Commentary

Category Archives for Commentary.

Over 7 Million Votes Cast: the Programs Frequent Flyers Consider Best May Surprise You

freddie awards
Apr 28 2019

On Thursday night I had the pleasure to co-host the Freddie Awards, the major awards program in airline, hotel, and credit card loyalty. Over 7 million votes were cast by program members to determine which programs around the world are delivering value to members that they appreciate most.

It’s a night to celebrate what’s good in loyalty, and to honor what the members think.

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Woman Arrested and Daughter Sent to Child Protective Services After Complaining About Vomit in Seat

fake barf
Apr 25 2019

In our post-9/11 world airlines have quickly turned customer service problems into law enforcement problems. A customer creating a “disturbance” might really be creating a “distraction” for bad people to do bad things. It doesn’t matter how unlikely this is, especially prior to departure while still on the ground. The culture of precaution and ‘not being too careful’ has granted huge deference to the judgments flight crews make in the instant. And it’s allowed prejudice and ego to trump good sense.

How many times have we seen a passenger act concerned with a flight attendant moving their carry on bag in the overhead, and being asked in response, “Are we going to have a problem?”

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