New Policy: Federal Air Marshals Being Moved to the Back of the Plane Starting Friday

liam neeson on a plane
Dec 23 2018

Air marshals though are being moved towards the back of the plane where they can see all of the passengers in front of them, instead of having their back towards supposed threats. This new policy goes into effect December 28.

If nothing else they’ll occupy fewer of the premium seats in economy that airlines sell to passengers for an extra charge.

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No Daily Housekeeping and Linen Changes Every 4th Day at the Brand New Hyatt Regency Seattle

Dec 22 2018

Limited service hotels are a fast growing lodging segment. There’s no room service, for instance. Don’t expect a bellman or valet. Some ostensibly full service hotels are moving to become limited service, too.

The brand new Hyatt Regency Seattle opened December 10th. It’s across the street from the Hyatt Olive 8 and near the Grand Hyatt, and is the largest hotel in the Pacific Northwest with over 1200 rooms. And it does not provide daily housekeeping.

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A Sublime Experience at the New Dallas Fort-Worth Centurion Lounge

Dec 22 2018

Five years ago American Express opened their second Centurion lounge at the Dallas Fort-Worth airport. I was impressed. It was stylish. The food and drinks were good. There was even a spa.

It didn’t stay a secret for long and quickly eligible travelers began flocking to it and spending more time than anyone would have imagined, even factoring in knowing that people will spend more time than you expect in a lounge that’s actually nice.

A year ago American Express announced they were building a new Centurion lounge at DFW that’s about one-third larger than the old one.

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United’s New Bonus Plan for Employees Promises More, Will Deliver Less

united-plane
Dec 22 2018

In March United Airlines told employees that instead of receiving quarterly bonuses they would all be entered in a lottery if the airline met certain performance metrics. While individual employees could win a Cadillac Eldorado or a set of steak knives up to $100,000, most would get nothing.

There was tremendous backlash at the pay cuts, and the airline put off changes. They still planned to change their incentive structure but went on a listening tour to figure out how.

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If You Got a Year-End Email From American Airlines I Hope You Didn’t Share It to Social Media

american airlines planes
Dec 21 2018

Yesterday American Airlines sent end of year review emails. I wrote about how few miles I earned from flying 100,000 miles and how scarce complimentary upgrades have become for someone like me. The airline encouraged members to share their activity via social media, embedding links to do so.

Members who took them up on this also posted their frequent flyer number and e-mail address. Oops. American is now telling members they need to delete those posts and monitor their accounts in case all their miles are stolen.

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Could Norwegian Air Be Days Away From Collapse?

plane on runway
Dec 21 2018

A report from Denmark’s Danske Bank says that Norwegian Air, the largest of the transatlantic discounters, could breach conditions of its debt if it doesn’t raise fresh capital by the end of the year.

Low cost transatlantic competitors Wow Air is teetering, and Primera has gone out of business. Norwegian operates both long haul and within Europe and is struggling through the most challenging time of year for a carrier in this hemisphere. How that will change the airline going forward remains to be seen.

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