How United Airlines May End Up Saving The Environment

by Gary Leff

sulfur dioxide emissions
Dec 11 2020

United Airlines has announced that they’ll reduce greenhouse gas emissions 100% by 2050, making a bolder claim than world airlines through trade association IATA which commit to a 50% reduction in carbon footprint by 2050. Both goals are far enough off as to be largely symbolic, but what’s got great potential here is the path United plans to pursue to get there.

The airline will invest in directly removing carbon from the atmosphere – not feel-good measures like planting trees where the accounting is murky. The technology is too expensive today, but payment processor Stripe just announced their own investments here. Adding United and perhaps soon others could help bring about critical mass that makes this technology viable to solve our environmental problems.

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Avoid Long Lines And Risk Of Getting Turned Away From Hawaii By ‘Pre-Clearing’ Before You Fly

by Gary Leff

Dec 11 2020

There can be long lines to wait in when you land in Hawaii, not always well socially-distanced, to show you’ve met the state’s testing requirements to avoid a 14 day quarantine. And the state makes mistakes, too, one family showed up with negative results from an approved testing provider but was told to quarantine anyway by mistake. By the time the state sorted it out, they’d already turned back around and flown home to California.

Fortunately there’s now a solution to all of this.

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Passenger Takes Revenge On The Woman In Front Of Her By Sticking Gum And A Lollipop In Her Hair

by Gary Leff

Dec 11 2020

A video viewed nearly 110 million times, and liked 11 million, shows a woman clipping and destroying the hair of the passenger seated in front of her on a flight when the woman keeps flipping her hair over the seatback and blocking the video screen behind her.

It speaks to something we all feel sitting in the confined space of an economy cabin when another passenger violates norms and invades our limited space, captured by the comment “I fully support their actions.”

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Woman Shows Up At The Airport, Proposes To A Man She Met Online 10 Days Ago

by Gary Leff

Dec 11 2020

Here’s a new twist on the age old marriage proposal in the skies. A woman who met ‘her soulmate’ online 10 days earlier showed up at the Las Vegas airport to propose to him.

Since meeting they had video chatted every night, but they had never met in person. This would be their first time seeing each other in person – and he doesn’t know she’s coming.

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Instead Of Outdoor Dining, Restaurants Are Offering Private Meals In Hotel Suites

by Gary Leff

Dec 11 2020

As the weather has turned colder in much of the country this presents a challenge. It’s no longer viable for many restaurants to attract diners to an outdoor setting. So some restaurants have turned to offering meals inside private hotel suites. Hotels are frequently empty, so there’s an easy unused resource to leverage and private rooms provide guests the comfort and safety of outdoors, without being subject to the elements.

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Etihad Drops Belgrade Flights, Despite Controlling Air Serbia

by Gary Leff

Dec 10 2020

Etihad owns a 49% stake in Air Serbia, and the Serbian government owns the other 51%. This was one of the better airline investments previous Etihad management made in its effort to acquire stakes in airlines and redirect their traffic through its hub in Abu Dhabi. But it’s now falling apart.

Etihad has terminated flights from its Abu Dhabi hub to Belgrade, and will reportedly end its codesharing with the carrier it half owns next year.

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Hilton Allowing All Diamond Members To Gift Elite Status

by Gary Leff

Dec 10 2020

One feature of the Hilton Honors Diamond program is that members can gift someone Gold status when they reach 60 qualifying nights in a year. If they stay 100 nights, the gift becomes Diamond status.

In addition to this standard offer, Hilton will allow all Diamonds to gift someone elite status this year. Diamond members can gift Gold status, lifetime Diamonds can gift Diamond status.

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