Monthly Archives for May 2024.
A baby panda being sent from China to Japan was spotted in a passenger seat, instead of flying cargo. Seated beside its caregiver, it’s actually wearing a seat belt and diaper and is munching bamboo leaves as an inflight snack.
The American Airlines award map shows where you can fly based on a starting city and number of available miles that you specify. It’s a tool that’s been around for about a dozen years, and is useful if you want to see where you can go (for example) for 6,500 miles in coach.
When you search for flights you’ll see a map of available cities including some interesting destinations,
United Airlines flight 12 from Zurich to Chicago diverted to Shannon, Ireland on Sunday when a passenger’s laptop got stuck in a business class seat.
The Boeing 767-300 was carrying 157 passengers and 10 crew. Crew couldn’t get the laptop out, so the pilot decided to land – not because they wanted the passenger to be able to work inflight, but because lithium ion batteries can catch fire, and if that happened and the laptop was inaccessible over the Atlantic it would be a significant safety hazard.
This lounge was renovated shortly before the pandemic, and while I guess it is… different than before I also wonder, given what it’s like now, why did they bother?
‘Spicy Flight Attendant’ Cierra Misst, who used to work regional jets for Republic Airways which is an Express carrier for American, United and Delta, is back on social media after having her accounts banned as the result of complaints by other cabin crew.
She’s now claiming that she worked a flight to Nashville, where the crew would overnight, where the passengers were all bachelor and bachelorette party groups. Everyone got handsy, several people joined the Mile High Club – including a new pilot.
There’s a pendulum that swings where loose policies are deemed costly, control gets centralized but proves unworkable, and flexibility is returned – only for the cycle to repeat.
Nonetheless, you should assume that there’s some flexibility available when dealing with airline agents because it’s low cost to do so with high upside.
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 Chase Sapphire lounge is small, but I was there in the morning – from around 8 a.m. until 11 a.m. it wasn’t super busy and there was plenty of available space. The lounge is well laid-out, food is good, and staff are friendly. The exterior of the lounge is branded Etihad (it’s a joint Etihad and Chase lounge but the exterior signage doesn’t mention Chase) and I wonder if that limits awareness and thus crowding.
We’ve finally found it: the hotel with the most egregious add-on fees in the country. Every other hotel can stop trying, because the 31 Street Broadway Hotel in New York cannot be beaten.
On top of the room rate, they charge 49% Destination fee, 47% Bed linens fee, and a $120.00 Property service charge per stay.
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 »
