This Conservative Activist Is About To Be Banned By United Airlines (He’s Already Banned By American)

by Gary Leff

Dec 23 2020

After refusing to wear a mask on board and streaming advice online that others follow suit, self-styled black conservative activist David Harris, Jr. showed up at the airport for his return flight to find he was banned from American Airlines.

Now he’s back, flying United Airlines and again refusing to wear a mask. He was traveling with Fox News and The Bachelor alum Jillian Anderson, and together they took to the sky on United to promote President Trump and mask refuseniks.

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I’m Just Back From An Airbnb And I Have Thoughts

by Gary Leff

Dec 23 2020

Overall it was exactly the stay I was looking for, and Airbnb was the right option for booking something in this location where there aren’t nice chain resorts where I could spend points and where other homesharing sites lacked the same beachfront inventory at the price for a similar home.

At the same time the Airbnb experience left me frustrated in many ways.

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Qatar Airways Planning New First Class For Boeing 777-9

by Gary Leff

first class airline seats
Dec 23 2020

Anything that’s projected out to 2028 isn’t just far from certain, but more in the realm of entirely speculative, at this point. However any first class that does materialize will have to be better than QSuites, and indeed better than whatever QSuites are 8 years in the future. Combine that with Qatar’s outstanding service and catering it has the potential to be a fantastic product.

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Oops: Trump Now Opposes The Covid Relief Bill, But Airlines Have Already Recalled Workers

by Gary Leff

Dec 23 2020

U.S. airlines recalled furloughed workers based on the passage of Covid relief legislation which sends them $15 billion. But the President hasn’t signed the bill yet and posted to twitter that he now opposes it. He may not actually veto, but what happens if he does – could airlines be on the hook to pay employees, even without the government subsidies that led them to promise to do so?

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Should Passengers Who Fly With Covid-19 Be Charged With Negligence – Even Involuntary Manslaughter?

by Gary Leff

Dec 22 2020

How does a person with an infectious disease decide to fly in the middle of a global pandemic? How does someone make a choice to potentially infect others, knowing that there’s a chance some of the people exposed along the way could die as a result. It’s clearly reckless – but is it criminally reckless? One law professor says yes.

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It’s Time For Airlines To Award Elite Status Based On Non-Flight Activity

by Gary Leff

scrooge mcduck diving into coins
Dec 22 2020

The margin on things other than airline tickets is generally much higher than that of air transportation. Selling miles is a high margin business. Selling preferred seats is too. A customer with a co-brand credit card who uses it on the airline’s shopping portal and buys upgrades is a high margin customer, and a customer worth fighting over – and treating well.

This is being recognized by airline frequent flyer programs around the world and it’s time this recognition come to the U.S. too.

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