For years the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), the major pilots union, has lobbied for federal rules that make it difficult to become a pilot. Fewer pilots keeps wages high, and gives unions leverage during contract negotiations – they can’t just be replaced if they strike (or if an airline were to lock them out). But with a shortage of pilots, some of those rules have come under scrutiny.
Brazil is bringing back its air travel mask mandate. They say a surge in Covid-19 cases makes this urgent, but the rule isn’t going into effect right away. It starts Friday, November 25. Paper masks will be permitted as long as they are two-ply in airports and inflight, and there will be no limits placed on inflight service.
They won’t be limiting indoor gather at bars to watch the World Cup.
Air India Flight 101 from Mumbai to London Heathrow flew into France’s Mont Blanc on January 24, 1966. The prevailing theory of the crash is that one of the plane’s receivers malfunctioned and a pilot misunderstood air traffic control instructions. The Boeing 707 went down in the same spot as Air India Flight 245 sixteen years earlier.
Delta is advertising a ‘deal’ between the U.S. and Japan for 121,000 miles roundtrip in coach. And Delta says you can find this special price if you book March 28 – April 5, 2023.
The ‘regular price’ of roundtrip domestic coach awards used to be 25,000 miles. Delta now considers it a ‘discount’ to pay 26,000 points roundtrip for Minneapolis – Los Angeles, a price they say is available January 25 – 31, 2013. When Delta literally promotes how low value their miles are, you should believe them.
Regular readers know that I believe bare feet and planes don’t mix. However if you want to stay comfortable on long flights you shoyld definitely take off your shoes. But there are caveats.
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.
Iberia’s flight attendants object to the larger overhead bins that the Spanish airline and British Airways sister carrier has been putting in Airbus A350-900 planes. Customers are able to fit more bags into XL bins, making them heavier. And flight attendants went to court seeking an order that they don’t have to lift those bins closed.
IHG is ‘entering the metaverse’ by offering NFTs for auction bundled with stays and benefits. Oddly, they spent actual money to create the NFTs engaging British contemporary artist Claire Luxton. They’re doing this as though Facebook isn’t right now laying off 11,000 employees, and Justin Bieber’s ‘Bored Ape’ hadn’t fallen in value 92%.
For high value items, just write “STEAL FROM THIS BAG” on your tag instead of identifying its contents? As for advertising use of Airtags, two schools of thought.
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 »
