Monthly Archives

Monthly Archives for December 2020.

Family Reports Their Two Year Old Has Been Banned From United Airlines After Refusing To Keep Mask On

by Gary Leff

Dec 12 2020

A husband and wife who say they are Silver elite members of United’s MileagePlus program report their family has been banned from United Airlines “forever” because their two year old was unwilling to keep a mask on. The child’s mother, a trainer and health coach, shares on Instagram that they ‘always fly United’ and have flown with their child four times during the pandemic without issue. So why now?

Video of the incident has been viewed over 2.3 million times in less than 24 hours.

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Andaz Singapore Testing New Basic Economy Room Rate

by Gary Leff

Dec 12 2020

The Andaz Singapore is taking a page from airline Basic Economy fares, offering a new ‘room only’ rate. When you think of room only, you may assume that it simply excludes breakfast or other inclusions. In this case they mean it literally: you can stay in the room, but have no access to the hotel’s gym or pool.

This also lets them sell rooms for less on third party websites without running afoul of best rate guarantees, since the restriction doesn’t apply to Hyatt direct booking rates.

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How United Airlines May End Up Saving The Environment

by Gary Leff

sulfur dioxide emissions
Dec 11 2020

United Airlines has announced that they’ll reduce greenhouse gas emissions 100% by 2050, making a bolder claim than world airlines through trade association IATA which commit to a 50% reduction in carbon footprint by 2050. Both goals are far enough off as to be largely symbolic, but what’s got great potential here is the path United plans to pursue to get there.

The airline will invest in directly removing carbon from the atmosphere – not feel-good measures like planting trees where the accounting is murky. The technology is too expensive today, but payment processor Stripe just announced their own investments here. Adding United and perhaps soon others could help bring about critical mass that makes this technology viable to solve our environmental problems.

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Avoid Long Lines And Risk Of Getting Turned Away From Hawaii By ‘Pre-Clearing’ Before You Fly

by Gary Leff

Dec 11 2020

There can be long lines to wait in when you land in Hawaii, not always well socially-distanced, to show you’ve met the state’s testing requirements to avoid a 14 day quarantine. And the state makes mistakes, too, one family showed up with negative results from an approved testing provider but was told to quarantine anyway by mistake. By the time the state sorted it out, they’d already turned back around and flown home to California.

Fortunately there’s now a solution to all of this.

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Passenger Takes Revenge On The Woman In Front Of Her By Sticking Gum And A Lollipop In Her Hair

by Gary Leff

Dec 11 2020

A video viewed nearly 110 million times, and liked 11 million, shows a woman clipping and destroying the hair of the passenger seated in front of her on a flight when the woman keeps flipping her hair over the seatback and blocking the video screen behind her.

It speaks to something we all feel sitting in the confined space of an economy cabin when another passenger violates norms and invades our limited space, captured by the comment “I fully support their actions.”

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Woman Shows Up At The Airport, Proposes To A Man She Met Online 10 Days Ago

by Gary Leff

Dec 11 2020

Here’s a new twist on the age old marriage proposal in the skies. A woman who met ‘her soulmate’ online 10 days earlier showed up at the Las Vegas airport to propose to him.

Since meeting they had video chatted every night, but they had never met in person. This would be their first time seeing each other in person – and he doesn’t know she’s coming.

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