Nobody Asked Me, But ...
I'll Tell You Anyway
I'll Tell You Anyway
THURSDAY, AUGUST 25, 2022 --
Nobody asked me, but ...
The most distressing angle of this summer of our discontent is the absolute, resolute inaction of Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg. He's written a few toothless letters--the latest last week--telling the airlines that they must improve their service. But he's done nothing. Airlines refuse to refund for cancelled flights and he does nothing. Airlines take tens of billions in bailout funds to keep employees on staff but buy them out instead and he does nothing. Airlines cancel thousands of their scheduled flights because they don't have enough staff and he does nothing.
This inaction is appalling on the face of it, of course. But "Secretary Pete" clearly wants to be president one day and he's been handed a perfect opportunity to position himself as a hard-charging friend of the people. (Hell, Republicans hate airlines, too.) Yet he does nothing. In other words, he's guilty of political and government malpractice.
Nobody asked me, but ...
Being under the weather--and too often stuck prone in bed--has at least given me time to renegotiate my subscription costs. By dumping my print subscription to The New York Times, I reduced my price from about $100 a month to $1.50 a week for the digital edition, which is all I use anyway. XMSirius tried to renew me at $20 a month. I told them I'd close my account unless they extended my promo rate of $5 a month. Took them about 10 seconds to agree. I also negotiated discounts with my cable-internet company and DirecTV. And The Wall Street Journal was so anxious to sign me up for a $96-a-year deal--instead of $600--that they threw in a year of the print edition of the Saturday paper for free. (I've yet to open the print paper.)
I hesitate to compare tiny JoeSentMe to the media behemoths, but I think what I do with subscription fees is fair: As long as you maintain your membership, your annual rate is frozen forever. You never pay a higher rate than the price you paid when you joined. That honors your loyalty to the site. I don't know why companies offer lower-priced promotional rates to newbies and then try to jack up the rates that loyal customers pay.
Nobody asked me, but ...
I said in May that I had no Plan B for travel this summer. Sadly, I've been proven right. To quote Martha Reeves, there's been nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. But I should have at least mentioned that you should ship your bags instead of check them if you are flying with luggage. Shipping bags relieves a lot of stress as you try to navigate airlines, airports and busted itineraries. And the good news is that we get exclusive, no-strings discounts from Luggage Forward, the best bag-shipment firm.
Of course, the smartest way to travel is to carry-on and you really can do a week or more in a standard--45 linear inches/22x14x9 inches--wheeled bag. I've managed to pack three dress shirts; two sweaters or zippered sweatshirts; four pair of slacks; one pair of shoes; a robe; and socks and underwear. I wear a sports jacket to the airport and put my kit bag in my briefcase. My frequent-flying wife packs her stuff in a carry-on, too.
Nobody asked me, but ...
Aha Airlines folded this week and it raises an existential question: If an airline flying commuter jets from Reno folds and no traveler notices, did it ever really fly? The answer, of course, is that it should never have tried. A rebranding of ExpressJet, a one-time commuter carrier for Continental and United Airlines, Aha was the second time ExpressJet tried branded, independent operations. Anyone recall XJet? No, I thought not ...
A four-plane operation out of a marginal city folding shouldn't mean much, but it does raise questions about Avelo Airlines and Breeze Airways. Avelo admits it's not making money and Breeze has been bedeviled with operational glitches on its newly arriving Airbus A220s. Neither one has made much of a splash in their markets, a curious grab bag of secondary and tertiary airports. With jet fuel prices still high, the seasonal travel decline upon us and a potential recession staring us in the face, I'm not at all sanguine about the medium-term prospects of either carrier. But we shall see ...
Nobody asked me, but ...
JetBlue Airways got its wish and won the bidding war for Spirit Airlines. That was the easy, stupid part. Now comes the hard bit: a fraught regulatory approval process and endless revisions of flight networks, integration of staffs and reconfiguration of aircraft. It's a deal almost no one except JetBlue's pig-headed management thinks will work.
And watch for this: JetBlue chief executive Robin Hayes gets canned because the deal does not pass regulatory muster or, even worse, gets approved and the already dreadful JetBlue operations get worse as it tries to swallow the totally incompatible Spirit. Think I'm kidding? Hayes' only predecessors in the CEO chair were unceremoniously forced out by the JetBlue board. David Neeleman, who founded the airline, was purged after a notable Valentine's Day meltdown in the snow in 2007. David Barger, his successor, was dumped in 2015 because he ran a profitable, reliable operation, but didn't kowtow to idiot security analysts. During his seven years running JetBlue, Hayes hasn't done anything particularly well and he's driven down the carrier's standards. He'll be much easier to banish when the Spirit deal goes south.
Nobody asked me, but ...
When the FBI seized Donald Trump's passports earlier this month during the raid on Mar-a-Lago, the former president promptly stomped his feet and bellowed for the return of "his" passports. Word to the wise: They aren't "his" passports--and "your" passport doesn't belong to you. The government owns all passports and can reclaim them at any time. No raid on your sweaty summer mansion required.
With Dr. Anthony Fauci's decision to retire from government service in December, the anti-vax crowd is bleating about investigations next year if the GOP retakes the House in November's elections. Word to the wise: The lab leak theory--and a claim Fauci paid for gain-of-function research--isn't holding much water. A recent, well-regarded and peer-reviewed study supports the idea that the virus did originate in a Wuhan wet market.
Nobody asked me, but ...
One thing I couldn't crack during my prolonged sidelining: Which is the best credit card for airport-lounge access? At $695 a year, the revamped American Express Platinum covers the most lounges (Priority Pass, Amex's own Centurion Lounge and Plaza Premium). The $550-a-year Chase Sapphire Reserve can't get you into Amex and Plaza Premium clubs, but it has a better guest-access policy and does include the Priority Pass airport-restaurant perk that Amex omits. Chase is committed to building out its own lounge network, too. At $395, the newish Capital One Venture X card has Priority Pass and its restaurant flourish, Plaza Premium and it already opened its first airport club at DFW. Of the three, Venture X is probably the best value, especially since those Amex Lounges are often too crowded to use. But Platinum has a slew of statement credits (for several streaming services, Walmart+, Saks Fifth Avenue and Uber) that may tip the scales for you.
Or, if you travel international business class frequently and only need occasional third-party lounge access, consider the Amex Hilton Surpass card. Its annual fee is just $95 and is bundled with ten free Priority Pass visits a year and Honors Gold status, which includes a daily F&B credit at Hilton hotels.
Nobody asked me, but ...
The Washington Post offers a review and behind-the-scenes look at Tortas Frontera, the fabulous Rick Bayless restaurant at Chicago/O'Hare. But I think One Flew South, the renowned Atlanta/Hartsfield restaurant, may be even a more interesting story. It has expanded to a location in the city of Atlanta. It's probably the only time since honey-roasted peanuts that something that started as travel food crossed over into the mainstream.
SeatGuru was once coin of the realm for those of us desperate for information on aircraft seat layouts, dimensions and comfort. But the big corporate owners of SeatGuru have essentially abandoned the site, stopped upgrading it and won't even reply to queries. Where to go now for crucial seating data? AeroLOPA is still small and incomplete, but is impressive in what it offers, including huge, detailed illustrations of the seating charts. It's worth a long look. By the way, LOPA is an airline term of art for Layout of Passenger Accommodations.
Nobody asked me, but ...
I'm sorry this edition of Nobody Asked Me is light on the jokes and snark. It's been a tough couple of months and the only jokes and snark I've managed are at the expense of my own health. And, honestly, who needs toilet humor ...
That said, consider this concept: The greatest joke in the history of mankind is "Take my wife ... please." If brevity is the soul of wit--and it is--I can't think of a joke with fewer than four words.
The most distressing angle of this summer of our discontent is the absolute, resolute inaction of Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg. He's written a few toothless letters--the latest last week--telling the airlines that they must improve their service. But he's done nothing. Airlines refuse to refund for cancelled flights and he does nothing. Airlines take tens of billions in bailout funds to keep employees on staff but buy them out instead and he does nothing. Airlines cancel thousands of their scheduled flights because they don't have enough staff and he does nothing.
This inaction is appalling on the face of it, of course. But "Secretary Pete" clearly wants to be president one day and he's been handed a perfect opportunity to position himself as a hard-charging friend of the people. (Hell, Republicans hate airlines, too.) Yet he does nothing. In other words, he's guilty of political and government malpractice.
Nobody asked me, but ...
Being under the weather--and too often stuck prone in bed--has at least given me time to renegotiate my subscription costs. By dumping my print subscription to The New York Times, I reduced my price from about $100 a month to $1.50 a week for the digital edition, which is all I use anyway. XMSirius tried to renew me at $20 a month. I told them I'd close my account unless they extended my promo rate of $5 a month. Took them about 10 seconds to agree. I also negotiated discounts with my cable-internet company and DirecTV. And The Wall Street Journal was so anxious to sign me up for a $96-a-year deal--instead of $600--that they threw in a year of the print edition of the Saturday paper for free. (I've yet to open the print paper.)
I hesitate to compare tiny JoeSentMe to the media behemoths, but I think what I do with subscription fees is fair: As long as you maintain your membership, your annual rate is frozen forever. You never pay a higher rate than the price you paid when you joined. That honors your loyalty to the site. I don't know why companies offer lower-priced promotional rates to newbies and then try to jack up the rates that loyal customers pay.
Nobody asked me, but ...
I said in May that I had no Plan B for travel this summer. Sadly, I've been proven right. To quote Martha Reeves, there's been nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. But I should have at least mentioned that you should ship your bags instead of check them if you are flying with luggage. Shipping bags relieves a lot of stress as you try to navigate airlines, airports and busted itineraries. And the good news is that we get exclusive, no-strings discounts from Luggage Forward, the best bag-shipment firm.
Of course, the smartest way to travel is to carry-on and you really can do a week or more in a standard--45 linear inches/22x14x9 inches--wheeled bag. I've managed to pack three dress shirts; two sweaters or zippered sweatshirts; four pair of slacks; one pair of shoes; a robe; and socks and underwear. I wear a sports jacket to the airport and put my kit bag in my briefcase. My frequent-flying wife packs her stuff in a carry-on, too.
Nobody asked me, but ...
Aha Airlines folded this week and it raises an existential question: If an airline flying commuter jets from Reno folds and no traveler notices, did it ever really fly? The answer, of course, is that it should never have tried. A rebranding of ExpressJet, a one-time commuter carrier for Continental and United Airlines, Aha was the second time ExpressJet tried branded, independent operations. Anyone recall XJet? No, I thought not ...
A four-plane operation out of a marginal city folding shouldn't mean much, but it does raise questions about Avelo Airlines and Breeze Airways. Avelo admits it's not making money and Breeze has been bedeviled with operational glitches on its newly arriving Airbus A220s. Neither one has made much of a splash in their markets, a curious grab bag of secondary and tertiary airports. With jet fuel prices still high, the seasonal travel decline upon us and a potential recession staring us in the face, I'm not at all sanguine about the medium-term prospects of either carrier. But we shall see ...
Nobody asked me, but ...
JetBlue Airways got its wish and won the bidding war for Spirit Airlines. That was the easy, stupid part. Now comes the hard bit: a fraught regulatory approval process and endless revisions of flight networks, integration of staffs and reconfiguration of aircraft. It's a deal almost no one except JetBlue's pig-headed management thinks will work.
And watch for this: JetBlue chief executive Robin Hayes gets canned because the deal does not pass regulatory muster or, even worse, gets approved and the already dreadful JetBlue operations get worse as it tries to swallow the totally incompatible Spirit. Think I'm kidding? Hayes' only predecessors in the CEO chair were unceremoniously forced out by the JetBlue board. David Neeleman, who founded the airline, was purged after a notable Valentine's Day meltdown in the snow in 2007. David Barger, his successor, was dumped in 2015 because he ran a profitable, reliable operation, but didn't kowtow to idiot security analysts. During his seven years running JetBlue, Hayes hasn't done anything particularly well and he's driven down the carrier's standards. He'll be much easier to banish when the Spirit deal goes south.
Nobody asked me, but ...
When the FBI seized Donald Trump's passports earlier this month during the raid on Mar-a-Lago, the former president promptly stomped his feet and bellowed for the return of "his" passports. Word to the wise: They aren't "his" passports--and "your" passport doesn't belong to you. The government owns all passports and can reclaim them at any time. No raid on your sweaty summer mansion required.
With Dr. Anthony Fauci's decision to retire from government service in December, the anti-vax crowd is bleating about investigations next year if the GOP retakes the House in November's elections. Word to the wise: The lab leak theory--and a claim Fauci paid for gain-of-function research--isn't holding much water. A recent, well-regarded and peer-reviewed study supports the idea that the virus did originate in a Wuhan wet market.
Nobody asked me, but ...
One thing I couldn't crack during my prolonged sidelining: Which is the best credit card for airport-lounge access? At $695 a year, the revamped American Express Platinum covers the most lounges (Priority Pass, Amex's own Centurion Lounge and Plaza Premium). The $550-a-year Chase Sapphire Reserve can't get you into Amex and Plaza Premium clubs, but it has a better guest-access policy and does include the Priority Pass airport-restaurant perk that Amex omits. Chase is committed to building out its own lounge network, too. At $395, the newish Capital One Venture X card has Priority Pass and its restaurant flourish, Plaza Premium and it already opened its first airport club at DFW. Of the three, Venture X is probably the best value, especially since those Amex Lounges are often too crowded to use. But Platinum has a slew of statement credits (for several streaming services, Walmart+, Saks Fifth Avenue and Uber) that may tip the scales for you.
Or, if you travel international business class frequently and only need occasional third-party lounge access, consider the Amex Hilton Surpass card. Its annual fee is just $95 and is bundled with ten free Priority Pass visits a year and Honors Gold status, which includes a daily F&B credit at Hilton hotels.
Nobody asked me, but ...
The Washington Post offers a review and behind-the-scenes look at Tortas Frontera, the fabulous Rick Bayless restaurant at Chicago/O'Hare. But I think One Flew South, the renowned Atlanta/Hartsfield restaurant, may be even a more interesting story. It has expanded to a location in the city of Atlanta. It's probably the only time since honey-roasted peanuts that something that started as travel food crossed over into the mainstream.
SeatGuru was once coin of the realm for those of us desperate for information on aircraft seat layouts, dimensions and comfort. But the big corporate owners of SeatGuru have essentially abandoned the site, stopped upgrading it and won't even reply to queries. Where to go now for crucial seating data? AeroLOPA is still small and incomplete, but is impressive in what it offers, including huge, detailed illustrations of the seating charts. It's worth a long look. By the way, LOPA is an airline term of art for Layout of Passenger Accommodations.
Nobody asked me, but ...
I'm sorry this edition of Nobody Asked Me is light on the jokes and snark. It's been a tough couple of months and the only jokes and snark I've managed are at the expense of my own health. And, honestly, who needs toilet humor ...
That said, consider this concept: The greatest joke in the history of mankind is "Take my wife ... please." If brevity is the soul of wit--and it is--I can't think of a joke with fewer than four words.