News and notes from around the interweb:
- Give A Mile donations get flights to see loved ones for the last time, here is their current fundraising campaign for donated United miles and a matching gift of miles is available. Only a few days left. Disclosure, I am a non-compensated board member of Give A Mile and donated a lot of miles there.
- New: Air Canada elites and cobrand cardmembers get Avis status
- Trains for North Dakota, Montana, and Idaho are insane.
If Amtrak were funded by the market, it would spend its entire capital budget in the Northeast/Mid-Atlantic, where train travel makes sense. Instead, it's funded by Congress, so creates inane plans like this. pic.twitter.com/FcNrKyj3jc
— John Arnold (@JohnArnoldFndtn) July 19, 2023
- Absurd. United Airlines has launched pre-order meals for international flights. You can’t order until 5 days prior to travel. And they won’t board the meal just because you order it. They’ve allocated a certain number of each dish per flight. If you pre-order that just raises your hand that you want something, and once pre-orders have been allocated they show as ‘sold out’.
- Probably tastier than United’s regular meals in economy, tbh.
@united on my flight back from London to SFO I was greeted by this guest in my food – was so disgusted by it that I couldn’t even eat my replacement meal. Been a premier member for a while and nothing against United but this was quite unpleasant. pic.twitter.com/PgEAYe09Fl
— Aditi Prashar (@AdiPrashar) July 14, 2023
- What people leave behind in Airbnbs
- Qantas has seen its brand significantly tarnished in Australia, with high fares and service disruptions coming out of the pandemic. Yet the government there continues to protect them from competition to the detriment of consumers.
- Uber won’t let family ride because of their last name they won’t allow use of the name Uber in a customer profile.
- Geopolitical Taylor Swift snubs post-national security law Hong Kong while scheduling six concerts in Singapore (FT)
In the fast-paced world of air travel, impeccable service is the key to winning over passengers. Unfortunately, United Airlines’ recent experience of running out of pre-order meals before the flight takes off is a reminder that even well-established carriers can face challenges. While unforeseen circumstances can arise, it’s crucial for airlines to prioritize customer satisfaction by carefully managing resources and anticipating passenger needs. As travelers, we appreciate transparency and proactive solutions to such situations. Let’s hope this serves as a valuable lesson for the airline industry to continually enhance their offerings and ensure a delightful journey for all passengers.”
One more example that the airlines can not run customers off. I fly Southwest every week and the flights are full. They lost no customers after the Holiday 2022 meltdown. If you live in Houston or Chicago you will fly United. Same with Delta in Atlanta and American at DFW for all your long haul flights
Air Canada has seen its brand significantly tarnished in Canada, with high fares and service disruptions coming out of the pandemic. Yet the government there continues to protect them from competition to the detriment of consumers.
Exact same situation up here. At least Qantas is on time more than 40%.
The govt continues to subsidize AC by restricting EK,EY and QR access to Canada
@ Gary — The food on UA (and DL and AA) is horrible anyways, so no great loss.