Tuesday’s United Airlines flight 1274 from Hartford, Connecticut to Washington Dulles had to return to Hartford shortly after takeoff when pilots realized that a cockpit window had been left unlatched – and popped open once they took off and climbed to 4,000 feet.
While it was difficult for air traffic control to hear pilot transmission due to the noise of wind entering the cockpit with this window open, the plane was cleared to return immediately.
America Express has had a huge conundrum with its Centurion lounges. They promote access to acquire premium credit card customers, but customers show up and have a subpar experience because the lounges are too crowded. They’ve been battling this over the past half dozen years and nothing has worked.
Mexican President ‘AMLO’ refused use of his government’s VIP-configured Boeing 787-8, and had it stored in the Southern California desert. After years of trying, the plane has finally been sold to the government of Tajikistan for approximately $92 million. That means it can no longer join the fleet of a planned reboot of Mexicana Airlines.
Spirit Airlines, the low cost and fee-based carrier, is offering the opportunity to fly them without paying most of their fees for a year.. They’re offering 12 months of status to almost anyone with status of any kind either with another airline or even a hotel chain. That could even be Hilton Silver status from a credit card. And the offer is about to be pulled.
United Airlines is making business class award space available in a way that will not last for travel at the end of the booking window (mid-March 2024). Book right now and cancel later if you change your mind.
This is saver award space, so it can be booked through any of United’s partners and not just via MileagePlus.
A passenger was kicked off of an Alaska Airlines Portland – Las Vegas flight after spending 10 minutes in the lavatory before departure. The woman was killing time on her phone, admitted not understanding how the bathroom worked, and said she’d had ‘one and a half mimosas’ at the airport but doesn’t appear to have been intoxicated.
Usually when passengers go into the lav with their phone it’s to watch you-know-what. This woman was apparently having a conference call?
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 union reported at the end of last week that they’ve come to an agreement over how to handle flight attendants who ‘sell their seniority’ (a group known as ‘the cartel’) offering up their trips to more junior crew in exchange for cash ($200 on average) or other favors.
A woman is suing the Hilton Dallas/Southlake Town Square after finding a camera inside the alarm clock at her bedside though it seems like it was placed there by a person who was pretending to be CEO of a nonexistent company, flew her into town for a job interview, checked her into the hotel under a fake name and provided her with the key. What?
Do parents with crying babies have just as much right to be on the plane as you do?
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 »
