With nationwide sickouts approaching Miami levels, TSA is making a partial payroll payment and bonusing employees despite the government shutdown that would appear to the legality of doing so questionable.
Unscheduled sick leave hit 5.6% on Friday compared to a 3.3 percent who had unscheduled absences on Jan. 13, 2018.”
Over the last couple of years American Airlines has been aggressively adding seat power and satellite internet to their fleet. They’ve made a strategic decision not to offer seat back video on demand the way that Delta does. Since customers need to use their own devices for entertainment, they need to power those devices.
And with the mainline fleet well underway for these modifications, the airline is now in the process of add seat power to two-cabin regional jets — Embraer ERJ-175s, Bombardier CR7s and CR9s.
News and notes from around the interweb: Looks like all your can jet private flight app company JetSmarter is imploding. In the beginning they offered amazing deals (and burned tremendous cash). I only ever used them when they gave free trial memberships to customers with elite status and big mileage balances. The LAX Tom Bradley Terminal finally has PreCheck Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, on flying coach: When speaking to the Royal Aircraft Association back in 2002, Prince Philip commented on the British royal family’s air travel conditions. “If you travel as much as we do, you appreciate the improvements in aircraft design of less noise and more comfort,” he said, “provided you don’t travel in something called economy class, which sounds ghastly.” Pan Am 103: Robert Mueller’s 30 year search for justice bet you…
I always prefer an aisle seat but the person in the window gets to decide whether the shade is up or down. And more often than not shades should be closed.
Window shades as well as cabin lighting get adjusted for takeoff and landing for safety, to improve reaction time of both passengers and crew. And when you land in a hot city you’ll often be asked to close the window shades before getting off the aircraft, to keep the plane cool for the next flight. But what about when you’re in the air, mid-trip?
Air Zimbabwe is shutting down for several days because they have no aircraft suitable to operate.
On December 30 their Boeing 737-200 went out of service. It reportedly needs 45 days of maintenance, though may not return to the fleet. Their only other aircraft, a Boeing 767-200, needs maintenance that’s expected to take several days.
The cockpit isn’t a place where you want distractions. It’s also not a place where you want anything other than flying to be a priority.
American Airlines should be close to introducing premium economy awards. They’ve retrofitted much of their widebody fleet of Boeing 777s, 787-9s, and now some 787-8s to offer a premium economy cabin. However they have not had an option to redeem premium economy seats for miles.
I expect to see premium economy awards introduced this month, at least that’s what’s been confirmed to me by two well-placed sources at American.
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.
AirAsia operates out of terminal 2 in Kuala Lumpur. And AirAsia’s CEO is none too impressed with the facility. He shared his thoughts on twitter, creating quite a buzz.
Well run airports have procedures in place to handle this, and airline CEOs don’t need to take to twitter to have the issue addressed.
My own take on world’s second best business class is Star Alliance member EVA Air based in Taipei. They should be on everyone’s radar because they also frequently have very good award availability from their US gateways and offer good connectivity into Asia.
Already they offer great seats — reverse herringbone that’s similar to what Cathay Pacific has — but they take things a step beyond with pajamas, pre-order meals, great champagne, and quality amenity kits. And their service is top notch.
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 »
