Anecdotally (the numbers won’t be out for awhile yet), there has been a sharp increase in lost baggage over the past week. This seems to an unexpected consequence of new TSA baggage screening procedures. Gate agents often put baggage tags on handles that are used to open the bag. If TSA opens the bag, the tag comes off. Lost bag. Solution: make sure the tag goes somewhere that won’t be tampered with if the TSA decides to open it. Watch where the check-in agent places the tag, and if necessary politely ask that it be moved (“for security reasons” :).
United is closing
United is closing all City Ticket Offices as of January 28th and converting several cities to United Express-only service: Eugene, Ore.; Medford, Ore.; Cedar Rapids, Iowa; White Plains, N.Y.; and Syracuse, N.Y.
Republican Congresswoman Jennifer Dunn to
Republican Congresswoman Jennifer Dunn to stay in Congress. Why is this news? Because the Air Transport Association interviewed her and said “no thanks” to her as their new executive director. Turns out she didn’t make the top two.
Russian air traffic controllers are
Russian air traffic controllers are in the midst of a hunger strike. They are seeking a 30% raise (they currently make ~ US$427/month) and dismissal of top government officials in charge of air traffic.
List of airports
List of airports where a boarding pass is required to get through security; that is, where a printed reservation/e-ticket document is not enough, so you have to check in out in front of the terminal or on-line rather than at the gate.
The TSA (also known as
The TSA (also known as (T)housands (S)tanding (A)round and (T)remendously (S)wollen (A)gency) has grown alot since it was formed after 9/11. Congress set it on a rapid growth path, but capped its growth at 45,000 employees. So how did the TSA grow to 64,000 employees? They circumvented the cap by hiring employees under 5-year “temporary full-time” contracts.
Ryanair booked passengers on their
Ryanair booked passengers on their January 1 flight between London and Eindhoven, Netherlands. Unfortunately the airport at Eindhoven was closed for the holiday.
Does this resemble
Does this resemble your company’s travel policy?
Woman gets $30,000
Woman gets $30,000 for refusing to wear pants. Gotta love those EEOC consent decrees. Brinks security hired her back, accomodated her preferences, and still has to pay damages.
Hilton website hacks. Hilton doesn’t
Hilton website hacks. Hilton doesn’t currently offer award redemption online, or does it? (Thanks to djohannw from Flyertalk.) Go to any Hilton hotel you want to book an award stay at and select “Book a room.” When the main reservation page comes up where you select dates and preferences, add the following text to the URL in your browser’s adress line: &spec_plan_desc=HHonors+Redemption&spec_plan=HH Press return to reload that page. You now will see the same page as before with a checked field “HHonors Redemption”. Now enter your requested dates and click on “Next.” On the rates page, you will now see the HHonors certificate rate if the hotel has award rooms available. The rate description for that looks as follows: HHONORS REDEMPTION (HH) BOOKABLE BY HHONORS MEMBERS WITH A VALD CERT Plan Description: HHONORS REDEMPTION BOOKABLE…
