Monthly Archives

Monthly Archives for July 2019.

Family Caught on Video With Stolen Items From Their Hotel: What’s OK to Take?

by Gary Leff

toiletries
Jul 28 2019

A video going viral on social media shows a family caught by their hotel in Bali with items in their luggage stolen from the hotel. The family got into an argument with hotel staff, and the property demanded they open their bags for inspection. They were caught with stolen items from their room. One stolen piece after another gets revealed.

A former Starwood GM reports the theft of a grand piano from his lobby. Some guests walk out with the TV from their room. Another GM reports a guest unscrewing the room number off their door for a souvenir.

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American Says Customers Have Become Less Likely To Recommend the Airline

by Gary Leff

Jul 28 2019

American Airlines produced a report for employees on the carrier’s progress towards its 2019 goals. One item that stood out – apart from the airline’s operational problems this year – is that customer “likelihood to recommend” scores have fallen.

The airline attributes this to its reliability challenges, although it’s equally notable that American compares themselves to just before they began retrofitting domestic aircraft to a new less comfortable standard.

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United Airlines Brought the Stroopwafel to America and Now It’s Mainstream

by Gary Leff

Jul 28 2019

When Oscar Munoz took over from disgraced United Airlines CEO Jeff Smisek the airline rolled out modest customer experience improvements as part of an overall attempt to change the narrative of the airline.

Illy coffee and Stroopwafels turned out to be a perfect match, made better together. And for the Stroopwafel it changed their entire business trajectory.

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American Expected to Eliminate $75 Close-In Booking Fees on Award Tickets

by Gary Leff

american airline plane
Jul 27 2019

American Airlines is expected to eliminate the “close in booking fee” on awards, the $75 per ticket charge for booking award travel within 21 days of departure (which is currently waived for AAdvantage elite frequent flyers using miles from their own account).

For program members as a whole eliminating close-in booking fees will be a good thing though the underlying program changes that lead the fee to no longer make sense are a negative overall.

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The Universal IT Fix – Turn Power Off and On – Works for Planes, Too

by Gary Leff

power socket
Jul 27 2019

In 2015 we learned that Boeing 787s needed to be turned off and on every 248 days. The problem was that the plane’s generators, powered on for over 8 continuous months, could fail and cause lack of control. The FAA issued an airworthiness directive to use the universal IT fix and Boeing went to work on a more permanent solution.

Now though we learn that the Airbus A350 needs to be turned off an on too.

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City National Bank Crystal Visa Infinite Intermittently Allowing Online Applications

by Gary Leff

Jul 27 2019

A little over four years ago I first covered the City National Bank Crystal Visa Infinite Credit Card.

At the time it was the only Visa Infinite card you could apply for in the United States. It was interesting because the card offered a $250 airline fee credit, not just to primary cardholders but also to no annual fee authorized users, and also because it offered a Priority Pass for lounge access without guest limits. It’s not a great card for spending but there are other rich benefits as well.

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United Airlines Forgot to Remove the 737 MAX From Their Schedule

by Gary Leff

united-planes-runway
Jul 27 2019

Southwest, American, and United have all announced that they’re cancelling Boeing 737 MAX flights into early November although the truth is they don’t know when it will fly again. Each previous cancellation has been followed by another one.

Except… while United announced that they were pulling the 737 MAX from their schedule, they apparently forgot to actually do it.

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