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.
The saga of a man on a Paris – Los Angeles flight coming out of the coach restroom in his boxer shorts and spending the flight just letting it all hang out was chronicled on twitter yesterday.
There are a couple of things that make this story even more bizarre. Somehow a ukulele is involved. And flight attendants refused to ask him to put clothes on. Even when he got cold he left his pants off, but put on a puffy jacket.
American’s Next Top Model winner Nyle DiMarco claims United Airlines had a wheelchair meet him on arrival because he’s deaf, as though that means he’s unable to walk through the airport on his own. The man also won Dancing With the Stars.
Oddly this keeps happening to DiMarco and he can’t strictly speaking just blame United here. In December he made news when Delta did the same thing. Which suggests to me the airline isn’t likely the one deciding on their own to assist him with a wheelchair.
A baby was born on board JetBlue’s 10 p.m. San Juan – For Lauderdale flight Saturday night. Flight 1954 was operated by an Airbus A320, registration N523JB, which is named “Born to Be Blue.” And so that happened.
The airline suggests this is the first time a baby was born on one of their flights, and they’re promising gifts (including re-naming the plane for the child).
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.
A 32 year old woman had boarded JetBlue’s Fort Lauderdale – Las Vegas flight 7 on Wednesday when she discovered she was seated next to a child and — according to the arrest report — declared this wasn’t going to ‘expletive’ work because she’s been drinking all day. Things went downhill from there.
Two British Airways flights were cancelled at the same time on St. Lucia. Crew were sent to hotels. Some passengers were sent to what could technically be called hotels, while others were left overnight at the airport without information or assistance. British Airways apparently even sent several passengers to a brothel for the night.
The passengers sent to the brothel were presumably offered additional premium services for an upcharge. The increasingly ancillary fee-minded British Airways may get new ideas to bring home to London Heathrow, already one of the most commercialized airports in the world.
Coming back into the US frequent flyers know the drill. We clear immigration, pick up our checked bags and walk them through customs, and drop them back off if we’re connecting. Don’t take photos. You -have very few rights here.
But did you know that most Americans can be stopped and questioned about their reasonable presence when they’re grocery shopping, going to the gym, or walking their dogs?
In December I wrote about a woman suing Hilton claiming a hotel employee videotaped her in the shower and used the photos to blackmail her.
Now there’s any case being reported at a resort in Cape Code.
Last week I covered attempts by new Air France KLM CEO Ben Smith to unify the two carriers and end KLM’s independence.
However KLM has been making money. Air France has not been. And the voting rights over KLM are not even majority held by Air France KLM…
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 »
