News and notes from around the interweb:
- Wut.
Weird ATC audio, Abraham Lincoln
documentary get's broadcast on IAH – Houston’s Tower frequency. Tower controller claims he didn’t hear it. This happened early this morning.This is a little more serious than the random meow on 121.5
Audio via @theATCapp pic.twitter.com/NHalcZLgx3
— Thenewarea51 (@thenewarea51) April 18, 2026
- SFO Waymo pickup is now at the airport Grand Hyatt, accessible via Airtrain. This is one of the best airport hotels in the country and frankly makes me consider staying there vs. downtown! (HT: @RakeshSFNYC)
SFO Waymo pickup is now at the Grand Hyatt, which is on the red airtrain line and only a couple stops from the main terminals.
Much quicker than the previous spot at the rental car center which is serviced by the blue line and much further out.
Took me less than 10 mins to get… https://t.co/iAXs8np6Yj pic.twitter.com/o23sOL8QgK
— Ethan McKanna (@ethanmckanna) April 16, 2026
- Air India positioned a pilot from Delhi to San Francisco to operate a flight back to India, but he was denied entry into the country because he was carrying pot. It seems like San Francisco is a place where you can buy some locally? And, historically at least, it was even pretty good stuff? Bringing illegal drugs through government checkpoints is almost never worth it!
- I managed to get a Chevy Chase quote into coverage on airline merger antitrust. Sure, some of the ideas that have been floated would have faced massive opposition from the federal government at least dating back to when these decisions were transferred by law from DOT to DOJ in 1989 – but as Fletch said about car theft, “I’m not even sure that’s a crime anymore. There have been a lot of changes in the law…” with the administration!
- Southwest Airlines A-List members will get consistent priority board:
• A-List Preferred (ALP) Customers will board ahead of Group 1.
• A-List Customers will board in Group 1 with Choice Extra Customers.
Boarding passes for A-List Preferred Customers will display the new ALP group. Boarding announcements and digital signage will include A-List Preferred.
- Annoying or about time? British Airways to offer wifi calling on Starlink-equipped aircraft
- Air Canada’s ‘Glow Up’: A Brand Coming of Age (I do think that the design language and detail work is the best thing about the new cabins)
This is a softer, warmer cabin than what we have come to expect from the last decade of business class design, which has often skewed towards the technical and the architectural. Here, there is a clear effort to introduce flow and softness through curved forms, layered lighting, and a more natural material palette. There is an almost biophilic quality to the space, not in any literal sense, but in the way light and texture are used to reduce stress and create a sense of calm at altitude.
I mean, I like Honest Abe, too, but probably not the time or place… just sayin’… dawg.
Allowing wifi calling is not inherently annoying, but it will turn out to be regularly such. The loudest people with nothing important to talk about will use it, and we’ll all be forced to listen to one-half (and sometimes both halves) of a boring, meaningless exchange.
I’m of the opinion that a pax in <F/J should never board in a group before paying F/J pax regardless of status (with F/J is ok). This is possibly just a self-serving thought, as I pay for F/J and will never have status above the lowest earned grade.