Pop Star Lets Child Pee on Seat, Air Traffic Controller Passes Out Drunk, and More Behaving Badly

News and notes from around the interweb:

  • On duty air traffic controller found passed out in his bathrobe and “house shoes” He was discovered after a pilot couldn’t reach the tower to get takeoff clearance.

  • It’s a good thing it’s easy to replace seat cushions on an airplane.

  • This letter to the editor is going viral inside the airline industry. I suspect it won’t matter.

    …No amount of U.S. state or federal aid could ever cure the current apathy, which borders on abuse, exhibited by all of the major airlines’ personnel toward their long-suffering American-domiciled travelers. Customer service doesn’t cost money; it is a conscious commitment and an adherence to an ideology. Message to the U.S. airlines: Stop whining and start serving your customers.

  • This month’s Rolling Stone feature on One Mile at a Time‘s Ben Schlappig is finally online. Congratulations, Ben! This is really awesome to see, great recognition. Sadly he didn’t make the cover, he was bumped by Kim Kardashian. And I’m honored to make a couple of brief appearances in, and humbled by a great quote which will definitely go in the bio…

  • The high fees for cancelling tickets. Pointed out lower chain fees for Southwest, JetBlue, and Alaska Airlines and advised,

    “Award travel is frequently less expensive,” for changing tickets, Gary Leff, travel blogger behind View from the Wing, said in an email. “For instance, American Airlines charges $150 for the first passenger and $25 each additional passenger on the same reservation – not $200, and not $150 apiece. Date changes with their awards are free as long as the ticket stays otherwise the same.”

  • Air Madagascar’s strike ends. The airline has been mostly grounded for a month.

About Gary Leff

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 »

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Comments

  1. Um, Ben doesn’t fly for free. The opening totally discredits the author / editor.

  2. The WSJ article on the Letter to the Editor is blacked out for non-subscribers. No sense in linking to it. Thanks for the effort, though.

  3. @Chris B: Google the article’s headline and click on the google link to the article. This “tip” works for most of the media’s paywalls…

  4. Cannot get to the WSJ Article/letter to the editor even through Google so if anyone copies it that CAN read it, feel free to post here or send a copy, eh?

  5. It’s a brief letter- can’t really see why it’s viral. I also would disagree with the thesis that “customer service doesn’t cost money”- good staff require training and consistent compensation policies, etc.

    =====================================

    U.S. Airlines Abuse Travelers Via Apathy
    Customer service doesn’t cost money; it is a conscious commitment and an adherence to an ideology.
    July 17, 2015 6:34 p.m. ET
    10 COMMENTS
    If my personal experience as a United platinum-card holder with almost two million miles is any indicator, the real issue in the dispute between U.S. airlines and their Mideast rivals is the U.S. carriers’ fear of being outed over customer service (“Emirates Rebuts Allegations,” Business & Tech., July 1). No amount of U.S. state or federal aid could ever cure the current apathy, which borders on abuse, exhibited by all of the major airlines’ personnel toward their long-suffering American-domiciled travelers. Customer service doesn’t cost money; it is a conscious commitment and an adherence to an ideology. Message to the U.S. airlines: Stop whining and start serving your customers.

    Philip Rushton

    President

    Aviatrade Inc.

    Mendham, N.J.

Comments are closed.