General

Category Archives for General.

Spray Painting 10 Cadillacs Half-Buried Nose First Into the Ground

by Gary Leff on October 7, 2018

Oct 07 2018

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 Erases Israel From Its Moving Map In Order to “Remain Neutral”

by Gary Leff on October 5, 2018

Oct 05 2018

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The destination Tel Aviv is listed, but where it would go on the map has been replaced by the name of a town that was abandoned 70 years ago.

Breaking: Video as 2 Planes Collide on Runway in Sudan

by Gary Leff on October 3, 2018

Oct 03 2018

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.

Basic Economy: 73.6% of Statistics are Made Up

by Gary Leff on September 29, 2018

Sep 29 2018

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.”

Sandwich Chain Didn’t Mind Rewards Members Hacking Their Program. Now They’re Out of Business

by Gary Leff on September 26, 2018

Sep 26 2018

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.”

New Law Will Require Seat Size Regulations — But Won’t Make You One Bit More Comfortable

by Gary Leff on September 24, 2018

Sep 24 2018

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.

8 Things Congress Will Change This Week About Air Travel

by Gary Leff on September 23, 2018

Sep 23 2018

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.

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

by Gary Leff on September 16, 2018

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.

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

by Gary Leff on September 14, 2018

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.

Most Star Alliance Airlines Again Bookable Using Aeroplan Miles

by Gary Leff on September 12, 2018

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).