General

Category Archives for General.

Boeing Replaced the Export-Import Bank With Its Own Financing, Now It’s Being Sued

airplane in hangar
Sep 16 2018

It turns out that aircraft financing isn’t very risky, and Boeing created their own private sector replacement for the Export-Import Bank and made money doing so.

This new lawsuit alleges that Boeing violated contracts with another company that Boeing built out the structure to do this with years earlier – a private sector bet that involved Ex-Im staff.

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San Francisco Centurion Lounge: Departing Passengers Only, No More Than 3 Hours Before Flight

outside lounge
Sep 14 2018

Ultimately there are too many people who have been eligible to use the lounges, who have wanted to use the lounges, relative to the size of the lounges. There’s only so much they can do to expand capacity in the airports they work in (and larger lounges are going to attract more people who still stay longer, since currently some people – like me – often stay away precisely due to the crowding).

It is simply difficult to offer a quality lounge product which includes a peaceful, quiet experience for the number of people who have access through Platinum American Express cards.

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Most Star Alliance Airlines Again Bookable Using Aeroplan Miles

Sep 12 2018

Aeroplan has been unable to book award travel on several Star Alliance airlines since late August. I reached out to them to see what was going on and they assured me that the issue was a technical problem, that they were working on it, and that they wanted to get it fixed quickly.

However Aeroplan seemed confident that wouldn’t be the case here. I wanted to see the proof that this would be fixed quickly, rather than taking them at their word. It turns out that they fixed it quickly (mostly).

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Uber Starts Kicking Passengers Off the Platform for Low Ratings

person holding phone near steering wheel
Sep 09 2018

Uber ousted their controversial founder as CEO and brought in the head of Expedia, which alone should have told you consumers wouldn’t be better off.

He’s been on a mission of appeasement, apologizing to governments and drivers. Last year they started letting drivers leave feedback on customers. Now your low rating can get you banned from Uber entirely. in some countries

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Customers Who Have Booked on the British Airways Website Just Had Their Payment Details Stolen

british airways plane
Sep 06 2018

British Airways issued a press release saying that the “personal and financial details” of customers that have used its website and mobile app to book travel have been stolen, but that this does not include travel details (itineraries) or passport information. This all happened late Wednesday night London time, From 22:58 BST August 21 2018 until 21:45 BST September 5 2018 inclusive, the personal and financial details of customers making bookings on ba.com and the airline’s app were compromised. The breach has been resolved and our website is working normally. They say they’re reaching out to customers they believe have been affected, but that anyone worried about it should “contact their banks or credit card providers” and do whatever those companies suggest. In other words they have no suggestions and aren’t funding options at this…

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Media Mogul and Hotel Owner Denied Check-in Because He Wouldn’t Take Off Prescription Sunglasses

outside resort
Sep 06 2018

Robert L. Johnson is best known for founding BET, Black Entertainment Television in 1979 and selling it to Viacom for $3 billion in 2000. He serves on boards like Lowe’s, the NBA Board of Governors, the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History and Culture and is a past board member of Hilton Hotels, General Mills, and the United Negro College Fund.

He’s an accomplished man, he’s well traveled, and he owns hotels — his RLJ Lodging Trust owns about 150 of them. So he’s certainly used to checking into hotels. But not this one.

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Coca Cola is Buying Costa Coffee for $5 Billion – and That Means a Lot More Premier Inns

costa coffee
Aug 31 2018

Costa Coffee is a UK coffee shop chain, with over 2100 locations in there and over 1200 internationally about a third of which are in China. They began expanding outside the UK 20 years ago, with their first international location in Dubai which probably explains why I know them mostly from the Mideast.

The company that owns Costa Coffee also owns Premier Inns. I never realized the connection though it makes sense why I’ve always gotten my morning coffee from a Costa when staying at a Premier Inn.

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How John McCain Supported America West and Ultimately Helped Put Doug Parker in Charge at American

map of usa
Aug 28 2018

Senator McCain wanted to eliminate the perimeter rule at Washington National airport, but maintained that if that wasn’t politically feasible he wanted airlines based outside the 1250 mile perimeter to have access to Washington National airport. This meant America West getting a Phoenix – Washington National non-stop.

McCain also supported the Air Transportation Safety and System Stabilization Act which handed out airline subsidies after 9/11 to America West Airlines, US Airways, American Trans Air, Aloha Airlines, Frontier Airlines, Evergreen International Airlines, and World Airways.

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The Capital of a Small European Nation Figured Out How to Get The World Talking About a Visit

lets your build your pleasure map
Aug 27 2018

They call themselves the ‘g spot’ of Europe, “nobody knows where it is but when you find it, it’s amazing.”

Their quiz actually made me blush a little. Their things to do – like the National Gallery of Art – are described as “pleasure spots.”

Truth is though that while this isn’t likely to directly cause people to visit, it is likely to raise awareness for Vilnius, Lithuania.

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