Category: Blog

February 23, 2018: Was told he was on “extended holiday” but to come back around March 1 when he might come by to pick up severance check and office desk!

February 22, 2018: Informal and comfortable— and warm — so says the new clothes to go boarding gate vending machines at SFO— what’s next —maybe hot food on the run as you board?

United Gets Pissy with Passengers — Again!

February 21, 2018: Airplane toilets, won’t to quirks and mishaps as they are, can get too full. And when aircraft toilets reach capacity, vacation plans get thrown into chaos, as passengers onboard a flight from Denver to Kilauea, Hawaii learned all too well on Sunday.

United Flight 1219 was three hours away from its destination of Lihue Airport, ostensibly gliding through the open air en route to paradise, when flight crew noticed the toilets had “reached capacity.” The aircraft pulled a 180, darting back to San Francisco so the beleaguered waste tanks could be serviced. As you could guess, passengers were pissed:

“Bottom line is they ruined a lot of people’s vacations yesterday,” Rich Anderson told FOX 31. “They gave us a really crummy start.

United sent a statement to all the passengers, who were expecting to land safely in the blissful sunshine of Hawaii but instead arrived where they started, all because of the human detritus occupying the same plane.

“A decision was made to turn back and land in San Francisco where arrangements were made to change planes. I can appreciate that this experience was disappointing and unpleasant,” the statement read.

To compensate for the dilemma, which set travelers back an additional eight hours, United provided $200 flight vouchers and 10,000 bonus miles for each passenger.

United’s negligence in cleaning out the plane’s waste tanks fits what seems to be a growing trend of unexpected run-ins with fecal matter in the airline industry. (You read that sentence correctly). Late last year, a plane with broken toilets made an emergency landing so passengers could release their bowels without the threat of a toilet geyser destroying the cabin. And well, another plane diverted from its flightpath due to a passenger smearing poop on the lavatory walls.

February 20, 2018: Be nice at check in — You might score something extra? And carry chocolate bars?

Virgin Disappears into Alaska?

February 19, 2018: As of now — Virgin America, once part of the vast Richard Branson business empire — is now “officially” gone and US operations become part of the growing Alaska Air Group — one of the highest ranked US carriers for reliability and customer services — maybe other US carriers should take note and strive for better service like Alaska?  Rumor from Branson’s operating base in London notes that his Virgin transportation group is also looking to dump money losing Virgin Rail service?

February 12, 2018: In an effort to add even “less class” to flying in 2018, British Airway, the once classy British flagship carrier, plans to add more seats to most of their aircraft — even some of their Boeing 777s.  One way to do this is to add rows of seats that don’t decline — I guess meaning their will be no “please return your seats to their original upright position” ever?  Hard to beat this classless move — but I’m sure others will try. SHAMEFUL!!!

February 9, 2018: Sno-catting — low speed off-road— aah, well off-snow trail — all-terrain winter vehicle fun has taken on a new (and much more expensive) “larger look” with the $125,000 Tucker Sno-Cat.  This huge “adult” snowmobile sits on treads designed for military tanks and features a bright orange cab — hard not to see.  Fastest growing market is upscale land owners who want to get to their winter retreats quickly — and other markets that include utility and oil drilling companies. One recent Lake Tahoe customer traded out the bright orange cab for a look alike Ferrari red. Lifestyles of the rich now playing in the snow!!!!

February 8, 2018: If you’re into RC flying check this out— I want one!!!

February 5, 2018: Seattle-based Starbucks is on a binge to invade China — opening one new coffee location a day for the last 5 years — and move tea to the back counter! The new Shanghai location, over 30,000 square feet “compound”, features 3 coffee bars, in-house bakery and according to Starbucks —“augmented reality” what ever the hell that is? I think that means “high tech” and something legal you can do while sipping coffee with your smartphone? Starbucks now has over 5,000 locations in China and average coffee costs running a dollar+ higher than here in the US. Watch out Rocket Man, Starbucks might have you on their radar???