News and notes from around the interweb:

• Restaurants re-imagining their loyalty programs less ‘buy X, get Y free’ and more experiences and elite benefits.

  

• Premium lounge tipping: I shared comments from American’s Senior Vice President for Los Angeles that tipping is not permitted in Flagship Dining. I didn’t understand then why at the end of the meal they presented a thank you card that looked like a check, since it felt like it was encouraging tipping.

• The John Kasich first class seat scandal has made it into a cartoon. Oddly no mention that his father was a mailman though.

• Willie Walsh is ‘very confident’ there will be a post-Brexit aviation deal with Europe

  Matthew Klint notes that United Polaris lounge bartender positions are advertised as ‘non-tipped’ though apparently bartenders are permitted to accept tips, they just have to quickly remove them from the bar.

  

• Drunk passenger has to pay airline’s fuel costs for the diversion

• Complaints that UCLA students are using Uber and Lyft to get to class “11,000 trips a week to get from one part of campus to another” in my day it wasn’t uncommon to drive your own car though, it’s a really sprawling campus. The challenge was parking though I could usually find a space in front of what was then called Kinsey Hall (most of my time was spent in Kinsey 356).

• British Airways premium economy passenger disgusted with breakfast Well, duh…

  The airline’s website promises a “traditional full English breakfast or a delicious continental breakfast accompanied by a selection of fruit juices and tea or coffee”.

  …His pictures, posted to British Airways’ Facebook page, appear to show a very small, dry-looking croissant in plastic wrapping, a stodgy cereal bar, and a small coffee in a disposable cup.

• American Airlines has received it first A321neo. Gorgeous new plane. Too bad what they’re doing to it.

  Look who just landed @PITairport and secured newbie status in our fleet fam… our new @Airbus A321neo! 😍 pic.twitter.com/ElbXRJMSwa

  — American Airlines (@AmericanAir) February 1, 2019