View from the Wing Archives.
I wasn’t sure I’d feel at home at a ‘female empowerment hotel’ – but Hotel Zena (1) gave me a suite as a status upgrade, and (2) has a portrait of Ruth Bader Ginsburg that’s just awesome.
Kiersten Bak, who was just hired as a flight attendant by Delta in March, was fired last month for posts she made on her Facebook account. She “called out a man who had been trolling her” and her comments were reported to her employer, which was identified based on a profile picture she used in her uniform.
She was questioned about a photo with her top sweater buttons unbottoned and, she says, asked whether she’s racist against white men, before being terminated for violating the airline’s social media policy.
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
In response to United’s devaluation of how they price awards, several readers want to know what can be done, what I can do about it.
A passenger successfully sued Lufthansa Group for failing to provide his pre-ordered kosher meal. Those of us in the U.S. consider would consider it a ‘man bites dog’ event.
Lufthansa argued that he paid for and received transportation. The court rejected this.
The American AAdvantage program recently updated its terms and conditions. They added this sentence: To the full extent allowed by law, these Terms and Conditions disclaim any duty of good faith and fair dealing as well as any implied contractual terms or obligations. That’s pretty striking language — they have no “duty of good faith and fair dealing” — and my conclusion is that this means either nothing at all or at most only one thing: American doesn’t have very good lawyers.
This week the Supreme Court heard oral argument in the case of the Rabbi who complained too much and Northwest Airlines (now owned by Delta) shut down his frequent flyer account as a result. The Rabbi sued, and one of the crucial questions in whether his suit is permissable is whether a state court’s view of contracts as having to be made fairly and in good faith is an acceptable overlay in light of the Airline Deregulation Act’s prohibition on states regulating an airlines prices, routes, and schedules. I’ve covered the major arguments in this space already. And having taken an eye to the knowledge (and in some cases lack of knowledge) that the Justices appear to posses regarding frequent flyer miles based on the questions they asked on Tuesday, I thought it worth noting…
Tuesday night I read the Supreme Court transcripts so you don’t have to — there were some priceless frequent flyer moments during the Court’s oral argument in the case of the Rabbi who complained too much and Ngorthwest Airlines closed his frequent flyer account… Justice Ginsburg didn’t seem to think that an airline unilaterally cancelling an account and refusing to honor accrued obligations was reasonable. JUSTICE GINSBURG: Mr. Clement, the argument was made that if — if the airline has an unreviewable right to terminate this agreement for any reason or for no reason, if that is so, then it’s an illusory contract. What — what is your answer to that, if one 16 party can get out willy-nilly, why — what kind of 17 bargain is it? Delta’s lawyer suggests that people pay for…
Back in May I discussed the Supreme Court agreeing to hear the case of the Rabbi whose Northwest account was closed for complaining too much. Ginsburg sued. His complaint was dismissed in federal district court on the basis that state law can’t be used to address airline price, route or service issues since those are pre-empted by the federal Airline Deregulation Act. A 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling disagreed, and now the Supreme Court will hear the issue. Reader and attorney Eric M. Fraser updates us on the case, as it prepares to go to oral argument in front of the Supreme Court on Tuesday. Eric M. Fraser is an appellate and antirust attorney with Osborn Maledon. He is an active flyer and reads View from the Wing to help keep his preferred status…
Yesterday I discussed the Supreme Court agreeing to hear the case of the Rabbi whose Northwest account was closed for complaining too much. Ginsburg sued. His complaint was dismissed in federal district court on the basis that state law can’t be used to address airline price, route or service issues since those are pre-empted by the federal Airline Deregulation Act. A 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling disagreed, and now the Supreme Court will hear the issue. I asked reader and attorney Eric M. Fraser if he’d share thoughts on the case. Mr. Fraser is an attorney with Osborn Maledon and an active flyer. He has written posts about the Supreme Court at SCOTUSblog and has preferred status in US Airways’s Dividend Miles program — status he doesn’t want to see disappear. His comments follow:…
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 »
