With fewer flights and fewer passengers, airlines are performing better. For the second year, the performance of the nation's leading carriers improved, according to the 20th annual national Airline Quality Rating report. It was the third best overall score in the years researchers at Purdue University and Wichita State University... Read more →
With the economy still in a slump, a less stressed airline industry with fewer travelers improved its performance in many areas in 2009. For 2009, U.S. airlines carried 5.2 percent fewer domestic passengers and 6.3 percent fewer international passengers in 2009 than in 2008. Airline travel still hasn’t returned to... Read more →
After I received a flood of e-mails recently from The Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation – a group of retailers, food and beverage manufacturers, and trade associations – about an educational campaign it was undertaking on childhood obesity, I wrote a post about how consumers can’t count on the food industry... Read more →
Public Citizen is calling on consumers to boycott BP in the wake of the April 20 explosion on a BP-leased rig that is causing 210,000 gallons of oil to gush into the Gulf of Mexico every day. In one of the largest oil spills in U.S. history, 11 oil workers... Read more →
About 291,000 BaylissPro compact hair dryers are being recalled by Conair Corp., East Windsor, N.J. The spinning fan inside the hair dryer can break and shatter the hair dryer’s plastic shell, creating a laceration hazard, reports the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Conair has received 16 reports of fan breakage... Read more →
Which consumer happenings cheered you recently and which ones made you want to scream or weep? Here are my best and worst consumer experiences this week: My best: A pair of jeans on sale at T.J. Maxx It’s been years since I been able to find a new pair of... Read more →
David Cameron, 43, the new prime minister of Great Britain, is a Gen Xer. He was born Oct. 9, 1966. Born Aug. 4, 1961, President Barack Obama, 48, is a baby boomer. Baby boomers were born from 1946 to 1964. I’m still reading articles that say Obama isn’t a boomer.... Read more →
It’s irritated me for years. It ranks right up there with the banks not denying debit card transactions when your account is empty, then charging you a big fee. Verizon Wireless doesn’t notify me when I’m approaching the limits of my cell phone plan. Several times, I’ve been shocked to... Read more →
First Lady Michelle Obama unveils the findings of the Childhood Obesity Task Force report with cabinet officials. Although the Obama administration was willing to take on the health care insurance companies, he and his agency heads are less willing to regulate the food industry. Tuesday the Childhood Obesity Task Force... Read more →
David Brown’s article in The Washington Post, "War Against Cancer Has More Than One Target," offers information on new theories on how different kinds of cancer develop and a new treatment called "targeted biological therapy," which targets cell errors with drugs that locate and block a defective gene or its... Read more →