News and notes from around the interweb:
- TIL: Spencer who runs Straight To The Points learned about miles and points from View From The Wing, and he came across this site because of something I wrote about the largest U.S. carriers seeking government protectionism against Emirates, Etihad, and Qatar. So I guess one positive came out of that anti-consumer campaign to force higher fares and fewer flight choices.
- The 50 most popular Hyatt hotels for award redemption. They title this “plan ahead” but in fact one thing that makes them popular (the most redemptions) is that many of these have plenty of standard rooms in the redemption pool and so it’s actually not that tough to redeem.
You need to ‘plan ahead’ at properties that play the most games to limit award redemption like Andaz Maui, or that legitimately have very few base rooms (some of the list qualify). You see a lot of properties on the list that are U.S. domestic hotels in leisure destinations that have been open for the bulk of the last 12 months.
- Ian Schrager Hotels in New York require guests to be vaccinated
- This is a cool shot, watch until the end.
- TSA screeners stop man with loaded handgun and sword in walking stick at Washington Dulles
- Three United Polaris lounges should re-open this year including the new Washington Dulles lounge.
United Polaris Lounge Newark
This guns on planes stuff simply has to stop. The most obvious way to make that happen is to either put anyone attempting to bring a gun aboard to automatically become a lifetime No-Fly member or to arrest the person on weapons charges and require felony prosecution. Come to think of it, doing both would be even better. The key is that there be absolutely no exceptions whatsoever.
People who say stuff like “absolutely no exceptions whatsoever” are fascinating because they reveal, simultaneously, low IQ and low EQ. On the IQ part, given that an infinite number of situations could arise in which a human-made, unrigorously written law could be relevant, it is not even practically feasible not to allow any exception to its application. On the EQ part, declaring absolutism implies a refusal to consider individual circumstances – a.k.a. Lack of empathy.
@Christian is a terrible human being, plain and simple.
@Qinxuan Pan – The weird passive-aggressive tone is indicative of a poor ability to comprehend real life circumstances, instead substituting condescending tropes rather than actually addressing the point: making stupid statements instead of a counterpoint makes you look bad. Try addressing the issue. Peripherally if you must.
To simplify, if you make exceptions, politicians and other well connected people will game the system, which means that instead of laws you have guidelines. Therefore in this instance you must have severe penalties for flagrantly criminal behavior, with no exceptions. No country can claim to be a nation of laws while having guidelines rather than laws.
@Christian
“The most obvious way to make that happen is to either put anyone attempting to bring a gun aboard to automatically become a lifetime No-Fly member … The key is that there be absolutely no exceptions whatsoever.”
I guess you no longer desire onboard protection from those not-so-obvious Air Marshalls?
I’ll address the issue. I’m surprised @Christian would reply to a comment slamming him as a terrible human, but maybe he also has a tiny wee-wee. Anyhow…
Allow guns onboard. Not their use, obviously, but the right of passengers to transport guns by hand luggage should be permitted.
The evidence shows they’re not dangerous. For the past two decades, Air Marshals have been bringing guns in places and have a track record of irresponsible behavior. Didn’t a teenager once find a FAM’s loaded gun in the bathroom? The point is FAMs haven’t been model citizens, have brought guns on planes, and nothing of serious consequence has happened.
Also doesn’t the TSA have a 95% failure rate of detecting guns at the security checkpoint, according to the government’s own tests? That means people have been bringing guns onboard already.
The second amendment states that the right of the people to bear arms shall not be infringed. Thus our default should be to allow guns unless there is an evidence based threat to safety. I have not seen such evidence.
Just about every safety and security measure in aviation — including the purely theatrical ones — is written in blood.
https://www.cnn.com/2017/08/02/us/us-airline-hijackings-1970s-declassified/index.html
Not having seen evidence does not mean that the evidence is not present or not well-known.
It’s a disturbing fallacy right up there with claiming something is the case without evidence, or distorting the severity of it, like saying that we’re all dying of bubonic plague because illegal immigrants are poisoning the wells.
Nice try, Comrade Vlad.
@Quinxuan Pan: stop the trolling. You are a complete moron. The only guns on board a plane should be Air Marshalls. End of discussion.
And if anyone is likely to have a snail penis, odds are on you based on your cheap shots
As a hunter, shooter and third generation combat vet I expect those handling firearms to have above average presence of mind and constant discipline. Those who forget there is a firearm in their carry on are not responsible enough to qualify and should no longer be allowed to carry or possess firearms. I wouldn’t mind if they were automatically on the no fly list as well.
So I flew from ORD-MUC in J and had to deal with the Polaris fiasco. Of course, United let us in the regular clubs, but it is frankly shameful what they offer relative to your standard SkyClub from Delta. I’m not making this up, the best food option was a small bad of Cheetos…..