New aircraft are coming, but they’re farther off than they’ve been promised. And electric air taxis just got even farther off still, thanks to the U.S. federal government. In fact these planes are looking at delays of years. Some manufacturers may not have the financing to get through certification in the current market environment.
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.
When Frontier Airlines raised its offer to buy Spirit Airlines and gave the Spirit Airlines board cover to again endorse a merger between the two airlines (walking away from a much bigger offer from JetBlue that faces greater anti-trust scrutiny) it seemed like game over. The new offer even got the endorsement from two independent proxy advisory firms.
JetBlue isn’t done though. They’ve come out with a new, increased offer in advance of Thursday’s Spirit Airlines shareholders meeting, a last ditch effort.
A Southwest Airlines passenger was accused of airdropping photos of his genetalia to other passengers on the plane.
AirDrop is a way for Apple devices to share photos. Other Apple users can choose to receive or not receive photos, or limit who can send them to you. But many leave the setting open, though I don’t know anyone that would accept files sent by someone they did not know.
A woman sitting across from him got an airdrop notification on her phone. She saw the man airdropping photos on his phone. She looked at the photo and asked if he meant to send it.
The TSA can rifle through your luggage at will and will pull sex toys out of your bags in front of other passengers. You walk through machines that take naked images and screeners get to fondle you if they find you attractive.
TSA even had a program to follow ordinary passengers and mark down when they used the bathroom. But perhaps there’s nothing more intimate than having your pancake mix obsession revealed as the price of domestic travel.
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.
Airline operations have been bad lately. They haven’t had enough staff to operate their flights, so they’ve cancelled flights in advance – and still haven’t had enough staff to operate the flights that are left. Delta cancelled 7% of flights on Sunday. American cancelled over 100 flights. United cancelled nearly as many.
Two passengers were arrested after a man shoved his girlfriend before attacking airport staff at the gate for an easyJet flight from Bristol to Alicante.
She was shouting and, apparently, in the way of her boyfriend’s rage – he punched one employee and hen knocked another staff member over.
A customer who rented a car from Budget detailed how their vehicle broke down two and a half hours outside of Denver. There was no Uber or public transit. Budget Rent a Car sent a tow truck for the vehicle, but they weren’t allowed to ride in it. Instead two senior citizens “fighting altitude sickness added to pre existing respiratory challenges” were left stranded in the middle of nowhere to fend for themselves.
Airlines lost billions of dollars during the pandemic. But their leaders shed costs, in many cases by downsizing staff and brought in government subsidies (designed to keep them from shedding staff). It was a test of leadership, and CEOs were rewarded handsomely for the task.
It’s a wet hot American summer of flying through delays, cancellations, and long lines at airports. It may be a comfort to know that airline CEOs were well paid bringing it to us.
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 »
