News and notes from around the interweb:
- The Associated Press‘s Ken Sweet covers the Chase Sapphire Reserve craze. I don’t have my own direct referral link for the card, I don’t get information from Chase on it (and they don’t review my content), but it’s pretty darned impressive.
“I have never seen such interest in a credit card, and I’ve been doing this for 15 years,” said Gary Leff, who runs the travel and points blog View From the Wing.
- A Canadian man will be permitted to pursue a complaint against Delta for discrimination against obese passengers although he concedes he wasn’t discriminated against himself and is not obese.
- Non-stop deals to Ireland and a fantastic PR pitch: Nearly every PR email I get is either totally off-topic or ham-fisted. So I was impressed when someone working for Aer Lingus reached out in response to the $350 roundtrip Delta fare I posted,
I know you just covered deals to Ireland, but all the Delta flights have a layover in NY, making your six-hour trip a ten-hour nightmare. Aer Lingus also has great deals to Dublin and Shannon and they fly you direct to the destination for just $499.
This offer is available for customers who book via Aerlingus.com by September 21 (7:00 PM ET) and travel between November 1, 2016 and March 31, 2017.
- Grasping at straws to improve it’s operation United’s CEO says the airline is preparing for bad weather based on the Farmer’s Almanac. Ruh roh.
In an interview with the public radio program “Marketplace,” Munoz said that airlines can’t control the weather but shouldn’t use it as an excuse. They must plan for surprises, he said.
“A very quick example,” Munoz told the interviewer. “Farmers’ Almanac is calling for a very nasty winter, particularly in Chicago, one of our main hubs. So as we speak, our operating team is hard at work as to how are we going to accommodate passengers.”
A spokesman said Wednesday that United doesn’t consult Farmers’ Almanac, but Munoz’s comment drew ridicule from those who regard the publication as less than scientific.
- JetBlue passenger set fire to blankets and a control panel on flight to Puerto Rico
- Here’s a video from the Associated Press of someone throwing their Chase Sapphire Reserve Card down on a table:
“Farmers’ Almanac”? Why not pyramids or crystals or entrails?
Christ, what a dumbass.
Farmers’ Almanac: when astrology just won’t cut it!
This guy is at the top of a company that operates almost a thousand planes.
How is that possible?
Chase refused my Reserve application and blamed it on the 5/24 rule. I went into a branch and spoke with a Private Client banker who told me Chase has taken away all ability for them to submit any additional information to try to approve the application. He called someone in card services, even gave his internal Chase number to the guy, but still no luck. I told him it was a shame that I’m probably 1 or 2 in the past 24 months of actual Chase card applications and that my AMEX apps were what was killing this…Chase’s policy is pushing business away from them. He agreed but said there was nothing else he could do. I’m surprised that Chase would check for across the board cards, I could understand if they wanted to limit how many other Chase cards customers had in their pockets. Their loss, I guess! Now to decide if I just try to upgrade my Sapphire Preferred card and give up the signup bonus…
I’m surprised that cigarette lighters have not been banned on flights. That situation could have gone from bad to worse to catastrophic in an instant. The guy that actually won the suit for discrimination even though he was not discriminated against is a bit strange. I can’t quite wrap my head around that one.