Monthly Archives

Monthly Archives for March 2019.

Two Commercial Airlines Have Crashed Within 24 Hours

by Gary Leff

i'm sad words picture
Mar 10 2019

A four month old Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737-8 MAX lost radar contact six minutes after departure at 8:44 a.m. local time. No survivors among the 149 passengers and 8 crew from flight ET302 from Addis Ababa to Nairobi have been found.

The one you may not have heard about is that a Laser Aereo Colombia Douglas DC-3 from San Jose del Guaviare to Villavicencio with 14 passengers on board declared an emergency at 10:40 a.m. local time on Saturday, and crashed into the ground bursting into flames.

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What It Takes to Fire a Qantas Flight Attendant (the Culture That is Australia)

by Gary Leff

Mar 09 2019

Two years ago a Qantas flight attendant was awarded six months’ pay after being fired for stealing alcohol and lying about it. He claimed the beer in his jacket and vodka in his pants got there by mistake. He “inadvertently pocketed the beer and vodka while serving passengers.” And while he really had no idea, “the gin might have come from a hotel mini bar.”

So what does it take to lose an appeal to Australia’s Fair Work Commission?

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Flight Attendant Puts Coffee Grounds Above Passenger’s Head to Mask the Smell of Chick-fil-A

by Gary Leff

overhead bin with something coming out
Mar 08 2019

A reader brought a bag of Chick-fil-A on board with him (“12 grilled nuggets w/ buffalo sauce, 2 grilled chicken deluxe sandwiches no bun”). He admitted that it smelled quite a bit in the small first class cabin of an American Airlines Bombardier CRJ-700 regional jet operated by SkyWest.

He finished eating, a flight attendant picked up his trash, and “moments later without making eye contact crushed up a bag of coffee grounds, opened the overhead bin, and placed the bag directly over my head in seat 2C.”

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What American is Discovering About their Grounded 737s as More Aircraft Turn Up with Problems

by Gary Leff

american airlines hangar
Mar 08 2019

Yesterday American Airlines grounded 14 Boeing 737-800s. These are planes that have undergone the ‘Oasis’ modification – to replace interiors with more seats; less comfortable seats; less distance between seats; less recline; no seat back video; and smaller lavatories plus bigger overhead bins.

I’m now learning more about issues with the aircraft being inspected.

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How Marriott Award Availability Restrictions Actually Work

by Gary Leff

fancy hotel
Mar 08 2019

arriott is no worse than it used to be, except for IT issues that seem to be gradually getting sorted but remain frustrating. Starwood properties are mostly the same, although with lower points redemption prices at the best properties come more restrictions on availability.

Eventually we should see improvements in Marriott availability, compared to what we have seen in the past, starting next year with fewer ‘high demand dates’ at some hotels. Perhaps Flueck’s commitment that we’ll reach the Starwood model of availability for legacy Marriott will come to pass in the future as well.

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