There are more law enforcement agencies on premises at a major international airport than anywhere else. There’s TSA, local police, DEA, Customs and Border Protection, FBI and that’s just to name a few.
Yet people can just walk into the arrivals level of an airport, walk up to baggage claim, and pick up bags belonging to anyone that they wish – and walk right out.
The prevailing view is expressed in this shirt making the rounds in social media: “Standing up as soon as the airplane stops won’t help you get off sooner.” It turns out that versions of this shirt are for sale all over the internet.
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.
What remains most striking to me here is that in trying to get more card spend, more vacation package bookings, and more ticket spend, they aren’t giving customers any carrot in the process – just a stick.
An airport director turned ‘work from home’ into a no show job. They’ve been fired, and an investigation finds that they even failed to return phone calls when Southwest Airlines was looking to add service the airport.
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.
Baymont Inns seems to have a new take on the labor-saving strategy. They’ve got an outsourced front desk. Instead of having to hire American staffers to work on property, they supplement their employees with kiosks that give you a live person in India. The agent will interact with you just like they were across the desk.
Air Canada is testing a new ‘on demand’ amenity kit, and the products are from Byredo which is a fantastic brand. Most flights are still using the Acqua di Parma offering which I find to be quite sparse – there’s just not a lot to the current kit – but the items in this new offering are reportedly high quality.
Regular readers know that I’m skeptical of government regulation, but the reason eludes many of you since I have great concern for consumer issues. The reason is regulatory capture. Rules usually benefit large businesses, rather than tilting the playing field against them.
U.S. airlines are required to spend tens of millions of dollars in dubious carbon offsets each year under the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation. What happens if the Trump administration stops enforcing this requirement?
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 »
