View from the Wing Archives.
The man in the Burger King crown became an airline meme after racist outbursts got him removed from JetBlue and American. A buried Jamaican report says the trip began with a Facebook romance, a promised wedding, $1,000 lost—and nights sleeping on the beach.
An Instagram reel promises “billionaire” travel secrets, but its advice about luggage, flying commercial, and hotel upgrades sounds more like status theater than luxury travel.
Costco’s stackable InKind restaurant deal. People are apparently taking disposable paper cups from hotel rooms and selling them on eBay, because almost anything with a brand can become collectible. Capital One catching a tip adjustment, Disney’s abandoned Iran pavilion plan, and Marriott’s worst resort becoming Club Med.
Billions of dollars in unused luggage sit in closets, but most bags never reach resale because they’re bulky, low-value, and too much hassle to ship.
Thailand immigration officials are warning travelers not to buy VIP airport fast track services online, saying paid immigration shortcuts do not exist and may be scams.
First the Hyatt room was hot, dirty and broken. Then the replacement room was already occupied. The third room finally had working air conditioning — but morning sunlight revealed the kind of stained bedding no guest should ever have slept on.
News and notes from around the interweb: Charlotte airport staffer stole $5,000 in jewelry from a passenger’s luggage and sold it on Facebook. Their defense? ‘I didn’t steal it, I found it’ (cough) but it still didn’t belong to them and they still sold it, it seems. Court documents said a woman reported that multiple pieces of diamond-encrusted David Yurman jewelry were stolen from her suitcase during a layover April 11 at Charlotte Douglas International Airport. The jewelry was valued at about $5,000, documents said… In the days after the initial report, detectives said they found a social media account, “Alonys Garcia,” listing every piece of jewelry the woman reported stolen and selling it as a bundled item…Reyes-Garcia claimed he found the jewelry in the secure baggage area. Two cases of Legionnaires’ disease linked to…
Oakland airport can call itself “San Francisco Bay” after settling with SFO — but only if Oakland comes first, with no slash, no hyphen, and no SFO keyword games. Also: Newark’s “I Love New York” shirts inspire a tax-credit fight, Richmond airport courts a Capital One lounge, a United pilot gets dragged into “8647” politics, and American’s O’Hare gate win gets new FOIA receipts.
A flight attendant has her job back, and nearly $1 million, after Southwest Airlines and her union worked together to fire her over her union and religious politics.
News and notes from around the interweb: United Airlines adds pre-arrival Godiva chocolates to domestic first class. They used to offer these in premium transcon and long haul business class 30 years ago – but where you’d select out of a box. These are individually wrapped. Unfortunately it’s for April only, can’t keep up this investment too long (and probably only being subsidized by Godiva for a short bit). The Belgian chocolatier, like United, is celebrating its 100-year anniversary and will be featured onboard throughout the month of April. Specifically, United says the chocolates will be offered in domestic first class on flights over 901 miles, excluding those departing from Canada and Latin America. The chocolates will be presented as part of the pre-arrival service, about 90 minutes before landing. Flight attendants will serve them…
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 »
