News and notes from around the interweb:
- Indian actress discovers that online travel agencies are bad.
SCAM ALERT! @makemytrip @airindia
Perhaps the best way for substandard airlines to make a quick buck is to cancel flights without intimation, or change timings so you miss your connections! With the collusion of so-called convenient flight booking portals like @makemytrip .…— RichaChadha (@RichaChadha) December 30, 2023
- Years ago a TV news anchor called to get me a table at a NYC restaurant. Once I made a reservation at a restaurant in Florida under my own name – only to learn that the restaurant group’s owner shares my name (hijinks ensued). One of my favorite-ever most useful books was written 45 years ago by Leonard S. Bernstein who advised that ‘one does not make restaurant reservations in New York under the name Leonard Bernstein even if that is indeed your name.’
- Man Says He Was Thrown Off Delta Air Flight Because He Offered to Fix Broken Inflight Entertainment System
- The Air Force One Record-Setting Flight to Moscow in 1963
The Soviets claimed that the United States did not have any aircraft that could fly non-stop from Washington to Moscow. Not only did the Air Force have such an aircraft, it happened to be the president’s official transport.
- 12 year old girl was chucking glass from window of Intercontinental Times Square
- American settles California wage statement class action with flight attendants based in the state.
“People started getting the letters to their homes this week and it details the proposed $$ for each person and how it is calculated. It’s based off weeks worked from January 18, 2015-September 30, 2023.”
— JonNYC (@xJonNYC) December 31, 2023
Was the Bindley Sangster story from 2021? According to Justia a lawsuit was filed on December 5 of 2023.
Not just anybody can fix the airplane inflight entertainment system. Like any other part of the plane, a qualified mechanic on the system must do the troubleshooting and repairs. Even If it were legal, why would an airline just take the word of passenger when these systems cost large amounts of money. What likely happened is the passenger got aggressive and angry when told he could not work on the entertainment system. The disorderly conduct is what got him kicked off.
The Times Square hotel piece is wild! A 12 year old, with no adult supervision it sounds like, could have killed someone. Most hotel rooms do not have windows that open, I’m surprised a 30th+ floor window opens enough to throw stuff out! Then again, the tickertapes I guess have to come from somewhere…
Good god, what a drama queen. I don’t care how much “experience” some passenger that I don’t know, says how much experience he/has, he’s not touching the IFE hub or any of the aircraft’s equipment. There’s probably ALOT more to the story than is being told here. And when does writing in a complaint to “customer care” work that fast? If it goes that way, than I would’ve most likely experienced that kind of internal reaction many times over. He, as previously stated, got into a heated and aggressive tone, and now he wants to try and profit off of his concocted and distorted view of what actually happened. Sit in your seat STFU. Moron.
“Man Says He Was Thrown Off Delta Air Flight Because He Offered to Fix Broken Inflight Entertainment System”
Totally Fake News! Delta is a premium airline and provides a premium product, far superior to ANY competitor. There is no such thing as broken equipment or flight delays.
@Tim Done
Heh. Yeah. Now about all those Mad Dog 80s and 90s…
I always loved that “Delta never cancels a flight” thing– Like it’s somehow a good thing to leave passengers hanging on a 20hour delay (I saw that pre-COVID at HNL), when a simple cancellation would allow passengers to decamp to an actual airline’s ticket counter to get where they were going.
Delta offers premium in-flight entertainment options to its premium, discerning customers.
Once again, every week ,Mr Leff digs up info on Delta so he can entice his friends to add negative comments and bash the airline. Have you noticed its usually the same people who respond back. What a click. Get a life!
Arrgh. A potentially interesting discussion ruined by stupid libtards who believe in the covid scam. Pathetic.
This is the text of the factual background of the legal complaint against Delta.
Case 1:23-cv-05565-TCB
Factual Background
Plaintiff was unjustly removed from his flight based upon false and uncorroborated information intentionally provided to the pilot.
On December 6, 2021, Sangster was a forty-seven [47] year old U.S. Air Force veteran, husband and father of four [4] children. After leaving the Air Force, Sangster worked in the aviation industry for over twenty [20] years.
Sangster is the Chief Executive Officer of Sangsters Coffee, LLC. and the grandson of the late prime minister of Jamaica the Honorable Donald Sangster.
At all times on December 6, 2023, Sangster was completely benign, non-disruptive, non-threatening and engaged in polite respectful conversation with each and every Delta employee and his fellow passengers.
On December 6, 2023, Sangster was invited to board Delta Flight # 1906 leaving from Gate # E16 and took his assigned seat in Row 14 Seat C [14C]. This flight was enroute to Kingston, Jamaica from Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta and scheduled to depart at 5:37 pm.
When the aircraft had still not left the gate at 6:30 p.m., Sangster went to the restroom in the forward cabin where two flight attendants were in the process of closing the cockpit door. After exiting the restroom, Sangster overheard the flight attendants discussing the IFE system that was apparently having some technical problems. As he was an expert in the Panasonic IFE System, he offered to help.
One of the flight attendants sharply responded to Sangster’s offer with “she had not asked for his help” and ordered him to return to his seat.
Sangster complied and immediately returned to seat 14C. Shortly thereafter, the same flight attendant that ordered Sangster back to his seat passed by and noticed that Mr. Sangster was on the Delta App writing a complaint about the flight delay.
At approximately 7:00 p.m., while still at the gate, the aircraft was boarded by a Delta Operations crew member who, instructed Sangster to retrieve his belongings and follow him off the aircraft and Sangster complied immediately.
At the door to the jetway and in direct view of some passengers, two Atlanta Police Department officers waited to escort Mr. Sangster up the ramp and into the concourse. Upon reaching the concourse, Sangster inquired as to the reason he was removed from the flight, the Delta gate agent informed him that the captain had reported that Sangster was a flight risk and Delta had to follow protocol once such a call was received. Sangster never had any form of contact with the pilot.
However, Sangster was not accused, arrested or charged by the Atlanta Police Department. In fact, the Delta gate agent told the officers that they could leave and proceeded to re-book Mr. Sangster for a flight the next day. The Delta gate agent apologized to Sangster and accompanied him as he retrieved his luggage and left the airport without incident.
Damn…I fell for this click bait…AGAIN! I agree that there’s more to this story than the article states. Most captains will tell the flight attendants that, “…if you’re uncomfortable with a passenger, then I’m uncomfortable.” After all, they are the first line of ‘defense/offense’ on the aircraft. If a passenger makes a complaint while at the gate, that’s fine as long as the passenger doesn’t get aggressive or doesn’t follow instructions issued by the crew or gate agents. If the passenger continues the behavior while at the gate and the cabin crew tells me, then a decision must be made. 99.9% of the time, I’ll agree with the cabin crew. I do not want problems in the air. Too bad that the US courts don’t have a “loser pays all”. If this goombah loses, he pays the airline’s defense costs.