Korean Air CEO Indicted

by Gary Leff

korean air plane
Oct 16 2018

Cho Yang-Ho is facing charges of embezzling ~ US$17.4 million. Korean Air is owned by Hanjin Group of which he’s also Chairman. In addition to that embezzlement he’s accused of taking US$135 million “from the state insurance agency in medical care benefits by illegally running a pharmacy under a borrowed name.”

He’s the father of the infamous ‘nut rage’ Vice President who served a brief prison sentence after hitting a flight attendant and order a plane back to the gate in New York after predeparture nuts were served improperly in first class.

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Tara Reid and Her Dog Were Kicked Off Delta Flight After Seat Assignment and Pillow Meltdown

by Gary Leff

tara reid holding dog on plane
Oct 16 2018

Sharknado and American Pie star Tara Reid and her dog were kicked off of Delta flight 613 from Los Angeles to New York JFK yesterday.

Apparently the actress was apoplectic over her seat assignment and that she didn’t have a pillow. The aircraft had already pushed back when the captain announced to the plane that they’d be returning to the gate causing a delay.

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Air India Flight Attendant Fell Off a Boeing 777

by Gary Leff

air india plane
Oct 15 2018

This doesn’t happen often, but it does happen, usually when departing from a remote stand when air stairs have been removed before the door closes. Falling onto concrete from a Boeing 777 is more severe than doing so from a 737, though both carry real risk.

This doesn’t come close, though, to the flight attendant who fell 33,000 feet from the sky and lived for forty four more years.

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7 Surprising Facts About Airlines in Asia

by Gary Leff

Oct 15 2018

This week’s issue of Airline Weekly (subscription) contains charts on the largest airlines in each of the largest country markets in East Asia, based on Diio Mi data on scheduled seats in 2018.

The biggest takeaways are the growth of Chinese carriers and the declining importance in Southeast Asia of national carriers relative to low cost carriers which are overtaking them, especially on short haul and domestic routes.

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Bob Crandall Says Deregulation Gives Us Cramped Seating. Here’s What Will Give Us a Better Product.

by Gary Leff

airplane seats
Oct 15 2018

Airline deregulation was opposed by nearly all US airlines in 1978. It was championed by Senator Ted Kennedy (and his aide now Justice Stephen Breyer) and by consumer advocate Ralph Nader and signed into law by Jimmy Carter.

Bob Crandall was against deregulation then, and he’s against it now in retirement. And he’s blaming it for cramped airline seating. He also calls codesharing a ‘fraud’ to fool people.

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American Airlines: Our Burger Can Compete Against the Nation’s Best, And We’ll Prove It

by Gary Leff

burger with fries
Oct 14 2018

A really great burger starts with quality beef. It should have processed cheese that melts well. And it should be inside of a potato bun, sesame seed if you must.

Don’t use ciabatta bread or a kaiser roll. As good as brioche can be, it’s not well-matched to a burger. The bun is a delivery vehicle for the burger. It needs to be big enough to contain the burger, but shouldn’t be so large that it overwhelms the contents – especially the meat.

Everything you put on the burger needs to fit inside of the bun. You don’t want the burger to fall apart when you eat it, and it shouldn’t be overstuffed. The goal is a balance of flavors inside, getting a combination of everything with each bite rather than winding up with pieces of meat or pieces of bun leftover at the end.

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