News and notes from around the interweb:
- This is why elite status is worth so much less – airlines sell upgrades for $26 instead of leaving space left for status members. Delta is probably most aggressive at the lowest price point. And that surely costs the airlines more than the incremental revenue from ‘selling’ these seats.
These are the $26 upgrades to first class they’ve been talking about
byu/Remote-Employee2719 indelta - I hate this with the burning fury of a thousand suns.
#unitedairlines @united Gate crew Jax to IAD “Flight crew let us know all overhead space taken. You have to gate check” even though we have a tight connection. This is what we find on the plane. Liars pic.twitter.com/Nvzs21hxh5
— Robert Perry (@perryrob) November 22, 2025
- Look, I get it – more than most. I’m an old line civil libertarian. I hate the way our right to travel has been burdened and that we’ve just accepted it. But I’ve explained why I signed up for Global Entry way back when… Long before Snowden I’d written that the government was storing all cell phone geolocation data in Utah data centers (which readers thought made me a conspiracy theorist but turned out to be 100% true). I figured if they’ve got all my data I might as well get through airports faster…
I am once again back to bitch about how horrific TSA and American air travel is.
After I turned down facial recognition, the TSA agent couldn’t “verify” my REAL ID (that I waited 3 hours at the DMV to get) because his computer was glitching and wouldn’t recognize it.
It has… pic.twitter.com/qx3H2PkKg9
— Savanah Hernandez (@Savsays) November 23, 2025
- If your job is to drive cars, maybe learn how to drive cars? I bought a manual when I was 18, and learned by driving it off the lot. It really isn’t hard.
This valet does not accept manual cars
byu/Maleficent_Ferret359 inmildlyinteresting - Air Canada flight attendant wears pin calling for genocide against Jews in Israel, a picture of Israel in all Palistinian colors with the Al-Aqsa Mosque in the center. This violates the airline’s uniform rules (and this person is an appalling human being).
- Washington Post calls for spinning off air traffic control. Having the FAA regulate itself is a disaster. Tying funding to congressional appropriations cycles is a terrible way to do major technology investment, and the FAA itself has been terrible at managing projects. Airlines and private jets should pay for use. This is a total no-brainer.
Delta selling upgrades is great for those who stopped chasing miles and are now free agents. Being high level elite now means that I have been a sucker.
I am now a free agent except have slight loyalty to one airline.
Learning to drive stick where it’s flat is relatively easy. In hilly areas – that’s a different story.
It’s a skill that is becoming less and less relevant, though, even in Europe.
A pin showing Israel with a different flag/religion is genocide but actual genocide is not genocide. Got it.