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News and notes from around the interweb:
- Ebates is acquiring Cartera Commerce (HT: @TravelWithGrant). That’s who runs most of the airline shopping portal sites. I interviewed the Cartera CEO about the business model 3 years ago.
- Santa Monica and the FAA have apparently reached an agreement to close Santa Monica Airport by 2028, and to immediately reduce the length of allowable use runway to 3500 feet limiting larger aircraft traffic. Residents of Santa Monica who wanted to get rid of the airport, of course, fail to acknowledge that the airport was there first.
The airport was home to the Douglas Aircraft Company, and their DC-1 through DC-7 aircraft were built there. The airport was where the first plane to circumnavigate the world took off and landed in 1924. During World War II it was disguised as a fake town to throw off enemies who might wish to bomb it.
American Airlines DC-3 Copyright: icholakov / 123RF Stock Photo - Inside the Qantas Chairmans Lounge with a focus especially on the one at the Sydney airport. it actually looks a lot like the Sydney first class lounge but with fewer people.
Qantas First Class Lounge, Sydney - Kenya approved — and then withdrew approval for — a third Emirates Dubai – Nairobi flight, seeking to protect the nation’s flag carrier SkyTeam member Kenya Airways.
Kenya wants to review their air services agreement with the UAE to ensure they’re getting a great trade deal, they want to have only the best deals, and they worry the UAE is taking advantage of them. Otherwise they’ll seek to build a wall on their border with the UAE and make Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum pay for it.
Emirates A380 - Southwest Airlines — which still offers free checked bags — won’t copy American, Delta, and United with basic economy.
- Airbus has its own airline.. sort of
- Here’s how foreign dignitaries get special courtesies at US airports (.pdf, HT: Dennis L.) Including a special VIP lounge at Washington Dulles:
Now you know why IAD has some of the highest emplanememt fees in the USA. We have to pay for this crap.
Not sure why this is on this blog. All quite standard and reasonable. Foreign dignitaries as listed are entitled to VIP treatment. That is the grown up world we live in. We are not all equal. Period. When I fly First Class with LH through Frankfurt or with SWISS through Zurich I expect and get treated differently to those who buy the cheapest seats and sit at the back [or downstairs on the old LH 747] in front of the lavatory.