Monthly Archives

Monthly Archives for May 2020.

Great Video Explaining How Airports Are Designed. I’m Not Convinced They Got The New LaGuardia Right

airplanes tarmac
May 16 2020

The point of an airport is to get somewhere. The best airports are the ones get are easiest to get to and get through. They make your travel more efficient, rather than adding to an already cumbersome and stressful experience. That has little to do with how much high-end retail there is (airports offer expensive shopping for their benefit, not for yours).

That means the best airports are close-in to the city center, and once you get there security is near the entrance and gates are near security. There’s enough taxiway space and runway capacity to handle flights, too, minimizing delays.

Continue Reading »

Yes, Ben Schlappig Should Travel To Iceland In June. Why Do You Ask?

May 15 2020

Ben Schlappig, known as Lucky from the One Mile at a Time blog is contemplating a trip to Iceland next month and the way he frames the discussion, and the ensuing comments, are a fascinating sociological study in how people are reacting to the coronavirus pandemic and travel.

He’s talking about visiting Iceland – which plans to welcome visitors starting June 15, with COVID-19 testing on arrival. He shouldn’t be sheepish or apologetic about this.

Continue Reading »

Man Flies To Germany, Tries To Sneak In To See His Girlfriend

May 15 2020

Coronavirus has been a strain on relationships, from the hotel that markets itself as a great break from your spouse and monetizes its guest list with a divorce lawyer who offers free consultations to the 85 and 89 year olds who live on opposite sides of the Germany-Denmark border and meet each day for a picnic, staying on their own side of the border and social distancing.

To one 20 year old, no coronavirus border restriction was going to keep him from his love. Then he ran into the German Federal Police.

Continue Reading »

90 Years Ago Today A Woman Flew As A Flight Attendant For The First Time

May 15 2020

Ellen Church was a pilot and a nurse. She sought a pilot job with United Airlines (then Boeing Air Transport) but got nowhere. Then she suggested the airline hire traveling nurses, helping to ease the fear of flying people had so early on in aviation.

She was hired in 1930 as head stewardess and she then hired seven other women on a three month trial basis. They formed the ‘original eight’ of what would become flight attendants.

Continue Reading »

Vietnam Struggles To Save The Life Of An Airline Pilot – And Avoid Its First Coronavirus Death

May 15 2020

Vietnam, like Taiwan, is so far one of the great COVID-19 success stories. Despite sharing a border with China they have fewer than 300 confirmed cases and not a single reported coronavirus-related death. And they’re going to some extreme lengths to keep it that way.

A Vietnam Airlines pilot from the U.K. is the most critically ill patient with the virus in the country right now.

Continue Reading »

Chase Credit Card Spending Dropped 40%

chasebank
May 14 2020

Spending on Chase credit cards fell 8 times as much as average credit card spending during the start of the global COVID-19 pandemic according to the J.P. Morgan Chase Institute. A new study using anonymized transaction date from 8 million customers found that spending on Chase cards dropped 40% year-over-year between March 1 and April 11.

Continue Reading »

American Airlines Plans New Shortest Flight In The Country: Aspen to Vail

May 14 2020

Airlines receiving the first tranche of government bailout money are required to continue serving nearly all of the cities they flew to prior to the pandemic. In exchange for billions of dollars to fund payroll, the government required that the nation’s air transport system remain intact.

Despite some exemptions from the Department of Transportation, airlines are getting creating launching new short flights to efficiently meet these obligations at the lowest possible cost. And reportedly that means a new, shortest domestic route from American Airlines.

Continue Reading »