News and notes from around the interweb:
- Southwest will rent space on Kauai’s Lihue airport for $13,000 a month.
- One year after the United David Dao dragging incident, what’s changed? Airlines will pay more compensation to avoid involuntarily denied boardings, but overall US carriers still outsource addressing customer service issues to police.
“There was a sense of, ‘We’re mad as hell, and we’re not going to take it anymore,’” said Gary Leff, a travel expert who writes the View from the Wing blog. “People are still frustrated with air travel, but the moment has largely passed.”
…Airlines have been “pretty quick to turn difficult customer service situations into law enforcement problems,” said Leff, of the View from the Wing blog. Anecdotally, that seems less common at United since Dao’s flight, but there’s too little data to say for sure, he said.
- One million frequent flyer miles — stolen from a community health center
- The World’s Worst Airline™ is attempting a rebrand. (HT: One Mile at a Time)
- The CEO of Motel 6 is retiring after 33 years but they’ll leave the light on for him.
- United stops selling international first class June 20 though of course these seats will be on planes for a long time to come.
That reminds me of when US Airways eliminated international first class but didn’t change out the seats, “EnvoySleeper” (you got a flat bed while business was angled) was bookable by full fare business customers and Chairmans Preferred members, and at one point sold as a $300 paid business seat.
- United’s ‘Bug Bounty’ program really does pay out.
No, the best way to earn UA miles is NOT credit cards. #UnitedBugBountyProgram #avgeek #forthewin @LiveandLetsFly @garyleff @OneMileataTime @godsavethepoint pic.twitter.com/uoziwUWqe5
— Ricardo Rivera (@Ricardo_UAFlyer) April 6, 2018
Are the miles really stolen? The T&Cs for Alaska Mileage Plan state that only individuals may be members- not organizations or companies. How could the clinic’s miles have been stolen when the clinic itself cannot be a member of the program?
So who gets the FF miles earned by an AS “Business” Visa or MC? I suppose a C-level boss’s personal account?!