Flight Attendant Sues Qantas, Says Airline Should Have Provided Training on How to Use Stairs

by Gary Leff

qantasplane
May 13 2019

In 1984 a California man was tossing his toddler up and down in his living room. The kid loved it, and the father went higher and higher. Until the kid’s head hit the ceiling fan. Which was on. And the man sued the ceiling fan manufacturer for failing to warn him that walking with a child underneath a ceiling fan could be dangerous.

In that vein a Qantas flight attendant is now suing the airline after slipping on air stairs, saying the Australian carrier should have provided training on how to use stairs.

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The Worst Airline in America Hasn’t Shown Up at One Airport in Weeks, and No One Knows Why

by Gary Leff

via air plane
May 13 2019

Last summer I found that the worst airline in America, Via Air had an F-rating from the Better Business Bureau and 71% of their TripAdvisor reviews were poor or terrible, compared to 27% for Allegiant, 26% for United and 6% for Southwest.

Now, though, they aren’t just stranding customers. Their cutting flights. And they haven’t even shown up at one airport — and is ducking the airport’s calls and emails trying to find out why.

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Qantas Chartering an A380 ‘Points Plane’ for Redemptions to Tokyo

by Gary Leff

plane water salute
May 13 2019

Qantas needs to position an Airbus A380 to Tokyo for a charter flight and so it’s making at A380 available to frequent flyers for redemption. All seats on the aircraft will be available for saver redemption.

This flight is an interesting frequent flyer concept — and one that’s been done by other airlines before and which will be done by others again.

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Amazing Footage: Regional Jet Landed This Morning Without Its Nose Gear, Everyone Safe

by Gary Leff

myanmar plane crash
May 12 2019

Myanmar National Airlines flight UB103 from Yangon to Mandalay arrived on time Sunday morning — but the nose gear on the Embraer ERJ-190 failed to extend.

After a go-around and a failed attempt at an alternate gear extension plane entered a holding pattern to burn off fuel and then the crew executed a ‘nose up’ landing, where they keep the plane’s nose up as long as they can “bringing the aircraft to a halt on the runway on both main gear struts and the nose of the aircraft.”

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Fare Alert: Business Class to Iceland from $740 Roundtrip

by Gary Leff

iceland
May 12 2019

Icelandair is offering business class between the US and Reykjavik from $740 roundtrip. I frequently see US East Coast – Iceland for around $1800 round trip. This is a much better fare, and deep discounts are available even from farther West where prices are generally higher. And the great thing is this deal is even available during summer, which is a great time to visit Iceland!

You can fly from Boston ($740), Washington ($790), Montreal ($740), Chicago ($740), Orlando ($860), Tamps ($860), Vancouver ($820), Denver ($840), and Seattle ($860).

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Best Alaska Airlines Visa Offer I’ve Seen in a Long Time: 40,000 Miles + $100 Credit

by Gary Leff

alaska airlines plane
May 12 2019

The Alaska Airlines Visa Signature is offering 40,000 Mileage Plan miles and a $100 statement credit after $2000 spend within 3 months. The card has a $75 annual fee.

The value proposition for Alaska miles of course is their myriad airline partnerships and reasonable award chart. Cathay Pacific (which Alaska admittedly has less access to award seats on than other Cathay partners do) is an especially great value as is Japan Airlines.

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Qatar Airways is the Best Airline in the World. Second and Third Place May Surprise You.

by Gary Leff

first class cabin
May 11 2019

There are several services that will do the heavy lifting for you if you’re owed compensation, in exchange for a percentage of the proceeds. Many customers can’t be bothered to deal with compensation on their own, or fight for it when an airline first denies a claim.

One such company is AirHelp, and they have their own ranking of airlines based one third each on on-time performance, their rating of service quality, and how good the airline is at honoring compensation claims.

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