News and notes from around the interweb:
- Delta’s CEO says to expect a Salt Lake City – Seoul flight
- The history of Singapore Airlines: the planes, the service, the awards and the Singapore Girls
- A man was arrested for checking 43 pounds of marijuana in his luggage. Apparently 43 pounds of marijuana smells if you don’t pack it right and becomes easily detectable. He basically offered The Shaggy Defense. He claimed to have just found the luggage and decided to take it and check it without knowing what was in it.
- You may have heard about police storming the room of a United pilot, accusing him of waving at TSA from his window. He said he was just getting ready for a shower, talking on the phone, and since he couldn’t see into the terminal through his window he had no reason to think everyone could see him. I mean, how bizarre is that right? Well unfortunately police body cam footage has been leaked. That seems… wrong.
- Uber is being fined about $1 million for using surge pricing during a storm in Massachusetts. Which is exactly what you would want them to do, would you rather drivers stay home and warm or go out and get people where they need to be?
Of course we don’t hear much complaining about surge pricing anymore because Uber figured out it was better to quote you a price rather than tell you how that price compared to what you’d normally pay. In other words they pacified critics by acting like Delta.
- Japan Airlines is tightening crew alcohol rules
I couldn’t agree with you more about surge pricing, but also recognize that the media (and presumably the general public) views it as a rip off. Last year, I returned to EWR during bad evening weather. Under the best of circumstances, taxi service at Newark is very expensive and full of dilapidated vehicles. In the case, there was a long line for taxis and I immediately called an Uber which arrived after about five minutes. The driver mentioned that he ordinarily worked foe Uber days in NYC and lived in New Jersey not too far from the airport. When he was home in the evening and saw surge pricing, he’d sign on to take advantage of it.So, the use of surge price increased supply when it was needed and met the demand that otherewise might have gone unfulfilled. I call it a win win as opposed to having a lower stated price but limited availability at that price,