What Actually Happened On That United Express Flight Where the Fight Broke Out Between Pilot and Co-Pilot

Sep 21 2015

Yesterday I wrote about a Saturday afternoon United Express flight which was delayed 5 hours because the pilot and co-pilot got into a fight. I didn’t know what the fight was over, but police were called and eventually passengers were flown to Houston by another crew. A blog reader who was a passenger on the flight emails to share some insight:

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Last Shot for American Elite Status Challenges, Sign Up Before Wednesday If Interested

american and us tails
Sep 21 2015

A couple of weeks ago I noted an expectation that the American Airlines elite status challenge in its current form would end September 23.

That is the offer you can pay to sign up for and fly a reduced amount within 3 months to qualify for elite status, and for which you do not need to show current status with another airline to be eligible.

The end of these challenges at least in their current form certainly seems to be the case.

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Major Airlines Have More Spare Planes Than You Think– and Don’t Really Need Them

Sep 20 2015

While I was pointed to a conversation on twitter about how silly it would be for airlines to keep spare aircraft (planes are expensive!) I thought it was actually interesting that: there are many times when major airlines do have what are effectively spare aircraft, especially at their hubs; keeping spares used to be an airline marketing tactic; and major airlines for the most part don’t need spare planes when they have spare (unsold) seats.

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I’d Do Anything for Miles. But I Won’t Do That.

Sep 20 2015

You can earn miles for shipments of very bad wine. Now there’s a new offer with Spirit Airlines, the carrier that used to sell wine in a can. It matches them perfectly.

I did this once. Back in 2009 there was an offer of 4836 Northwest Worldperks miles for a single $41.94 order. I cancelled after the first shipment and did get the miles.

But the wine was so undrinkable that no matter how many promotions there have been over the past five years since that, I haven’t bitten.

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