News and notes from around the interweb:
- Amex filed suit against the Mayor of London for defaulting on his Business Gold card to the tune of $713,851. That’s London… Kentucky.
- Japan Airlines has a deal to offer lunar transport. This is being touted as the first!
But I’d note that in 2002, US Airways introduced mileage-earning and redemption for space travel, with 10 million Dividend Miles for a suborbital space flight. Virgin Atlantic announced in 2005 that Flying Club members could redeem for Virgin Galactic space flights at 2 million miles for a suborbital flight. Membership Rewards also had a space redemption option.
- SLH Hotels is offering free elite status (HT: Doctor of Credit)
- Japan Airlines bans flight attendants from drinking on layovers it used to just be their pilots who had a problem.
- Hawaiian Airlines will stop serving free meals in coach on flights between the mainland and Hawaii July 1, and replace them with paid pre-order meals that require at least 12-hour advance selection.
The good news is that Alaska Airlines actually does a good job with food. Some will disagree, but I’d personally rather pay for good food than get coach slop for free. The meals don’t look bad, and it’s likely they’ll be better than what Hawaiian served pre-merger. But we’ll see come July!
- A pregnant woman from Ghana was was detained in a windowless room at Washington Dulles airport for more than a week with her four year old son. They arrived on a tourist visa to seek medical help for the child’s physical abnormality. She was asked if she ‘feared persecution’ at home, and she answered honestly that he did because of the child’s issues – so she was classified as an asylum seeker and her visa was cancelled.
She has asked to be deported because she’s afraid that detention conditions risk her unborn child. After she made that request she was allowed to shower and eat.
Gyasi and her son are being held in a work area converted into a cell with a single bed, a toilet and a sink. Gyasi has been taken to a hospital twice for medical issues while in custody, the court filing states. On Friday, Gyasi felt lightheaded and was examined at a local hospital, where medical staff expressed concern that she was not being fed enough, according to the court filing.
- Cut it out.
@united and @FlyORF
Sitting in row 9 and you make me gate check my small carry on bag. This is the 3 overheads across from me. The one above me had one bag in it. Flight is maybe 75% full.Make it make sense pic.twitter.com/329EqF5TLB
— Nate (@Just_Nate_99) May 28, 2026
Damn! I got all excited thinking it was London, England
@Thing 1 — Yeah, not the one with all the gin; it’s the one with the bourbon, this time. Bah!
@Thing 1 @1990 — Heh, I was just watching a video taking place in London, Ontario.
Speaking of Dulles, I saw a Gary Leff doppelgänger in IAD earlier this week. I thought, could it be? Then I remembered I was in Dulles, ha!
I believe Pan Am offered space travel coming soon in the 1960. . .also showed us what it would look like in 2001 . . . a space odyssey! And let’s not forget TWA’s rocket and Braniff’s Spacesuit uniforms.
Not very Ohana of Alaska charging for food. Thats not how islanders treat you as guests in their home.
@greg
You are “spot-on” IMO. The Alaska kids from SEA are continuing with the “death by a thousand cuts” of Hawaiian’s brand. Personally, I will take Hawaiian’s free Coach Hot Pocket meal (and the Honolulu Cookie) over Alaska’s $12 Jetsetter Jam sandwich any day.
Shock, the mayor is a. Democrat. I wonder why the local NBC news report omitted that fact.
I realize that Amex doesn’t have a hard credit limit, but allowing someone to accumulate almost $714,000 in unpaid debit is a very poor business practice on the part of AMEX.
@ Michael Mainello
Too bad he’s not President, then he could have bought Dell stock before giving them a multi-billion.dollar contract.
I am surprised by the lack of hue and cry over Gary’s reporting on the woman.from Ghana. Gary only reported what was in her legal filing — she has sued and is represented by the ACLU. The government filing denies what Gary reported as fact. I believe pregnant woman have been given greate scrutiny since there are travel agencies offering “give birth in America” tours.
@WileyDog – Hope you are doing well. Dems are traitorous, pedophile losers.
I can’t assume that since the Hawaiian meals will be paid would make them any better.
“She [the woman from Ghana] was asked if she ‘feared persecution’ at home, and she answered honestly that [s]he did because of the child’s issues,,,”
A most unfortunate situation. Not fully preventable, but one wonders about the way applicants for visas are treated/handled/processed by consular officials. This woman wanted to come to the US for medical treatment. The consular officer dealing with her could and should have told her what stating when questioned by immigration personnel in the States that she feared persecution in her home country might mean to her subsequent status and treatment.
We seem to have an effective Secretary of State. One wonders about the quality of foreign service officers, especially in African and Middle Eastern countries. Will the officer who dealt with Emmanuel Gyasi, the woman in question, learn about what’s happened to her? Will that officer have any second thought about what she was told in her interview(s)? Any thoughts about what might have been done to prepare her better for what would happen when she presented for entry into the US? Or will that foreign service officer believe s/he did what was in the job description and that should have sufficed?
If she is deported, that’d be just 1 less ‘anchor baby’ for the U.S.
Just curious if she arrived with sufficient funds to pay for her son’s medical care ?
Sadly, I think it’s impossible for this country to accommodate & pay for all the world’s suffering at the hands of the vile immoral leaders when we have our hands full of one of our own !
@L737 — Gary sure is no fan of IAD. Bah!
@Michael Mainello — Holy projection, Batman!
With all the hate, Islamophobia, and racism that Sadiq Khan gets, your shitty click bait title is really disappointing.
I haven’t had coach slop in years, since USA airlines quit serving meals in coach. The coach meals I get while flying across the Pacific on Asian airlines are quite reasonable. The coach slop must be due to the airlines flown and the term should not be used pejoratively about all airlines. Name and shame.
“With all the hate, Islamophobia, and racism that Sadiq Khan gets, your shitty click bait title is really disappointing.” Gee whiz. Gary has a little fun mentioning London, but fully reveals it’s London, KY. Are you just looking for a reason to get p!$$ed off?
@Tim – “With all the hate, Islamophobia, and racism that Sadiq Khan”
What you call hate and islamophobia are people trying to educate you on the subjugating tenants of this “religion”. It is not a “religion” of peace, but a battle plan to enslave the world.
I recommend that you do some research, but I am betting you will reflexively lash out at me instead.
Subjugating tenants? Is Islam locking up renters now?
And what’s the idea of putting “religion” in quotes? That’s not very “Christian” of you- but I’d guess that your version of Christianity is pretty diametrically opposed to the one Jesus proselytized (eg, hate everybody), so I guess you are a “Christian”…
What a jerk – why is it the dumbest people make the stupidest typing mistakes? Oh, I guess that’s pretty self evident…
@Michael Littlebrainello – I see your mom allowed you a few moments on the computer.
Bless your heart and get back on your meds.
@Michael Mainello — Did we learn nothing from the pandemic? “Do your own research” isn’t a match for experts, truth, or reality. As for Littlebrainello, bah!
@1990 – Thanks for the confirmation of the Democrat Party. Libs are lazy, ignorant and brainwashed.
Show them research, they deny the source.
Ask them to research, they call you lazy.
Just support the party, *azi tatoos and all.
@Michael Mainello — Isn’t it “Dumocrat”, now? I suppose your attempted “Demonrat” didn’t stick. May wanna “do your own research” on it….
@1990 – Research completed. islam is a satanic cult and the koran a battle plan.
Findings denied by Democrats, DemonRats, Dumbocrats (don’ t believe I used that before), Socialists, Communists and Anarchists.
The latest oxymoron – Democrat Run Paradise. Just look at LA, Detroit, Seattle, San Francisco, Baltimore and New York.