News and notes from around the interweb:

• Off-Duty Pilot Comes to the Rescue And Helps Land Boeing 737MAX After First Officer is Suddenly ‘Incapacitated’

  An off-duty pilot who just happened to be traveling as a passenger on a recent Westjet flight from Calgary to Vancouver came to the rescue and helped at the controls of the Boeing 737MAX when the First Officer was suddenly taken ill at the controls.

  Westjet flight WS129 departed Calgary at around 9:21 pm on December 4 for the short flight to Vancouver, according to the Canadian Transportation Safety Board (TSB), which has just published a brief report into the incident.

• Mandarin Oriental is closing May 31 – will be demolished and replaced by two towers – Mandarin Oriental, Miami and The Residences at Mandarin Oriental – in 2030 (if not delayed!).

• Heathen.

  TW (toe warning)
  byu/patdubek indelta

• The Airline Rewards Game Is Getting Tougher to Win: Once-simple programs have become convoluted shadow currencies for carriers like Delta, American and United, leaving loyal flyers working harder to land deals.

• It was striking to me that American didn’t do this during the lounge’s long closure, definitely overdue and appreciated, via GJG

  BIG improvement in CLT Admirals Club between C&D. They replaced the old scratched up door to the men’s room with a new wood version! Wow, will wonders never cease.

  

• As United’s Andrew Nocella puts it, you weren’t flying these routes to start with because they weren’t likely better than the ones you were flying that weren’t working…

  During the first half of 2024, Frontier Airlines launched around 110 new routes.

  With today's schedule extension, about 70 routes are not set to return next year (60%).

  Full list of routes not returning:
  • PHL-PIT/MSP/CMH/DTW/IND/MCI/MKE/PNS/STL/TYS/BUF/ORF
  •… pic.twitter.com/sMYHrIp2Um

  — Ishrion Aviation (@IshrionA) December 19, 2024