News and notes from around the interweb:
- A history of Singapore Airlines frequent flyer programs what ‘PPS’ stands for, when Singapore partnered with American Airlines and then Delta, and their 1993 joint program with Cathay Pacific and Malaysia Airlines.
- Is it rude that passengers with CLEAR get to cut the security line? (WaPo)
- Beanie Babies Billionaire is keeping the Four Seasons Santa Barbara closed, and nobody knows why though there does seem to be a dispute with the hotel chain.
- Unlikely tourist attraction: The tax system of the Faroe Islands
- Michael Irvin suing Marriott and the Renaissance Downtown Phoenix for $100 million for damages resulting from accusations of improper behavior towards a staff member that he denies. (WaPo)
- Justice Department prepares to sue to block JetBlue’s acquisition of Spirit we’re still waiting on a court decision on the JetBlue-American Airlines partnership as well.
Ty Warner has been known around S.B. circles as being a complete whacko. God only knows what he’s doing but many are perplexed in both NYC and S.B. as to why these properties have not reopened. As the article points out there seems to be a huge issue between him and Four Seasons. Perhaps the management fees etc. The NYC property is really noteworthy as it is a significant hotel and “was” the New York flagship for Four Seasons. Oddly, I always laughed as these were the only two hotels in the world where they had a Beanie Baby exclusive gift shop. As if FS customers fit that demographic, lol. NYC FS had been on a steady downturn the past decade before Covid. The old bar was closed and turned into a banquet space. The entrance cafe became the only restaurant and serves very basic offerings with a very small bar next to it. The rooms, while some of the largest in NYC, were in desperate need of a refresh before closing. The S.B property, despite Sedaris’ description, was nice but very dated as to the interior and a bit musty and old. Some of the rooms are dismal and dark and hardly worth the over $1000 a night entry they charged. And, like the nearby Rosewood, the trains run all night right through the hotel property.
Rude to use CLEAR? Sorry that’s a more ridiculous question than if it’s rude to recline.
Better question might be if it’s rude for the government to hold us up at the security checkpoint with unnecessary tasks like identity verification, which serves only to protect airline ticket revenues.
WaPo paywall
If TSA is staffed properly, CLEAR has it’s own screening line, or the CLEAR ambassadors alternate CLEAR customers between other passengers who require more time with the ID checker, so the non-CLEAR people should not be waiting longer. If anything, people without CLEAR should be thanking CLEAR customers for submitting biometrics so that there are fewer people needing an ID check, and a shorter line for ID checks.
Is it also unfair that some people use lounges, then are among the first to board, while people who waited in the gate area for hours board after?
If the person upset with CLEAR customers cutting in front, maybe they should spend the $ to get it.
@JS
Yes, if the lounges are paid for by the government it is unfair.
@JS
Yes, if the lounges are paid for by the government it is unfair.
You cannot pay to cut in line at the TSA checkpoint. Oh, except for CLEAR. Why? Can I just hand the TSA screener 5 bucks to go first?
At my airport (CVG) the PreCheck line splits into 2 just before the checkpoint. Nominally these are the same length, but I always forget and choose the one that is shared with the CLEAR folks, and then have to wait forever.
So while I wouldn’t agree that it’s rude (and the WP article was paywalled so I didn’t read it), I will agree it’s annoying (if you don’t have CLEAR)
@Dan. Is it annoying? Surely, we all agree.
So what can we do about it? One option is to whine. Another, to debate the merits of a private company inserting itself into a federally regulated and nominally democratic screening process (nobody gets leeway on what can pass through the checkpoint).
A third, to accept that annoyances are part and parcel of life in a society, and to not make a big deal of it. Are you annoyed when somebody makes unprotected left turn? When a commercial truck double-parks on a city street? When you’re in the aisle seat and your window seatmate asks to get out of the row, just as you were about to drift off to sleep?
All of the above are legal annoyances (including, believe it or not, the lawful right to double park in limited circumstances). People who make a big deal of this–e.g. by writing to WaPo–live needlessly difficult lives and make others’ lives needlessly difficult by their unrealistic expectations on how society should operate.
The Faroe islands tax code article was very interesting and well written
@ CLEARly elite – I mostly follow your 3rd statement. I’m mostly just annoyed with myself when I talk myself into going into the “CLEAR-shared” lane because it LOOKS faster, only to have like 500 CLEAR people always show up at once 😉