Building the future of San Francisco: PG&E, United Airlines executives on what will define the next decade (podcast)
In the fourth and final episode of the podcast miniseries The Future of San Francisco, San Francisco Business Times Market President and Publisher Pete Casillas sits down with two industry leaders to hear how their companies are investing strategically in anticipation of San Francisco's growth. Jake Zigelman, vice president of PG&E's Bay Area region, and Lori Augustine, vice president of United Airlines' SFO Hub, share how they are looking at product investments and sustainability to ensure they can be cornerstones of the city's future.
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Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
United, JetBlue get green light on new partnership, extending benefits for customers
United Airlines and JetBlue Airways customers will soon be able to leverage their frequent flyer miles and status across both airlines. The Department of Transportation has approved a previously announced new partnership between the carriers. "Blue Sky is a new and unique collaboration designed to give customers of both airlines even more options to find flights that fit their plans as well as new opportunities to earn and use MileagePlus miles and TrueBlue points across both airlines," JetBlue said in a press release on July 29, announcing federal regulators' approval. The Blue Sky partnership, with no relation to the social platform of the same name, will begin rolling out in phases this fall. Here's what travelers can expect. Earning and spending miles Passengers will be able to earn and spend miles in either loyalty program on most flights on either airlines. United and JetBlue will also offer each others' flights for sale on their websites. Although the exact start date for reciprocal perks has not yet been announced, here's what frequent flyers with status can expect across both airlines: Priority boarding Access to preferred and extra legroom seats Same-day changes and switches Other partnership plans In addition to perks for flyers, the airlines have agreed to "net neutral" swaps in the business side as well. JetBlue is giving United slots for up to seven daily round-trip flights at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport starting in early 2027. In turn, United and JetBlue will exchange eight flight timings at Newark Liberty International Airport. United will also move to JetBlue's Paisly platform for sales of some non-flight products including cruises, hotels, rental cars and travel insurance. Contributing: Eve Chen, USA TODAY (This story was updated to correct a misspelling/typo.) This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: New United Airlines, JetBlue partnership approved. How it will work. Solve the daily Crossword
San Francisco Chronicle
13 hours ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Why is my bill so high? And other frequently asked questions about PG&E bills
Nobody likes getting a bill. For Northern Californians, the monthly Pacific Gas and Electric Co. statement can be a particular source of frustration. A reader named Lisa from Oakland wrote to me with a plea: 'I am hoping that you might provide an explanation of our PG&E bills. I am a savvy consumer and it still boggles me when I try to figure it out!' She's far from the only one among the utility's 5.5 million electricity customers and 4.5 million natural gas customers dissatisfied with the PG&E billing experience: It ranked dead last in customer satisfaction among U.S. utility companies, according to the 2025 American Customer Satisfaction Index. (Still, the report notes that PG&E's score has improved from what it was in 2020 through 2023.) PG&E's residential rates are more than twice the national average, and have increased by an average of 12.5% annually for the past six years. From January 2015 to April 2025, residential rates have increased by 104%. So despite the state's mild climate, which requires less heating and air conditioning, Californians have the 13th-highest electric bills in the country, according to a 2023 CNET analysis of U.S. Energy Information Administration data. The Chronicle solicited questions from readers and from around the newsroom to try and find answers to people's most commonly asked questions about their PG&E bills. Here's what we learned. Frequently asked questions Why is my bill so high? This is by far the most frequently asked question about PG&E bills. Customers complain about being surprised by a high bill, even though they don't think they did anything differently that month to explain it. Jennifer Robison, a spokesperson for PG&E, said weather can be a major contributor. 'The biggest reason this happens is seasonal fluctuations and temperature,' she said. 'If you keep your thermostat at 70 degrees all the time, but then it gets much hotter or cooler outside, you're going to use your heat or your air conditioning more frequently, and your bill will go up even though you aren't doing anything differently.' Another reason, she said, could be a malfunctioning appliance suddenly sucking up more energy than usual. Lee Trotman, the communications director for The Utility Reform Network, pointed to a different explanation. 'The reason your bill is so high is because of the constant rate increases,' he said. There have been numerous rate increases in recent years, he said, including six in 2024, one this past January, and another in March. The California Public Utilities Commission said in its most recent quarterly rate report that residential rates rose by 104% between January 2015 and April 2025. The combined monthly electricity and gas bill for the typical household nearly doubled from $154.52 in January 2016 to $294 in January 2024, according to data from PG&E, and the utility estimated that the average residential electric bill would rise to $224.64 after March's rate increase. PG&E customers pay an average rate of 38.6 cents per kilowatt-hour, according to the CPUC report — the highest rate in the continental U.S. There isn't much you can do about the rate increases. But there are likely some ways you could make your home and habits more energy-efficient. PG&E offers a Home Energy Checkup quiz on its site that can help you identify what's using the most energy. You can do the online Home Energy Checkup at this link. PG&E customers with electric smart meters are also eligible for a free in-home analysis from a company called Home Intel. The analyses are available to both owners and renters. One San Francisco family was able to slash its annual energy costs from $4,000 to $2,600 after completing the analyst's recommendations, including getting rid of space heaters, turning down the temperature on the water heater, adding insulation, and running major appliances when power costs are cheaper. Home Intel says on its site that the average customer saves $350 annually after following its analysts' recommendations, and many save three to four times that much. Sign up for your analysis by visiting There's also a device called the 'Kill A Watt EZ Meter' that you put over your outlet and plug your device into to see exactly how much power it uses. Your local library may have one available to borrow, Robison said. You can also buy them online for around $30. Show answer + When PG&E tells me I'm using more energy than 'the average house of my size,' how accurate and detailed is that metric? What you're getting in the mail or electronically is part of the Home Energy Reports program, which PG&E randomly chooses customers to participate in. 'We offer neighborhood comparisons to help our customers understand how they use energy in relation to other households near them with similar circumstances,' said Robison. She said PG&E compares your home with 100 nearby homes that are occupied and similar in type (multifamily versus single-family) and size. But it's not granular enough to differentiate for things like solar panels or EV chargers, Robison said. So it's not one other specific house you're being compared to – it's an average across 100 other houses. If, for instance, half those houses happen to have solar panels and you don't, you're going to see that reflected in your comparison. (In a follow-up email, PG&E representative Adrienne Moore gave conflicting information: She said that standard, solar and EV customers receive different reports. 'Our standard home energy report does not include solar and EV customers in the population,' she said.) If you log into your PG&E account, click 'Electricity' and then navigate to 'Similar Homes' to see which homes yours is being compared to. It will tell you how far away the comparison homes are, the square footage, heating type (gas or electric), building type and ballpark number of bedrooms. You can learn more about the program and how to opt out of receiving the printed or emailed reports at this link. One Reddit user called it he's one of the people throwing off your average. Show answer + I get 'forecast alerts' that can be hundreds of dollars higher or lower than what my bill ends up being. Why is that? Forecast alerts gauge your usage so far for the current billing cycle and let you know when you're on track to spend more than a preset threshold. The idea is to give you a heads up so you can pivot your energy usage and not get slammed with a massive bill. You set that threshold for those alerts, said Robison of PG&E, and you can change them if they aren't helpful. You only receive them when you're on track to exceed your limit; if you're on budget for that month, you won't get a notification. 'The point is to help our customers budget for the next bill, but also to give them enough time in their billing cycle so that they can change their use pattern (and) use less (energy) to avoid a higher bill,' she said. She said it's hard to know exactly what's going on with the forecasts you're getting without looking at your specific bill. Some possibilities: You might have been temporarily using more power than normal for a one-off reason — keeping the pool and hot tub cranked up while guests were in town, blasting the AC during a heat wave or running the heat in a cold snap, or using your washer and dryer around the clock when you deep-cleaned your closet. The forecast alert assumes you'll keep using power at that rate for the rest of the month, which could result in an inaccurate guess. If you use a lot of power at the start of the month, prompting an alert, and then use even more throughout the month (for instance, if a heat wave gets more intense), your bill could end up even higher than what the forecast predicted. Here's how to change or turn off forecast alerts: Go to 'Account settings' on the My Account dashboard. Under 'Alert preferences' click 'Set up alerts' Under 'Communication Preferences' click 'Energy use' Turn on the 'Bill forecast alert' notifications (or turn it off if you don't want them), and under 'Alert me when my bill is forecast to be higher than this amount,' enter your preferred threshold. Show answer + What's the best way to gauge my power usage over time? Because of the rate increases, it's tough to measure your power usage over different time periods by the dollar amount on your bill. Instead, go to your online PG&E account, navigate to 'Usage and Rates' and choose the 'Energy Usage Details' option. You can compare bills by year, month and even by day, and download the data as a spreadsheet. Hover over the bar charts to see more detailed information on energy use, cost and weather impacts. Your monthly bill shows electric usage in kilowatt-hours during the month — look for a chart labeled 'Electric Usage This Billing Period.' It also shows daily average usage for that month, the previous month and the same month a year earlier. Show answer + What are my options if I can't afford my bill? If you are struggling to pay your PG&E bills, you're not alone: 1 in 5 customers was in arrears, or behind on payments, as of April 2025, according to a report from the California Public Utilities Commission. The average owed amount was $710. Robison of PG&E said if you can't pay your bill on time, the first thing you should do is reach out to the company about setting up a payment program. PG&E can help you set up a plan to make incremental payments over time instead of all at once. PG&E has a 'Savings Finder' questionnaire that takes about three minutes and can help you figure out what programs you may be eligible for. Take the questionnaire at this link. If you feel like you're being billed incorrectly, you can file a complaint with the CPUC at this link. There are several programs that let eligible customers get a permanent discount on their PG&E bill. California Alternate Rates for Energy: For PG&E customers, CARE offers a 30% to 35% discount on electric bills and a 20% discount on natural gas bills. Eligibility is based on either gross household income or enrollment in certain public assistance gross household income must be below a certain amount ($42,300 or less for households of 1 or 2 people; $53,300 for a household of 3; $64,300 for 4 — see the full table here) to qualify under that metric. People who participate in programs including WIC, CalFresh/SNAP, Medicaid/Medi-Cal, and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) are also eligible. Learn more and find out if you qualify at this link. Family Electric Rate Assistance Program: FERA gives income-qualified customers an 18% discount on their bills. Eligibility is based on gross annual household income and household size. Eligibility for households of 1 to 2 people is a gross income between $42,301 and $52,875; $53,301 to $66,625 for a household of 3, and $64,301 to $80,375 for a household of 4, with higher limits for larger households — see the full list at this and CARE share one application, so if you file it you'll find out whether you qualify for either program. Click this link to fill out the application online. Medical Baseline Program: If you or another full-time resident in your home relies on energy for a medical need — for instance, if you use a respirator, oxygen generator, powered wheelchair or other electricity-powered mobility device, dialysis machine, apnea monitor or hospital bed, or depend on heating or cooling for conditions like multiple sclerosis or scleroderma — you are eligible to receive an extra monthly allotment of energy at the lowest price on your rate program in addition to your regular baseline allowance. In other words, you can get cheaper energy — roughly 500 kilowatt hours (kWH) of electricity and/or 25 therms of gas per is based on medical need, not income. Your doctor must complete a form for your application. See more qualifying devices and conditions and learn how to apply at this link. There are also programs for debt forgiveness and for one-time help with paying utility bills. Relief for Energy Assistance through Community Help: If you're low-income and you've received a notice threatening to disconnect your PG&E service for nonpayment, REACH offers up to $300 in credit toward your past-due bill. Income eligibility requirements are the same as the CARE program. Apply for assistance through the Dollar Energy Fund at this link. Match My Payment: If you have at least $100 in PG&E bills past due and make up to 400% of the federal poverty limit (up to $84,600 for a household of 1-2 people), you may be eligible for a program where PG&E matches up to $1,000 in payment toward those bills. Customers who are enrolled in payment plans are eligible for this matching program. See income limits and apply for the match program at this link. Low Income Home Energy Assistance Plan: LIHEAP is a federally funded program that provides one-time assistance for low-income households to pay energy bills, as well as weatherization services to make your home more energy 866-675-6623 or visit this link to learn more about LIHEAP eligibility and what aid is available. Arrearage Management Plan: If you are enrolled in CARE or FERA and are still very behind on PG&E bills (more than 90 days past due and more than $500 owed for gas and electric service), you may be eligible for AMP, a program that forgives up to $8,000 in debt after a year of on-time payments. Learn more about the program at this link, or call 877-660-6789 to apply by phone. Show answer + Why do I see multiple rates changes in one billing cycle? You might be looking at a bill during a period where a rate change went into effect. The California Public Utilities Commission approved six PG&E rate increases just in 2024, and two more so far this year. But if you're seeing multiple changes to the rate you pay, you might be looking at a bill with time-of-use pricing. See the next answer for more information on what that means, how to figure out if it benefits you, and how to opt out of it if it doesn't. Show answer + What is 'time of use' pricing, and can I opt out of it? 'Time of use' pricing basically means you pay more to use power when lots of other people are using it — and less at times of lower demand. The idea is to encourage customers to use less energy on things like air conditioning, electric car charging and running appliances like a dishwasher or clothes dryer at peak times so the power grid doesn't get overloaded. That peak time is late afternoon and early evening, when people are getting home from work and school. So taking advantage of TOU pricing might mean adjusting your habits and waiting to turn on the dishwasher or start charging your car until later in the day. Within TOU pricing, there are three tiers: One that charges a higher price between 4 and 9 p.m. every day of the week (E-TOU-C); one that charges more from 5 to 8 p.m. on weekdays (E-TOU-D); and one that charges a higher rate between 4 and 9 p.m. on weekdays (E-TOU-B). Log into your PG&E account and visit this link to see the rate analysis tool that can help you pick the plan that will save you the most money. You do have the option to opt out of TOU, or to switch between TOU plans to pick the one that best fits your energy usage. You can go online to your PG&E account and click 'Manage Your Rate Plan,' or call PG&E at (877) 660-6789 to ask to switch. Show answer + How does Net Energy Metering work? Net Energy Metering is a program for rooftop solar customers. Basically, PG&E tracks how much energy you use for your property and how much you generate with your solar panels. The difference every month is the 'net energy.' If you produce more than you use and send some back to the grid, you're eligible to be compensated for it through the Net Surplus Compensation program. PG&E compensates NEM customers once per year for the excess energy they've sent back to the grid in what it calls the 'true-up' payment. Every month that you send power back to the grid, you accrue 'net surplus compensation credits.' If there's a month where you use more electricity than your panels generate, you can have those credits applied to your bill instead of paying for excess power from PG&E. Once every 12 months (the specific month varies based on when your service started), PG&E determines how much power you sent back to or used from the grid, and you'll either receive a payment for the energy you generated or owe money for the energy you used. The NEM program has changed significantly since it was first implemented — it's less of a good deal for solar customers than it used to be. In what was known as 'NEM 1.0,' customers were paid market rates for the energy they exported back to the grid. As of 2023, we're in NEM 3.0, and customers only get paid the 'avoided cost value' for PG&E, as calculated by the California Public Utilities Commission. Solar customers used to earn about 30 cents per kilowatt-hour sent back to the grid; customers who enrolled in NEM after the beginning of 3.0 will earn an average of about 4 cents per kilowatt-hour, according to PG&E. Show answer + Some of my energy comes from a non-PG&E company. Does that make my bill higher or lower? You might see charges on your bill for something like Sonoma Clean Power, Pioneer Community Energy or CleanPowerSF. These are community choice aggregators, which allow cities and counties to purchase or generate electricity for residents and businesses. PG&E partners with these CCAs to deliver the electricity and do meter reading, billing and outage response services. Whether it's cheaper or more expensive depends on which CCA it is. If you're a CCA customer, you receive an annual mandated notice of the rates. The California Public Utilities Commission lists rates for all California CCAs online at You can enter your city, county or ZIP code and hit 'search' to see what you'll pay for each type of plan. For instance, the CPUC's rate chart says the average PG&E base plan customer in Sonoma pays an average of 42 cents per kilowatt-hour, or $176 monthly for electricity; a Sonoma Clean Power — Clean Start customer pays an average of 40 cents per kWh, or $171 per month. Show answer + How accurate are automated meters that aren't verified in person? When you were growing up, your house probably had an analog meter that needed to be read in person. Today, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, about 3 in 4 American homes have advanced metering infrastructure — so-called 'smart meters,' which automatically transmit real-time data to your utility company. Smart meters have a lot of advantages over the old-school kind: You can see how much energy you're using every day with breakdowns by the hour. Smart meters can alert your utility right away if your power goes out. And no one has to come into your yard to read them. The California Public Utilities Commission says smart meters 'give consumers greater control over their energy use' by allowing people to see how much energy they're using at a given time and decreasing that usage if they want to or are able to. Any piece of electrical equipment can malfunction, but in general, smart meters are accurate. They have to comply with accuracy standards set by the American National Standards Institute. They do need to be replaced when their batteries start to wear out: In 2023, PG&E said it was in the process of replacing 3 million of those meters — but some customers reported sky-high bills based on estimates in the meantime. In 2010, the California Public Utilities Commission had an independent side-by-side analysis of smart and analog meters conducted. It showed the smart meters were accurate. Jennifer Robison, a spokesperson for PG&E, said you can trust what you see from your smart meter. 'Our smart meters are accurate,' she wrote in a statement. 'We randomly test meter accuracy based on state regulations. Our meters also provide real-time alerts whenever there are potential issues, and we promptly investigate if they stop communicating with our Operations Center. This allows us to quickly address potential metering issues. If we find a meter is inaccurate, we will replace the meter and apply billing corrections for the customer.' If you don't believe what you're seeing, PG&E has two ways for you to verify it, Robison said: 'For customers who request a meter accuracy test, we offer to test the electric meter on-site or invite them to come see a test at our meter plant.' Lee Trotman, communications director for The Utility Reform Network, suggested a reason people felt like their bills shot up with smart meters: Their analog meter was wrong. The accuracy of analog meters degrades over time as the equipment wears out. People might have been getting billed for less power than they were actually using. He said he'd heard from a condo owner in Redondo Beach whose monthly electrical bill had been $1.95 a month — definitely not right. 'Thousands of customers had these super-low bills' before the smart meter rollout, he said. Once the more accurate smart meter was installed, their bills increased accordingly. Show answer + Why do I sometimes get a bill for $0? This is a tough one to answer without looking at your bill, said Jennifer Robison, a PG&E spokesperson. But the most likely answer is that you got the state climate credit. Every April, there's one for natural gas users; the electric one goes out for October bills. Last year's PG&E customer climate credit for electric power was $55. If the dollar amount of your total service was less than that, you would have gotten a bill for $0. Another possibility: If you're a rooftop solar customer, you might have generated enough power on your own that you didn't need to draw any from the grid. That means you won't pay anything. Show answer + Understanding your bill Example 1: Electricity and gas from PG&E Here's a PG&E bill for a home in San Francisco. This customer gets both electricity and gas through PG&E. They're on time-of-use pricing for electricity, which comes from community choice aggregator CleanPowerSF. The background shows: Graphic shows an excerpt from a PG&E bill for a home in San Francisco. Monthly Billing History This customer gets both gas and electricity from PG&E. This chart shows how much of each they've used per month over the past year. The background shows: Graphic shows the 'Monthly Billing History' section in a PG&E bill. California Climate Credit California energy customers, including PG&E customers, receive California climate credits on their bill every April and October. Here's where this customer received theirs for their electric bill. The background shows: Graphic shows the 'California Climate Credit' section in a PG&E bill. Electric Usage This Period This customer is on Time-of-Use pricing, which charges more for electricity during the late afternoon and early evening. This chart shows how much electricity they used every day this month during those 'peak' hours (4 p.m. to 8 p.m. on this plan) and 'off-peak' hours. Minimizing your energy usage during peak hours can help reduce your monthly bills. The dotted line shows the average they used over the course of the month, which can help them pinpoint on which days they used more than normal. The background shows: Graphic shows the 'Electric Usage This Period' section in a PG&E bill. CleanPowerSF Electric Generation Charges This customer uses a community choice aggregator, or CCA, to purchase and generate electricity every month. CCAs partner with PG&E, which handles delivering the energy and managing billing, meter reading and outage response services. So you pay the CCA for the electricity itself and then pay PG&E to deliver it to you. You can see how much your CCA charges compared with PG&E at The background shows: Graphic shows the 'CleanPowerSF Electric Generation Charges' section in a PG&E bill. Your Electric Charges Breakdown This breaks down the total amount of your monthly bill into where each dollar is going. The background shows: Graphic shows the 'Your Electric Charges Breakdown' section in a PG&E bill. Example 2: One customer, two residences This homeowner has two separate residences on one PG&E bill. One home has solar panels and the other doesn't. The background shows: Graphic shows a PG&E bill for a customer with two residences in San Francisco. Your Net Energy Metering Account Summary This customer is on Net Energy Metering, which means they have rooftop solar panels. The electricity you generate with your panels first offsets the energy you use for that month. If you don't generate enough electricity with your panels to offset your usage for the month, you'll pay for additional power. Payment is made or due once per year in what PG&E calls the 'true-up' payment. For this customer, that happens in February. This customer generates more power than they use, so they're on track to owe $0 at the next true-up time. The background shows: Graphic shows 'Your Net Energy Metering Account Summary' on a PG&E bill. YTD NEM charges before taxes If you generate more energy than you use in one month, but use more than you generate the next month, your previous NEM credits are applied to your bill. That's why the 'true-up' only occurs once per year — it lets your credits roll over so you can use them. This person has accrued $220.58 in net surplus compensation credits for the power they've sent back to the grid so far since the last true-up. That amount, minus applicable state and local taxes, will be issued to them at the same time next February if they don't use those credits for excess electrical needs before then. By default, those payments are provided as bill credits, though customers can opt to receive their NEM payment as a check instead. The background shows: Graphic shows 'YTD NEM charges before taxes' on a PG&E bill. Current PG&E Electric Monthly Charges This is a mandatory fee solar customers pay PG&E every month to be connected to the grid. The background shows: Graphic shows the 'Current PG&E Electric Monthly Charges' section of a PG&E bill. Summary of Your Energy Related Services Here are separate line items for the two residences' electricity use. The background shows: Graphic shows the 'Summary of Your Energy Related Services' section of a PG&E bill. This property used 317 kWh of power, generated by CCA Ava Community Energy and delivered by PG&E. The background shows: Graphic shows the part of a PG&E bill reporting how much power used was generated by CCA Ava Community Energy. At this property, solar panels generated 537 kWh of electricity. The customer only paid the fee to be connected to the grid, plus their natural gas bill. The background shows: Graphic shows how a PG&E bill reports fees to be connected to the grid plus a natural-gas bill. Summary of NEM charges 'Net Usage' shows the difference between energy produced and energy used each month. All these negative charges mean this customer's solar panels are consistently producing more electricity than they're using. The background shows: Graphic shows the 'Summary of NEM charges' section of a PG&E bill. Credited to (Debited from) NEM Balance This shows how much the excess electricity generated by the customer's solar panels earned. This customer generated electricity worth $62.95 in addition to offsetting all the power they used in their house this month. The background shows: Graphic shows the 'Credited to (Debited from) NEM Balance' section of a PG&E bill. The Chronicle's most popular stories and best reads of the moment. Sign up This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service By subscribing, you agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge that your information will be used as described in our Privacy Notice. Credits Reporting by Jessica Roy. Graphics by Todd Trumbull. Editing by Anna Buchmann and Kate Galbraith. Design and development by Valerie Chu. Design and development editing by Alex K. Fong. Powered by the Hearst Newspapers DevHub. Advertisement
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
The Oldest Boeing Passenger Jet In Active Service Has Been Flying For Over 45 Years
American aeronautical juggernaut Boeing has been a hot topic lately, though perhaps not for the best reasons. A couple of deadly 737 Max crashes in just five months spanning 2018 and 2019 has that effect, though. That's not to mention the infamous 2024 Alaska Airlines flight during which an emergency exit door plug ejected itself due to missing bolts. And now, Boeing's latest narrow-body products, the 737 Max 7 and Max 10, are struggling to get certified for use by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration. That's forcing some customers like United Airlines to switch their orders to older 737 Max models instead. However, before the recent Max iterations became a thorn in Boeing's side, the 737 was widely regarded as a durable, reliable workhouse for commercial airline fleets. Since it first took to the skies in 1967, Boeing has delivered 12,134 of the popular jets as of June 2025. That makes the 737 the most-sold commercial jet ever, although Airbus' A320 family could steal that title in the very near future, even with the A320's mysterious barking noise. Based on our research, none of the very earliest Boeing 737 airframes from the late 1960s are still in mainstream passenger-carrying commercial service. However, the Venezuelan airline Venezolana still operates tail number YV3471 on regularly scheduled domestic routes. That 737-200 was built in 1978, which makes it over 45 years old. Read more: Call Me A Luddite, But These Modern Features Only Seem To Make Cars Worse It Was Almost Lost Forever Venezolana's most vintage Boeing 737 started life flying for Frontier Airlines, which is striking because the Frontier we know today has an all-Airbus fleet. However, the original Frontier Airlines filed for bankruptcy and was absorbed by Continental Airlines in 1986. The current Frontier Airlines that, like so many, charges fees for just about everything except using the lavatory (we shouldn't give them any ideas) was formed in 1994 and is related to the original airline in name only. In 1985, just before the original Frontier ceased to exist, it sold the 737 to United airlines, which flew it outfit until 2001. At that point, it seemed like the end of the line for the venerable jet, which is old enough to predate the signature flat-bottom engine casings designed to accommodate larger turbofans during the 1980s. The plane was stored in the California desert for a decade before Venezolana rescued it from obscurity and brought it back to service in 2011. According to a 2024 YouTube video from Noel Philips, an aviation fan who traveled on the jet, it's definitely beginning to show its age, with visible wear on the seats, windows, and overhead lights and air vents. While the interior could easily be refreshed, a lack of spare parts could spell the end of this survivor sooner than later. The 737-200 Can Land On Gravel As of May 2024, the three largest U.S.-based airlines — American, Delta, and United — had fleets with average ages between 13.4 and 16.3 years. By those standards, Venezolana's vintage Boeing 737 is ancient. It was the 512th of its type to be produced, and remarkably, there are older 737 airframes still in service. But they're in charter or cargo roles, which aren't technically regularly scheduled commercial flights. In particular, 13 out of the world's 30 oldest jets ply their trade in our neighbor to the north, Canada, and some are as old as 52 years. Air Inuit is a major charter operator of the vintage Boeing 727-200, mostly because it's well suited to landing on unimproved gravel runways in remote Canadian villages. Unlike other jet aircraft, the older 737 is able to be fitted with a special "gravel kit" to protect critical components from flying rocks. Three of Air Inuit's jets are divided internally to hold both passengers and freight. Similar to Air Inuit, Canada's Nolinor Aviation operates nine of the aging, fuel-thirsty 737-200 jets, sending them to remote mining operations. While the company acknowledges that propeller-driven aircraft are also an option, they're much slower than the Boeing jets. Boarding a jet aircraft that's older than you might make some passengers nervous — but then again, so does the latest whiz-bang 737 Max. Want more like this? Join the Jalopnik newsletter to get the latest auto news sent straight to your inbox... Read the original article on Jalopnik.
