US Will Take UAE and Qatar to Task Over Subsidies

airplane docked
Dec 12 2017

The U.S. is going to enter talks with the UAE and Qatar about airline subsidies but it doesn’t sound like they’ll amount to much.

The irony of complaining that other airlines were too intertwined with governments always seemed lost on United, who lost a CEO over a scandal involving the airline bribing a government official. Or Delta’s CEO who started all of this going on to run heavily subsidized Amtrak.

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Why the Era of Spinning Off Frequent Flyer Programs Should Be Over

united credit card
Dec 12 2017

To be sure there’s a case for spinoffs: if an airline needs to raise cash, selling assets is one way to do that. And frequent flyer programs are in many cases among the most valuable assets an airline has. It’s just not a free lunch, selling even a part of the program creates frictions that can reduce value. Sometimes an airline needs to do that, but financially healthy airlines should be extremely cautious before doing so.

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American Diverts to Denver So Passengers Can Use Bathroom While Pit Crew Blasts Out Poop

ben's chili bowl
Dec 11 2017

This morning’s American Airlines flight AA662 from Charlotte to San Francisco had to divert to Denver so that passengers could use the bathroom. It’s not the first time a flight has had to do that this month.

The American flight makes for a crazy story, though. The pilot announced to passengers while over Kansas that they were going to divert because of a blockage in the lavatory system. The whole system was constipated.

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