Review: New American Airlines Flagship Lounge & Flagship First Dining New York JFK

by Gary Leff

Jul 02 2017

I visited the brand new American Airlines Flagship Lounge at New York JFK this past week and was really impressed. The lounge has been made larger, redesigned, with some really good food added.

Many more people have access now, and there’s an exclusive dining room for first class passengers only with good food and service that just shocked me coming from a U.S. airline.

I’ve had a few days to think about the experience and I realize just how much I enjoyed it that I’m thinking about..

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The Grand Hyatt Factory, New York

by Gary Leff

Jul 02 2017

Returning to the hotel at around 11 p.m. the check-in line was over 20 deep. It’s a perfectly serviceable property, good at the price when it’s the cheapest full service choice in the area, but more appropriate for a Regency than the expectation of the more upscale and service-oriented Grand brand. Put another say, it’s a stay factory.

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TSA Teaches Flight Attendants How to Beat Up Passengers

by Gary Leff

Jul 01 2017

This TSA video begins, “a poke to the eyes, a slap to the ears, a kick to the groin.. these students aren’t air marshals, they’re airline flight attendants.”

Airline set standards. In the United incident, crew followed procedures and it was Chicago Aviation Police who bloodied passenger Dr. David Dao. Airlines and the government invest in training flight attendants to view passengers as potential threats.

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Watch Delta Passenger Helplessly Try to Divert Leaking Water With a Magazine

by Gary Leff

Jul 01 2017

Water dripping from the ceiling is fairly common on an aircraft. So is heavy misting in the cabin on planes departing hot climates. So the mere dripping of water on a Delta flight from Atlanta to Ft. Myers isn’t surprising.

However “a half-dozen people [being] soaked by flight’s end” is a bit less common, as well as flight attendants not bothering to “address the leak until the flight was in its final descent.”

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PROMO AWARDS ARE UP FOR JULY: Big Discounts in Business and Economy to Europe/Israel

by Gary Leff

slidingdoors
Jul 01 2017

Air France KLM’s Flying Blue program should be interesting to U.S. frequent flyers for several reasons: they offer one-way awards; they are an American Express Membership Rewards, Citi Thank You points, and a Chase Ultimate Rewards transfer partner; they have far more award space on their own flights than Delta has access to; they have most of their partners available for online booking.

And they have a bunch of business class award routes on sale to anywhere in Europe (including Israel for the same price).

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United Polaris Lounge Expansion News and New American Flagship Lounge Opening Coming

by Gary Leff

hotel lobby
Jun 30 2017

Airlines sometimes miss that the key question for a lounge isn’t “are there enough seats for passengers?” but “is there enough space and enough empty seats so the lounge doesn’t feel full?”

If a lounge feels just as packed as the gate area, it isn’t a peaceful escape from the terminal. I’ve been to too many lounges that feel like refugee camps during peak times. You have to hunt for a place to sit. Staff can’t keep up with the turnover and trash piles up. Food and drink go unreplenished.

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