United Airlines Accidentally Emailed Every Flight Attendant That They Were Moving To London [Roundup]

News and notes from around the interweb:

• The airports that don’t use federal screeners – like San Francisco and Kansas City – have workers showing up and don’t have long lines but remember that airports don’t actually get to contract with screening companies directly, the TSA just assigns one to the airport. And for many years TSA stonewalled participation. But it’s actually better for security.

  A government agency regulating itself creates conflicts of interest. International Civil Aviation Organization standards say that security providers and regulators should be independent.

  Major countries around the world follow this best practice. Canada, Britain, Germany, France and Spain use private contractors for passenger screening. Even in other countries where the government is the provider, it’s rarely a national bureaucratic agency doing the screenings.

• Starting next week, American Airlines will offer mattress paids in business class on all international Flagship flights as well as Flagship Hawaii flights. I leaked that this was coming back in October, and American actually revealed it in December even though they only just formally announced it on Friday.

  This is a really big move for comfort, to make seats more comfortable, and is a great extension beyond offering mattress pads just on ultra-long haul.

• It’s not just long lines – and Austin airport had 5 a.m. lines stretching far outside the airport last week – it’s the variance in wait times at TSA that matters. There’s a ton of deadweight loss with passengers standing in lines, but also showing up hours early and then sitting on their hands inside the terminal. Variance is also an underrated reason why lounges get so crowded now.

  Got here at 6 AM for a 9 AM boarding
  by
  u/MikeinAustin in
  Austin

• United Airlines accidentally emailed all its flight attendants telling them they were being transferred to London.

• London City Airport, long defined by its demanding 5.5-degree approach, is weighing a new 4.49-degree approach path that could make operations possible for larger narrow-body aircraft such as the Airbus A320neo. The airport argues that bringing in bigger, newer jets would mean more passengers per departure, with quieter operations, better fuel efficiency, and lower CO2 output. (HT: Bob Poole)

• It looks like Marriott may be launching a new brand – Matter Hotels – based on the steps they’ve taken worldwide to protect the IP. (Skift)