Monthly Archives for October 2021.
The narrative about Southwest’s troubles could become self-fulfilling at the airline and spread to other carriers. Pilots are watching the operational carnage at Southwest and realizing that they can take down the operation, even if they weren’t doing so already. And employees at other airlines are watching.
Blac Chyna, Rob Kardashian’s ex, has been arrested for MDMA at the Austin airport and virally chastised for hanging up her wig on the business class coat hook of her Air France flight.
Now she is making a scene at the Miami airport (natch) yelling at a fan who wanted a photo that she’d better be vaccinated. That’s fair, I don’t want unvaccinated folks coming up to me in airports either. Though she’s clearly not wearing a mask, in violation of federal rules.
A federal vaccination requirement for employees of government contractors is probably legal. An OSHA emergency rule mandating vaccination or regular testing for employees of large companies is more questionable, but the Governor’s Executive Order is more questionable still. All of this simply adds uncertainty for companies in Texas – whose potentially illegal orders are we supposed to follow?
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 Grand Hyatt New York re-opens November 1 but with a new name: Hyatt Grand Central New York. It will no longer be a Grand Hyatt. And it is losing the best thing about the property, too.
Thailand will fully open to vaccinated Americans as well as those from China, Singapore, Germany and six other countries starting November 1. Travelers from additional countries will be welcomed starting December 1. Previously visitors could only enter – and had to remain in – designated resort places in the country such as Phuket.
Viral video with nearly 4 million views shows a passenger on being kicked off of a Los Angeles-bound United flight “after screaming, threatening, and pushing flight crew and passengers.” Things began going south when the passenger wouldn’t get off of his phone, and only later did it descend into a mask dispute.
Maybe for the first time ever the passenger demands to be removed from the flight yelling at the crewmember that he “didn’t even want to go to Cali.” He took off his mask and declared plans to dox the flight attendant, and pushed a seated passenger to get into the aisle.
Southwest Airlines blamed air traffic control and weather for cancelling a quarter of its flights over the weekend, while pilots were rumored to be calling in sick in heavy numbers to protest vaccine mandates. The cause of the cancellations was clearly only affecting weather and air traffic control surrounding Southwest planes because other airlines had no such problems, even at the same hubs.
The FAA, usually a staid agency, took to twitter to defend itself.
Spirit has worked hard to improve its operational reliability in recent years. Before the pandemic they weren’t just cheap, they were frequently on-time. That reputation may have been undermined, but it looks like they may be working towards a new reputation – one that takes care of customers when flights delay?
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.
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 »
