Bits ‘n Pieces for August 17, 2013

News and notes from around the interweb:

  • The DOJ lawsuit against the American-US Airways merger puts a lot of personnel changes on hold. Both airlines now need people to run operations that were told they wouldn’t have a job once the merger closed.

  • Guy sticks a camera on his plane. Then he winds up crashing. Makes for a great video, if not a great flight. Fortunately he’s alright.

  • Two Turkish Airlines pilots were abducted by Lebanese Shiites and are being held hostage to try to force Turkey to pressure Syrian rebels to release Lebanese kidnapped in Syria. This story deserves greater coverage.

  • With the merger of LAN and TAM and the clarity that the combined entity becomes a member of oneworld, it’s not surprising that American miles will be able to be used on TAM beginning next year. There’s not much premium cabin availability from the US to South America, and intra-South America space usually only opens in the months leading to departure rather than when schedule opens. But it’s still another option to South America for the program that already provides the best options to get there.

  • Last week I flew with the worst flight attendant I’ve run across in three years. She refused to collect my empty bottle of water (bottle had been distributed at the beginning of the flight), declaring that to be the cleaning crew’s job on the ground. She refused water during meal service, telling me (and other customers) we could have water once she was done with service. I blame former United Airlines President Pat Patterson. And see this discussion as well.


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About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Comments

  1. Just wanted to say thank you. Really appreciate your blog. Just got instant approval for the SPG business card using your link.

  2. Crap service on United????!!! You don’t say? (Note dripping sarcasm) – RIP Continental. *sniff*

  3. Did you report that lazy, sullen UA FA? I certainly send notes online when I get exceptional service but the same should hold true for the bad. A commenter on the 2010 post remarked that he/she was surprised that no US based airline has taken a customer service model. Great idea. Flying reminds me of any big city bus service. Now that airlines have found ways to monetize flights with baggage charges, cancellation fees, etc., they certainly could afford to train their personnel in CS and, in fact, demand it.

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