News and notes from around the interweb:
- Alaska Airlines 75K and 100K elites have been sent their international upgrade certificates for use on American Airlines but they have to be used for travel by December 31 – and expect to waitlist, because American is not good about releasing confirmable space in advance.
- Sodexo will cater U.S. British Airways lounges. They recently took over catering Virgin Atlantic lounges. Quality will depend primarily on how much BA is willing to spend here but in general I don’t see Sodexo transitions as a promising sign. The first sentence of the press release uses the word ‘enhance’ which every frequent flyer knows to be scared of. Nonetheless I’ll look forward to trying it and experiencing first hand.
- 4th Circuit rules that TSA checkpoint staff can be held liable for assault. The position of the TSA was, essentially, that their employees have absolute immunity from suit even if they rape a passenger.
- Up to 4,000 bonus Aeroplan miles for travel between the U.S. and Canada 2000 for coach, 4000 for premium economy and business. Book by May 2 for travel April 18 – December 16, 2023, registration required.
- The origin of American Eagle regional flights.
- Airbnb isn’t great for hosts either (note this one’s mistaken belief that being bad for hosts means being great for guests).
You might be wondering what airbnb hosts deal with as it relates to unsavory guests — after-all we hear so much about ‘bad hosts’ (hidden cameras, cleaning fees, checkout /cleaning requirements, etc) but the flip side is nonsense like this;
Guests who don’t have their ‘demands’… pic.twitter.com/HNR0Ye5Dtl
— Ryan Danz (@RyanDanz) April 18, 2023
I have yet to see an improvement in catering unless the airline in question is moving to Do&Co.
Is there any example of Sodexo delivering quality catering at an airline?
Surely, we’ve all seen those signs at the checkpoint warning us how assaulting (even verbally) a TSA Officer will be heavily prosecuted. I’m all in favor of that, let’s be clear, verbal assault should never be tolerated. What amuses me is that TSA Officers assault passengers far more often than the other way around. Good on the 4th Circuit for putting TSA in its place.
lol this guy made guests stay 25 nights after they requested to cancel and then got mad they used the amenities? Not reimbursing that host a dime is the one thing Airbnb has gotten right in a long time.
@TD:
> lol this guy made guests stay 25 nights after they requested to cancel and then got mad they used the amenities? Not reimbursing that host a dime is the one thing Airbnb has gotten right in a long time.
It’s not that they used the amenities, it’s that they deliberately ran up the utility bill because they were mad about not being able to cancel a reservation which had a no-refund policy. I don’t see that the host did anything remotely wrong.
Sodexo runs the Centurion lounges, which have superb food/bev, too. It’s not an issue of Sodexo taking over, and more an issue of how much cash British/Virgin is letting Sodexo use.
Sodexo = prisons. Which is appropriate.
Sodexo (formerly Sodexho) caters food to a lot of different entities — including prisons, schools, office canteens/cafeterias, etc — and their drive to squeeze increasing profits year over year from their contracting customers reluctant to increase their own costs year over year means that quality and quantity/value of the product and service that Sodexo provide tend to get worse and worse over time.
Sodexho Marriott was rather notorious for this kind of thing. Sodexo is not anymore geared than Marriott to provide customers more value for the money paid in an environment where competition just isn’t what it used to be and contracting companies are either too lazy or cost-conscious to want to avoid concentrating the catering relationships into the fewest contracted partners over the most locations.
As a matter of corporate values, Sodexo does not serve prisons in any country that has capital punishment. Thus, they do not serve prisons in the U.S. Aramark and Compass, however, do.
Switching topics….spent many an hour flying on Swearingen Metros up and down the West Coast on Wings West. A little loud, but really felt like flying. Lower altitudes offered great views too! That picture brought back memories.
Food for BA Club World flyers has been pretty good at the IAD lounge, better, in my opinion, than the Virgin Atlantic lounge. I hope it doesn’t suffer.
Sodexo even operated at least several dozen prisons in at least several countries.
Aren’t they still big in the UK and Chilean prisons?
@GUWonder – those countries do not have the Death Penalty. Additionally, in the UK for example, “prisons” are more like rehabilitation centers. Our notion of Prisons here in the U.S. is an outlier for any non-fascist developed nation. Not getting political…just stating a fact.