News and notes from around the interweb:
- Baby born on Delta flight from Salt Lake City to Honolulu
- The Biden administration has pressured Norse Atlantic Airways into unionization talks with Sara Nelson’s Association of Flight Attendants-Communication Workers Of America under threat of being banned from the U.S. market before they even launch.
[AFA-CWA union head Sara] Nelson described initial discussions with Norse Atlantic as “encouraging” and said she hoped to reach an agreement on a legally binding contract that “respect labor rights in the U.S. and Europe as intended by the E.U.–U.S. Open Skies Agreement”.
In March, Rep Peter DeFazio and chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee called on the Biden administration to deny Norse Atlantic access to the United States, saying the White House should “correct the error of 2016” (when Norwegian was issued an air operators certificate).
- The New York Times dubbed Sara Nelson ‘the most powerful flight attendant’. Now Fast Company calls her “Workers’ Great Hope”
I paid $0 for these selfies. Priceless. #DemDebates pic.twitter.com/lEM6kUqh9Q
— Sara Nelson (@FlyingWithSara) December 20, 2019
(In fact, these are not selfies, and they were very much paid for – by her members.)
- The same hotel rental gets priced differently on different platforms, and those platforms are trying to crack down. Property managers charge more on Airbnb. Marriott allows higher prices equal to the chain’s commission. Rate parity rules mean a given booking has to come down in price for the consumer, but not allowing price competition may mean less discounting overall.
There are many downsides for the consumer about homesharing but when hotels gut their services and blame Covid they undercut their primary advantage.
- Lufthansa buys Boeing 787s dirt cheap (err, German taxpayers are the ones buying the planes). They’re buying Airbus, too, which should satisfy their new owners.
- An ‘honest review’ of Spirit Airlines.
I’m not a fan of Spirit, but that Tik Tok isn’t funny. At all.
Re: The baby born on flight.
What is going to be her “place of birth” on her birth certificate? I see they landed in Hawaii, but what if they landed in Tokyo or Shanghai eg.? Does that change anything?
Norwegian Air was a slimey organization. They did all kinds of things to avoid labor rules, here in the US and in Europe. So screw Norse Atlantic! Play by the rules or don’t fly to the US.
@johnb
Play by the rules you mean, hire lazy rude flight attendants,no thanks I wish more airlines did this maybe then the fa’s in America will not take their job for granted
@Isaac
I’m pretty sure the Euro carriers are unionized.
But if you’re against unions and are such a principled fellow, I’m sure you’re against police unions and support police reform. So that’s good at least.
@johnb “issac jones” is correct the unions are ever so embolden now that Biden is on office we will look like Europe every soon strikes/labor actions, so go “Free Enterprise” There are already signs of rate increases/price increases and with that inflation. Workers where are they today, home living off the unemployment checks. Meet your new master @johnb! Note I am not a rabid right winger simple someone old enough to have seen this picture show before.
Gary, where are you getting your info about the Biden admin pressuring Norse? The article you link to only says that the head of the House Transport Committee called on the Biden admin to do something, not that the administration actually inserted themselves at all.
@Sco – facts never stop Gary from clickbait titles in his daily news roundup.
Can we just call flight attendants “flight police” and then we can get democrats to push for defunding?
Not surprised Gary is anti union and anti working people and lies about our non racist president who doesn’t grab women by their genitals.
Labor unions are as outdated as June Cleaver. A relic of a bygone era. Break ’em up and put workers on a 401K like the rest of America. Biden won’t know any different. He’s still stuck in the 1930’s.
I agree with @chopsticks.
The Spirit video was shameful and it was hard to tell if the person was mocking herself, her accent, her job, her life…it made her look bad, not Spirit.
Spirit has forced overpriced, underperforming SW, UA, Dl and AA to offer Basic Economy tickets just to stay competitive.
So I guess you are anti union Gary?
Too bad you didn’t live through the
early part of the 20th Century. You could have experienced why Unions
are necessary. Oh, wait! Get a job in
an Amazon warehouse, then you will learn PDQ! Well, I guess it’s A-OK to screw your fellow human beings as long as the IRS allows you (per the republicans plan) pay low taxes! Every true American for themselves! Carry on!
@JorgeGeorge Paez – I have no real opinion on Amazon unionization, I don’t know all that much about it. I don’t think Southwest has seen its culture hindered much by unions, though their flight attendants union was willing to let junior members face layoffs rather than make any contract adjustments. I don’t think “anti-union” or “pro-union” makes sense in this context, usually where there are failures there are failures of management to capitulate to bad practices for expediency.