCC.

    The first company to be accused of violating the new neutrality rules isn’t a wireless provider, however. That honor goes to Time Warner Cable, which has been accused of trying to make a webcam company pay more to stream its various livestreams in the San Diego area.

    An Early Net-Neutrality Win: Rules Prompt Sprint to Stop Throttling [Wall Street Journal]



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  • by Mary Beth Quirk
  • via Consumerist
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uFCC Votes To Give Consumers The Right To Block Annoying Spam Robocalls And Textsr


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  • You hate getting robocalls. The FCC knows you hate getting robocalls. And so today the Commission voted to move forward with a proposal that would allow consumers to block all those annoying calls and texts.

    The commissioners were agreed on one major theme: seriously, everyone hates getting calls from “Rachel at card services” during their family dinner hour. Outside of that, reactions were less universal, and individual commissioners each presented a mixed bag of affirmations and dissents. Despite the varying perspectives from all present, the vote moved through 3-2 along party lines, as predicted.

    The discussion of the robocall proceeding delved heavily into the legal technicalities surrounding the definitions of autodialers and what, exactly, is covered under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). Specifically, however, the FCC staff presenting the report concluded that wireline and wireless carriers, as well as VOIP providers, are free to provide consumers with services and technologies to block unwanted robocalls.

    The order also specifies that consumers who had previously consented to robocalls could withdraw that consent at any time and “through any reasonable means.”

    Speaking in favor of the proposal, Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel pointed out that the FCC receives more complaints about robocalls than about any other issue.

    “We receive thousands of complaints, and our friends across town at the FTC received tens of thousands more,” Rosenworcel said, “at one point receiving nearly 200,000 in a single month.”

    “It is time, long past time to do something about this.”

    Commissioners Ajit Pai and Michael O’Rielly focused on potential harm to businesses who might get slapped back after “erroneously” contacting customers who had withdrawn their consent, or who received numbers that were reassigned from previous users.

    Pai, like Rosenworcel, pointed to the extraordinary volume of robocall complaints, specifying that last year the FCC received 96,288 reports. He also pointed to the sheer number of deceptive robocalls made, specifically, by scam artists targeting senior citizens.

    However, Pai mainly concentrated on inefficiencies and perverse incentives in the existing legal structure, describing cases where the TCPA has “strayed beyond its addidional purpose,” and pointing out that the FCC could use its existing mechanisms to close loopholes and shut down scammers while protecting businesses’ rights to contact consumers.

    “The primary beneficiaries will be trial lawyers, not American consumers” Pai concluded, spinning a theoretical tale of a potential guy getting slammed with a TCPA suit for texting a girl who doesn’t particularly want to hear from him.

    O’Rielly, as usual, objected strenuously to the entire procedure and, in fact, the commission overall. “After 14 months working on this issue it is clear the process brought out a new low I’ve never seen in politics or policy making, which is saying something,” said O’Rielly, who earlier this year likened municipal broadband to the destruction of capitalism itself.

    Instead, O’Rielly called for Congress to take action, if action is needed, and for the FCC to step back from a plan that “will lead to more litigation that places burdens on legitimate businesses without protecting consumers from robocalls made by bad actors.”

    Chairman Tom Wheeler concluded the proceeding by pointing out that the problem is exacerbated by vague or outdated wording in the FCC’s own existing rule.

    “Technology has made it cheaper, and as a result there’s been an explosion in the number of calls — an explosion which has been aided by exploiting the wording of our rules to claim a loophole. Clever lawyers have [spurred] the explosion in robocalls by claiming if the company substitutes sofware for hardware to drive the calls and/or does not call from a list, they are exempt from our rules.”

    “There is a simple concept in the statute that we embrace today,” Wheeler concluded: “Yo cannot be called unless you consent to be called. The consumer should be in control.”

    “Listening to Congress, the American people, the message is clear: no unauthorized, automated calls. Stop it, and stop today.”



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  • by Kate Cox
  • via Consumerist
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uRadioShack Sells Last Thing Of Value It Owns: $50 Million Worth Of Propertyr


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  • In its bankruptcy auction, RadioShack has sold its store leases, the merchandise in most of its stores, and even key intellectual property assets like its customer mailing lists and “TheShack.com.” Now the company has found buyers for its last multimillion-dollar assets: the sale of the company’s headquarters and regional facilities in Maryland and in California have been sold, taking in about $50 million that will go to the company’s creditors.

    RadioShack had just moved to a new four-building headquarters campus in Fort Worth, Texas in 2005: that campus was not part of this transaction, since it had already been sold to raise cash within a few months of the company moving in. The purchaser, a German real estate firm, later sold the property to a local college.

    Other property in Texas was part of the sale, along with a distribution center in California. Together, that sale adds up to $39.29 million, and both properties went to a the same buyer. The company’s east coast distribution center in Maryland sold to a different buyer for $11.4 million. The bankruptcy court approved these sales.

    Artwork at the company’s headquarters that could be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars went to new owner Standard General as part of the intellectual property sale; the company promised to donate these pieces, since RadioShack-themed artwork has a rather limited market.

    RadioShack real estate sold off for $50 million [Dallas Business Journal]
    Former RadioShack Real Estate Sold for More Than $50 Million [Wall Street Journal]



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  • by Laura Northrup
  • via Consumerist
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uRegulators Identify All Vehicles Recalled For Defective Takata Airbagsr


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  • Consumers worried that they may be driving around with what some have likened to an explosive device in their steering wheel and dashboard can breathe a small sigh of relief, as federal regulators say all 33.8 million vehicles equipped with potential shrapnel-shooting Takata airbags have been identified.

    The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced it has begun work to add millions of new vehicles to a searchable database where consumers can determine if their cars are in need of replacement airbags, the Detroit News reports.

    For the past month 11 automakers have scrambled to pinpoint millions of vehicles that include Takata safety devices linked to at least seven deaths and more than 100 injuries, after the Japanese parts maker declared nearly 34 million airbags defective. 

    While about 17 million of the 33.8 million vehicles with the airbags had already been part of recalls by major automakers, millions of others had yet to be identified.

    NHTSA said the Vehicle Identification Numbers (VINs) of the newly recalled vehicles will be added to its searchable database.

    Consumers looking to see if their vehicles are part of the largest auto recall in history can check by entering their 17 digit VIN on SaferCar.gov, which will return a list of all recalls associated with a particular vehicle. The site also functions to provide regular updates on the status of this and other recalls of high interest.

    “An informed consumer is one of our strongest allies in ensuring recalled vehicles are repaired,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx tells the Detroit News. “NHTSA’s VIN search tool at safercar.gov makes it easy for consumers to check if their vehicle is affected by the recall, and to take action in getting the air bags replaced.”

    Those who find their vehicles are part of the Takata recall will likely have to wait several weeks or months before repairs are available.

    That’s because Takata has struggled in recent months to meet demands for replacement parts. The company recently announced it would increase its output of new parts to one million per month later this year.

    But even if those consumers do receive new airbags promptly, there’s still no guarantee those replacement safety devices are safe, as Takata, regulators and manufacturers have yet to identify what has caused the defect.

    In fact late last month, Takata confirmed that more than 400,000 vehicles that have been fixed through previous airbag recalls will have to undergo a second replacement.

    NHTSA administrator Mark Rosekind tells the Detroit News that the agency is working to “organize and prioritize the replacement of the defective air bag inflators to ensure that defective inflators are replaced with safe ones as quickly as possible.”

    U.S.: All vehicles with recalled air bags identified [The Detroit News]



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  • by Ashlee Kieler
  • via Consumerist
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uFCC Votes To Expand Lifeline To Broadband; Plans To Reduce Waste, Enhance Scrutinyr


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  • The FCC voted 3-2 today to expand the Lifeline program for low-income consumers to include an optional credit for broadband access.

    As we explained yesterday, the proposal would allow eligible participants to opt to use the credit on broadband services instead of only on phone plans. The proposal also lays out strategies the FCC can use to continue to curb waste and reduce fraud related to the program.

    In their remarks about the proposal, many of the commissioners — from both parties — spoke repeatedly of a lack of willingness to compromise in the FCC, which we have seen reflected in several other major 3-2 votes this year. In that sense, today’s proceeding was no different.

    Commissioner Mignon Clyburn called for the commission to adopt the proposal, saying that technology is “literally transforming lives,” but adding, “the sad reality is that millions of our citizens are foreclosed from opportunities, trapped in digital darkness, and stranded on the wrong side of the affordability divide.”

    “The safe course would be one of inaction,” Clyburn continued, “but the oath I took requires that I try and use all of the tools in my regulatory arsenal to close divides … We must not wait, remain idle, or play it safe when it comes to this program, for we know broadband is the greatest technology equalizer of our time.”

    “The time is now to shed that 20th century Lifeline voice-only product and adopt a 21st century model,” Clyburn concluded, while also calling for low-income consumers to receive true competitive, equal-quality access to that which higher-income consumers can receive.

    Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel echoed the sentiment. “For three decades,” she said, “this program has helped the neediest among us connect: connect to family, jobs, health care, and help, when emergency strikes.”

    Rosenworcel particularly focused her attention on the homework gap, drawing attention to the fact that the majority of eachers assign homework that requires an internet connection, but that 5 million of the 29 million households in the US with school-age kids don’t have broadband at home.

    “School-aged kids without broadband access at home are not only unable to complete their homework,” Rosenworcel pointed out, “but they enter the job market with a serious handicap.” That distance, Rosenworcel said, not only adversely affects individuals but also the U.S. work force and economy writ large.

    Commissioner Ajit Pai, who spoke against the proposal, began his remarks by calling on remarks from President Ronald Reagan, during whose administration Lifeline began. And that was about the nicest thing he had to say about the program.

    Pai instead called out high spending and fraud reports, playing back a 2014 local news story from Colorado about dealers rampantly handing out fraudulent, free prepaid phones in direct violation of the existing law. He also targeted high spending on Lifeline on tribal lands — whether or not the recipients are Native American.

    Instead of expanding the program Pai stood by cost reform. “We must implement meaningful reforms to restore fiscal responsibility,” he said. “We must root out waste, fraud, and abuse. We must target lifeline funding on the people who actually need it and we must ensure the dollars coming from hard-working Americans’ phone bills each and every month are wisely spent.”

    Pai called for a set, fixed cap on the budget for Lifeline to contain spending.

    “Unforunately,” Pai concluded, “this document does not reflect these priorities and that is disappointing.”

    Commissioner Michael O’Rielly also dissented from the proposal, connecting it to an opportunity for the FCC in some way to start taxing the internet.

    O’Rielly, like Pai, focused primarily on the lack of a clearly defined, limited budget on the proposal. About the back-and-forth on proposed budget numbers, O’Rielly compared it “to my wife setting a budget and excluding food, shoes, and entertainment. That,” he added, “is not a budget.”

    O’Rielly’s personal household expenditures aside, he referred repeatedly to frustrations with the FCC’s procedures and processes — a common theme with the commissioner, who has expressed similar frustrations with many other procedural votes, including an item this morning for which he voted in favor.

    Chairman Tom Wheeler spoke last, beginning, “You know, it’s a shame.”

    “It’s a shame the way [Lifeline] seems to have become politicized. … One of the reasons that it is surprising that we have this kind of dissention up here is that both political parties, now engaged in serious campaigning as to who is going to be responsible for the country and the commission in a few years, but both political parties are in violent agreement that our nation is challenged by income equality, that there is a need for job growth, that there is a need for educational opportunities for our youth and the realization of the American dreem needs to be manifest in an ever-changing digital economy.”

    Also returning to a theme he has frequently referenced in the past year, Wheeler called for the FCC and the United States not just to cleave to a status quo but to reach farther and be better.

    “Why shouldn’t we expect better for those that contribute to this program?” he asked. “Why shouldn’t we expect that their money will be going to solve modern problems? Why shouldn’t rate-payers, those hard-working Americans, know that their support is going to go help students learn, veterans to apply for benefits, job seekers to apply for employment, and a myriad of other modern challenges that increasingly can only be met online?”

    “Today begins a proceeding to spend rate-payer money more wisely, to deliver 21st century benefits to deservicing recipients, and to get to the heart of the historic issues that have haunted this program’s efficiency,” Wheeler concluded.



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  • by Kate Cox
  • via Consumerist
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uIt’s Finally Happening: Newest Unicode Update Includes Emojis For Tacos, Hot Dogs And Cheese (!)r


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  • emojisyayIf you’ve been wondering how you’ve survived without an emoji to adequately express your love of cheese in graphic form, wonder no more: The newest Unicode update includes a slew of new food emojis the public has been clamoring for, including a cheese wedge, a taco and a hot dog.

    Almost all of the new emojis on the Unicode Consortium’s list under “Most Popularly Requested” are food, because we think with our stomachs and our stomachs demand to be represented. Coming soon(ish): Hot dog, burrito, taco, cheese wedge, popcorn, bottle with popping cork, turkey and unicorn face. Which of course, isn’t any food we know of.

    Taco Bell celebrated the news, as it would considering it will soon be able to write its name in emoji:

    Also included on the list of 41 new emojis: religious symbols like a menorah and a mosque, new zodiac symbols and more facial expressions, including a face with a head bandage, because that’s something you see every day. There’s also more sports-related emojis like an ice hockey stick and puck, table tennis and volleyball.

    This is the update that includes the diverse emoji already implemented by Apple a few weeks ago, which means we should be seeing varying skin tones on other platforms soon as well.



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  • by Mary Beth Quirk
  • via Consumerist
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