Monthly Archives for October 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.
The Biden administration is getting behind a national no fly list though – at least to start – only for violent passengers. Remember that David Dao was accused by many of being violent when he was removed from a United Express plane. His face bloodied an officer’s hand.
American Airlines sent out a memo to all of its agents reminding them about all of the reasons they should use to deny or limit passenger claims for delayed, lost or damaged luggage, especially after international trips.
It was all probably right, of course, but it’s more important to train agents and baggage handlers on proper care for luggage to minimize damage to the items entrusted to them.
Hyperinflation is no big deal to the CEO of Hilton, who says “We can reprice our product every second of every day.”
He’s not actually expecting hyperinflation, just the Janet Yellen-Jerome Powell kind of course. And though Hilton is a global company, he’s focused on U.S. inflation. But he makes the case that investors who worry about inflation should buy Hilton stock because Hilton can easily raise prices as the value of money falls.
Vaping is just as illegal on planes as smoking, even though when someone ‘smokes’ an e-cigarette they generally aren’t exhaling smoke, just water vapor.
American Airlines cancelled 342 flights on Friday, more than any other airline in the world. That came on the heels of a major day of cancellations on Thursday. The primary cause of this was weather in Dallas – and the skies were clear.
That was followed by even more cancellations on Saturday, as the airline ran out of available crew, with more to come on Sunday with planes and people out of position.
Five years ago a United Airlines pilot announced that everyone had to keep politics off the plane. Passengers cheered. No matter your feelings about silly memes or the President of the United States, there are some places where we should be left alone. Stuck in a metal tube, you can’t escape a pilot’s politics.
One of the people challenging the legality of the federal mask mandate is Michael Faris, and he’s filed a motion with the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals seeking to be removed from a government terrorism watchlist he was placed on after seeking to litigate the mask requirement.
Another passenger who filed suit against the mask mandate claims to have been placed on a watchlist as well, which they discovered after trying to check in for a Delta flight on October 26.
Before the pandemic American Airlines served 8 routes from Austin, flying to its hubs. They’ve quadrupled their destinations since then and passengers are using the airport for connections in a major way as well.
In any employee meeting American’s Vice President of Network Planning dropped two other cities they’re thinking about as having similar characteristics to Austin.
Before the pandemic American Airlines was prepared to announce free inflight wifi. They didn’t want to do it, but Delta was testing it and if Delta went forward they were going to match whatever Delta did. (Delta ultimately found that their Gogo systems weren’t robust enough for all the usage free wifi entails.)
American doesn’t offer free wifi, but it’s something they still think about.
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 »
