Airlines around the world are installing doors on their business class seats to create a sense of privacy for customers. The doors aren’t usually very tall, and someone walking down the aisle could look in on you. But seeing fewer people around you feels more private.
But it doesn’t have to cost thousands of dollars to create a sense of solitude on a long flight. One passenger on board an Airbus A340 set up a tent around their economy seat.
American Airlines no longer serves champagne in its long haul business class, offering only Italian sparkling wine Ferrari Brut TrentoDOC from Trentino, which is decidedly mid.
A ramp worker in Phoenix, reportedly working for American Airlines, came inside the terminal and completely stripped off his clothes at baggage claim. Naturally there is video.
Once he got naked he… did pushups. This all went on for several minutes before airport police responded and arrested the man.
That time between 24 hours in advance of departure – when check-in opens – and when the flight goes under airport control has just seen some changes to how upgrades work on the back end. An internal memo from American Airlines lays it out, and I reproduce it below.
Your ticket for a flight with meal service does not, in fact, entitle you to a meal. It only entitles you to food if there’s any left when crew reach your row. By predicting that a certain number of passengers won’t eat, airlines can save significantly on their catering costs.
American Airlines widebody aircraft find themselves in a variety of countries, taking on a variety of cargo, and with passengers bringing on things that they probably don’t want to disclose to customs. Planes get infested with a variety of insects. American has a new procedure for dealing with cockroaches in particular – and only on their widebody aircraft.
Delta Air Lines flight 2432 from Atlanta to New Orleans turned to chaos on Wednesday shortly before landing as a passenger put a flight attendant in a chokehold and threated to decapitate her with broken glass that he held against her neck.
The passenger had been bleeding from his neck and cab crew sought medical assistance before he grabbed one of the crew. He’d reportedly cut his own neck.
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.
An ex-hotel manager tells guests they should put away their toothbrushes – don’t leave them out in the bathroom – because housekeepers may mess with them.
Maybe the housekeeper is in a bad mood, thinks the guest is rude, or isn’t tipping. The manager says that housekeepers may “clean certain areas in bathrooms with a guest’s toothbrush that you don’t want to have near your mouth.”
Air France KLM insists Flying Blue won’t be spun off. CEO Ben Smith was President of Air Canada when their relationship with Aimia which ran the spun-off Aeroplan program went south, and the carrier laid out plans to bring the loyalty program back in house. While some analysts see spinning off loyalty programs as a way of ‘unlocking value’ in fact spinoffs create frictions which destroy value.
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 »
