Category Archives for Passengers.
A passenger got stuck inside the lavatory of a Boeing 737. Unable to get out for over an hour, crew tried to assist, but they couldn’t get him free. Instead, they passed him a note that sealed his fate: “Sir, we tried.”
Most of our communication is nonverbal. It’s not just what we say, or even how we say it, but how we look and what we project while saying it.
There are some people who swear by red ties for men, conveying passion, dominance, authority, and strength. They’re “power ties.” But does wearing red improve your travel game? Will it help you breeze through security, get an upgrade, and get dates?
A flight from Beijing to Chengdu was delayed by three hours as a passenger demanded an upgrade. He’d purchased two business class seats and one in economy for his family, and believed he was entitled to a free upgrade once on board.
If you’re a drug smuggler you’re in a big money business. Checked bag fees shouldn’t be a binding constraint. And buying business class, which comes with more checked bags, is almost always more expensive than paying checked bag fees.
So when drug smugglers and their money launderers are said to be buying business class tickets for the greater checked bag allowance it sounds like the travel management challenges at any big company, where employees are looking for greater comfort and justifying it based on the needs of the business. Drug lords have travel policies, too, and their mules have to try to stay in scope!
Four Delta Air Lines passengers were removed from a flight in Minneapolis on January 8 because a flight attendant determined it was suspicious that they were Palestinian Americans. They were taken off of the plane on arrival and questioned for an hour before being released. Two of the passengers missed their connecting flights. Apparently they were guilty of “speaking in Arabic and English and wearing Palestine necklaces.”
A woman had her hair draped over her seat back, so that it covered the entertainment screen behind her. The man’s daughter, seated behind her, couldn’t watch her inflight TV. The dad got creepy on board the flight home from Mexico to put the female passenger in her place, and I’m trying to decide whether it was a genius move or crossed a line.
On Tuesday a Delta Air Lines passenger was arrested in Austin “for allegedly making a terroristic threat.”
The man was onboard a flight headed for Atlanta. A flight attendant “asked him to move his briefcase,” and she reported to the captain that he said the briefcase might contain one of three things: “money, a bomb or a gun.”
The announcement that overhead bins were full, and everyone still remaining to board would have to gate check their carry on bags, came at the worst possible moment for one American Airlines passenger. She was carrying her mother’s ashes.
When she explained that to the gate agent, she says she was told to “take them out of the bag and hold them.” She doesn’t share whether her own reaction to this was intemperate, but says that she was “yelled at” and threated with arrest.
Over the summer a woman noticed the guy seated in front of her and ‘took her shot’ writing her number on a Southwest Airlines napkin and passing it to him, suggesting he text her if he is single and interested.
She followed up on social media to let everyone know how it worked out.
A passenger boarded a redeye flight, and spent 6 hours with their flashing rainbow charging cable plugged into their coach seat while passengers around them filmed because it was too bright for them to sleep.
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 »
