News and notes from around the interweb:
- Do you remember paying international departure taxes at the airport, when you’d go through immigration on the way out of a country? For the most part all taxes are now collected with tickets, and airlines remit them to the relevant governments. This makes things much easier. Yet the US government has been studying setting up kiosks and websites to collect airport fees separate from tickets. They needed a study to understand this is a bad idea, as if in-airport and ticket-buying experience isn’t cumbersome enough for the median traveler.
- Flyers on Skyteam member China Eastern opened the emergency exits when frustrated by a delay. Again. This is apparently becoming ‘a thing’ in China.
- 20% off United economy awards to Hong Kong booked by February 1 for travel between March 2 and April 20.
- How to claim a refund on the UK departure tax for children ages 2-12 flying economy.
- 500 free Lufthansa Miles & More miles for subscribing to newsletter (HT: Mile Nerd)
- European leaders are arguing that the Charlie Hebdo attack justifies “a comprehensive EU-wide mandate for surveillance and profiling of airline passengers”
- Jimmy Carter flies coach. In my experience so does Harry Reid, while Hillary Clinton does not.
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aargh … yes. remember having to pay NZ outbound fee at the airport. Many of us stuck in a long queue. Horribly inefficient, for not so much $$.
For the record, if you click through, it turns out Mr. Carter was in fact in F. He just walked through the plane to shake hands with everyone, likely as a kind of apology. (I don’t know what it’s like to fly on a plane with Secret Service protection, but I’m guessing it involves some disruption for the regular passengers.)
Since nearly all US politicians are rich, flying coach is simply some combination of pandering and penny-pinching. I don’t find it admirable and it seems like only politicians who are worried about getting re=elected do it.
What a horrible idea (an extra step to pay departure taxes at airports)! Thank goodness that’s bundled into the costs of tickets in any reasonable country. Like we need one more queue, one more hassle, one more opportunity to figure out how to make payments, one more delay, one more receipt to keep track of. I travel internationally several times a year and haven’t had such an experience for a long time.
Not all politicians are rich, and to stay in touch with their districts many fly back home just about every weekend (or their next opponent will hold it against them in the next election if they don’t). Most fly coach most of the time, though probably not those few with Secret Service protection.
Thanks for the 500 Miles & More point offer!
I don’t think the issue is who flies first vs coach. It’s who flies commercial or not. I have no idea but I don’t think I’ll see any of the Bush former First Ladies flying commercial.