Refund Runaround: The Harsh Reality Of Airbnb’s Response to Rental Nightmares

by Gary Leff

Jan 11 2024

M. L. Rio, in a series of tweets on January 9, recounted a disastrous Airbnb rental experience. They’d booked a month-long stay but the place was infested with roaches. The stove malfunctioned. The door didn’t stay locked. And Airbnb wouldn’t help, telling them to pound sand. And that’s after numerous hours on hold with customer service, who even told them they’d get a refund if they moved out within a couple of hours, which they did – despite a broken ankle, which complicated getting in and out of a third-floor walk-up with a month’s worth of belongings.

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Passenger Blackmailed With Nude Photos After Laptop Was Stolen, Catches Thief Herself

by Gary Leff

Jan 11 2024

A passenger traveling through Washington Dulles airport had her backpack stolen with her laptop inside. There’s almost no worse place to steal something than an airport, if you can get cooperation from officials. There are cameras everywhere. But she was on her own to investigate – after receiving nude photos of herself via online messaging.

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Air France KLM’s Genius Play: Drastically Cutting Business Class Reward Costs to Boost Profits

by Gary Leff

Jan 11 2024

Air France KLM’s Flying Blue was already the best loyalty program in SkyTeam (although some partisans might argue for Korean Air Skypass) and has made several improvements over the past couple of years – better expiration rules, the addition of free stopovers, lower redemption prices.

They seem to be one of the few rewards programs to have re-discovered that better programs are more profitable programs.

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American Airlines Passenger Threatened With Arrest: No Room For Mom’s Ashes In The Overhead Bin

by Gary Leff

inside plane
Jan 10 2024

The announcement that overhead bins were full, and everyone still remaining to board would have to gate check their carry on bags, came at the worst possible moment for one American Airlines passenger. She was carrying her mother’s ashes.

When she explained that to the gate agent, she says she was told to “take them out of the bag and hold them.” She doesn’t share whether her own reaction to this was intemperate, but says that she was “yelled at” and threated with arrest.

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Diversity In The Cockpit: Does Who’s At The Helm Matter For Safety?

by Gary Leff

american airlines machine
Jan 10 2024

Diversity recruiting for pilots isn’t a bad thing. There aren’t enough pilots, so you want to go recruit people that wouldn’t ordinarily become pilots. There are really two separate questions that follow, Are lower standards being applied to the pilots you’ve recruited? If so, do those lower standards matter? I’m in favor of recruiting aggressively for talent, looking for it where others aren’t. And I’m in favor of supporting that talent, helping them to acclimate to a culture where they might not otherwise feel comfortable. Here’s what major airline pilots usually look like, see if you notice anything here: The @Delta_Pilots took an unprecedented step in passing a vote of “no confidence” in Delta for scheduling issues that have impacted customers & pilots. Time for a new industry-leading pilot contract & a better @Delta https://t.co/FNtY6iWG9l#DeltaPilots…

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Flying to Beat NYC Rents: WSJ Reporter Uses Frequent Flyer Miles For Weekly Commutes From Ohio

by Gary Leff

Jan 10 2024

A college student had a brief burst of fame last summer for graduating from U.C. Berkeley while living in Los Angeles and using miles to commute to school to save money.

Leveraging miles and points for your commute turns out to be a tool for the professional classes, too as one Wall Street Journal reporter uses his points to live in cheaper Ohio and commute to New York.

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