Category Archives for Airports.
Maybe the biggest failure in air travel is something we don’t talk about at all. How is it possible that people are being told to show up at the airport 2.5 to 3 hours before their flight, and that isn’t considered a failure of massive proportions?
Flying once used to be the province of the wealthy, and business men (definitely mostly men, United Airlines even used to have ‘Men Only’ flights) but now it’s become far more democratized. Airline deregulation brought lower fares, and the U.S. has become far wealthier. At the same time, being able to fly is an immense privilege.
United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby loves to tout his airline’s superior performance to American Airlines. He became United’s President 9 years ago after being fired from American. In a set of slides he rubs salt in the wounds over his airline’s relative growth in size and financial performance at Chicago O’Hare, where both airlines operate hubs.
American wasn’t able to get a temporary restraining order in federal court to stop this process. They voluntarily dismissed the federal claim last week and re-filed in Cook County Chancery Court.
TSA lifted the requirement to remove shoes at security checkpoints. But they may not be done.
A single person accounted for half the noise complaints about LAX. Three people accounted for 88% of LAX noise complaints. And guess what? There’s actually a button that automates noise complaint submissions about airports.
TSA’s decision to no longer require shoes to be removed at checkpoints by passengers going through regular (non-PreCheck) security applies only to passengers with REAL ID, which reportedly comprises more than 90% of passengers. Those without REAL ID get extra screening.
Transforming J.D. Vance’s face has been a meme for several months, and someone took ‘bald, bearded infant J.D. Vance’ and created an app to do that to your boarding pass. TSA has gotten big mad at boarding pass generators in the past.
What does your airport routine say about your personality?
Whether you show up super early ‘just in case’ or cut it close says something about how they ‘manage anxiety’. But I’m not sure it says what the experts think it says.
Oakland airport is changing its name again – this time to Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport. Last year they sought to change it from Oakland International Airport to San Francsico Bay Oakland International Airport. SFO sued to block that, and a judge agreed (which was dumb).
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 »
