10 High-Flying Mistakes

Here are the top ten PR nightmares in the airline industry.  It seems that some of these airlines may need a little extra managemnt from a venture capital firm.

1.   Southwest Airlines – The low-cost carrier told a 23-year-old college student she was dressed to provacatively and initially told her she couldn’t board the plane.  She goes public, appearing on the Today show.

2.   Sinagpore Airlines – inaugurates the Airbus A380, the world’s largest jet, with a seven-hour flight from Singapore to Sydney. To the chagrin of those who forked out $15,000 for one of 12 private, double-bed-equipped suites, the airline asks its passengers to refrain from having sex.

3.   SkyWest Airlines – SkyWest Airlines apologizes to passenger James Whipple after he is barred from using the plane’s restroom during a one-hour flight from Boise to Salt Lake City. Whipple, who says he had two “really big beers” before takeoff, winds up urinating into his airsickness bag and is questioned by airport police upon landing.

4.   Doug Parker (US Airways) -  Just hours after US Airways comes up short in its $9.8 billion bid to acquire Delta, CEO Doug Parker is pulled over by police in Scottsdale, and arrested for drunken driving.

To see the other blunders, click here.

Top Dumbest Business Blunders

Business blunders are not good for anyone, especially the investors below are some of the top business mishaps of 2007.  For the entire list vist CNN.

1.   China – Millions of items manufactured in China need to be recalled due to some malfunction; everything from Mattel’s barbies, to Nike football helmets.

2.    Merrill Lynch – In the first quarter of 2007, thanks to its $1.3 billion purchase of First Franklin Financial, Merrill Lynch becomes the world’s top underwriter of subprime-mortgage-backed securities.  After the subprime meltdown, Merrill announces a quarterly loss of 2.24 billion dollars

3.   Chunk Prince – CEO of Citigroup resigns after an $11 billion write-down.

4.   KFC/Taco Bell – A video clip released on YouTube shows packs of rats in a closed-for-the-night KFC/Taco Bell in NYC.

5.   Rapper Jay-Z – the founder of the Rocawear clothing line, runs into trouble after the Humane Society finds that the ‘faux fur’ on its jackets is actually dog fur.

Juice Wireless Secures $6 Million in VC

Juice Wireless is a pioneer in the emerging mobile social networking industry, and just closed $6M from venture capital funding.  21Ventures led the investement for the company’s third funding round.

“We were able to raise money at a great valuation in a short time,” says Nick Desai, CEO of Juice Wireless. “Our fund-raising success is a testament to our market leadership. The investment will be used to further the development of the JuiceCaster product and expand its user base. Juice Wireless will accelerate its recruitment drive, with a focus on building the marketing and engineering teams as well as a focus on direct user acquisition.”

To read more about this VC investment, click here, for more information on Juice Wireless, go here.