Monthly Archives for May 2019.
Frontier Airlines flight 827 from Trenton, New Jersey to Charleston, South Carolina was delayed for an unusual reason. A passenger on board reports that “someone stole an exit sign” from the exit row so the plane couldn’t take off.
Someone been putting up fake power outlets at airports using stickers you can buy off of Amazon. Best I can figure it’s just meant as a cruel, cruel practical joke.
We all need to quickly charge devices between flights, especially when we’re flying planes and aircraft without seat power (and without seat back entertainment, where we’re forced to use those devices for entertainment). And airports are notorious for their lack of available outlets for passengers. Spotting an outlet may seem like the holy grail, but turn out to be a mirage.
San Antonio airport banned Chick-fil-A from opening there due to what they see as the chain’s political beliefs. Buffalo airport quickly followed suit. San Jose airport plans to combat Chick-fil-A with rainbow flags.
Fortunately airports can have chicken sandwiches, regardless of their politics.
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.
If an airline doesn’t arrive on time, customers will be unhappy. That’s simple enough, right? As American Airlines ties the attempt to improve their operation to the happiness of customers, it’s arriving on time that they find matters (“A14” or arriving within 14 minutes of schedule) rather the merely departing on time. Customers won’t be ‘likely to recommend’ if they landing early and find they have no gate for half an hour!
But is that all that matters? Obviously people want to get where they’re going, but they may still be unhappy. And several airlines can deliver well on performance, that’s not enough to distinguish one airline from another.
Kyoten Sushiko Austin has re-opened and if you’re in town you should go right away. There are a lot of great meals in Austin, from the world’s best barbecue to delicious Mexican, and many takes on New American and Asian Fusion cuisine. But Kyoten Sushiko Austin is the most interesting new opening bar none.
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.
American Airlines isn’t known for making business class award seats available on their own flights, so this is notable. And since awards on their primary transatlantic British Airways incur huge fuel surcharges, the ability to fly at the saver level in business class and no fuel surcharges with American AAdvantage miles is notable. You can also use Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles for these flights, of course.
I recently shared the strange story of how Baltimore’s Friendship Airport (“BAL”) became BWI even though that code was already taken by Bewani, Papua New Guinea.
A lot of aviation codes have unique histories. Southwest Airlines couldn’t have SW — that belonged to Seaborn World at the time (it’s now Air Namibia). So they took WN which approximates Western and ultimately works nicely because it can be said to stand for We’re Nuts! Although sadly Southwest no longer serves peanuts.
I’d have been happy to have this meal for dinner at home, constraints of an aircraft galley aside. I cannot remember the last time I said that about a meal on a domestic flight.
It’s a shame that Alaska is scaling back on the quality of its first class hard product as it standardizes its fleet after the the Virgin America merger. However on board catering they’re doing right — more so than my experiences in the past year with American, United, and Delta.
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 »
