Monthly Archives

Monthly Archives for October 2018.

Two Photos of This AirAsia Flight Attendant Have Gone Viral

mabel goo
Oct 20 2018

A passenger snapped two photos of a flight attendant during an AirAsia flight from Kuala Lumpur to Hong Kong on October 12, posted them to Facebook, and they’ve gone viral both online and in media with worldwide coverage in China, Australia, the UK and beyond.

The flight attendant, Mabel Goo from Malaysia, doesn’t mind the attention — finds it ‘very nice people say such kind words’ but prefers “to focus my attention more on my work with AirAsia” where she’s part of their “cabin crew Fun Team.”

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American Airlines President: Wifi Shouldn’t Be Free

gogo plane
Oct 20 2018

For more than six years I’ve been saying that inflight internet will eventually be free. Since I started making that prediction JetBlue introduced free inflight internet, Aer Lingus has announced usage-capped free wifi, and Delta’s CEO has started saying it’s going to happen.

American Airlines isn’t going to lead the industry to deliver this. Their model “will be charging for wifi.” However they could get dragged into offering free wifi if major competitors do it.

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Delta and American No Longer Offer Club ‘Membership’, It’s a Subscription-Based Upsell Instead

delta sky club
Oct 19 2018

So much for notions of membership. A US airline club used to be a members-only club not just an extra amenity to pay to add onto your ticket. You could access it as a member. In the old days when you didn’t need a same day ticket to clear security you could go wait in the lounge to meet an arriving passenger.

As an historical vestige of that some airline clubs would even let you request gate passes after 9/11 as a service to its members.

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Man Overdosed on Heroin, Spoke to God, and Went Looking for a Date on Southwest Airlines

airline seats
Oct 19 2018

On a Southwest Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Dallas this week a man — who admits to using methamphetamines the day prior to travel and to overdosing on heroin two days before that — says God was speaking to him on Flight 859. His God, apparently, is not a part of the #MeToo movement because he proceeded to lean “closer to her and put his arm over her armrest and onto her leg” and then “play footsie.” He also “kept pulling on her sweater, asking her to go out after the flight and if she was staying alone in her hotel room.” She changed seats with the help of a flight attendant. He “tried going over to [her] with a drink.” The pilot diverted to Albuquerque. In the man’s statement he claimed that they…

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Report: Hyatt Gutting Cash and Points Awards, Adding Premium Suite Redemption

warf
Oct 19 2018

Members are going to have different views of these reported changes, which have not been confirmed by Hyatt.

My own view is that while I like the value cash and points offers now at the category 2-6 level, now that full points redemptions earn elite night credit cash and points is no longer as crucial a part of my arsenal.

Meanwhile premium suites is huge — the major constraint on my travel is time rather than points. Since I’m not working hard to stretch each point I’d rather use them for the best experience possible.

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American Airlines President: We Didn’t Mean It When We Promised Free Texting

airline cabin
Oct 19 2018

Delta, Alaska, and Southwest Airlines all offer free inflight texting. In September 2017, at American’s Investor and Media Day, the airline announced they would offering free inflight texting however that never happened. Last month I asked them about it and was told they aren’t doing it after all.

American got its media for improving customer experience, and then didn’t have to actually improve customer experience.

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