Category Archives for General.
Airline deregulation was opposed by nearly all US airlines in 1978. It was championed by Senator Ted Kennedy (and his aide now Justice Stephen Breyer) and by consumer advocate Ralph Nader and signed into law by Jimmy Carter.
Bob Crandall was against deregulation then, and he’s against it now in retirement. And he’s blaming it for cramped airline seating. He also calls codesharing a ‘fraud’ to fool people.
Corporate travel policies are becoming more generous allowing employees to fly in premium cabins.
There’s a tight labor market and companies don’t want to lose their best employees. The spread between business and coach and winnowed down. With more competition for premium cabin seats there are fewer upgrades available.
When an airline pays out compensation for a delay, and you’re traveling for work, are you really entitled to keep the money? Shouldn’t you turn it over to your employer?
Let’s assume your employer bought the ticket and both travel and the delay were during business hours. You’re getting paid, and your employer is the one suffering the loss (of your productivity).
In 1974 ten Cadillacs (models from 1949 through 1963) were buried nose first half way into the ground. The cars were placed in a wheat field Marsh owned, and then in 1997 moved two miles west to a pasture belonging to Marsh along side Interstate 40.
Unquestionably Cadillac Ranch is one of the better stops along one of the world’s great drives (“Or perhaps you don’t want to see the second largest ball of twine on the face of the earth who’s only four short hours away?”).
Swiss is under fire after its flight from Zurich to Tel Aviv on Thursday, September 27 displayed the name of a Palestinian Arab village which was abandoned in 1948 prior to the Arab-Israeli war in place of Tel Aviv on the aircraft’s ‘moving map’ display.
The destination Tel Aviv is listed, but where it would go on the map has been replaced by the name of a town that was abandoned 70 years ago.
Two Sudanese military jets collided on the runway 18 in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan.
Here’s video of the collision by these two Antonov aircraft.
Everyone believes basic economy works because airline executives keep repeating that it’s true. It was supposed to be a billion dollar idea and yet once implemented the revenue benefits don’t clearly materialize in the financials.
We keep hearing things like 50% of customers buy up to a higher fare, which strikes me as like “73.6% of all statistics are made up.”
Taylor Gourmet, which some may know from its outpost at Washington’s National airport, has gone out of business. The DCA outpost is the only remaining Taylor Gourmet spot this week.
You could spend $60 and get $250 in value out of their program. And they didn’t mind, saying “If people want to hack through and get cookies, that’s fine.”
Politicians are claiming this is going to be a boon for travelers. Florida Democrat Senator Bill Nelson declares “Relief could soon be on the way for weary airline passengers facing smaller and smaller seats.”
Nothing could be further from the truth. These regulations will either do nothing, or they’ll help protect the major US airlines from low cost carrier competition. They won’t help travelers.
In a move that should surprise absolutely no one the Fair Fees Act isn’t a part of FAA reauthorization that will be voted on this week.
The FAA reauthorization bill includes a number of provisions other than ‘Fair Fees’ that are worth noting.
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 »
