News and notes from around the interweb:
- The cheapest Delta Air Lines upgrade ever – 1,500 SkyMiles to go from coach to first class. Complain afterward that you didn’t receive any service on this short flight between Seattle and Vancouver and they’ll probably give you 2,500 miles as an apology. Profit!
- Total Maldives smoking ban for anyone born after January 1, 2007 and this applies to visitors as well.
- Emirates Skywards A380, A6-EUE.
- Transportation Secretary says air traffic controllers who choose not to show up during the shutdown won’t be fired they’ve gotta deliver DoorDash to feed their families, he says. That’s tantamount to encouraging the no shows, of course, by precommitting to no consequence.
- Very kind.
لذلك موظيفين
#الخطوط_السعودية في المركز عالميًامشهد يجسد القيم السعودية الأصيلة
مضيف جوي يطعم راكبًا مسنًّا طوال الرحلة باهتمام يليق بالضيافة السعودية ✈️ https://t.co/i3Fln8qSNh pic.twitter.com/KTzcWZqIhy— الطيران السعودي (@saudia_aviation) October 29, 2025
- What your Priority Pass gets you most of the time (but it’ll still be jam-packed once you’re inside).
I have never appreciated the Seattle SkyClub more after my experience at “The Club”.
byu/BruisedButth0le indelta - Skilz.
Isn’t it unspoken that most airports don’t follow societal norms?
byu/D4T45T0RM06 inUnexpected
I’m not saying that Emirates Skywards post was as bad as the Delta Jose Andres announcement, but fairly sure the words adequately captured the moment in this case. I’m pretty sure I can think of some better experiences that could be curated for employees than seeing the word Skywards appended to a plane in a hangar. Definitely “not a media event” – except for all of the media staged pictures taken expressly for posting on social media. So close though!
“If there is a shutdown I think it would be a tremendously negative mark on the president of the United States. He’s the one that has to get people together.” — Donald J. Trump, 2011.
“When they talk about the government shutdown, they’re going to be talking about the president of the United States, who the president was at that time. They’re not going to be talking about who was the head of the House, the head the Senate… So I really think the pressure is on the president.” — Donald J. Trump, 2013.
Well Delta did offer me an upgrade yesterday for my flight from MSP>>ATL and the price was $768 . Technically it is tens of dollars I guess.
Anyway this happens to be a 330 instead of the usual 32x and I have a bulkhead seat with legroom for days. And I came in a bit earlier than usual, worried about any potential TSA delays. There was nobody in line anyway and I ran into my brother in law who took me up the Amex escape lounge so net net the universe gave me a free upgrade and I’m happy.
The Club SEA at the S Gates was a Delta lounge. Ironies.
Spoke too soon. The fuel pump is bad on the Delta 8771 A330 and it doesn’t look like we’re going anywhere soon. Kept an eye on the app and pretty much we soon as I deplaned I found a seat on the 4:40 flight. The app works beautifully.
I was worried about being able to be accommodated today with such a big plane getting potentially cancelled. Somehow there was a confirmed seat available for me.
@IsaacM — Darn. Yet another reason why we need a US261. Aircraft maintenance is a covered issue under EU261, after all; and depending on distance, duration of delay, that could mean hundreds of dollars for you. Hope things get moving soon.
@ Gary — It is quite unethical to plan in advance to complain for compensation regarding a flight that likely never offers service in the air. I frequently take a flight on Delta of similar length and service is only offered pre-departure, snack basket included. I wouldn’t dream of complaining about it. If it was AA, they would probably just ignore you for the entire time, and if you complained, they would tell you to go pound sand.
You seriously posted a Reddit post from someone with the user name BruisedButthole!? HAHAHA!
@1990 while on a business trip I don’t care that much about delays and such since I’m signing away my time for three or four days for the company anyway so who cares if part of it is wasted. I’ll just do what’s needed to keep myself comfortable, fed and happy. If I got a compensation for the delay that’s just gravy.
Looks like my original flight is now delayed till 5:30 and probably will be cancelled. My new flight is now oversold and they’re offering up to $400 to switch to a later flight. If my original flight was not delayed I might have tried to parlay for $400 and a day pass to the club.
@Gene Delta always seem to offer some kind of service, they apologize that they don’t have time for a full service and just offer water and coffee on a tray.
I haven’t done any flight that’s shorter than 55 minutes though
@John — How dare you besmirch BruisedButth0le’s good name! (Also, the ‘o’ is an ‘0’…)
@IsaacM — We’re rooting for you, either way!
Our Secretary of Transportation doesn’t seem to care much about transportation functioning. Sounds about right.
@Christian — It’s almost as-if hiring a reality-television-star (from The Real World: Boston) was a bad idea. Also, probably not a good idea to have one as President, either.
@1990 got $12 food credit from Delta. Rather than letting it lapse how I would have in the past, reading this fine publication taught me to immediately load it into my coffee app. Caribou , not Starbucks
Thank you Gary.
@IsaacM — Oh man, that’s even worse than United (they usually give $20 voucher). Caribou Coffee is really good stuff; sadly, there are none in NYC (maybe someday!)
@IsaacM — The flight I usually take is blocked at 60 minutes, with flying time around 25 minutes, including 8 minutes at cruising altitude. Definitely not time for service in the air.