On Saturday three people were injured in a shooting at the Texas State Fair. A 22 year old man has been charged with aggravated assault after a conflict that began amongst two people who already knew each other at the Fair’s food court. Everyone was evacuated, and the fair re-opened on Sunday.
One passenger who flew from Tokyo to Bangkok in order to catch the 9 hour 45 minute El Al flight from Tel Aviv shared the story of scores of young people trying to get on in order to heed their call up in the reserves or enlist in the Israeli Defense Forces. There were far more hopeful passengers than seats. With the captain’s permission, those people flew anyway.
It wasn’t always this hopeless. Things seemed so much better at the turn of the last century. The 1995 Oslo II Accord included international funding for Yasser Arafat International Airport in the Gaza Strip. Saudi Arabia and the Netherlands donated a Boeing 727 and 2 Fokker 50s to help launch Palestinian Airlines.
The new Gaza airport opened in 1998, and Bill and Hillary Clinton attended the official grand opening. At the time there were plans for a port and for a… casino!
I thought Delta would have a good chance keeping the slot if it proposed a New York JFK flight (a new competitor on the route in an important market, and ironically one with much better connectivity now that the Department of Justice forced American and JetBlue to break up their partnership). I also thought that the best shot of winning would be new service from a market that currently lacks a non-stop to Tokyo, such as Miami (or Orlando).
However Delta is telling its employees that the slot will go to American or to United.
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.
Friday’s Copa Airlines flight 393 from Panama City to Tampa, Florida took off at 9:36 a.m. But less than an hour later, it was headed back to the airline’s hub with special forces placed on alert. Crew had identified what they thought was a bomb placed in the lavatory. It was a diaper. An adult diaper.
Two Hyatt hotels that developed a reputation for never allowing you to use your points for free nights were the Park Hyatt Aviara and the Hyatt Centric Waikiki Beach. That’s been fixed thanks to the enterprising efforts of one woman who found they weren’t just harming program members, they may have been breaking the law.
The FAA’s docket on public charter regulation advocated by American Airlines and Southwest Airlines has closed.
So far over 58,000 public comments have been posted to Regulations.gov. JSX says the number of submitted comments is 76,000 (there is a lag in posting comments to the web). Already it’s the most comments ever received on a Department of Transportation or FAA proposed rule. Drones topped 50,000. Emotional support animals topped 15,000. Usually there are just a handful.
Will Mandis posts video of a Delta Air Lines plane appear to pause in mid-air, and it’s striking. Some are calling the phenomenon a “glitch in the matrix.” The video is not altered.
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 »
