Tucker Carlson’s Air Travel Safety Rant Was Unhinged, But Diversity Hiring Is Real

by Gary Leff

air traffic control
Feb 15 2023

When I saw Tucker Carlson’s Tuesday evening piece on air travel safety making the rounds, I didn’t give it much mind. But as it’s picking up steam, it seemed important to cover. Because while nearly everything he says in the segment is wrong, if his staff spent a little bit of time researching instead of picking up online complaints by United pilots who do not like the politics of their airline or President Biden, he could come up with a much better-grounded argument.

Continue Reading »

Viral Resignation Letter From American Airlines From A Flight Attendant That Had Enough

by Gary Leff

Feb 15 2023

It details that flight attendant is not a high paying job. The schedules can be grueling. Dealing with passengers can be hard, and when you’re up in the air you’re on your own with little support. You see many people, passengers dealing with the worst that life throws at them and a clash of cultures between seat opponents who bring their own priors to travel, which has become increasingly small-d democratic over the past 45 years.

Continue Reading »

At What Point Do Airlines Devalue Their Miles Too Much And We All Decide They’re Just Magic Beans?

by Gary Leff

Feb 14 2023

Frequent flyer miles have an amazing characteristic. They cost about three quarters of a cent to produce while people value them at twice that much. The more you produce, the more you profit, so you go around generating as many miles as you can. But now there are too many miles chasing too few seats, airlines have to raise the number of miles required for the seats, and the miles aren’t worth so much.

Continue Reading »

What Was It Like On Board The United Plane That Almost Plunged Into The Pacific?

by Gary Leff

Feb 14 2023

News came out over the weekend about a United Airlines Boeing 777-200 that took off from Maui’s airport back on December 18 – and nearly dropping to the ocean. Despite flight 1722 to Maui climbing to 2,200 feet and then plunging to within 775 feet of impact, news of the incident had not been reported.

In addition to questions around what happened, whether it was wind shear in a significant storm or whether the pilots raised their flaps too far, and possibly became disoriented, there’s been mystery around why no one on the plane – out of more than 200 passengers – posted about the incident to social media.

Continue Reading »

President Biden Announces Air India’s 220 Aircraft Purchase From Boeing

by Gary Leff

Feb 14 2023

While it’s been an open secret that Air India has been about to purchase nearly 500 aircraft in an order split between Boeing and Airbus, the Airbus order was announced… but we were waiting for the order from Boeing. The reason why the two orders weren’t announced together is now clear. It awaited President Biden so that he could be a part of the announcement.

Continue Reading »