Commentary

Category Archives for Commentary.

Financial Analyst Asks American’s CEO: Maybe Your Revenue Lags Because Your Product is Poor?

by Gary Leff

Mar 05 2019

At the JP Morgan Aviation, Transportation, & Industrials Conference today JP Morgan’s Jamie Baker asked American Airlines CEO Doug Parker about the airline’s poor revenue performance compared to United and Delta.

He noted that Parker had promised that the airline’s new aircraft would help the carrier’s bottom line. In general newer aircraft are more fuel efficient and have lower maintenance costs, that’s good on the cost side, but these new planes were supposed to be more attractive to customers as well.

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Airline Pilot Used Fake License for 25 Years, Exposed After Taking ‘Strange Turns’ Over Swiss Alps

by Gary Leff

south african airways
Mar 03 2019

Star Alliance member and United Airlines partner South African Airways is promising to check the licenses of all of its pilots — and obtain copies from a government regulator instead of pilots just bringing in copies themselves — after discovering that one of their veteran long haul pilots had been using a forged license for 25 years.

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Passenger Charges Obese Seatmate $150 for Taking Up Too Much Space

by Gary Leff

Mar 03 2019

The passenger sharing the experience asked a flight attendant for help, but there were no empty seats on the flight. At this point the larger passenger is embarrassed, apologizing that he can’t just take a later flight. And the flight attendant “tells him that unless someone on the flight agrees to let him take up part of their seat, he’ll need to book another flight.”

That’s when our anti-hero proposes a Coasian bargain.

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Starbucks Rewards Planning to Devalue, Move Closer to Revenue-Based Redemption

by Gary Leff

starbucks coffee
Mar 03 2019

It’s only been three years since Starbucks devalued their rewards program by moving towards revenue-based points earning. Gone was the ability to get outsized value from the program, for instance, by ringing up each item you’re purchasing separately.

Now we know that Starbucks is going to devalue the program again by moving closer to revenue-based redemption. Word is that redemptions will work as follows:

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Rumor: American to Admit Defeat, Give Passengers More Space in Coach

by Gary Leff

Mar 02 2019

In late 2017 American Airlines rolled out a new coach product. It featured less space than ever between seats (not just in coach, but less space for extra legroom coach and even for first class). There was less recline, too, and no seat back video. They found space for more seats by squeezing inches out of the lavatories. And they found space by taking padding out of the seats.

Not only was this new interior what’s going into their new Boeing 737 MAX aircraft, but they’ve been taking more comfortable Boeing 737-800s and ripping out those interiors to match what I’ve sometimes called “Torquemada configuration.”

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Security State Run Amok: Government Distributes Terror Watch List to 1441 Private Organizations

by Gary Leff

Mar 02 2019

The US government maintains a “No Fly List” and airlines are required to check passengers against it before allowing them to fly. They maintain other lists that trigger increased security screening and potentially harassment.

The lists are pre-crime profiling. Not even based on science. And it’s also done very very poorly. People get on the list by mistake, because they’re related to someone who is on it, or because they visited the wrong country in the wrong year. .

These are secret lists that people haven’t been entitled to know they are on, how they got on, or to confront the evidence relied upon to put them on it. Legally there is very little recourse, and when challenged the government claims ‘state secrets.’

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If You Ask Marriott If Your Data Was Stolen, Plan to Wait a Month to Hear Back

by Gary Leff

robber being caught red handed
Mar 01 2019

I’ve continued pressing Marriott for a timeline, how long it will take customers who have submitted even more information to them to find out if their data was part of the breach? They’ve finally shared Thirty. Days. And that’s a ‘goal’. They want you to know they are not breaking the law (‘consistent with regulatory expectations’) which is apparently their standard for customer service.

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