Monthly Archives for December 2023.
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.
A United Airlines passenger complains about “the worst flying experience” ever after they were told they would have to gate check a bag that didn’t fit in the sizer, even though they’ve successfully flown with it in the past. Their bag almost fit but was a little too large because of the wheels.
The passenger refused to check the bag and a supervisor allowed them to bring it on board anyway. Seems like a great flight to me, but one that flags a common misunderstanding about air travel. You might not be so lucky!
U.S. Customs and Border Protection is engaged in a “pre-Christmas crackdown” on passengers carrying cash out of the country with an apparent focus on Washington Dulles airport.
On Thursday they seized $68,000 from a family flying United Airlines 612 to Lagos, Nigeria after searching their bags. They were carrying $68,216, and authorities left them with $216 and allowed them to continue their travels.
A passenger on board an American Airlines Airbus A321neo took off his shirt, took off his shoes, and snuggled into his aisle seat for flight. Wearing only shorts for his sleep, he nestled into the head rest and reached out across the aisle, bracing himself against the passenger’s seat on the other side of his row before closing his eyes for some much-needed rest.
A woman on board Delta flight 2178 from Newark to Atlanta confronted a flight attendant who refused to help an older Black woman who was struggling to put her carry on bag in an overhead bin. The crewmember refused to help, saying it isn’t her job.
To the passenger, that’s precisely her job. The flight attendant responded by saying the passenger was harassing her, and had the captain remove her from the aircraft. She was embarrassed and inconvenienced for stepping into what she saw as both poor service and discrimination.
British Airways retracted their guidance requiring female cabin crew to wear white bras to go with the new sheer blouse included with their uniform after union objections. This follows similar past controversies over uniform-related ‘sexualization’ and contrasts with extreme practices at airlines like Malindo Air and Kuwait Airways, where female applicants were asked to disrobe during interviews.
A woman settled into her flight back to Australia by watching Magic Mike where Channing Tatum is a male stripper and he’s apparently got some steamy dancing with Salma Hayek. The woman looked around before selecting it on her seat back screen, says that there were no “kids around” but she attracted attention anyway.
John LeFevre, the former investment banker who created the anonymous “Goldman Sachs Elevator” twitter account, laid out the case against airport lounges.
Air travel has been democratized. So have lounges. And that means they aren’t really exclusive. If that’s the complaint, it’s true about many but not all of them. You need to decide whether the value proposition of a given lounge is worthwhile to you.
He caught the eye of authorities because of “the unusually large bulge in his pants that was wiggling around.” The man was scanned and then strip searched, “revealing the two Asian small-clawed otters and a prairie dog that he had tried to hide in his underwear.”
The CEO of IHG Hotels and Resorts admits that they make only 1/10th as much off of their Chase credit cards as Hilton and Marriott make on their co-brands. Total fees form their card portfolio total $100 million a year All of this used to get passed through to hotels. Now one third is kept at the corporate level. A recent loss by Hyatt in tax court explains how hotel program economics work and they’re very different from airlines. For the most part the chains don’t own the hotels, and the programs are very different than airline frequent flyer offerings. The amount kept by the chain is almost all profit. And IHG wants Chase to pay more in a deal re-up. The current card agreement expires in 2025. Banks pay a lot more than you…
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 »
