United’s 17-Hour Flight Hell: From Weather, Mechanical, and Crew Issues to Customer Service Win

by Gary Leff

Aug 08 2024

Sunday morning’s United flight 1116 from Washington Dulles to San Francisco cancelled… after passengers waited around for about 17 hours.

Several issues compounded here – from weather delaying the inbound aircraft, mechanical problems and an aircraft swap, to crew timing out and exceeding their maximum duty hours. Passengers made it onto the Boeing 787 twice and even pushed back from the gate. That’s a miserable travel day that, paradoxically, highlights something that United does really well: communicates with customers throughout.

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Qantas Board Slashes Ex-CEO Bonuses: Just a Smokescreen For Government Protection Racket?

by Gary Leff

qantasplane
Aug 08 2024

Qantas CEO Alan Joyce had to symbolically take the fall for the tragic decline in reputation and treatment of customers during and coming out of the pandemic. He was retiring anyway so he resigned two months early. This had basically no effect on him or on the airline, but was played as though he was paying a price, and that this was a moment to turn the airline around.

Now the board has ‘cut his pay’ and has ‘done so retroactively’. But it’s just a smokescreen to continue the government protection racket that dragged down the Qantas experience in the first place.

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How To Predict Your Flight Will Be Delayed And Get A Leg Up Rebooking Travel

by Gary Leff

Aug 07 2024

When I’m traveling I almost always try to predict whether my flight will be delayed. That can give me an hours-long head start in getting re-routed, rather than stuck at the airport. I’ll have access to more flight choices, especially if I can leave earlier. And I won’t be fighting with as many passengers over a limited number of seats, since I’ll be ahead of them in grabbing what’s available – and with full planes, that’s often very little.

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Severe Turbulence Sends Meal Trays And Passenger Flying, Injures 14 on Korean Air Mongolia Flight

by Gary Leff

Aug 07 2024

On August 4, Korean Air flight 197 from Seoul to Ulaanbaatar encountered severe turbulence injuring 14 passengers and crew about one hour after departure from Incheon Airport, while flying near Tianjin Airport in China at an altitude of 34,100 feet.

The turbulence struck suddenly during the meal service, causing trays and unsecured items to be thrown about the cabin. Passengers described the scene as chaotic, and a passenger hit their head on the ceiling before falling into the aisle.

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Delta Passenger’s Shocking Mess: Brown Smears and Tiny Bolivian Flags Found on Seat!

by Gary Leff

Aug 07 2024

A Delta Air Lines passenger left their seat in a shocking state after a flight on Monday. There was food waste, brown smears, a ripped up safety card – and something that looks like a tiny version of the flag of Bolivia left in and around the seat. The passenger just got up and left at the end of the flight, blissfully unaware of their own chaos like Mr. Bean.

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