Monthly Archives for January 2024.
Spirit Airlines passengers bound for San Juan showed up at their gate a couple minutes prior to scheduled departure. They didn’t understand why the boarding gate was closed. They weren’t just there on time, they were early!
Taylor Swift plans to “time travel” by leaving Tokyo after her performance and arriving in Las Vegas in time for the Super Bowl, demonstrating the unique capabilities of international travel across the date line.
You may not think of the start of the year as the right time to travel to Europe, but I’ve always loved Paris in December and Amsterdam in January is nice as well. The weather may not be, but it’s cold in the States too! People are home from work and the streets aren’t busy. The place isn’t overrun with American teenagers!
And Amsterdam seems like an odd place to go with a five year old, but the city is a lot more than the red light district. There are great museums for kids, there’s great food, and it was something different. Plus there’s a non-stop flight from Austin, and there were three business class saver award seats on our preferred dates. The perfect trip!
Instagram model Gracie Bon, known for her large buttocks, has sparked debate by petitioning airlines to accommodate larger body sizes due to discomfort in fitting into airplane seats, even in first class, amidst mixed public reactions regarding the naturalness of her physique.
Ashlee Powers was flying American Airlines to the US Olympic Marathon Trials. She has an American Airlines credit card so that she can have priority boarding, which should mean better access to overhead bin space.
Despite plenty of space available still for bags on board, including directly above her seat, Ms. Powers was stressed on the way to the most important moment of her life, having been made to give up her Olympic running gear.
APFA President Julie Hedrick came out on top in a seven-way race by just 659 votes. She lost Boston, Los Angeles, Dallas – Fort Worth, Miami and New York to A. Marie Plevaritis. In other words, Hedrick’s strength came primarily from legacy US Airways. There remains a split among ex-AFA US Airways flight attendants and those from the American Airlines side.
A Pegasus Airlines flight en route from Istanbul to Riyadh made an emergency landing in Antalya after passengers and crew heard unexplained cries for help emanating from the aircraft’s cargo hold, but no one was found upon inspection.
Luxury is not having to deal with other people. Traveling on nearly empty flights and staying in luxury resorts with minimal occupancy, creates a unique and exclusive experience.
Customers see a poorly maintained airplane cabin interior, and they begin to question whether the parts of the plane they can’t see are maintained in the same manner. That’s not really how this works, but it’s a logical inference for most passengers – especially with the safety of the Boeing 737 MAX 9 in the news, after a door plug came off an Alaska Airlines aircraft inflight.
Air travel doesn’t always work out the way that you want. Seat assignments don’t always work out the way that you want. Your desire for a different outcome, though, is between you and the airline – it doesn’t impose an obligation on other passengers to disadvantage themselves for your benefit.
Sometimes they will! There’s no harm in asking. But it’s perfectly fine for them to say no.
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 »
