Two Airports Are Up For the Best Public Restroom in America Award

by Gary Leff

seatac restroom
Aug 11 2019

You’d never expect a U.S. airport to be nominated for the country’s best public restroom. At Dallas Fort-Worth, for instance, when they renovated the A terminal they didn’t even refresh the bathrooms and when they re-do terminal C they’ve scaled back the budget so there’s no money to do the restrooms there, either.

However a new restroom in Seattle’s North Satellite terminal is a finalist for American’s best. And so is a restroom in the refreshed New York LaGuardia Terminal B. Say what?

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United Passenger Recorded People in the Lavatory, How He Was Caught Proves He’s a Moron

by Gary Leff

united-planes-runway
Aug 11 2019

A Halliburton employee has been charged with “video voyeurism within the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States.” How he was caught is incredible. He inadvertently taped himself installing the recording device in the lavatory. United “watched the footage and saw a man installing the device in the bathroom in first class on that same flight.” That’s pretty good evidence.

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What are the Best – and Most Garbage – Airports in the U.S.?

by Gary Leff

airport
Aug 10 2019

The best airports are the ones get are easiest to get to and get through. They make your travel more efficient, rather than adding to an already cumbersome and stressful experience. That has little to do with how much high-end retail there is (airports offer expensive shopping for their benefit, not for yours).

That means the best airports are close-in, and once you get there security is near the entrance and gates are near security. There’s enough taxiway space and runway capacity to handle flights, too, minimizing delays.

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Do Coach Passengers Suffer Because First Class is Getting Worse?

by Gary Leff

Aug 10 2019

Christopher Elliott bends himself into a pretzel to support whatever new narrative produces a pro-consumer, anti-business, populist column. He used to argue that coach passengers were subsidizing first class. He used to argue that loyalty programs are bad for you and should be avoided and also that the existence of first class was an affront to democracy.

Elliott seems to forget which direction traffic flowed over the Berlin Wall, and indeed not to realize that even North Korea’s Air Koryo and Cuba’s Cubana de Aviacion offer business class.

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Mainland China Retaliates Against Cathay Pacific Over Hong Kong Protests

by Gary Leff

cathay pacific plane
Aug 09 2019

A requirement to avoid Chinese airspace for Cathay Pacific would add time and fuel expense to flights. The airline might choose to exert pressure on employees not to protest and even express support for protests in social media or be penalized by being unable to work.

Meanwhile Chinese media is reporting on state-owned enterprises instructing employees not to fly Cathay Pacific when other airline flights are available.

This is an attack on Cathay Pacific. It’s also an effort to leverage Cathay Pacific’s influence over its employees. And it’s a demonstration of the ability of mainland China to punish Hong Kong companies and workers for defiance.

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