Jun 17 2016

Emirates will apparently be bringing an Airbus A380 to Chicago O’Hare for a single flight. O’Hare pulled a permit to build an A380-capable gate back in February, and at the time both Emirates and British Airways were noted as having expressed interest in flying A380s to the city.

Emirates has perhaps the flashiest first class product in the sky on its Airbus A380. But there’s real substance to it too. Emirates offers a comfortable private suite, good food and flexible dining, top notch wine and spirits, and a bar that’s matched or exceeded only by Qatar.

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Jun 17 2016

I wonder whether it’s a good idea for people to be served alcohol when they’re stuck in a metal tube.

A drunk Russian just wound up tied up after he was dragged off a plane “shouting and screaming” when he wouldn’t take his seat.

I’m starting to wonder, why do airlines serve alcohol onboard at all?

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Jun 17 2016

United and Continental merged in 2010, with Continental management eventually taking over, but six years later that merger is still not complete.

Legacy United and Continental flight attendants still do not have a single contract, and as a result United flight attendants work United planes and Continental flight attendants work Continental planes — and new aircraft get split between them.

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Jun 17 2016

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.

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Jun 17 2016

In March American changed the minimum check-in time to 45 minutes prior to flight, from 30 minutes. The airline did not notify customers of this change at the time — no emails, no banners at AA.com, just different information on its website. Neither Delta nor United require this.

It’s part of American’s obsession with “D0” — cajoling employees and inconveniencing customers by making every operational decision not based on precision or rule but based on anything that will promote pushing back exactly at the proscribed minute in the schedule.

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Jun 16 2016

Saudia’s flight SV21 from Jeddah to New York JFK yesterday declared an emergency as it was about to head out over the Atlantic Ocean. It dumped fuel and then turned around for London Heathrow because a female passenger was going into childbirth.

No doctors had been onboard the flight, so flight attendants helped with the delivering “after arranging a discreet corner in the plane.”

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Jun 16 2016

Saudia’s current first class product on their Boeing 777s is an antiquated six seats across, but with a huge cabin of 24 seats.

Their business class on that aircraft is angled. It’s not terrible as far as such things go on a dry airline, but hardly a modern product.

Fortunately…

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Jun 16 2016

American Express Plenti is a ‘coalition rewards program’ that lets you earn points for doing business with a variety of merchants. They’re the rewards program businesses like ExxonMobil, Macy’s and Hulu.

Since its launch a little over a year ago, the only big addition to Plenti’s stable of partners has been… Chili’s. That’s not American Express’ hoped-for growth.

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Jun 16 2016

A surviving victim of the shooting massacre in Orlando had rented a car from Enterprise and drove it to the Pulse night club.

Pulse was a crime scene, the FBI kept the scene intact including some vehicles on the scene. The man had his clothes removed and was taken to the hospital naked. So he didn’t have the key to the rental car on him.

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Jun 16 2016

Alaska Airlines made a deal to acquire Virgin America back in April, beating out JetBlue which was also bidding. It was judged almost a foregone conclusion that the Virgin America brand would disappear.

Nonetheless Alaska Airlines CEO Brad Tilden now says that the Virgin brand could be retained.

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