Southwest has a government-granted near monopoly at Dallas Love Field airport. The airline, which fought tooth and nail for the right to be allowed to fly there as an upstart, and now uses the machinations of government to keep out competitors. With only two gates at the airport usable by competitors, no one can build a customer base to make flights work.
The Renaissance Newark Airport hotel is informing guests that there is Legionella bacteria in samples collected from its water system, which they learned after two reports of guests contracting Legionnaire’s Disease following stays on property. They continue to take guests, but are telling people not to shower.
When flight attendants first get started, wages are very low, and those assigned to big cities may be eligible for food stamps. Some crew live off stealing food from first class snack baskets.
But since they’re working perhaps just 75 ‘paid’ hours per month, they have the perfect opportunity to build a side hustle.
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
The pair booked window and aisle seats. When a middle seat passenger showed up on the Saturday flight, Congresswoman Pelosi gave him the window seat. This is being touted in the media as offering that passenger an “upgrade” rather than “strategy.”
Avoiding checked luggage saves time and reduces the risk of loss, but if unavoidable, using specific credit cards for protection, maximizing baggage allowances, not checking valuable items, and considering luggage trackers can mitigate the hassles.
1999’s big toy innovation was Furby, a robot toy that was kind of like a furry, colorful owl. 14 million were sold that one year alone. As long as it had batteries, Furby was on and talking. It began by speaking its own Furbish language, but as it listened to its owner it would learn English. Tickle the Furby and it might kiss you. If you rewarded that behavior with pets, the frequency of kisses would increase. If you had two Furby (Furbies?) they would talk to each other.
A woman with Montezuma’s Revenge was kicked off a WestJet flight leaving Mexico as it prepared to take off. Journalist Joanna Chiu kept going to the bathroom during the plane’s boarding process, and crew decided that she made one too many trips to fly.
You have heard about the woman who sued McDonalds and won $2.7 million after spilling a cup of coffee in her own lap. It became an exhibit in how we desperately needed tort reform. And yet the judgment made a lot of sense to anyone who actually went and learned the facts of the case.
Korean Air has a lot to learn from McDonald’s.
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
