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So, I bet you’ve heard about the airline incident between a woman and Texas Democratic Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee. Katie wrote about it. In all, Jean-Marie Simon was booted from her first class seat on a United flight for Lee. Simon was obviously upset, voiced her objections, and was even threatened with being forced off the flight. She was eventually given a $500 voucher for her pre-paid seat and relocated to economy class. She alleges that United gave the Texas Democrat preferential treatment. The saga got even worse when Lee accused Simon of racism regarding this matter. I noted that this...

Vietnam's VietJet Aviation said on Thursday (Dec 28) it was standing by a controversial "bikini" calendar, a marketing ploy featuring scantily clad female models that has prompted criticism in conservative South-east Asia and beyond. The annual calendar, which has gone viral online, is part of a broader marketing push by VietJet that has propelled the start-up airline's rapid growth, as it has taken market share from Vietnam Airlines. The publication of the 2018 calendar - which critics say overly sexualises the image of flight attendants and other airline staff - comes as there is a growing debate in the global...

FULL TITLE: Family sues Alaska Airlines after wheelchair-bound grandmother fell down airport escalator and died following surgery to amputate her leg due to wounds from her accident A family is suing Alaska Airlines and a contractor after a disabled 75-year-old grandmother suffered a fall down a Portland International Airport escalator in June and later died. Video captured the moment that Bernice Kekona, seat-belted to her power wheelchair, tumbled and crashed down an escalator, landing near the bottom with the heavy chair on top of her. After her flight from Hawaii landed in Portland in June 2017, the family says they...

A plane heading from Los Angeles to Tokyo turned back because an unauthorized person was on board. KABC-TV reports All Nippon Airways Flight 175 left Los Angeles International Airport around 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, but it never arrived at Tokyo’s Narita International Airport. Model Chrissy Teigen, who was on the plane, tweeted that the flight made a U-turn about four hours into the 11-hour flight.A plane heading from Los Angeles to Tokyo turned back because an unauthorized person was on board. KABC-TV reports All Nippon Airways Flight 175 left Los Angeles International Airport around 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, but it never arrived...

A negligence lawsuit claiming Spirit Airlines fed alcohol to rowdy female passengers and then failed to defuse a subsequent cabin brawl has crashed and burned. After a 12-day trial that ended Thursday in Los Angeles, a jury decided the carrier was not responsible for the violent March 2016 clash that was caught on video and quickly went viral. The lawsuit, announced in New York last year by three Delaware women and their plaintiff's lawyer Gloria Allred, claimed Spirit's flight attendants had an obligation to act when the problem passengers exhibited aggressive behavior such as blasting music and waving a boom...

One of the broadest provisions on the Republican-backed tax bill working its way through congress this week is a massive tax cut for corporations. And if the legislation is approved, Dallas-based Southwest Airlines may put some major fleet upgrades in the pipeline. According to Bloomberg, Gary Kelly, the CEO of Southwest Airlines suggested that the tax cut "puts us in a position to think about growing faster" and "gives us an opportunity to begin to modernize our fleet." Southwest's fleet is uniquely made entirely up of variants of the Boeing 737, which makes maintenance easier for the carrier but which...

The Minnesota owners of Sun Country Airlines are selling the Eagan-based carrier. Apollo Global Management, a New York-based investment group, will purchase the airline for an undisclosed sum. Mitch and Marty Davis, the current owners, said they decided to sell Sun Country to a group that could help grow the company faster. The headquarters will stay in Minnesota and Jude Bricker will remain president and chief executive.

*Stephanie Ung, 26, and a friend were returning from a birthday trip to Cancun on Thursday when they were detained by immigration agents at the Atlanta airport *Delta officials said they alerted authorities because other passengers thought the two girls might be human-trafficking victims *The two girls were detained for more than an hour, causing Ung to miss Thanksgiving dinner *Ung says she believes she and her friend, who are Asian American, were racially profiled as human trafficking victims *She said in this case, the passengers' suspicions were wrong and they should have just minded their 'own business' Read more:...

State-owned airline Air China suspended flights Tuesday between Beijing and North Korea due to a lack of demand, deepening the North's isolation amid mounting U.N. sanctions over its nuclear and missile programs. The move followed U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to add Pyongyang to a list of governments that support terrorism but there was no indication that prompted Air China's decision. A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said he had no information. The suspension left North Korea's Air Koryo as the only airline with regularly scheduled service to the North. Its website lists flights to Beijing, Shanghai, Shenyang and Dandong in...

They are already one of the world's leading airlines. But now Emirates, the Middle East's largest air carrier, has just upped its game after unveiling its brand new, state-of-the-art first class suites - which are estimated to cost from £7,000 per flight. Set to be introduced into commercial service on their on their Boeing 777 fleet, next month, the fully-enclosed cabins measure 40 square-foot (3.7-square-meters) are billed as 'game-changers' with their unrivaled privacy, plus gourmet dining, mood lighting and 32" TV.

The six fully enclosed cabins for its Boeing 777 jets feature seats that recline into flat beds and a 32-inch television. These virtual windows - which are used in some cruise ships - project the view from outside the aircraft using real-time camera technology. "Emirates pioneered the First Class private suite concept back in 2003, and today it's the industry benchmark when it comes to first class travel". Emirates, the largest airline in the world, unveiled a new first class suite on the first day of the Dubai Air Show for its Boeing 777 fleet- and said it is rolling...

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Long-haul carrier Emirates purchased 40 American-made Boeing 787-10 Dreamliners on Sunday at the start of the biennial Dubai Air Show, a $15.1 billion deal certain to please U.S. President Donald Trump who has touted the plane's sales as a job creator in America. The deal appeared to surprise Boeing's archrival Airbus, whose staff had attended a long-delayed news conference and left the room just moments before the announcement. Airbus has pinned hopes of continuing production of its double-decker jumbo jet on Emirates, the world's largest operator of the aircraft which took delivery of its...

When pollsters survey Americans' views about specific companies, cable television providers -- both large conglomerates and smaller regional players -- compose the absolute dregs of the results. Comcast, in particular, has frequently been dubbed America's "most hated company" from the results of these surveys.It's not so hard to understand why this is: lack of competition. Thanks to government deals, most people have one or maybe two options for cable TV and Internet. From a purely profit-driven perspective, there's not a lot of incentive to spend money ensuring the customer experience is fantastic. We’re all familiar with the “4-hour service window”...

Singapore Airlines has unveiled the new interior for its fleet of Airbus A380s. •Features include an all-new first class suite, business class seat, as well as new premium economy, and economy products. •The new interior for its 19 superjumbos will cost the airline $850 million. On Thursday, Singapore Airlines unveiled the all-new cabins that will be installed on its fleet of Airbus A380 Superjumbos. Singapore Airlines is the A380's launch customer and the aircraft's second largest operator. After a decade in the airline's inventory, the double-decker fleet is getting an all-new look. "The significant investment that we are making with...

We’re not surprised American Airlines is not interested in blinged-out first and business class cabins. But we’re still slightly puzzled at the U.S. carriers’ anger toward the Gulf airlines. Yes, Emirates, Etihad and Qatar receive government assistance, but so do a lot of airlines. Don’t expect American Airlines to introduce on-board bars, first class showers, or business class seats that convert to double beds anytime soon. That news shouldn’t come as a surprise to frequent flyers, who know U.S. carriers such as American prefer more utilitarian premium cabins — with flat-bed seats and gourmet food, but without the over-the-top luxury...

To cleanse the palate, I feel about this the way I do about Smalt. I can’t believe someone had the idea, let alone that they pulled together a critical mass of people willing to make it a reality. Imagine the confluence of circumstances in which an airlines’ executives greenlight a live concert for a captive audience in the cattle-car environs of an airplane and then actually find artists willing to play it. And not struggling artists either. You’ll know some of the names. You sell a million albums and then one day you wake up and ask your manager where...

The N.A.A.C.P. on Tuesday warned African-Americans to exercise caution when traveling on American Airlines, citing a pattern of “disrespectful” and “discriminatory” behavior from the company. The organization’s warning came in the form of a travel advisory that described four recent times when black passengers were said to have been discriminated against. The N.A.A.C.P. said the similarity of the episodes suggested “a corporate culture of racial insensitivity and possible racial bias.”

Share Share Tweet Share Pin It Email Comment Print It’s an important distinction, actually. Photo: Elliot Elliot/Getty Images/Johner RF A man in Quebec has filed a class-action lawsuit claiming a Canadian airline inflicted actionable damages by serving him a free glass of sparkling wine that wasn’t Champagne. A skimpy pour isn’t what outraged Daniel Macduff on his Sunwing flight to Cuba for a holiday getaway — it was the fact that he thought he’d been promised Champagne, but he instead spied a bottle that wasn’t marked with the style’s protected appellation. The airline, you see, offers “Champagne service” and “Champagne...

This week, famous millennial journaler Lena Dunham was strolling through an airport eavesdropping on a couple of flight attendants. There she was, just a right-thinking individual with fluency in approved language and a desire for a kind and compassionate society, when she heard a conversation that violated her sense of an ideal society. Then, as any individual principally interested in kindness and empathy would do, she reported the flight attendants’ conversation to their bosses at American Airlines. Then, filled once more with the compassion and humility that are her hallmarks, Dunham broadcast this conversation, and her reporting of it, to...

Lena Dunham is calling out American Airlines after the actress claimed to have overheard two apparent employees engaged in "transphobic talk." The "Girls" creator said her flight on another airline was delayed for hours Wednesday at New York City's John F. Kennedy International Airport. Dunham, 31, wrote that the "worst part of this night" waiting at the airport came when she overheard two American Airlines' "attendants having a transphobic talk." "At this moment in history we should be teaching our employees about love and inclusivity @AmericanAir," she added in a subsequent tweet. "That was worst part of this night." Dunham...