Weekly Roundup

France Bans Strikes, Entitled First Class Passengers, United isn't "vibing" & More [Roundup]

Charlie Mortling

Apr 7, 2024 — 7 min read

Hello from a lounge somewhere halfway across the world, this was a week of broken promises, entitled passengers, and a country famous for striking... banning striking. As we head into summer, the lines are going to start getting longer, and every little bit we don't spend at the airport is going to be key.

I have always been an advocate for TSA PreCheck and CBP Global Entry. It's such a breeze to fly through the security lines without having to take out liquids or talk to a customer's officer. My last few flights, I don't think I've every stopped walking through a customs hall except to get scanned at the Global Entry kiosk. That being said, it sounds like Global Entry will be raising their fees to $120 for the program. Still an awesome value for money if you travel a lot. My question, is if credit card companies will raise their reimbursements for the program.

I see it again and again, people lose all sense of respect and common sense when at an airport. It's incredible to see such disregard for someone because you couldn't get a drink of alcohol. This woman decided to throw things at a flight attendant and yell at her because she couldn't get one more drink? I rarely drink on an airplane, and if I do, I only limit myself to 1 or 2 drinks. Because really? Who wants to be buzzed on an airplane.

The country famous for strikes, where the last time the government tried to make a major move caused nationwide rioting for thinking about increasing the retirement age. Has now proposed limiting the number of days of strikes per year. The Air France pilot union is furious and is calling for... you guessed it... a strike.

American Airlines is changing the way you cancel trips. They are also incentivizing being an AAdvantage member by restricting trip credits to 6-months if you're a non-member and 1-year if you are a member. This is a devaluation for non-members, and for members this is really the same as usual. However, unlike some other carriers, your ticket is good for 1-year from the date of cancellation instead of date of purchase.

New details of the United 737 MAX runway incursion are coming about. It was a large hole in the runway that caused the gear to collapse and the airplane to skid off the runway and into a ditch. There will now likely be follow-up with the airport commission on inspections of the runways before and after the event.

Well, we all knew this was coming. Alaska Airlines wanted compensation from Boeing for a faulty plug-door that caused it to separate from the aircraft. We now have numbers, to the tune of $160 million, that Boeing has now paid to Alaska Airlines for the problems. This is not going to be the last we see of this for sure.

And here we are, still hyper focused on airplane diversions. A United 777 declared an emergency earlier this week and turned around after takeoff. Passengers reported seeing flames from the engine, which is common with an engine stall. The plane landed safely.

I hate scummy hotel companies, ones that price gouge you just because a large event is happening. Even more so, ones that will cancel your reservation because they can get double the price or more for your room that you pre-booked long ago. I wish that the full force of the legal system will come down on each one of these people. One story is from Niagara, and this one sounds like they had signed contracts. So this will be good...

United usually holds its investor day on May 1st, this is usually a time to go over earnings, projections, and big projects with the airline. Safe to say that United hasn't had the best last couple of months. To probably prevent investors from questioning the airline and waiting for the news cycle to blow over, they have cancelled investor day to a future date. Probably the best for the company image.

Delta probably didn't handle this situation appropriately, a passenger in first-class volunteered to give up their seat on an oversold flight. The flight ended up not being oversold so instead they put him back on the flight, but they had already given away his seat, so he was put into economy with no compensation. I think Delta should have compensated him anyway, and if he had paid for first-class I think they should have given him back the seat, otherwise if it was a complimentary upgrade I would have offered the seat on the next flight if they still wanted to take it. These situations are always in the heat of the moment, and I'm sure not all the options were covered.