“As of mid-2011, terrorist threat groups present in the Homeland are not known to be actively plotting against civil aviation targets or airports; instead, their focus is on fundraising, recruiting, and propagandizing,
…the government concedes that it would be difficult to have a repeat of 9/11 due to hardened cockpit doors and the willingness of passengers to challenge hijackers rather than assume a hijacking merely means a diversion to Cuba.”
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.
There’s been a rush of Chinese airlines squatting on routes to the U.S., because historically China has only allowed one of the country’s airlines to fly a given international route. That may change, but in the meantime we have service like Xiamen Airlines Los Angeles – Xiamen.
And as you can imagine these flights don’t sell out. So there are occasionally fantastic fares, to see China or to connect beyond China. In this case you can fly most any time between the US and Australia for $2600 roundtrip in business class. Or $1300 to China!
A jury just awarded what appears to be the biggest bed bug verdict in history.
According to their lawyer the case was especially egregious because “[t]hey were Hilton Honors members.”
I had a couple of American Airlines systemwide upgrades that I wasn’t going to use so I offered them to a friend.
For one of the upgrades American pulled a systemwide from my friend’s account rather than mine. The second upgrade cleared at the gate. And though it’s been a month the upgrade hasn’t been taken from my account.
Four years into the American Airlines – US Airways merger they are only now talking about aligning their fleet. For the most part US Airways narrowbody planes don’t have extra legroom seats at the front of the aircraft or even seat power. (First class also has less legroom and many still have decrepit seats.)
I flew a legacy US Airways plane this morning though and I boarded with a bit of excitement — a new interior.
I’m under no illusion that walking the streets of Bangkok means that I understand the divisions in Thai society. Drinking with someone in Spain doesn’t mean I know what ‘real people are like’ in Southern Europe.
It’s easy to say that ‘travel promotes understanding’ but travel can also promote a false sense of understanding.
Chicago’s O’Hare airport isn’t the most modern or beautiful airport. But the biggest problems they face are weather, distance from the city, and insufficient gates to grow. They’re planning to do something about gates while in the process rebuilding terminals.
I’m ultimately happy with O’Hare today since so far it’s the only place with a United Polaris lounge, American’s second Flagship lounge just opened there, and they’ve got Tortas Frontera.
The CEO of British Airways, Iberia and Aer Lingus parent IAG says he’s “s***ting himself” over how fierce a competitor Ryanair will be once they recover from their current troubles.
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.
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 »
