Heavy rain turned part of Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta Airport into a waterfall on Monday when the ceiling near Gate 7 gave way, sending passengers scrambling clear just before the collapse. The same storm also hammered flight operations, forcing diversions, holds, go-arounds, and one return to the apron for a total of 40 affected flights.
An Alaska Airlines flight attendant was photographed wearing an “ICE OUT” pin while working a recent flight, injecting a charged immigration slogan into one of the few places passengers cannot simply walk away. Whatever someone thinks about immigration enforcement, the cabin is a bad place for crew political messaging: the power imbalance is real, the slogan flattens a complicated issue, and the airline’s brand winds up carrying an employee’s personal politics.
The FAA’s new “temporary” drone restriction is drawing criticism as a backdoor attempt to stop people from filming ICE operations. Also Abu Dhabi preclearance is temporarily closed, Hong Kong’s Centurion Lounge has a premium queue problem, and Park Hyatt Tokyo may have found a clever way around elite late checkout.
Park Hyatt St. Kitts has one of the best physical settings in Hyatt’s portfolio: huge, low-rise grounds, gorgeous views toward Nevis, excellent pools, strong suites, and a calm that never seems to disappear even when the hotel is nearly full.
Service still does not live up to the Park Hyatt name — but after three stays in two years, I think it is improving and offers enough elsewhere, that I keep happily going back.
Senators are warning that using a VPN could do the opposite of what many travelers expect — obscuring your location enough that intelligence agencies may treat your traffic as foreign and sweep it into domestic surveillance. Also Omni scoops up $200 million of Greenbrier debt, Frontier’s chairman explains the CEO ouster and JetBlue’s future, and one United flight attendant offers an unusually honest answer about a checked bag.
American Airlines current CEO Robert Isom and former CEO Doug Parker were reportedly on the same Paris-to-DFW flight Sunday, returning with family and “Gucci shopping bags in hand” — while Isom is currently embattled over the carrier’s poor financial performance.
American Express, Chase, Capital One, and Citi have all overhauled the premium card market, and the right answer is no longer obvious. The best card now depends less on marketing claims and more on which lounges, credits, transfer partners, and spending bonuses actually match how you travel.
The best airports in America are the ones that get you there quickly, move you through efficiently, and get you on your way without making the terminal itself the main event. That is why some of the country’s most praised airports, especially LaGuardia, look better than they actually function.
Airlines keep telling passengers the overhead bins are full, then sending them onto planes where empty space is still sitting open above the seats.
It is one of the fastest ways to make customers furious, and it happens for a simple reason: gate agents are under pressure to avoid even minor delays, so they often start forcing carry-ons into the hold before the bins are actually full.
An American Airlines first class passenger put her feet on another traveler’s armrest, got them shoved off, and then put them back up on the window a few minutes later. The incident sparked a flood of suggestions for how to handle one of the most basic and revolting breaches of airplane etiquette.
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 »
