Jul 12 2015

Yesterday Mommy Points told me that I should fly the new Spirit Airlines Los Angeles – Baltimore redeye flight that I called the most uncomfortable flight in America.

It’s not even the legroom, though, why I won’t fly Spirit — I can buy up to ‘the Big Front Seat’. And I don’t mind paying checked bag fees if the total trip cost is still cheaper.

No, there are two other things about the airline that make me want to steer clear. And they’re not things customers usually think about.

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Jul 12 2015

A Forbes piece lays out the argument that realistic continued growth just in Gold Passport could add 10% to the hotel chain’s stock price.

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Jul 11 2015

I took a Cathay Pacific flight once where a woman in business class used moisturizer from the amenity kit prior to departure, and complained to a flight attendant that it was causing her skin to break out. It sounded like she wanted special treatment or compensation, maybe an upgrade to first class. Cathay made the woman deplane — since the last thing the airline wanted was for a medical emergency to occur midflight and cause a diversion.

Etihad recently took an ever stricter position with regard to fear of passenger illness: A teenage girl was leaning against her mother at check-in at the Manchester airport in the U.K. She was pale, because she’s Scottish. So Etihad felt she might not be fit to fly.

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Jul 11 2015

Last month I wrote about American’s renovation plans for their Miami Admirals Club by gate D15. This is the club across from the airport’s new American Express Centurion lounge.

Renovations are being done in stages in order to continue to use the lounge in the interim. They can’t give up all of that capacity, the lounge is overcrowded as it is (and so is their lounge at gate D30, which offers barely-usable internet but better food choices, though the showers at both are great).

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Jul 11 2015

You may have heard of the Pan Am Dining Experience where you can eat dinner on board a replica of a Pan Am 747.

It turns out that’s not the only way to eat dinner inside an aircraft. I ate dinner inside a retired L-1011 at the Delta Flight Museum before going onstage to emcee the Freddie Awards a couple of months ago.

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Jul 11 2015

Airlines see themselves as selling transportation between A and C at a certain price. That a connecting itinerary stops at B is immaterial.

A passenger believes they are buying a seat on a flight from A to B and then on to C. So it’s ok to use only the seat from A to B, and not use the seat they’ve paid in full for from B to C.

But the airline thinks travel between A to B is a totally different product with a different price.

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Jul 11 2015

United’s computer malfunction last week was an inconvenience to huge numbers of travelers. I even think it’s endemic of the broader problems at the airline.

I’m not sure, though, that it justifies a class action lawsuit. Not everyone agrees with me, however. Especially plaintiffs lawyers.

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Jul 11 2015

It’s not just Celebrity Apprentice and Miss Universe, or even the eponymous Donald Trump clothing line at Macy’s (manufactured in Mexico and China, cough) … or celebrity chefs like Jose Andres unwilling to open in the new DC Trump hotel property…

… now even the FAA is eliminating any vestige of Trump branding. (Who knew it even existed in the first place?)

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Jul 10 2015

A collection of the most interesting links you’ll want to see, many you’ll want to click.

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Jul 10 2015

It turns out that ATMs have been disappearing from airports because people use cash less than they used to, so they don’t generate enough fees to cover the extortionate demands of airports to allow them on premises. US Bank has lost millions on their Minneapolis-St. Paul ATMs.

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