Delta Air Lines became a social media and news sensation in recent years for their long-standing program offering aircraft trading cards that pilots can carry to give away to passengers. The program flew under the radar for decades but has become far more well known over the past few years as passengers go viral asking for them on TikTok and Instagram.
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.
A reader shares a photo of “A six pack of Veuve Clicquot that came down in baggage claim in Goma, Congo.. completely intact.” And I have so many questions!
These aren’t bottles of La Grande Dame – was it worth it to check these? And why pack them without better protection? Did the passengers pay customs duty? It was going to be tough to conceal them leaving baggage claim!
Here’s the state of an American Airlines A321T seat. These just haven’t seen much maintenance lately at all. Airline executives acknowledged that the A321Ts were getting long in the tooth as far back as 2019, but didn’t want to refresh them. They did promise to clean them better.
American Airlines flight 2863 from Austin to Charlotte was delayed four and a half hours on Friday afternoon because a passenger named their wifi network “I have a bomb.”
Police boarded the aircraft and asked the passenger with that network name to identify themselves, but they did not. Passengers were all taken off the aircraft and held, cordoned-off in the gate area.
Indonesia’s Immigration and Corrections Ministry dismissed 30 officers from the Jakarta airport after numerous allegations they were demanding bribes from Chinese travelers. A diplomatic letter from the Chinese Embassy in Jakarta detailing 44 extortion cases was leaked, putting pressure on the Indonesian government to act.
When last week’s air disaster happened in D.C., the spotlight was thrown quickly on air traffic control – even without having any inkling that controller error contribution to the collision. That’s because there’s been a lot of attention paid recently to diversity efforts at the FAA, and because the President has railed against those sorts of efforts.
There’s a lot of misinformation about what happened. Here’s the basic truth, and how much it matters today.
I pick my seats for a reason, but as long as I’m not being inconvenienced too much by the request, and the request is a reasonable one, I try to be accommodating. Sometimes I get a thank you.
So it was actually thrilling to hear about a woman that tried hard to really show her appreciate for a passenger that agreed to switch seats. She kept trying to offer $100 as a thank you on a Boston – Atlanta flight in first class.
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.
Alaska Airlines flight 2221 was preparing for takeoff on Saturday morning when a passenger began exhibiting erratic behavior: he was “saying weird stuff” and rocking back and forth in his seat. As his behavior deteriorated, a flight attendant was summoned, and the passenger grabbed the hair of a woman nearby. That’s when the flight attendant delivered a punch to the man’s throat.
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 »
