General

Category Archives for General.

Asiana is Suffering Delays and Taking Off Without Meals – Even On 12 Hour Flights

by Gary Leff on July 3, 2018

Jul 03 2018

Star Alliance member Asiana is suffering widespread delays for catering and many flights are leaving without meals at all, even on trips as long as twelve hours.

Reportedly on Sunday “51 flights departed behind schedule and 38 left the airport without meals to feed passengers.” Then on Monday “18 out of 75 international flights operated by the carrier were delayed more than an hour and 16 short-haul flights to Japan and China even departed from the Incheon International Airport without in-flight meals.”

New American Airlines 5000 Mile Promotion and a Bonus for Overachieving Top Tier Elites

by Gary Leff on June 28, 2018

Jun 28 2018

American Airlines has redesigned the look of the AAdvantage website account page which may presage more targeted promotions. There are two new promotions announced to start.

Award Alert: Redeem For a Family of 5 in Etihad’s First Apartment

by Gary Leff on June 17, 2018

Jun 17 2018

Etihad is dropping one of its two New York JFK – Abu Dhabi Airbus A380 flights, and putting the A380 on Paris – Abu Dhabi. That means there will be two daily Paris – Abu Dhabi flights with the A380.

The Etihad A380 features the ‘First Apartment’ — one of the three best first class products in the sky. There’s a separate bed and seat, and living space which was unprecedented when the product was introduced. In addition it’s only one of two first class products with a shower onboard.

Report: Sick Passengers Refused Water, Threatened With Arrest During 4 Hour Delay on Singapore Flight

by Gary Leff on June 16, 2018

Jun 16 2018

On Friday’s Singapore Airlines flight SQ516 from Singapore to Kolkata, India was delayed four hours due to non-working air conditioning onboard. But apparently crew didn’t keep passengers informed about what was wrong or what it looked like to fix the aircraft.

There weren’t any refreshments served during the delay that stretched as long as the block time for this four-times weekly Airbus A330. Allegedly sick passengers were refused water.

Bizarre Devaluations: 7-11 Guts Its Points Program

by Gary Leff on June 14, 2018

Jun 14 2018

I admit I didn’t even know that 7-11 had a rewards program, which is good because if I did I might have been invested in the program and now I’d be really disappointed.

FAA Safety Inspectors Improperly Allowed Aircraft to Fly

by Gary Leff on June 13, 2018

Jun 13 2018

The Office of Special Counsel today wrote to the President and Congress to reveal that “safety inspectors at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) have improperly approved aircraft for commercial operations without first reviewing critical safety information that in some cases would have prohibited their operation.”

That sounds pretty scary and this is going to get some coverage but it turns out that most of the issues didn’t actually involve safety issues. They included things like expired registrations. And the majority dealt with small charter aircraft.

REPORT: American Considering Non-Stop Service to Dubrovnik

by Gary Leff on June 12, 2018

Jun 12 2018

American Airlines is reportedly looking at seasonal Philadelphia – Dubrovnik service.

Authorities in Dubvrovnik have been looking for twice weekly year-round service from New York. There’s a large Croatian population in New York, and an even bigger one in Pittsburgh.

In the Mideast VIP Passengers Get Escalators Brought Up to the Plane

by Gary Leff on June 11, 2018

Jun 11 2018

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum of Dubai arrived in Saudi Arabia with plans to discuss an aid package for Jordan. He made a roughly 1000 mile journey.

And like the King of Saudi Arabia, he used an escalator for getting on and off the aircraft.

Sprint Unlimited Data, Talk, and Text for $15/Month With Global Roaming

by Gary Leff on June 8, 2018

Jun 08 2018

One of the most brilliant marketing plays I’ve seen in a long time was Sprint building an ad campaign around bringing on the actor from Verizon’s ‘Can You Hear Me Now?’ commercials?

Sprint is offering what looks like an amazing deal. New customers who port their number over from another carrier get unlimited data, talk and text for $15 per line per month. This even includes international roaming.

How Just a Few Bad Employees Can Undermine $3 Billion Invested in Airline Product