Aug
21
2019
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
New Apple Credit Card Already Improves Earning
About Gary Leff
United Airlines is Giving Away Three Perfect Days in… Newark
Aug
21
2019
With as full as flights are these days, if your United transatlantic flight out of Newark cancels I could easily see the airline not being able to get you out for three days. Then you’d be stuck spending three days in Newark. I’d say you could pitch the story to the airline’s magazine, but somebody already did that.
For as long as I can remember United’s Hemispheres inflight magazine has included a feature “Three Perfect Days” Well, now you can win three perfect days in… Newark.
Does United Basic Economy Mean Having to Clean Your Own Seat? (What’s Grosser Than Gross?)
Aug
21
2019
Airlines don’t do enough to clean planes between flights. I feel especially bad for the cleaners who have to deal with the mess passengers leave behind.
When a customer is faced with a seat that hasn’t been properly cleaned, and can’t be prior to takeoff, I view the seat as inoperative or out of service — if the airline can’t move them, it’s tantamount to an involuntary denied boarding. Cash compensation should be due.
It Doesn’t Cost Money to Earn Miles Anymore
Aug
21
2019
When the first airline credit card was introduced in 1986 (the Continental TravelBank Gold MasterCard from Marine Midland Bank, now HSBC) things were much simpler. You earned one mile per dollar spent. You paid an annual fee for the privilege of earning miles.
Increasingly over the past couple of years bank issuers have sought out the no annual fee market for airline cards. There’s been a lot of competition for rewards card signups, including from the banks themselves. So this is a new market to reach for growth.
Delta Flight Attendants Crown One Lucky Passenger the ‘Biscoff Queen’
Aug
21
2019
One Delta passenger on a recent New York – Atlanta flight was crowned the ‘Biscoff Queen’ by flight attendants who created a crown for her made of Biscoff cookies and a Delta wing pin after she had declared her deep and abiding love of the cookies inflight.
Passenger Forgets Snake at Security Checkpoint, TSA Doesn’t Notice
Aug
21
2019
I’ve never understood the stuff people leave behind at airport security, be it laptops, wallets, or phones. Newark airport on Monday night, however, appears to be the first time that anyone has left a snake behind.
Chase Killing the Standalone Chase Pay App
Aug
21
2019
The mobile payments market is going to converge on a much smaller number of players. Success requires adoption at scale, and while it may not be a winner take all market — Visa, Mastercard, American Express and even Discover have been able to co-exist and both Apple Pay and Samsung Pay are stronger — there’s not room for every entrant to succeed.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Weighs in on the Dispute Between American Airlines and its Mechanics
Aug
20
2019
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and 26 other New York-area members of Congress sent a letter to American Airlines CEO Doug Parker and to the heads of the Transport Workers Union and the International Association of Machinists.
American’s mechanics and ramp workers have maintained their separate legacy US Airways and American unions, and they’re negotiating as part of an ‘association’ however each work group has different interests. Negotiations have gone badly. And the New York congressional delegation has waded into this thicket.
American Confirms Plan to Fix First Class, Defends Inferior Coach
Aug
20
2019
Over the weekend I wrote that American will fix some of the problems with its new domestic first class seats. They won’t be making changes to the new coach product.
Here’s how they defend the new coach seats — and why they may spend even more money to put in bad first class seats into planes, before ripping them out and replacing them again.
Lebanon’s First Female Captain Landing at London Heathrow in Crosswinds
Aug
20
2019
SkyTeam member Middle East Airlines was recruiting pilots – including women – in 1993. A friend showed a newspaper column to Rola Hoteit, then completing her degree in Mathematics at the American University of Beirut. It read, “Women cannot drive a car. How will they be able to fly an airplane?”
