Bernie Sanders Caught Flying First Class

Feb 14 2020

When Bernie Sanders was running for the Democratic nomination in 2016 he charted a Boeing 767 to meet the Pope. Dinner included herb crusted lamb and fine cheeses along with lobster sliders midflight. While the democratic socialist does fly coach, even North Korea’s Air Koryo has a business class.

Senator Sanders, who honeymooned in the Soviet Union, looked sheepish flying first class on an American Airlines Embraer ERJ-175 regional jet.

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Why Alaska Airlines Will Devalue Mileage Plan As Part Of Joining oneworld

alaska airlines plane
Feb 14 2020

American Airlines had been winding down its partnership with Alaska Airlines. American viewed Alaska Airlines as a competitor once Alaska acquired Virgin America. They emphasized the substantial route overlap rather than the unique contributions of each airline.

Now they’ve done a 180 degree turn. But for this to work for American, can Alaska have such a generous frequent flyer program?

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Delta Claims They’ll Be Carbon Neutral Starting Next Month, And I’m… Skeptical

delta plane
Feb 14 2020

Ultimately this is long on narrative, and in the near-term relies mostly on buying carbon offsets which are questionable in effectiveness and limited in supply (if every company wanted to fully offset there wouldn’t be nearly enough opportunity to go around, so Delta is in some sense just bidding up the price of offsets that will be taking place anyway).

Noble goals, and surely they’ll make progress towards those goals, but the claim that they’ll be a carbon neutral airline next month is dubious to say the least.

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New American Airlines Video Claims Cramming More Seats Into Planes Is ‘Amazing’ For Passengers

Feb 13 2020

American Airlines has a new internal video for employees explaining that cramming more seats onto planes is good for business and good for customers too. Vasu Raja, the airline’s Senior Vice President of Network Strategy, says that densifying “both for our customers, for our team, and for the future of american airlines that’s an amazing thing.”

There are four basic arguments American makes. I don’t think they hold up well to scrutiny.

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