News and notes from around the interweb:
- Americans are big, seats are small! So these tray tables have cutouts for passenger bellies.
I’ll play devil’s advocate, though. United offers plenty of seats you can pay for with extra legroom. Here they’re designing seats so that regardless of body type as many people as possible can still choose the cheapest option.
Hey @United, when you have to cut out indentations from your seat back tray to fit around passengers your rows might be just a tad too cramped. And I don’t think another merger will fix it. pic.twitter.com/RMwjsarjSI
— Mark Meador (@MeadorFTC) April 29, 2026
- One of my most controversial takes is that when an airline delivers a broken seat to a passenger, they have not provided the product that they promised and they have not earned their money. The airline is not just selling transportation. They market much more and then fall back on their adhesion contract when they do not deliver.
Airlines want customers to believe the marketing, and that they have at least some minimum standards, but do not want to be held to it – and that’s wrong.
Fortunately, American acknowledges internally that they have too many broken seats and they’re building a dedicated maintenance team to start addressing it this summer.
- TIL. And here you complain about Landline.
Did you know between 1957 and 1976, there was a regular bus service between London and Calcutta, India.The 32,000km, 50 day, 2-way bus route is the longest in the world.
The bus had sleeping bunks and even a kitchen! For just £145, you get to travel with food & accomodation. The… pic.twitter.com/rUymjhn2Ho
— Alvin Foo (@alvinfoo) April 28, 2026
- This is a classic, but from 2018.
U OK HUN? pic.twitter.com/BlkKGmf3MN
— Ezzy (@ezzyskii) April 27, 2026
- Mostly about the history of S&H Green Stamps which I remember in a kitchen drawer in the 70s, but: (HT: So Many Points)
In ancient Egypt, merchants offered their regulars tokens that could be redeemed for staples like bread or beer. In the late 1700s, one New England merchant gave customers copper tokens to exchange for merchandise.
- A reader shares the brand new wine list from the Philadelphia Amex Centurion lounge. This looks like an improvement! I’d probably try the Coquelicot Carbonic Sangiovese and Pedro Parra Imaginador Cinsault. Nothing ultra-premium here, but more interesting bottles than before for sure, and less mass market.
- Capital One Landings still have the best food of any credit card lounge, period. They need to rotate the menus a bit more (the salmon they served briefly and dropped was good). Grab ‘n go water bottles are larger.
@ Gary — Good thing that fat customers can lower their tables to eat more.
People who find coach too small are fat idiots.
I love your Centurion wine recommendations — I will certainly try them soon. But I have to laugh because I’m certain I know more about wine than 95%+ of Centurion lounge customers but I still don’t know these wines. I always think AMEX would be smarter to spend the money on improving the buffet protein, something that most customers would notice and appreciate.
I have a book entitled “Kathmandu by Truck” by Barbara Lamplugh published in 1976. She and a group of 21 others drove from London’s Victoria Station to Kathmandu in a converted fire truck pulling a trailer. 16 in the back and 6 in the cab. They pitched tents during stops.
She didn’t state exactly what year the journey occurred, but did say it was one of several companies offering a similar expedition.
@This comes to mind — Is that an Ohio-thing, again?
This comes to mind must be a fat idiot. S/he who smelt it dealt it.