News and notes from around the interweb:
- Man who claimed ’emotional distress’ when airline ran out of chicken meals has sued airlines 27 times in the past two years
A serial litigator who has filed lawsuits against a slew of international airlines 27 times in less than two years has been declared a ‘vexatious litigant’ by a U.S. District Judge in Northern California. The ruling followed a lawsuit in which the passenger claimed he suffered emotional distress after flight attendants on an SAS Scandinavian Airlines flight from San Francisco to Copenhagen ran out of chicken entrees during the main meal service and, instead, served him a vegetarian meal.
Frequent flyer Sergey Firsov claimed in his lawsuit that his health was “damaged” from being served the vegetarian meal because “he is a man and required to eat meat every day.” He also complained that the air conditioning system on another flight wasn’t working properly and was making the air “too dry,” necessitating the need for him to drink water every 15 minutes.
- Rakuten will give new members $50 (5,000 points) after you make your first purchase of $50 or more. You can even spend the $50 on a gift card, and they’ll offer additional rebates on purchases through giftcards.com.
You can keep it as cash, or $50 transfers as 5,000 points to American Express Membership Rewards or points transfer 1:1 to Bilt Rewards (even better) if you have Silver status or higher in that program, but only 1:0.5 if you do not have any status. This offer appears to be valid through September 30, 2026.
- Grand Hyatt Grand Cayman and Alila Napa Valley are no longer eligible for Hyatt suite upgrade awards.
- The Hyatt Grand Central charges a destination fee for… promo code discounts publicly listed on their website that guests and non-guests alike can use.
20% off Grand Central Tour with code HYATTGCT21
20% off New York Botanic Garden tickets with code HYATT21
20% off The Edge tickets with code HYATT20 - Embassy Suites Seattle Downtown Pioneer Square workers on strike and have a new website promoting poor guest experiences at the property meant to pressure owners (but also undermine the business that would fund higher wages). They are pressing for (emphasis mine):
a new contract with raises, year-round healthcare coverage, a return to higher staffing levels from the prepandemic era and protections from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
- Japanese airport rebrands itself as “Sushi Airport” to attract foreign tourists
Toyama Governor Hachiro Nitta announced that the airport would receive a new nickname: “Toyama-Takayama Sushi Airport”. Though a name this outrageous might sound like a joke, it really is happening, with the governor saying the new branding aims to raise the prefecture’s profile amongst overseas visitors by highlighting two words that they believe have instant global recognition: “Sushi” and “Takayama”.
- Funny to see him admit that most of their New York listings are actually illegal…
There’s at least one legal airbnb property in NYC https://t.co/ZhErEBoeIN
— Brian Chesky (@bchesky) July 9, 2026
Hit the link to the litigious pax. It’s a good story.
Sergey’s gonna have a bad time attempting to recover under ’emotional distress’ (generally, not allowed under Montreal Convention). That said, 27? Weak. Go for 47… Ronin.
For fear of being sued for nothing, I will refrain from commenting on Mr. Firsov.
@Gene — No, no… set the trap… invite him in… let him sue… then, collect on those sanctions!
After 10+ frivolous lawsuits, he’s a revenue stream for a legal department… *cha ching*
How the hell is the hotel supposed to protect them from ICE?
Ol’ Sergey may claim to be a man but his whining says differently. I’d say he’s another prime No-Fly candidate. A few decades of enjoying the open road within the USA and ships to other continents will help his mindset a lot.
That hotel is disgusting. Everybody knows all they have to do is make a phone call to ICE and tell them to leave their employees alone. ICE will immediately cease all activity in or around the hotel.
@Christian — That’s one way to “take the long way home.” Save some room for Breakfast in America. *cough*
And yet, the attorneys that make vexatious litigation possible remain at large.
I seriously doubt that there was an attorney in any of these cases.He would have been pro se since no attorney would have taken any of these cases. An attorney might take a speculative case if there was at least a possibility of a big payday, but not these junk.
@Denver Refugee — Maybe he represented himself… you know what they say, “He who represents himself has a fool for a client.” — Abe Lincoln.
Yeah, if you click on the link, the story states he filed the lawsuits. Any future lawsuits he files without a lawyer receive a “preview” of sorts to mitigate abuse.