United’s Air Canada Award Availability Problem Fixed

by Gary Leff

lounge desk
Jun 02 2019

Last month I received several questions from readers about why United wasn’t showing award space on Air Canada that appeared to be available to every other Star Alliance partner?

If you called United and spoke to an agent they’d generally be able to ‘see’ the inventory (in other words, X and I buckets for economy and business appeared to have space) but they couldn’t book it. What’s more that’s at a time when Air Canada availability looked excellent when searching on other partner websites, like Singapore Airlines Krisflyer, even for tough-to-get flights like Vancouver – Sydney.

Continue Reading »

THAI Smile Joining Star Alliance as a Connecting Partner

by Gary Leff

plane with smile on it
Jun 01 2019

THAThai Airways has transferred a lot of its domestic and regional flying to THAI Smile, its lower cost subsidiary which operates 20 Airbus A320 aircraft. That makes award travel to many Thai cities problematic, because THAI Smile isn’t a Star Alliance member so miles from United, Aeroplan, LifeMiles and other Star programs don’t allow redemption on THAI Smile flights.

Thai Airways itself no longer operates any narrowbody aircraft.

Continue Reading »

Delta Trapped Flight Attendants on a Plane to Avoid Cancelling a Flight

by Gary Leff

delta plane
Jun 01 2019

Delta is known for their operational reliability. But the very true saying goes ‘you get what you measure’. Since Delta doesn’t want to cancel flights they will do take extreme steps to fudge the numbers. Sometimes instead of ‘cancelling’ a flight they’ll just ‘delay’ it a day.

On May 12, it seems, an employee in operations took the edict not to cancel flights too far. The Toronto flight faced a maintenance delay, and crew at the end of their duty delay. Flight attendants were reaching the point where they would have to volunteer to keep working or the flight wouldn’t leave.

Continue Reading »

Televangelist Finds Passengers Getting Dragged Down the Aisle Too Distracting, Has to Fly Private

by Gary Leff

airline cabin
Jun 01 2019

Kenneth Copeland’s ministry once disclosed that it owns at least 5 planes, including a Gulfstream V which was purchased from Tyler Perry. Copeland says the Lord speaks to him, and performs maintenance on his aircraft.

The minister has described flying commercial as getting in a long tube with a bunch of demons. Lisa Guerrero ambushed Copeland with a surprise interview for Inside Edition and asked him about that.

Continue Reading »

Rapper Banned From Cosmopolitan Las Vegas. He Blames Race, Hotel Basically Admits It, Apologizes

by Gary Leff

art installation
Jun 01 2019

Earlier in the week I wrote about rapper Meek Mill being denied entry to the Cosmopolitan hotel in Las Vegas. He claimed he hadn’t ever had any altercations at the property and that he’s only ever been there one time — “with Nicki Minaj for a Jay-Z event 5 years ago.”

The Philadelphia-born musician’s attorney sent a demand letter to the hotel which claimed “that the Cosmopolitan maintains a list of African American recording artists who should be denied access for no other reason than than their culture and skin color.” They asked only for an apology and access to the property.

Continue Reading »

Passengers Accidentally Skip Immigration at O’Hare, Government Tells Them No Worries Just Go Home

by Gary Leff

passport getting stamped
May 31 2019

Passengers off of flight AY9 “walked to an exit, and followed a TSA Agent through the door leading outside.” One passenger reports realizing the mistake and finding “he went to an agent in the Customs and Border Control (CBP) office [who] told him to not worry and “just go ahead.”

CBP blames Finnair because “it’s up to the airlines to make sure passengers go from an arrival gate to customs” while TSA “says it’s CBP’s responsibility.”

Continue Reading »