Monthly Archives for March 2021.
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.
I’m so thankful for so much in the face of the last year. I’ve been able to grow closer with my family, even as I’ve given up so much international travel. Hopefully there are some things that we’ve learned in the last year that can continue to make travel and other parts of life even better.
A woman on board a United Airlines flight to Las Vegas became philosophical about language, claiming she is “wearing a mask” albeit not using it to actually cover her mouth. Other passengers disputed her take on what it means to wear a mask.
Former UFC bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt was kicked off of a Southwest Airlines flight on Thursday along with his two year old son who wouldn’t wear a mask.
He wrote on Instagram, “F[…] @southwestair got kicked off because my 2 year old son wouldn’t put his mask over his face. This coward flight attendant hid his bitch a[..] in the bathroom.” He didn’t think it was fair to ask his two year old to mask when the two pilots weren’t wearing one.
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 is offering employees who get vaccinated an extra vacation day and $50 in rewards. Here’s the employee message from CEO Doug Parker and President Robert Isom about the incentive – something that will become increasingly important as supplies become more abundant and we need to convince vaccine hesitant people to help us stop the pandemic.
Usually it’s fairly cut-and-dried, people don’t dispute the facts or there is a contemporaneous incident with witnesses. Here there doesn’t appear to have been a social media maelstrom, and the family says this came out of the blue. There’s no due process involved. Someone could easily be banned by mistake, maybe a cabin crew member writes down the wrong row number by mistake or the wrong seats (right row, seats across the aisle).
When I wrote about this fare on Wednesday, I offered that “I would not make non-refundable travel plans around this for a few days, just in case the airline gets a case of seller’s remorse.”
That’s exactly what has happened. TAP Air Portugal is cancelling tickets and refunding purchases.
Starting this evening American Airlines will launch an new service to Brazil operated by a Boeing 737 in Oasis configuration, Miami – Manaus, the primary departure point for the Amazon Rainforest.
Several weeks ago China deployed an ‘anal swab’ test to detect Covid-19, believing it to be more accurate than other testing methods. Passengers in several Chinese airports are now being subjected to these tests, where authorities “insert[..] a cotton-tipped stick three to five centimeters (one to two inches) into the rectum.”
Now China is using this for passengers from ‘high risk countries’ and when multiple people test positive on a flight.
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 »
