News and notes from around the interweb:
- Miami airport tried illegally diverting funds to pay for a rodeo and e-mails show administrators couldn’t get the money removed from the budget even though it was known to be a clear violation of federal grant assurances. (You can’t simultaneously take federal subsidies for the airport while moving funds out of the airport for other purposes.)
In the summer of 2024, a senior administrator at Miami International Airport discovered a surprise addition to the Miami-Dade Aviation Department’s promotional budget: a $100,000 allocation to a county rodeo that didn’t seem eligible for airport funding under federal aviation rules.
“We did not budget any funds for CountryFest,” Arlyn Rull Valenciaga, the Aviation Department’s chief of staff, wrote in a July 2024 email to the agency’s finance director. “I do not have an explanation as to how that made it to our budget, but do ask that it be removed.”
But county emails obtained through a Miami Herald records request show that removing CountryFest from the Aviation Department’s budget proved impossible for the airport staff last year.
- Air France has opened a new 5,000 square foot loNNunge in Chicago O’Hare’s Terminal 5. From Noon – 5 p.m. it’s a standard SkyTeam lounge (so primarily for Air France and KLM passengers) but before and after that it’s available via Priority Pass.
- TIL prices ending in .99 wasn’t originally to make things feel cheaper, it was to counteract employee theft.
It’s true. The original reason for ending prices in .99 was not psychological, it was to make sure employees weren't stealing… and it starts with the cash register itself:
In the 1870s, a saloon owner in Dayton was fed up with his bartenders pocketing cash and was desperate… https://t.co/UBPhhLELXT pic.twitter.com/AR6xS6tBMN
— Sheel Mohnot (@pitdesi) October 20, 2025
- The former Treasure Island and Margaritaville site on Grand Cayman’s Seven Mile beach will become a Hyatt Centric
Plans for a 10-storey, four-star hotel on West Bay Road have been approved by the planning board after developers modified their original proposals. The $120 million Hyatt Centric will be built on the site of the former Margaritaville resort, which is slated for demolition, and will have 316 bedrooms, a rooftop restaurant and a ground floor bar/restaurant, two pickleball courts, three pools and a pool bar.
- American Airlines has a new partnership to serve Bollinger champagne in lounges and onboard. However Singapore Airlines has added Bollinger La Grande Année as a third champagne option in first class (and Suites).
- FAA implements year-round flight restrictions over Mar-a-Lago, regardless of whether President Trump is there. Before he ran for President he filed a $100 million lawsuit complaining about aircraft noise there. Before he became President the first time, the FAA took away navigation points “DONLD” “TRMMP” and “UFIRD” named for him (though left “IVNKA ONE” intact at the time).
I guess taking the $100K and finally fixing the moving walkways would have been out of the question.
On the $100K at MIA: Well, Gary, it’s small change, in the relative scheme of things, but that does seem like ‘waste, fraud, and abuse,’ no? But, I see ‘2024’ and ‘federal’ grant, so we must blame the ‘AutoPen,’ right? I’d imagine this was someone’s pet project, and likely rewarded an insider. I don’t care which ‘team’ you’re on, corruption, local, state, national, international, isn’t great, either way.
On AF at ORD: Glad to see more US-based AF lounges; they’re excellent. SFO and LAX are excellent. Looking forward to whatever AF pulls off at the new JFK T1, whenever if eventually opens.
On the FAA with Mar-a-Lago, while I understand it for when He is literally there, but, otherwise, isn’t that a bit much, and also, kinda an abuse of power to force this change… and Carter had to sell his peanut farm. *sigh*
Miami Airport is run by banana republic leadership. Fraud, Waste, and Abuse rule the day at Aeropuerto Republica de Miami. I know it well.