A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
If you choose the salad, here’s a sample of the chicken as seen on American Airlines flight AA644, the 1 p.m. departure from Charlotte to Austin on Friday.
Perhaps this is the reason airline President Robert Isom says their caterers have “gotten a little bit lazy in terms of what they can provide us.” Unfortunately it doesn’t seem he’s done enough about it.
American Airlines grounded 14 Boeing 737-800s. These are planes that have undergone the ‘Oasis’ modification – to replace interiors with more seats; less comfortable seats; less distance between seats; less recline; no seat back video; and smaller lavatories plus bigger overhead bins.
All of the planes were modified by the same vendor, Aviation Technical Services. There were several problems identified with some aircraft including the way that overhead bins attached to the aircraft, and how wiring was done that raises potential safety concerns.
Americans will be required to get an ‘ETIAS’ (European Travel Information and Authorization System) in order to travel to Europe, which is essentially what the US requires of Europeans (an ‘ESTA’). It’s advance permission to travel.
Of course the game of tit-for-tat is far from over. Two years ago the US Secretary of Homeland Security said he wanted to revisit allowing Europeans to travel to the US with ‘only’ an ESTA. By the way the number of people killed by terrorists who entered the U.S. under the Visa Waiver Program is zero.
A four month old Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737-8 MAX lost radar contact six minutes after departure at 8:44 a.m. local time. No survivors among the 149 passengers and 8 crew from flight ET302 from Addis Ababa to Nairobi have been found.
The one you may not have heard about is that a Laser Aereo Colombia Douglas DC-3 from San Jose del Guaviare to Villavicencio with 14 passengers on board declared an emergency at 10:40 a.m. local time on Saturday, and crashed into the ground bursting into flames.
For the very first time we’re seeing an airline taking a page from hotel ‘Make a Green Choice’ programs, letting you save them money on inflight meals and giving you miles in the process — and pretending it’s all about the environment.
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
United Airlines employees may be known for a chain of events that led to the David Dao beating, for shoving an elderly man to the ground and threatening to steal his miles if he complained, and for killing a dog.
But abusing travel benefits? That’s a step too far.
Two years ago a Qantas flight attendant was awarded six months’ pay after being fired for stealing alcohol and lying about it. He claimed the beer in his jacket and vodka in his pants got there by mistake. He “inadvertently pocketed the beer and vodka while serving passengers.” And while he really had no idea, “the gin might have come from a hotel mini bar.”
So what does it take to lose an appeal to Australia’s Fair Work Commission?
Priority Pass has a create new lounge option — access to Gameway locations which are available at the Dallas Fort-Worth airport (with plans to expand to other airports, hopefully they’ll be part of Priority Pass too).
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
