Monthly Archives for January 2024.
This blog post delves into the intricate and often concealed aspects of banking and payment systems, drawing on insights from an expert interview. It explores various elements of the finance world, from the motivations behind banking operations to the complexities of credit card processes and the impact of crypto on transaction fees.
Global Airlines wants to be a London-based long haul airline. They have an ex-Singapore Airlines Airbus A380 and say they have either a deal for three more A380s, or have them in their possession. Which one isn’t clear. They’ve talked up a 2024 launch, with daily service to New York and four times-weekly service to Los Angeles starting this summer. Now they say they plan to charter flights this year and operate scheduled service later. They claim they’ll serve “every continent.”
Passengers generally don’t have confidence in their travels. I didn’t when I was a kid! When I would fly cross country on my own when I was in junior high, especially if I was connecting, I remember going up to the gate agent and showing them my boarding pass just to confirm what I sort of already knew, that I was in the right place and that I had what I needed to fly?
This concern really resonated with me: someone flying American Airlines who didn’t “feel confident leaving the airport for a hotel” during an overnight delay.
If you’re a drug smuggler you’re in a big money business. Checked bag fees shouldn’t be a binding constraint. And buying business class, which comes with more checked bags, is almost always more expensive than paying checked bag fees.
So when drug smugglers and their money launderers are said to be buying business class tickets for the greater checked bag allowance it sounds like the travel management challenges at any big company, where employees are looking for greater comfort and justifying it based on the needs of the business. Drug lords have travel policies, too, and their mules have to try to stay in scope!
Delta Air Lines earned $5.2 billion in 2023 and will pay out $1.4 billion in profit sharing with employees getting about an extra month’s pay.
Delta flight attendants have it better than their peers. They have something real at risk. This isn’t crew at the bottom where a union organizer can point to a better life somewhere else and say ‘we can get you that’. Unionized crew at American and (AFA-represented) United look at what Delta flight attendants have with envy.
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.
Four Delta Air Lines passengers were removed from a flight in Minneapolis on January 8 because a flight attendant determined it was suspicious that they were Palestinian Americans. They were taken off of the plane on arrival and questioned for an hour before being released. Two of the passengers missed their connecting flights. Apparently they were guilty of “speaking in Arabic and English and wearing Palestine necklaces.”
During Friday’s Delta Air Lines earnings call, the Wall Street Journal‘s Aly Sider asked CEO Ed Bastian if he “think[s] Delta still has the same advantage over rivals just in terms of reliability in its operation?”
Bastian acknowledged that the rest of the industry has caught up.
A Lufthansa Airbus A340 widebody had its tow bar separate from the aircraft while pushing back from the gate in Munich, Germany. The tug loses control of the plane, and the pilots are rolling backward – unable to see behind them.
A woman had her hair draped over her seat back, so that it covered the entertainment screen behind her. The man’s daughter, seated behind her, couldn’t watch her inflight TV. The dad got creepy on board the flight home from Mexico to put the female passenger in her place, and I’m trying to decide whether it was a genius move or crossed a line.
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 »
