News and notes from around the interweb:
- After the B/C American Airlines Admirals Club in Philadelphia failed its health inspection here’s this Philly American lounge club mouse. There have been birds in the Admirals Club and a raccoon stealing candy at the airport, American Airlines employees have dubbed their hub “Filthadelphia”.
A gray little mouse ran out from under the seat across from me and ventured towards the kitchen area. Maybe it was looking for a functional outlet like the rest of us.
I did let the bartender know there was a little visitor scurrying around and he just rolled his eyes and said “ugh, she’s back”.
- This Southwest Airlines passenger was flagged for smoking in the lavatory. An officer met the aircraft on arrival. He says he doesn’t even smoke. There was no evidence against him, and he just walked off.
No fly list pic.twitter.com/dvYb4Ftcil
— Wild content (@NoCapMediaa) February 13, 2025
- The campaign by competitors to shut down JSX for offering a better product began with the big pilot union going after them because they aren’t subject to the 1,500 hour rule or mandatory 65 year old retirement (they hire recently-retired senior captains from American and Southwest). And ALPA went after JSX for that as the biggest part 135 carrier selling individual seats under part 380 – fearing that the model was expanding.
SkyWest Charter wanted authority precisely to relax pilot hiring constraints (a pilot shortage from paid early retirements during the pandemic combined with a freeze in new pilot hiring made it tough to hang onto pilots – they were all being lured away by major carriers to alleviate their shortage). SkyWest wasn’t looking to fly from private terminals, though.
The FAA succumbed to lobbying by ALPA, American Airlines and Southwest (both headquartered in Dallas, where JSX calls home), and promised a crackdown by issuing a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking by end of 2024. That didn’t happen, and Elon Musk demanded the FAA Administrator’s resignation which was given on inauguration day.
With a new administration, SkyWest thinks it can get the authority it was seeking before all the lobbying started and truthfully the FAA had no legal grounds for delay in the first place.
- I wrote about Mahan Air – controlled by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard – bringing arms to Hezbollah in Lebanon and Syria a decade ago. Incidentally, Mahan Air has been known to offer status matches. Go figure.
All Roads leading to Rafic Hariri International Airport in the Lebanese Capital of Beirut are currently blocked, as Clashes occur between the Lebanese Army and Hezbollah Supporters who are protesting and attempting to storm the Airport. This follows a Mahan Air Flight from Iran… pic.twitter.com/o8729YZ62I
— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) February 13, 2025
- Amtrak releases financial data behind decision to forego Miami airport station. They would have saved $15.5 million by not having to renovate their current Hialeah station, but would have lost $3 million per year serving Miami. $4 million of extra spending, though, comes from “additional time to deadhead the Silver Meteor and Floridian-Silver Star equipment to and from Hialeah. That appears to assume that onboard service crews would not relocate to Miami Intermodal.” In other words, from dumb management at Amtrak.
- The best airports for finding love, ranked. The methodology seems silly, and results don’t appear consistent with the methodology (Chicago O’Hare a ‘fun in the sun’ destination?).
- An Alaska mayor bills his taxpayers for first class flights (and long haul business class), suites, and premium car services which is great for his – and his family’s – mileage accounts. (HT: Nate)
Isn’t the head of Amtrak the former CEO of Delta?
Southwest Smoker: Hope this doesn’t give other people some ideas…
Amtrak: Very interesting. I’m not well-versed in Florida rail history, but I once took the Tri-Rail from between MIA and FLL airports and that was pretty convenient. Will do some bedtime learning on the history of Amtrak and the Miami airport.
Alaska Mayor: For shame! Some pretty damning receipts…
Mickey Mouse has catered most American Airline flights for many years please give him the respect he deserves when he enters the lounge
@L737 — Generally, the choochoos helped build ‘modern’ Florida (starting at the turn of the century, like 1900s). I say modern because the Spanish were there since the 1600s (see St. Augustine, in terms of Europeans). Flagler and Plant were the OG railroad tycoons. If you’re interested, it really is a fascinating history. Personally, I’ve taken Amtrak within Florida (Deland to Pompano, once), and it was ‘eclectic’ to say the least (they don’t keep great schedules and some of the stations are ancient). There’s not a much of commuter rail service, but TriRail does ‘exist’ in SE FL (MIA-Palm Beach). Some do take Amtrak’s ‘car train’ from Orlando up to DC, which helps with the drive if you’re going from FL to the mid-Atlantic or NE—you literally drive your car onto a special carrier, then sit in regular trains and sleepers for the overnight service. It’s not for everyone. At least when I lived there, Florida is a ‘personal vehicle mecca’—next to no one uses mass transit (buses, trains, ferry). However, since the pandemic, the Brightline service along SE FL to Orlando seems to have been going well (but-for a few unfortunate collisions with folks who forget about the tracks).
@1990 Sounds like a fun rabbit hole to go down, thanks for pointing me in the right direction. Would be nice if South Florida had some sort of mass transit/light rail system (that goes beyond a downtown mover).
@L737 – Actually, Miami had a pretty good trolley network less than a century back. It suffered the same fate as trolleys in most USA cities. If you visit The South Florida Historical Museum in downtown Miami you can even see a rebuilt car.
@Christian Oh wow that’s fascinating, thanks for sharing — will look into that as well as add the museum to my map for next time I’m in town
That’s not a mouse, it’s a Filigreed Siberian Hamster.
It sounds like the flight attendants are full of misinformation on Southwest. Any alarm can have failure modes not obvious under normal operation. At college, I remember a battery operated radio giving out a loud blaring sound when the 9V battery was weak. A control systems analysis indicated that this was precisely what would happen.
Ms. New Chief Commercial Officer should put the PHL B/C Admirals Club under her microscope and demand weekly remediation reports.
The first time I saw a mouse at an airport while seated waiting for my flight was at PHL.
Since then I’ve seen mice a few times airside at AMS, LHR, and ORD. I assume they are at many other airports but just not caught my eye.
Was recently at PHL admirals club between B/C and in was a dump.
Well at least the little mouse won’t be standing in line for a stall at the men’s room. Little guy knows just go in a dark corner.