A New Way To Upgrade: Cash App Your Airline Customer Service Agents [Roundup]

by Gary Leff

News and notes from around the interweb:

  • 3 airline employees pocketed $283,000 for ‘upgrades’ paid by 1700 customers by directing the passengers to pay a Cash App account. That’s $167 per reservation. These were employees based in Philadelphia working for an ‘unnamed’ “national carrier headquartered in Florida,” and I wonder how upgrades on this airline could possibly average $167.

    In fact, as is often the case with mainstream reporting on (and even prosecutor understanding of) cases, upgrades weren’t the issue. Spirit Airlines agents would sell the cheapest tickets at the airport and then change date of travel and even origin/destination without charge.

  • Servers want tips, but also to do less work for them. And the faster you order, the faster you eat, the faster you leave the more tables they can ‘serve’ and earn more.

  • Disabled Passenger Forced to Drag Herself Along Aisle as Flight Attendants Looked On and Continued to Sell Snacks

  • US immigration officer refusing to process anyone not wearing a mask but doesn’t seem to understand the airborne nature of the spread, still working in the same immigration hall with everyone that’s unmasked. Do cloth masks count?

  • Unveiling of the Hilton Dubai Palm Jumeirah (HT: Anne Marie)

  • Qantas told a passenger they couldn’t get rebooked for 12 days after their flight delay would have caused them to misconnect. Now they’re suing. But the passengers shouldn’t have sought help from Qantas to make a change to their itinerary prior to departure, better to deal with the issue at the airport. (HT: Donald W)

About Gary Leff

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 »

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Comments

  1. Just another reason the tipping system is so f***ed. If Putin nukes us, at least we’ll finally be free of this outrageous system that brings out the worst of the worst virtue signalers and entitled workers.

  2. Sharpay- if you don’t want to tip you should be grateful for the current system. If people stopped tipping, restaurants would have to factor that into the servers wages thus raising menu prices dramatically. With the current system, you can let the other diners foot the bill and you don’t have to contribute like the cheapskate you are.

  4. I was (and am)especially happy to tip during Covid to help out not only the employees who have suffered but in doing so, also the establishments (who can keep their servers working) . These are the services-restaurants, delivery services, etc- that I like to use and would be upset if they went out of business or couldn’t retain good employees due to Covid.

  6. Just returned from Copenhagen. Never touched a Krona, and only left one tip. It was so freeing to not be intimidated when checking out. Just push the green button and off you go. I don’t consider the rounding up as a tip but as a show of appreciation and following the culture of the country. I can’t imagine the horror that the diners of other countries feel when Americans go there and ruin the dining culture for them.

  7. Disabled Passenger Forced to Drag Herself So glad the family member was able to film her rather then help her. Did not realize FA have been trained in moving disabled people . Did she not book a seat near the front? Her FAULT Did she drink so much that she had to go? Her Fault I mean how many are on a plane and NEVER get up once.

    Entitled KAREN here.

  8. Not a helicopter pilot, looks cool, but I’m not sure that’s exactly a safe maneuver. But if they pay you enough, some people will do anything.

  9. @Slanky – I see you’re one of those Americans espousing none sense. If you travel, you will notice prices are no more expensive here than anywhere else in the world. 15 bucks, 15 euros, 15 pounds will get you an equivalent meal. The difference is elsewhere the restaurant pays their employees (a novel idea) and doesn’t expect the patron to subsidize their employees income by adding an additional amount.

    Not tipping is actually freeing for the employees and the patron.

Comments are closed.