Those Buses That Replaced American Airlines Flights? You Can Now Bring Guns With You

by Gary Leff

Dec 22 2022

There’s a shortage of pilots that hits regional airlines hard. The large U.S. airlines pay more, and attract pilots out of the regionals. There just aren’t enough pilots to fly regional jets, and American Airlines still has about 100 of those smaller jets parked.

One solution they’ve found to continue serving small airports close to major hubs is bus service. They use Landline buses between Philadelphia and Allentown/Bethlehem, PA (ABE); Atlantic City, NJ (ACY); and Lancaster, PA (LNS).

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Senator Kyrsten Sinema Is An Executive Platinum Member With Very Specific Seat Preferences

by Gary Leff

Dec 22 2022

She likes room temperature bottled water available at all times (honestly, so do I). She likes a weekly hour-long massage. She wants to avoid flying Southwest though they’re a huge carrier in her home state. She starts work at 8:45 a.m. (reasonable) and doesn’t let staffers schedule activities past 8 p.m. without her express approval (also non-crazy!). She doesn’t like weekend work events before 1 p.m.

And her travel preferences turn out to be just like everyone else’s. She “does not like to fly” and asks staffers to pick her preferred seats when she does.

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New United Airlines Pilot Union Head Resigns In Days For Homophobic And Misogynistic Comments

by Gary Leff

Dec 22 2022

Captain Neil Swindells was elected to head the United Airlines pilot union in a controversial and close vote, where members of the group’s Master Executive Council tried to shut down discussion of his homophobic, misogynistic, and anti-Semitic online commentary.

I wrote, though, that he was unable to represent all of his pilot members equally. And this wasn’t just an internal pilot issue – the head of the pilot union gets a board seat at United Airlines. He was clearly unable to represent shareholders, either.

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Flight Attendant Yells At Passenger: “I Am Not Your Servant!” After Airline Fails To Deliver Special Meal

by Gary Leff

Dec 21 2022

Video of an inflight confrontation between a passenger and a flight attendant has gone viral, where the crewmember declares “I am not your servant!” That’s after yelling “My crew is crying because of you!” The passenger told her to shut up, and she yelled shut up right back.

People on social media, and especially other cabin crew, are cheering this IndiGo flight attendant on from afar. But it should never have gotten to this.

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The New Head Of The United Airlines Pilots Union Must Resign Immediately

by Gary Leff

Dec 20 2022

The Air Line Pilots Association negotiated a new contract with the airline. Seeing pilots at other airlines getting more than they had negotiated they ripped up the agreement rather than sending it to their members. And many United pilots now want a fight with the airline.

But just-elected Captain Neil Swindells is the wrong person to lead them, because he cannot represent the full membership of his union with racist and misogynistic commentary.

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