Monthly Archives for August 2018.
On July 20 at the Savannah-Hilton Head airport the battery of an e-cigarette malfunctioned. TSA has just released video of the incident, because this happened, no one was hurt, and they didn’t even shut down the airport.
You can see the bag smoking once it’s gone through the x-ray. Initially the TSA screener saunters over, picks up the bag, and walks off. You can then see him on another camera speeding up.
Last night a ground worker stole a Bombardier Q400 at Seattle Tacoma airport belonging to Alaska Airlines wholly-owned regional carrier Horizon Air. While much of the initial reporting suggested the plane was stolen by a mechanic, it was a 29 year old Horizon Air ground service agent.
The plane (N449QX) was taken from maintenance around 8 p.m. local time in Seattle and crashed on Ketron Island about an hour later.
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
Marriott is launching a new program August 18th which will be the same for all of Marriott Rewards, Starwood Preferred Guest, and Ritz-Carlton Rewards.
Accessing frequent guest accounts, and even making reservations, is expected to be offline most of that day. In addition Marriott Rewards and Ritz-Carlton Rewards accounts may be unavailable during overnight hours between now and the 18th. These overnight outages shouldn’t affect Starwood accounts.
Starting August 18th though you won’t be able to use previous travel package redemptions for a month.
A Brazilian court heard an appeal in a case where a member sold miles, American Airlines caught it, and they voided the tickets. The appeals court is requiring American to pay the cost of replacement tickets plus damages.
A 44 year old woman and mother of three arrived in Dubai off an Emirates flight on July 13. She learned her single entry visa, already used, was not valid for re-entry into the UAE.
It’s not clear why the woman wasn’t eligible for a new visa on arrival, however even if she was apparently the exchange became testy. She was with her four year old. She was asked whether she had been drinking (she was tested and came up 0.04. She acknowledged drinking a glass of wine on her Emirates flight.
A month ago I wrote that the Dallas Fort-Worth Centurion lounge would be closed through mid-August for ‘repairs’. American Express said the lounge would re-open August 14. I wrote “hopefully that project will not delay” of course projects of this sort always delay.
The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has announced a lawsuit against United Airlines for failing to discipline a pilot they say was harassing a flight attendant.
The government alleges this pilot “frequently posted sexually explicit images of a United flight attendant to various websites… referencing the airline’s tagline ‘Fly the Friendly Skies.” They argue United was aware of the harassment “but took no responsibility to put a stop to it.” Make no mistake these were x-rated photos.
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
On Monday there was so much government bureaucracy that 1400 pounds of federal paperwork actually delayed an American Airlines flight to Los Angeles.
American Airlines flight AA163, the 5:30 p.m. LAX departure, was delayed while the airline offloaded cargo. The pilot explained to passengers that “government documents” had to be removed.
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 »
