jafrelin

yesterday on us mainline dca to phx. allowed iPads et . connected to express phx to tus. announced no electronics. go figure

FWAAA

The "American Connection" brand dates back to the TWA regional flying in St Louis, which was flown by Chautauqua and Trans States, IIRC. In 2001, when AA bought the TWA assets, it was the only regional flying on behalf of AA that was not wholly-owned, and thus the separate identity seemed logical. You may recall that AA then tried some shenanigans with the "reverse code-share" as the American Connection ERJ145s exceeded the number permitted by the AA mainline pilots' scope clause exceptions; AA argued that they shouldn't count, but AA was eventually spanked for that nonsense.

Then, when the STL hub was finally officially shut down, the Chautauqua ERJ145s moved to ORD (some American Eagle MQ 145s were thus freed up for MIA) yet the Connection brand name persisted. The "Connection" brand may not yet be completely eradicated, but the plan is for all American regional flights to be branded "American Eagle." The simple thing to do would be to re-name MQ - American Eagle Airlines - to something else. So far, I haven't heard of any plans to do that, but perhaps the merger plans call for re-naming MQ to Piedmont or PSA.

AA's new E175s are flown by Republic but are branded "American Eagle" as are the CRJ200s flown (on a short-term arrangement) by SkyWest and ExpressJet. The CRJ200s were formerly flown for DL and permitted Eagle to return its 37-seat ERJ135s. The "Connection" brand and different livery should disappear this year but there may still be traces of it flying around.

As you can guess, it's become quite confusing for even Flyertalkers to have all the regional flying performed under a brand name that matches the certificate name of just one of the providers. When someone posts "American Eagle" it's not always clear if they're referring to the brand or the airline. In many instances, like this one involving PED usage, there can be a world of difference between the brand and the airline that shares that brand name.

Flyer78

Nice to have nc headphones engaged during take off. Was chatting briefly with the FA who mentioned it is a strange, happy new world to see it happen. Didn't hear any specific announcement to put them down during safety briefing, but most people appeared to at least allow that much give.

pdpgps

FYI, Piedmont airlines still does not have FAA approval. I thought I saw a note from US Airways saying all of its subsidiaries were all aligned and approved.

zerodegre

How do i even know if I am on a Piedmont flight... i thought they were all Us air now?

BoeingBoy

If you're on a Dash-8 you're on Piedmont.

Jim

BoeingBoy

Well, US has 7 regional affiliates, only 2 of which are owned subsidiaries of US Group, and they all operate as "US Express (operated by carrier name here).

AA can't just change the name of regional partners that fly for multiple mainline carriers, but can market the flights flown by any of them as Eagle.

I sorta hate to see Connection going away since it made for a good trivia question - how do you tell Eagle and Connection apart from 100 yards away? The difference in the eagle on the tail.

Jim

iztok

It surely made ATL-CLT flight yesterday seem much shorter considering it is only 35 or so minutes long flight and normally one wouldn't even bother to do anything for the short duration electronics were allowed Not to mention ATL has notorious long taxi time from the gate to the runway.

avidtravellife

PSA (US Express) has received approval, I can't find the email right now, but I believe that it goes into effect 11/10/13 at 00:01

scottsam66

As a data point- flew UA 48 and 49 and they had new rules, airplane mode. Dates 11/2 and 11/7. However for domestic, they had old rules.
Yes, I know this isn't UA thread, but I thought US FTers may be interested in another carriers actions.

Venabili

UA on the 9th - one mainline domestic , one express - both allowed the airline mode. Just to finish that data point

justhere

SAN-PHX Saturday morning watched a show on my notepad gate to gate. On descent one of the FA's told me I had to turn it off but as I started to mention new rules an off duty FA across the aisle corrected her. So I guess not everyone got the memo yet.

irockfm2

I have mixed feelings on this, I like flying for the digital detox, but on my DCA to MCO flight last week the guy behind me got a call as we were pulling out of the gate and continued to talk right up to take off. The FA's just kept walking by and said nothing. I thought the new protocol was phone had to be in "airplane mode" Other passengers were looking at this guy and the FA's like WTH!

Looking at the guy I was thinking, you are either a Air Marshall or connected to the airline...

How does the new ruling address this issue?

I know if I pulled that stunt they would have scolded me, it's happened before when I was trying to sneak one last text or email.

heyeaglefn

I've had people on the phone before this rule so don't think that is new.

jspira

Simple:
Devices are to be put into airplane mode when the door is closed. Phone communications including standard text cannot be turned on until landing.