Category Archives for Commentary.
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.
There are any number of ethical choices we all make on a daily basis. I don’t have a staff to bounce things off of, no editor, I’m just me and I do the best that I can to write content that interests me (the only way I could possibly still be doing this after 17 years) and hopefully engaging content and do it in a way that let’s me sleep well at night.
That doesn’t make me any more ethical than anyone else, and I’m sure readers will find fault with plenty of things I write, but here’s how I generally think about the blog.
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.
The city you’re flying from (Los Angeles, Chicago, New York), your clothing (a hoodie), and even eagerness to get your bags at baggage claim are suspicious and can get you stopped. So can looking like someone with those characteristics that the police notice while following someone else. You’d be surprised how often you’re being watched at the airport, and that the government can stop you — and take your stuff.
Last year it was revealed that the TSA was assigning agents to follow ordinary Americans and record their behavior. That behavior was exposed and shamed, both because it was creepy and for no legitimate purpose. But creepy violations of civil liberties don’t just stem from the war on terror, they’re still a feature of the war on drugs as well.
Jomaica Alfiler is looking for the man she sat next to on a Lufthansa Frankfurt – Seattle flight.
She was in window seat 43A on flight LH490. He “sat in 43B, helped her with her luggage, her seat and even offered her his blanket.”
Buffett got back into airline investing two years ago, not quite convinced that major carriers had become ‘high quality industrials’ as Delta likes to argue just that the business is better than it used to be. Berkshire Hathaway promptly lost over a billion dollars on these investments.
Nonetheless a month ago there were rumors he was going to buy Southwest Airlines in its entirety and that drove up the airline’s share price.
On the rare occasion I’m in a restaurant and order a Coke I think I share the same reaction as much of the rest of the world when the server says, “We have Pepsi, is that alright?”
I sort of feel for the woman that was just banned from ever flying TAP Air Portugal again. She wanted what she wanted.
Right on the heels of a passenger claiming he needed to fly naked because clothes affect his ‘agility’ and thus his ability to fly, a naked male passenger was detained at Chicago O’Hare after running around outside on the tarmac.
For reasons I’ve never quite been able to fathom there’s a long history of naked passengers in airports. And yet Naked-Air somehow didn’t succeed.
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.
There’s something about a plane, or maybe it’s being away from home, that gives people license to do something they wouldn’t otherwise do in semi-public. And they can escape their usual inhibitions and talk up strangers thinking something might come of it.
However in the air, just like on the ground, giving attention to fellow passengers may be unwanted. I remember talking to a co-worker years ago about the number of times she noticed married men on planes taking off their wedding rings when they sat down next to her. She avoided Southwest Airlines because of their open seating policy, a virtual invitation for men to choose the seat beside her and make unwanted advances.
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 »
