Pittsburgh Airport Will Use Artificial Intelligence To Know When To Clean The Bathrooms

by Gary Leff

toilet
Mar 09 2021

Airport bathrooms have always been sketchy places, and not just because you might run into former Idaho Senator Larry Craig. Whether it’s a hand poking through a men’s room wall at the Hong Kong airport, someone replacing the soap with a bodily fluid in Detroit, or a collapsing toilet sending a man to the hospital in Hefei, China, these are places you’ve wanted to get in and out of as quickly as possible.

With the Covid-19 pandemic airport bathrooms have taken on a new urgency because of risk of virus spread.

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Don’t Panic: Dynamic Pricing Of Aeroplan Partner Awards Is A Bug, Not A Feature

by Gary Leff

air canada plane tarmac
Mar 09 2021

When Air Canada relaunched the Aeroplan frequent flyer program – an American Express transfer partner, and soon to have a Chase co-brand credit card, so highly relevant to Americans – they committed to an award chart.

Right now though partner award pricing isn’t sticking to the chart. That means some awards are pricing higher than they should, and others are pricing for fewer miles.

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This $99 Per Night Resort Fee Is Marriott Bonvoy’s “Loyalty Tax”

by Gary Leff

bonvoy
Mar 09 2021

Marriott charges resort fees on supposedly free nights. When you use your points you still have a cash co-pay or ‘loyalty tax.’ Neither Hilton nor Hyatt does this. And these resort fees can be $99 per night, plus tax, or even more.

Most Bonvoy members don’t learn there’s a fee to redeem their points until they’ve stayed with the chain, spent time in the program, and accumulated enough points to be ready to redeem. That’s why it’s a loyalty tax.

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Pilot Breaks A Flight Attendant’s Arm, Loses Tooth, In Inflight Employee Brawl

by Gary Leff

Mar 09 2021

About 50 minutes prior to touchdown, the pilot got up to use the first class lavatory. A passenger seated up front got up to use the lav. The flight attendant working the forward galley should be blocking the path between the cabin and the cockpit. But that didn’t happen here. And this failing turned into a brawl between the pilot and flight attendant.

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Flight Makes Emergency Landing As Maskless Man Assaults Cabin Crew

by Gary Leff

Mar 08 2021

Friday’s Air France flight from Paris to Delhi, India made an emergency landing in Sofia, Bulgaria when a passenger began arguing with those around him shortly after takeoff and assaulted a flight attendant.

The man is maskless. The flight attendant to puts up his fists, preparing to box, has his mask down beneath his nose. I can make out shouting about [Indian Prime Minister Narendra] Modi, cabin crew telling people to sit down, and a woman with an Indian accent asking the man in English, “What the F- is wrong with you?”

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Leaked Memo Exposes British Resort Chain Refusing Reservations Based On Ethnicity

by Gary Leff

Mar 08 2021

Britannia Hotels has 61 properties across the U.K and has been called ‘Britain’s worst hotel chain’. Their Pontins brand includes 6 resorts.

An internal memo from Pontins resorts leaked showing that the chain made an effort to avoid accepting bookings from people with Irish surnames, or who booked by phone with Irish accents. They even cancelled bookings that made it through in error.

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Biden Administration Plans To Ungender The FAA

by Gary Leff

Mar 08 2021

His FAA has asked its Drone Advisory Committee for “recommendations on how it might use more gender-neutral language” eliminating words like ‘unmanned aircraft’ and ‘airman’. The head of the FAA’s drone integration office wants to see “the adoption of gender-neutral language…in aviation generally.”

And the FAA plans to look at updating language throughout existing regulations to scrub gendered words.

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American Airlines Is Refinancing Its Mortgage On The AAdvantage Frequent Flyer Program

by Gary Leff

Mar 08 2021

American Airlines is alone in pledging their frequent flyer program to the federal government as collateral for a subsidized CARES Act loan. Delta and United raised money against their programs on the private market, while Southwest pre-sold points to Chase.

Now American has created a Cayman Islands subsidiary to refinance its AAdvantage mortgage.

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