Several American Airlines Flight Attendants Taken to Hospital After Turbulent Descent Saturday Morning

by Gary Leff

Dec 13 2015

Friday night’s American Airlines Dallas – Buenos Aires hit severe turbulence. I heard that flight attendants hit the ceiling and that they were even hospitalized. I asked American about the flight.

Most of the time severe turbulence comes with warning, either from other aircraft or because it isn’t completely sudden. That means the pilot has the opportunity to turn on the seat belt sign and warn passengers. However severe turbulence does happen without warning. And while it isn’t usually a danger to the aircraft, it’s certainly a danger to passengers.

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Lowest Price I’ve Seen on the Gold Standard Noise Cancelling Headphones

by Gary Leff

Dec 13 2015

Road warriors and frequent travelers carry noise cancelling headphones. The noise of the aircraft makes it tough to hear sound from the movies on your device, or music, at any reasonable volume without a good pair of headphones. And they help to tune out the world.

The gold standard Bose QC25 headphones are expensive. Amazon though now has them for the lowest price I’ve seen.

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Air India Fires 3 Co-Pilots Because They Quit

by Gary Leff

Dec 13 2015

Apparently they have a significant problem with pilots leaving the airline. 98 pilots quit to join other airlines between April 2014 and October 2015. Pilots get their training, and then leave to go work for another airline because who wants to fly for Air India?

So Air India has taken the bold step of firing 3 co-pilots who have already left the airline, in a move that they say will somehow deter pilots from quitting.

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New Award Connectivity: Lufthansa Now Flying to the Maldives and Mauritius!

by Gary Leff

Dec 13 2015

Lufthansa has added several new long haul leisure destinations include Mauritius, the Maldives, and Cancun — on top of recent new flights to Tampa and Nairobi.

Flights to the Maldives generally, and with Star Alliance miles in particular, used to be really tough to get as recently as four years ago. There was once-weekly Austrian service from Vienna (that’s now been upgauged to a Boeing 777 and flies twice weekly). Otherwise you’d fly Singapore Airlines or you’d Thai Airways to Colombo, Sri Lanka and buy the short flight to Malé.

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Donald Trump’s Travel Businesses: Reveal the Truth Behind His Candidacy?

by Gary Leff

Akbar al Baker meeting Trumps
Dec 12 2015

Qatar Airways CEO Akbar al-Baker is an astute observer of US Presidential politics. And he called out Donald Trump.

So did business travel writer Joe Brancatelli, who points out that Trump Hotels really are managed by the family — and the hotel business is actively courting Muslims from the Middle East to come to the US.

His airline business experience undermines his claims of success, and his loss of navigational points named for him points to a lack of diplomacy.

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