A passenger on a Ryanair flight from Malta to Naples crawled into the overhead bin and shouted “Napoli,” apparently joking that it was a way to avoid paying for the return trip. Ryanair has trained passengers to think of overhead bin space as so tightly monetized that even climbing into it should come with fees.
A traveler says they spent a pile of miles for a one-time first class trip — only to hear a child casually compare it unfavorably to Emirates. The joke lands because it is not really about aviation at all, but about the moment your hard-won luxury is revealed to be someone else’s baseline.
Passengers on a United flight from Chicago to New York were told to brace for an emergency landing, then ordered to leave everything behind and run after the plane diverted to Pittsburgh over a possible bomb on board. The episode triggered a 7700 emergency squawk, a runway evacuation, and a rapid response from bomb technicians, even though officials were still describing it as a security issue rather than confirming an actual explosive device.
Airport pickups are not really about transportation, they are about whether you treat a small inconvenience as a burden or as part of caring for someone you love. That is why one husband calling a 30-minute drive for his wife a massive inconvenience touched off a much bigger argument about marriage, effort, and whether love is supposed to be efficient.
An Abraham Lincoln documentary somehow broadcast on Houston air traffic control frequency, plus an Air India pilot denied entry to the U.S. for carrying marijuana, SFO’s easier new Waymo pickup, Southwest priority boarding changes, British Airways inflight voice calls, and more.
The new system American Airlines is using to connect pilots with flights at the last minute, and make sure flights are staffed, is fueling a revolt of its more senior cockpit crew. It means junior pilots get access to more high paying flights. With senior pilots furious that their union let this in the contract, it could tip the scales in efforts already underway by half the pilots to overthrow their union.
A frustrated Delta Air Lines passenger beats herself up at the gate of flight to Chicago O’Hare. She hits herself, punches herself and even knocks herself to the ground. Then she asks, “why are you doing this to me?” Delta’s employee at the gate is completely unfazed by the whole thing.
American Airlines says it is not in merger talks with United, but its carefully worded response does more than just shut down one specific rumor. By backing broader airline consolidation while ruling out a United deal, American appears to be drawing a line against the merger it cannot survive politically while leaving open the possibility of other combinations that might better fit both antitrust realities and the Trump administration’s dealmaking instincts.
Spirit Airlines is asking the Trump administration for a taxpayer bailout as the airline fights to avoid liquidation in its second bankruptcy in a year. The request is extraordinary not just because Spirit already took hundreds of millions in pandemic aid, but because there is no obvious legal path for the government to rescue a single failing airline without Congress — and if Spirit gets help, other struggling carriers will be lined up next.
American Airlines IT keeps finding new ways to fail in public, plus a useful inKind referral boost, the bizarre question of whether anyone has their spouse unpack them after a trip, Siete cookies coming to Southwest, and more.
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 »
