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mostlysignssomeportents · 7 months

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Thankful for class consciousness

On November 27, I'm appearing at the Toronto Metro Reference Library with Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen.

On November 29, I'm at NYC's Strand Books with my novel The Lost Cause, a solarpunk tale of hope and danger that Rebecca Solnit called "completely delightful."

Before the term "ecology" came along, people didn't know they were on the same side. You care about owls, I care about the ozone layer – what does the destiny of charismatic nocturnal avians have to do with the gaseous composition of the upper atmosphere?

But as James Boyle has written, the term "ecology" welded together a thousand issues into a single movement. When we talk about "looking at our world through a lens," this is what we mean – apply the right analytical lens and a motley assortment of disparate causes becomes a unified, coherent project:

https://scholarship.law.duke.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1013&context=dlj

Unfettered, planet-destroying, worker immiserating corporate power is only possible in the absence of such a lens. Before neoliberalism can destroy our lives, it must first convince us that we are all disconnected. "There is no such thing as society," isn't just an empty slogan: it's a weapon for dismantling the democratically accountable structures that can stand against industrial tyrants.

That's why neoliberalism is so viciously opposed to all kinds of solidarity, why corporate apologists insist that the only elections that matter are the ones where you "vote with your wallet." It's no surprise that the side with the thickest wallets wants to replace ballots with dollars!

Today, at long last, after generations of deadly corporate power-grabs, we are living through an ecology moment where all kind of fights are coalescing into one big fight: the fight to save democracy from oligarchy.

There are many tributaries flowing into this mighty river, but two of the largest are antitrust and labor. Antitrust seeks to ensure that our world is regulated by democratically accountable lawmakers who deliberate in public, rather than shareholder-accountable monopolists who deliberate in smoke-filled rooms. Labor seeks to ensure that contests between profit for the few and prosperity for the many are decided in favor of people, not profit.

This coalition is so powerful that the ruling class has never stopped attacking it. Indeed, the history of US antitrust law can be viewed as a succession of ever-more-insistent laws enacted solely to make it clear to deliberately obtuse judges that competition law is aimed at corporations, not unions:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/14/aiming-at-dollars/#not-men

Rising corporate power and declining worker power is bad for all of us. The failure of successive US administrations to block airline mergers led to sky-high prices and a proliferation of "junk fees" that can double the price of a ticket. The monopoly carriers stand to make $118b this year from these fees:

https://www.fastcompany.com/90981005/airlines-fees-118-billion-dark-patterns

The consolidation of the agricultural sector led to cartels that conspired to rig the prices of our food. These Les Mis LARPers rigged the price of bread!

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/canada-bread-price-fixing-1.6883783

Remember eggflation? Nearly all the eggs in US grocery stores come from a single company, Cal-Maine, which owns dozens of brands, including "Farmhouse Eggs, Sunups, Sunny Meadow, Egg-Land’s Best and Land O’ Lakes eggs":

https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/13/business/egg-prices-cal-maine-foods/index.html

With all our eggs in one basket, it was easy for a single company to rig the egg market, blaming everything from bird flu to Russian invasion of Ukraine for doubling egg prices while their profits shot up by 65%:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/23/cant-make-an-omelet/#keep-calm-and-crack-on

Antitrust isn't just about monopoly – it's also about oligopoly. The American meat cartel pretends that it's not rigging markets by outsourcing its price-fixing to a "clearinghouse" called Agri Stats:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/04/dont-let-your-meat-loaf/#meaty-beaty-big-and-bouncy

Agri-Stats gets data from all the Big Meat companies, "anonymizes" it, and publishes it back to its subscribers, who use the service to coordinate across-the-board price-hikes that have cost the public billions in price gouging (meanwhile, Big Meat was able to secure $50b in public subsidies).

For forty years, governments have ceded power to "autocrats of trade" who usurped control "over the production, transportation, and sale of the necessaries of life":

https://pluralistic.net/2022/02/20/we-should-not-endure-a-king/

But that era is coming to an end. In the past year, American regulators have blocked airline mergers and promulgated rules banning junk fees. They've dragged price-fixing clearinghouses into court:

https://www.thebignewsletter.com/p/why-turkey-eggs-and-air-travel-just

They're getting results, too: for the second year in a row, turkey prices are down. Cranberries, too (18%). Same for whipping cream (25%). Pie crusts are down. So are russet potatoes. Airfares are down 13.2%.

The egg cartel just lost a long-running court case over the last egg price-fixing campaign, which gouged Americans from 1990-2008:

https://www.pymnts.com/cpi_posts/kellogg-kraft-secure-victory-in-price-fixing-lawsuit-against-egg-producers

The same fact-pattern that was revealed in that court case is repeated in this year's eggflation scandal:

https://farmaction.us/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Farm-Action-Letter-to-FTC-Chair-Lina-Khan.pdf

That's terrific ammo for the FTC, and will doubtless benefit the Democrats running against would-be Indiana senator John Rust, whose family owns convicted egg cartel member Rose Acre Farms and whose wife just stepped down as chair of the board.

One underappreciated aspect of the global war on corporate power is that the same corporations commit the same crimes in countries all over the world, which means that whenever any government establishes evidence of those crimes, they are of use to all the other governments. Competition enforcers from the UK, EU, USA, Singapore, South Korea and elsewhere are coordinating to target the Big Tech cartel. Maybe Google and Facebook and Apple are bigger enough to resist any one of those governments – but all of them?

https://cmadataconference.co.uk/

One notable absence from the anti-monopoly coalition is Canada. While other countries merely stopped enforcing their competition laws in the neoliberal era, Canada never had a good competition law to enforce. Canada's official tolerance for monopolies has allowed a handful of companies to seize control over the economy of Canada and the lives of Canadians:

https://www.canadaland.com/shows/commons-monopoly/

These monopolies are largely controlled by powerful families, Canada's de facto aristocracy, whose wealth and power make them above the law and subordinate the country's democratic institutions to billionaires' whims:

https://www.canadaland.com/tag/dynasties/

At long last, Canada has called time on oligarchy. Last week's Fall Economic Statement included an announcement of a muscular new competition law, including new merger guidelines, a new "abuse of dominance" standard, and Right to Repair rules:

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7132855021548769282/

The law also includes interoperability mandates for Canada's highly concentrated – and deeply corrupt – banking sector. These measures are strikingly similar to new measures just introduced in the US by the CFPB:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/21/let-my-dollars-go/#personal-financial-data-rights

The arrival of Canada's first fit-for-purpose competition rule coincides with all kinds of solidaristic movements in Canada that are fighting corporate power from the bottom up. Even Ontario, led by one of the most corrupt premiers in provincial history, can't break its teachers' union:

https://globalnews.ca/news/10105600/ontario-elementary-teachers-reach-contract-deal/

It's not just workers who benefit from solidarity: Tenants' unions have formed across the province in response to corporate takeovers of scarce rental stock. These finance-sector landlords have armies of lawyers who've figured out how to bypass rent-control rules and evict tenants who balk. Rather than rolling over, tenants' unions are organizing waves of rent-strikes:

https://macleans.ca/longforms/rent-strikes-canada/

As with Big Tech, the illegal tactics of the rental sector aren't confined to a single nation. In America, Wall Street landlords have dramatically increased the price of housing and kicked off an eviction epidemic the likes of which the country has never seen:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/05/16/mortgages-are-rent-control/#housing-is-a-human-right-not-an-asset

And as with Big Meat, landlords use arm's-length clearing houses to rig rental markets, coordinating across-the-board rent hikes:

https://www.propublica.org/article/yieldstar-rent-increase-realpage-rent

In other words: to fix the housing market, tenants all over the world need to learn the tactics of labor unions. Housing regulators have to learn from agricultural regulators. Americans tenants have to learn from Canadians. These aren't 1,000 different fights – they're one big fight, and the coalition for dismantling corporate power is vast and powerful.

The most powerful weapons our bosses have is convincing us that we are weak and they are strong – so strong that we shouldn't even try to fight them. But solidarity is absurdly powerful, which is why they go to such great lengths to discredit it. In Sweden, the solidarity strikes against Tesla – who refuses to recognize its maintenance workers' union – have spread to nine unions.

Tesla can't get its cars offloaded at the ports. It can't get its showrooms cleaned. No one will deliver its mail. No one will fix its chargers. The strike is spreading to Germany, and workers at its giant Berlin factory is set to walk out:

https://www.metafilter.com/201514/Swedish-Tesla-workers-go-on-strike

There's something delicious about how palpably frustrated Elon Musk is by all this, as he realizes that neither his billions nor his bully pulpit are a match for workers in solidarity:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-11-23/elon-musk-calls-swedish-tesla-strikes-insane-as-impact-spreads

It's a reminder of just how fragile and weak billionaires are, when we stop believing in them and deferring to them. Rebecca Solnit's latest Guardian column adds up the ways that allowing billionaires to run the show puts us all in danger:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/nov/20/billionaires-great-carbon-divide-planet-climate-crisis

They are the unelected "autocrats of trade" who control "the production, transportation, and sale of the necessaries of life." They are the force that this new ecology movement is coalescing to fight: across borders, across sectors, across identities. No matter whether you are a worker, a tenant, a voter, a shopper or a citizen, your enemy is the billionaire class.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/11/24/coalescence/#solidarnosc

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my-soupy-brain · 9 months

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Bestie… can I get a David Clark please??? Like I will give you my first born child for it.

Also do you do emoji anons? If so can I be 🧶?

🧶 I am answering this rather quickly because it'll be a fun challenge to write for a character I haven't done before. And it's nice to shift gears sometimes. This might skew close to the movie but here we go!

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Relationship: David Clark x reader (f)

Warnings: Drug references, smut

---

You were thrilled to walk up to your apartment's mailbox at the same time as David.

You could see his shaggy hair, his flannel, his backpack. You weren't sure he thought much of you, but you couldn't help but smile and greet him.

"Hi there, David. How's it goin'?" you asked brightly, opening your own mailbox locker.

He looked up from the pile of mail in his hand and smiled. His dimple in his cheek, his hair brushing over his forehead.

"Oh, hey. I'm OK. I mean, I got robbed yesterday, so that's cool. Things are great!"

You can tell he's sarcastic and feels ashamed of what happened.

"Oh, my God! Are you OK? Did you get hurt?" you ask concerned, your eyes trained on him. He shrugs his shoulder.

"Not really, just my back trying to run them off."

You know that David deals marijuana. You're not sure for whom, but you've been a customer a couple times when you needed an escape.

Before you can think any more of it, you ask him: "Do you need a place to stay? Somewhere safe? You can crash at my apartment."

He smiles, his eyes softening.

'That's really nice of you, but I don't want to be a burden. It's OK, I'll figure it out. I gotta go outta town in a couple days anyway."

Your heart broke a little. Yeah, probably shouldn't date a drug dealer but you sure love flirting with him. Or your version of flirting anyway.

As you two depart to your respective apartments, you can't stop thinking about him. Is he moving away? Is he in danger? As you nervously chew your fingernails, you have a knock on your door.

David stands behind it, his hands nervously in his pocket.

"David, hi. Are you...do you wanna come in?"

You move aside and he nods, entering your apartment.

"Listen, I don't need to stay with you but I have a favor to ask..."

Over the course of about an hour, he outlines the plan: He needs to get to Mexico and back with some marijuana for his dealer. He needs a family to go with him in the RV, so it feels less suspicious.

Why you say yes, you'll never know.

"Who are the kids?"

He chuckles. "I got Kenny from downstairs. And maybe this girl Casey who's been hanging around here. She seems to be a couch drifter so..."

You nod and smile. "I can't believe I'm saying yes to this, but sure. Why not. An adventure."

...

David gives you your airline ticket two days before you need to leave, and when you find him at the airport, he's...

Oh, God.

His hair is cut shorter, wearing a clean polo and khakis. He's...trimmer than he lets on with all those baggy clothes. His polo is slightly unbuttoned at the top and you can see his chest hair...

Is it hot in here?

The "kids" are cleaned up and the picture of American youth. And you've opted for a short sundress and a sunhat to make the whole "Arizona vacation" seem more believable.

"Hi, honey," you offer, leaning in to kiss David's cheek, his eyes taking you in.

"Hi, sweetheart. Glad you could make it," he says, his hands going down your waist before letting go.

"Hey kids," you offer gently. Casey gives you a half-hearted wave, and Kenny gives you a naive, earnest smile.

On the plane, everyone takes their seats, David next to you. You open your book to read, and David reads a magazine, but he's casually glancing at you every few seconds.

"You OK?" you ask, not looking up from your pages.

"Ye-yeah, I just... um...you're...," he answers back, stuttering. Nervous for once in his life. His breath is hot against your skin.

You blush wildly and try to keep cool. "You clean up pretty well too, there, Mr. Miller."

When the plane hits a bout of turbulence, David instinctively grabs your thigh to protect you, and it sends a jolt of electricity through you. It's like David can sense it because he looks over at you with dark eyes, smirking a little.

"I've got ya," he whispers, his hand still on your thigh, climbing a little higher, making you bite your bottom lip.

When you lean back in your seat and take a shuddering breath, you place your hand over his, moving it up even a little higher, flashing him a grin.

Good afternoon, folks. Please fasten your seatbelts as we begin our descent into Phoenix.

David shakes himself out of his trance, placing his magazine over the growing bulge in his lap. You're a shaking mess from the electricity.

...

The RV rolls up quick and easily, a massive machine on multiple wheels. The kids climb in and take a seat in the back, David instructs everyone what the plan is, once again.

When he turns in his seat to start driving, he smiles at you again.

Hours go by. How many, you're not sure. You get in and out of Mexico as fast as you can, dodging a slip-up at the border thank God. Because you're hauling a lot more marijuana than you were led to believe.

A campsite in southern Arizona is a perfect place to stop for the night. The kids run off when they see some teenagers at a bonfire. You stand to tidy up the RV a little, wiping down the small counters, when you feel two large, warm hands on your hips.

"I can't stop thinking about our plane ride here," David whispers to you, sending a shiver through your body.

"I know," you answer, not yet turning around but still blushing.

"You know, I've always had a bit of a crush on you," he admits.

Your cheeks heat further. "Really? I've had a crush on you too!"

He smiles and blushes now. "Seriously? Why? I'm just some low-level weed dealer."

You smile and turn in his arms. "There's more to ya than that, David."

He can't wait anymore, leaning forward and capturing your lips with his, roping his arms around you. You fall into a rhythmic kiss, slowly making your way to the queen bed in the back of the RV.

You sit on the bed, pulling him over with you, scooting back toward the pillows. Your hands run through his shorter hair, and you smile...

"I kinda miss your longer hair," you mumble, and he smiles against your neck.

"Maybe I'll grow it back," he whispers, kissing your neck, your chest, sliding your sundress down and helping you wiggle it off your hips.

Wasting no time, he takes off his own shirt, and your eyes nearly fall out of your head; his fairly trim physique and immaculate, masculine chest hair going down his pants.

"I need you to fuck me, David," you murmur, your eyes dark as you watch him approach you.

"Oh fuck, that's hot," he says, falling into bed, crawling between your legs, waiting no more to loop his fingers around your panties and pull them down your legs, which he kisses from ankle to hip before settling between them.

He kisses you again, slowly but sensually. Like you both have had practice with each other. When he wiggles his boxers off and sheaths on a condom, he meets you with a gentle push and you could die right there.

"Oh, fuck," he murmurs, closing his eyes. "You're so fucking tight."

You blush. "It's been a while, I'm sor--"

But before you can finish he captures your lips again. "Don't you dare apologize for that," he says with a smile, his hips starting to rock slowly with you.

Your legs wrap around his waist and your fingernails rake down his back gently and he's moaning your name in moments.

The pace increases, his lips soft with yours, his tongue brushing into your mouth. When he leans up to change his angle, you nearly shout.

"Oh, right there?" he asks, a sly smirk on his face. "That feel good, baby? Why don't you tell me..."

Your head tilts back, sweat on yoru temples, your hair wild on the pillow, as you whimper.

"God, David, your cock..." you sigh, and he's watching you closely while your eyes are closed. "Feels so goddamn good... oh my God..."

He loves watching what he's doing to you.

As he sits up a bit, he brings you over him, keeping you on his lap and deep inside you, the bed squeaking lewdly underneath you as he helps you bounce against him.

"Oh, God, oh fuck," you chant, your body tensing and tingling, the climax climbing up your thighs.

"Yeah, baby, fuck yeah. Make it feel good, show me," he murmurs, his voice low against your ear as you unravel. Your pussy clenches around him in rhythm.

"Oh God, fuck, you're milking me," he says, making your body arch again and with that, his thighs tremble and he gasps your name, holding you while his hips stutter.

He lays you down gently, coming down with you, your chests catching air, your faces smiling.

"Jesus." is all you can mutter.

He smiles. "I really should've asked you out sooner," David says, propping himself up on one elbow, his hand dragging down your body and over your hips.

You roll into his chest and he smiles, tucking you beneath his chin.

When the door to the RV swings open and Kenny and Casey step inside, they laugh.

"About fucking time, Jesus," she says, smiling through her attitude.

"I'm really...uh, happy for you both!" Kenney says, smiling and waving awkwardly.

"How was the fire," you shout from the bedroom, not leaving the sheets.

"Good! Fun. Probably not as fun as you two had, clearly," Casey answers, getting out her handheld video game.

David looks at you and smirks.

"Kids."

---

That was WAY longer and WAY more intense than I thought it would be but omg it's so fun! I feel like deep down David is a big softy. Maybe we'll see where the rest of this road trip goes? Thanks for the prompt, friend!

#david clark x reader #we're the millers fanfic #we're the millers fanfiction #we're the millers #he's hot with long and short hair #come at me

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sweetbuckybarnes · 6 months

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The Eras Tour: 02. Plane Ride

Pairings: Colin Bridgerton + Penelope Featherington, Anthony + Kate Bridgerton

Polin Masterlist | Series Masterlist

May 3, 2023

London Heathrow Airport

Penelope looked around the terminal of the airport, where they had been waiting for their direct flight to Nashville, Tennessee.

Eloise and Violet were both reading books whilst sitting in very uncomfortable chairs.

Benedict was standing by the window looking out at the planes with Gregory.

Penelope had not taken her eyes off the departure board.

"Are you ever going to take your eyes off the board?" Asked Colin when he popped his head onto her shoulder.

She shook her head, not saying a word.

"We'll get on the plane soon, just do a little bit of reading, before you know it, we'll be getting on the plane."

Penelope read a few more chapters of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, and like Colin said - before she even realised, they were being called for their plane to Nashville.

"Pen, that's us," he pulled her out of her little bubble. "It's time to board."

After Colin graduated from university, he started travelling the world (at the moment, that's all he was limited to - if he could, he would travel across the Milky Way). He would send Penelope postcards from wherever he was staying, sometimes he even sent her letters which included photographs he'd taken and printed off somehow (she still didn't know how).

However, compared to the dozens of times Colin had been on a plane, this was the first time Penelope had been on a plane.

She looked up at Colin, large terrified eyes staring up at him. "Hey, Pen, it's going to be ok."

"If you say so," she takes his hand, and the head towards the gate.

Their tickets were scanned and found themselves on a little bus that is going to take them to their plane.

Colin kept hold of Penelope's hand, only to make sure he didn't lose her in the crowd. That is what he told himself... "I've got you, Pen. Don't worry."

Eloise and Violet had somehow managed to find a seat, with Gregory and Hyacinth sitting in the row in front. But, from where Eloise was sitting, she could very clearly see that her older brother Colin was holding Penelope's hand!

"Why are Colin and Penelope holding hands?" She asked her mother.

Violet looked over at the pair, a subtle smile growing on her face. They were so much like her and Edmund, it melted her heart. She had seen for years how Penelope looked at Colin, and from where she was sitting - it almost seemed like Colin was starting to reciprocate her feelings.

But, most likely if Eloise found out, she would throw a massive fit over it, and send them future back.

"He's looking after her," she tells her second-born daughter. "You know how Penelope has never been on a plane before, he's making sure she doesn't get lost in the crowd."

Eloise grumbled a little under her breath and turned to look out of the window, as the huge American Airlines plane was getting closer.

"Are you ready, Pen?"

"Ready as I'll ever be."

#polin #polin fic #colin x pen #pen x colin #penelope x colin #colin x penelope #penelope bridgerton #eloise bridgerton #violet bridgerton #benedict bridgerton #gregory bridgerton #colin bridgerton

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runwayrunway · 11 months

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No. 27 - Airline Alliances (oneworld, SkyTeam, and Star Alliance)

@imjustanobsessedjew asked me to follow up on my thoughts on airline alliance liveries, so I'm here to do that.

I struggle to find a good way to describe airline alliances. Examples I've pondered over and ultimately rejected on some or other technicality include fraternities, record labels, and TikToker content houses. But maybe it doesn't matter. I'm not here to talk about how they function broadly. It's not important to this post that you can use American Airlines miles to get tickets on flights operated by British Airways.

Generally, member airlines will have a symbol from their alliance painted on their planes. I showed an example in my SAS post of the Star Alliance logo on an airframe (center), but here are examples for the other two: an Aeroflot plane wearing the SkyTeam symbol (left) and an Iberia plane with a very, very small oneworld logo (right).

But sometimes this isn't enough for them. The three major airline alliances have a habit of painting planes in special alliance liveries. Because who cares if you're flying on Delta, XiamenAir, Kenya Airways, or TAROM - what's important is that they're part of SkyTeam.

I sort of just don't understand the purpose. I don't think anyone is going to see a Star Alliance livery and think "wow, I am reminded to specifically spend my money with these 26 otherwise completely unrelated airlines!" because that's...that's just really silly. While airline alliances can make it a lot easier to use frequent flier miles and neatly book multi-leg trips on the passenger's end, I've always been under the impression that these must do more for the airlines than they do for the end consumer, because otherwise they probably wouldn't exist. I'm not sure what the need is to advertise them to someone who has no say in their existence and probably picks their flights based on what Google tells them is cheapest anyway. Nobody has, like, brand loyalty to alliances, and there's no reason they should, since their member airlines will offer wildly different qualities of service and cover entirely different regions of the world.

So why the special liveries? Is it a hazing ritual? I can't really imagine what benefit they might offer over just putting your symbol somewhere else on the plane. Some kid sitting in the window seat of a plane that's delayed by an hour at a massive airport isn't even going to notice or care about a SkyTeam livery, and I honestly really should have put airline alliances on the questionnaire in some form because I'm not sure how many people know or care that they exist. I don't understand the point, and the only thing I do understand, really, is that I hate it when airlines which have gone through the trouble of designing their own livery, even if that livery is terrible, would then paint a plane in a way which makes it interchangeable with everything else on the tarmac. But they're fully developed (mostly) liveries, so they're the sort of thing I'm here to talk about. Without further ado: SkyTeam, oneworld, and Star Alliance.

oneworld goes first because it's a bit different from the others. (Yes, the correct way to write it, as seen in all company literature, is with the first half bolded.) oneworld was founded in February of 1999 and is the third-largest of the major alliances.

Currently, there are thirteen active oneworld members, shown above, plus their regional subsidiaries; S7 Airlines is currently suspended, as is the case for all Russia-based airlines in major alliances, and Oman Air will be joining the alliance by the end of 2024. Fiji Airways is also nominally involved as a 'connect partner', which as far as I can tell means situational benefits from the alliance when working with its member airlines. It feels like they're scrambling for a foothold a little despite having some absolute powerhouses among their ranks because they keep getting their members bought out by other alliances and/or merged into each other. I think I prefer it that way.

To begin with, the logo is atrocious. Blue-to-white airhrush gradient circle with big yucky sans serif lettering, half of which is bold and half of which is standard width, which leaves you unable to tell which half you hate more. This logo is really painfully early '00s website and not in the cute nostalgic way. It's not stylized in a way that provokes nostalgia, it's just so inept that it could fit in during the era where web design wasn't really a field that had been fully invented yet.

But as a livery, it's sort of hard to review. A oneworld paint job changes less than the average logojet.

I'm not entirely sure if I can even consider this a special livery. It's just an extra line of text. Ugly text, sure, but I wouldn't call it a different design. This doesn't change the fact that you can immediately recognize these as an S7 plane and a Cathay Pacific plane because none of their livery is fundamentally changed.

There's just a limited amount I can say about what's a glorified sticker. RAM gets to keep its nice little swirlies, all is right with the world, they get to keep the normal text on their other planes, this is not a big deal. Maybe they keep losing members because they can't tell them apart from other planes in the airport without a big, all-encompassing custom livery to make a select few unlucky planes airline-ambiguous. oneworld, more like...dumbworld.

Moving on in alphabetical order, SkyTeam is the second largest of the alliances.

SkyTeam has 20 members: the above pictured, plus Aeroflot, which is temporarily suspended for the aforementioned Russian reasons. It also has its own elaborate system of 'associates' and 'affiliates', and a dedicated cargo alliance, SkyTeam Cargo.

I actually enjoy the SkyTeam logo. The wordmark is just a yucky thin monospace sans serif, but they have that nice flourishy design that's aesthetically pleasing and easy to recognize, and I can't knock that.

Still, this is where we get into proper airline alliance liveries. You have to zoom in pretty close to tell that the above planes are TAROM on the right and Korean Air on the left. I didn't have to specify, when covering oneworld, that the logo was framed by Iberia and Royal Air Maroc, because their branding was left intact. This is not so for SkyTeam, which takes over its hosts in full, creating SkyTeam planes with a tiny mark denoting their actual airline instead of the other way around.

This could be a lot worse. It's got recognizable logos, legible text, and I think most crucially the main fuselage body is painted a mid-light grey. The opposite of something like the SAS belly stripes, which are cheapened by the proliferation of Eurowhite, SkyTeam sort of gets a free boost from the fact that their non-white fuselage is a rarity. I do really like the relatively lowered contrast between the main body and the logo, because this shade of blue is usually paired with stark white. The SkyTeam curlicue is big and visible on the fuselage. I would have made it bigger, but it's not terrible as is. The airline's logo is placed below the window line while SkyTeam's wordmark is above it, hypothetically giving them equal weight (though in reality I think people obviously read SkyTeam's first).

It certainly has Detached Tail Syndrome, but for my tastes the lower contrast and placement of the curlicue make it far more tolerable. Northing here is ostentatious or overdesigned, and while it falls short of true minimal elegance I truly can't say it's ugly and I don't think it's lazy, either. This is one of the few times the detached tail does feel at least slightly deliberate, given the non-blankness of the rest of the fuselage. The bits feel a bit separate sometimes, but it's nowhere near as bad as that effect can get.

I'm going to give SkyTeam a B-.

I sincerely, earnestly, emphatically do not dislike the way the SkyTeam livery looks. But I still think it should not exist. Airlines should wear their own liveries. If you have 20 airlines, you should have 20 distinct fleets. I would rather have a bunch of mediocre or even bad liveries than one decent livery which doesn't belong to anyone at all.

Regardless, I do have to leave off on a fitting note. SkyTeam...more like WhyTeam.

Star Alliance is the largest of the three alliances, with 26 member airlines.

In my SAS post, I introduced the Star Alliance Test, a metric by which I judge the the absolute worst designs which end up on this blog. The test consists of one question: would I prefer that all instances of this livery be replaced with a Star Alliance paint job? As I mentioned there, I chose Star Alliance because, like SkyTeam, it entirely overwrites the original airline's livery. Not only do I like it less than SkyTeam, it is also more prolific, with an entire six more airlines with planes begging to be ruined.

It is inoffensive nearly to the degree that it becomes offensive again. Big, ugly sans serif wordmark, though it at least has the decency to occupy the majority of the fuselage to prevent it from just being a white expanse. Detached tail. Teeny tiny airline logo that you have to squint to see.

Star Alliance liveries are both functionally identical to blank planes and dangerously close to actually being them. But they have just enough design that to me they avoid being nothing and graduate to minimalist. I think it's the large text and the fact that the actual logo is actually decently designed, but it doesn't evoke the sheer dread in me that something like Lufthansa does. It's not uninterrupted, unbalanced white, it's just...really, really boring.

I...honestly think it's a C-.

Air New Zealand and Singapore Airlines both have a variant livery, all black and all white respectively. I would rate them the same, I think. Maybe Singapore's is a little more boring while also feeling like more of a statement, while Air New Zealand's makes me very happy by being a primarily black plane (I am one of the few Airplane People who is also a consummate goth) but suffers from thin white-on-black text being fairly eyestrainy. In general, the Star Alliance wordmark is somewhat difficult to read. These two belong with the rest of the liveries, even though I think I ultimately like Singapore's a bit less than the default and Air New Zealand's a bit more.

While not a vehement condemnation, C- is not exactly a shining endorsement. When I devised my scale I did envision it as something of a normal distribution. Most liveries are going to be somewhere in the C range. This is cromulent. This is satisfactory. This does not make me angry.

It just makes me sad, thinking about all these airplanes wearing identical liveries. Sure, Copa and United already match, but this is an extremely varied set. It ranges from the painfully boring to the somewhat ugly to the actively nice, and all of them get replaced with identical stock liveries...an inter-fleet Scar Alliance.

While I rate these as competent liveries in terms of their appearance, I cannot pretend I do not hate everything they stand for. In my opinion, to paint your airplanes in a livery which makes it impossible to tell that the planes flanking the logo fly for Croatia Airlines and Continental respectively without zooming all the way in is the very definition of failure.

#tarmac fashion week #grade: b-#grade: c-#era: 2000s #era: 2010s #era: 2020s #royal air maroc #iberia #air new zealand #singapore airlines #s7 airlines #non-airline liveries #cathay pacific #compilations #requests #I only tagged the airlines that appear in liveries that are noticeably theirs

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beardedmrbean · 9 months

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Oct. 11 (UPI) -- The Biden administration on Wednesday announced new measures in its ongoing effort to eliminate so-called "junk fees."

President Joe Biden was expected to join FTC Chair Lina Khan and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Rohit Chopra at 11:45 a.m. EDT at the White House Wednesday to announce the latest initiative aimed at prohibiting surprise fees that continue to burden consumers.

The Federal Trade Commission proposed new rules Wednesday that would ban hidden fees on goods and services that continue to nickel and dime American consumers with unexpected costs.

If enacted, the new rules would prohibit junk fees and deceptive charges for airline tickets, hotel and resort bookings, live events, apartment rentals, and utility bill payments -- potentially saving taxpayers tens of billions of dollars each year.

The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau also issued fresh guidance Wednesday to the nation's big banks, saying they were still subject to the 2010 Consumer Financial Protection Act, which prohibits large financial institutions and credit unions from charging junk fees for basic customer service.

"While small relationship banks pride themselves on customer service, many large banks erect obstacle courses and impose junk fees to answer basic questions," Chopra said in the statement from the agency. "While the biggest banks have abandoned the relationship banking model, federal law still requires them to answer certain customer inquiries completely, accurately, and in a timely manner."

Since taking office in 2021, Biden has called for increased limits on bank fees for bounced checks and account overdrafts, which would save consumers more than $5 billion a year.

Under the FTC rule changes, businesses would have to disclose all mandatory fees up front, which would make it easier for consumers to comparison shop for the lowest price, the agency said.

Airlines would also be required to disclose all fees up front, and eliminate family seating fees, while hidden fees for concert and sports tickets would also be prohibited, the White House said previously.

The proposed rules seek to end bait-and-switch practices across the wider economy and prevent businesses from running up the tab with hidden fees, ensuring customers know exactly how much they are paying and what they are getting from the deal.

The changes would have the effect of sparking more competition in the market, leading to lower prices for consumers, the administration said.

The time savings alone equates to about $10 billion, or 50 million hours, that consumers currently spend each year searching for cheap tickets and hotel stays, according to government estimates.

The Biden administration requested public comments on bogus fees a year ago, with more than 12,000 consumers attesting to the ongoing impact of hidden charges.

"All too often, Americans are plagued with unexpected and unnecessary fees they can't escape," FTC Chair Khan wrote in a press release announcing the next phase of public commentary on the issue. "These junk fees now cost Americans tens of billions of dollars per year -- money that corporations are extracting from working families just because they can."

Khan said the hidden fees take advantage of consumer-protection loopholes while serving as a drag on the American economy.

During the first public comment phase, a majority of consumers said merchants often don't reveal the total cost of a product until the transaction is completed, and the receipt printed with the fees included.

Many also said that sellers often misrepresent the purpose of certain fees, leaving consumers wondering what they are paying for or if they are getting anything at all for the fee charged, the agency said.

"By hiding the total price, these junk fees make it harder for consumers to shop for the best product or service and punish businesses who are honest upfront," Khan wrote. "The FTC's proposed rule to ban junk fees will save people money and time, and make our markets more fair and competitive."

Should the provisions become law, the FTC vowed to enforce the rules by seeking federal damages against companies that do not comply and give those awards back to consumers.

The FTC voted 3-0 to approve the public notice of the proposed rules, which will now go into the Federal Register for 60 days for public comment.

#nunyas news #this is gonna hit food service too #hopefully

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artblogart · 2 years

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Cheap flying

What is the best way to buy cheap airline tickets? Cutting back on your travel costs is certainly profitable, because it involves relatively large amounts, so every cut is extra hard. In other words: optimizing your travel budget. The most beautiful trips, already earned with savings elsewhere, in the most inexpensive way. That is double the win, but it is a matter of smart choice. Here are the tips.

Flash sales for cheap airline tickets

In technical terms it is called Flash sales. Dirt cheap tickets. You never actually see them in the newspaper and on TV and that's because everyone would think that those are the normal prices. And the airlines don't want that. They can be booked a few (two to seven) days before departure. So no early bird discount, but just filling up empty seats for a bargain price. The best way is to actively look for it yourself. Check the airline's website every few days. If you want to leave within now and three months, this is the cheapest way. Unfortunately, the tickets get even cheaper after the next round.

Limit your choice

There are so many sites and offers. It is better to search on a few good sites such as D-Reizen, Cheap tickets and a number of foreign sites and therefore the sites of the airlines. Compare them with each other and that's how you book your own candy trips. It's not free, but it can't get any cheaper.

Fly app

Most airlines these days have an app. With this you can check in, but also arrange a cheap upgrade of your flight. You can also keep an eye on the delays. You can also follow KLM on Facebook. There you will find even more interesting information.

Those last minutes are more expensive

Except for charter flights, most scheduled services are more expensive just before departure. The airlines collectively stop with the last minute offers in order to keep prices artificially high. Yet they want the chairs full, so look for those bargains, because they are there. About twelve days before departure, many prices are fixed or even very much more expensive (sometimes 250 euros more expensive). So in some places you can find cheap tickets and in other places you pay the main price just before departure. That is to serve the entire market: people who opt for comfort and have enough money or people who are forced to leave book the expensive flights just before departure and the currants forage for the Flash sales.

Fly on Tuesday

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday are the cheapest days to fly. The weekend is expensive. We all want to leave for the weekend and the airlines know that. June, July, August and Christmas are the most expensive months because of the holidays and school holidays.

Booking costs of 60 euros on top of your ticket price

Does the price you see on your screen include or exclude booking costs? You hope inclusive, otherwise you just pay 50 to 70 euros extra in booking costs. The Dutch also charge the top prize for payments with credit cards. In the U.S. it's free, so book your trip smartly with an American travel agency. Ideal is completely ideal, because it is free.

You think that switching with the same airline will be cheaper... Wrong!

It is sometimes better to fly on with a reliable budget airline. Certainly outside of Europe: you can fly to Bangkok and continue there cheaper locally with, for example, a local airline like Easyjet (air Asia). Everything is more expensive in Europe. If you book through those cheaper oriental airlines, you can also take a look around Bangkok.

Luggage costs of 60 euros

Luggage costs can add up. The employees of some budget airlines even receive a premium if they 'caught' travelers with too many kilos of overweight. A kilo of excess weight in your luggage is already ten euros extra. Your hand luggage will also be checked extra.

Book cheap travel through foreign companies

If you really want to book a bit cheaper when you fly to the East, take a look at the sites of the United Emirates, Qatar and the like in the Middle East. Belgium is cheap if you can fly via Antwerp or Brussels with KLM and, for example, Joker.be.

Finally

It's still a good search. But once it's done, it becomes a sport to get from A to B so efficiently. Cheap flights exist and can seriously compete with train and car travel. The advantage is that you are there quickly. Handy if you have to return the same day. Travel lightly packed, then you pay nothing and you can go through all the gates in no time. Good trip.

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medusasbush · 1 year

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read in february 2023

articles (ones behind a paywall are linked through webpage archive):

I'm Intersex. Here's How I Have Sex.

What Is a Nepotism Baby Anyway? (reminded me of the hollywood inbreeding 101 portion of Carrie FIsher's Wishful Drinking)

Your Stuff is Actually Worse Now: How the cult of consumerism ushered in an era of badly made products.

If You Think Tacos Aren't Healthy, We Have News for You

Deeper into Movies: What Have I Been Watching

How Dolly Parton became a secular American saint

Springtime for the Confederacy

Comedy movies rarely make it to theaters today. Here’s why.

A Short Guide to Living More Pointlessly

Another Side of Rupert Grint

What Is a Narcissist?

Videos of Police Brutality Against Black People Are a Futile Spectacle in White America

Trump proposes genocidal national ban on transgender existence if he wins 2024

The super-kinkeepers (& kinkeeping matrix)

The soothing, slightly sinister world of productivity hacks

We're Already Living in the Metaverse

Doc Filmmakers Reckon with the Industry's Murky Ethics

The Band That Best Captures the Sound of the ’70s

The Number One's: Blondie's Rapture

Meat Loaf Owned the Power Ballad

Dating apps have created a culture of entitlement

America's Dangerous Obsession with Innocence

The War on Bollywood

Restoring the Sex and Rage to Jane Austen

Modern Porn Education Is Totally Unprepared for Modern Porn

Parents Need to Talk to Their Kids About Porn

The Porn Crisis That Isn't

Why Porn Has Gotten So Rough

Memoria and the Limitations of Ebert’s Empathy Machine

Is it Possible for a Fanboy to Be a Good Critic?

The people weeding out first dates with a questionnaire

The Anxious Style of American Parenting

Big commitments loosely held

The Junkification of Amazon

The Relentlessness of Modern Parenting

From Tokyo to Paris, Parents Tell Americans to Chill

I guess this turned into a love letter

'Lord' of racism?

The Man Behind the Myth: Should We Question the Hero’s Journey?

AMC is about to make paying for theater seats more like booking an airline ticket

The mounting, undeniable Me Too backlash

Lucky girl syndrome and the endless rebranding of “The Secret”

Stuck in 2020, pretending it’s 2014

No Sex for You: Life in the metaverse will be tacky, prudish, and dull

Sarah's Day in the Life

The Last of Us: Perspectives from an epidemiologist and a plant scientist

Marriage Is Not a Replacement For the Social Safety Net

Gwen Stefani, Ariana Grande, Madonna: The Holy Trinity of Famous Italian American Culture Vultures

How Christopher Columbus Became an Italian-American Icon

Everyone Is Grotesque and No One Is Turned On

Madonna's Face is Not Subversive

The NYT Op-Ed I Just Took A Kill Fee For.

The Whale does all but "giving a voice" to fat people

I Tried Jane Fonda’s ‘80s Workout Tapes To See How They Hold Up.

De-Influencing De-Influencing

TikTok’s De-Influencers Tell You What Not to Buy

The Curious Tale of the Midsize Queen

The Tragedy of Woke Shakespeare

books

the names up on the harp: irish myth and legend by P.J. Lynch, Marie Heaney (reread)

bitten: dark erotic stories by susie bright (started)

#s #read lists #articles #did not achieve the goal of reading more books in february whoops oh well life goes on

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sociallyawkwardsailor · 9 months

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My holiday leave got approved, and I booked my flight home last night.

I'm taking the New Year's block this time, because with my anxiety/irritability I do not want to travel during actual Christmas time, and also my sister's workload won't be as heavy, so we can actually spend time together.

Thought about taking the MAC flight because it's free, but the schedule changes without notice, I have no choice in where I sit, and I am at the mercy of the military with regard to delays/cancellations. So, beer in hand and a grimace on my face, I booked a round-trip commercial flight through American Forces Travel. Holy shit a ticket is my entire paycheck, but layover times en route aren't terrible (most is 5 hours), I upgraded to Premium Economy, and I fly directly into RIC vice Norfolk (and stress over actually getting home).

I'll arrive back in Bahrain a few days before my leave ends to re-adjust to the time and get over the jet lag.

EDIT: I compared my ticket price against booking directly with the airline and fucking hell...I saved so much money. Oh my god...$8 grand for the same ticket.

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aturnoftheearth · 1 year

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hiiii! i just wanted to pop in and say i WAS able to get plane tickets for red rocks so it does look like i get to go after all :D my mom had an american airlines voucher she dug up (that literally expires a month after the concert) so i was able to get $140 round trip !

i'm vaguely trip planning since we'll be in colorado for a few days before the concert and i am also outfit planning already LOL

and? if lord huron announces a summer tour and comes to my actual city again? well then i'll be seeing them for a third time,

OMG THATS FANTASTIC :D i haven’t figured out transportation yet but as soon as they announce more summer dates i’ll know what im doing since i THINK my family wants to see them live too but they don’t care as much about the venue so . if they come close enough we’ll all just pile in over there and my sister and i will book plane tickets for red rocks !!!! BUT CAN U BELIEVE WE’LL BE SEEING THEM LIVE AGAIN IM GONNA CRY 😭 😭

#asks

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airticketguide · 11 months

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Tips for a trip to the United States

You must prepare well for a trip to the United States. There is so much to see and do in this country that it is best to immerse yourself in the country and the places you want to see. Are you looking for nature? Then you have more to see on the west coast than on the east coast. And if you want to discover the nicest American cities, then the east coast is just the thing for you.

One of the best ways to discover the US is to take a road trip. Rent a huge fat car and hit the road !

If you plan to visit a number of National Parks, buy a National Park Pass, which allows you to visit all the parks you want for 80 USD! That is a lot cheaper than separate entrance tickets.

Take a world plug with you, our regular plugs do not fit in the socket here.

We have already visited many destinations in the United States and have written a lot about them. We have visited a lot of National Parks, have been to many world cities and have visited the most beautiful beaches. Here you will find everything you want to know about an unforgettable trip to the USA!

Related Blogs & Travel Tips:

Tricks & tips to book cheap airline tickets

How To Contact Delta Airlines Customer Service

Process To Delta Airlines Flight Cancellations

The top 10 honeymoon destinations

10 Ways to Work While Traveling

The 7 most beautiful countries for a Trip in Europe

10 best destinations in America

5 Travel Tips For A Family Vacation

Tips For Visiting Niagara Falls

#travel #airlines #tour and travel #adventure #vaction #niagara falls

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running-on-coffee-and-anxiety · 1 year

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Never Fly American Airlines

Okay, so! It has almost been a month I think, but I had to calm down and get my head on straight so I can be somewhat reasonable about this. Let me explain the header:

American Airlines Will Sell Your Seat Out From Under You, Not Allow You To Board Your Plane Because The Person They Sold Your Tickets To Is In Your Seat, Then Not Compensate You In Any Way

How do I know? It happened to me three. Seperate. Times.

On the way to visit family for spring break, we had to change our seats to the middle of the plane because they sold the first-class seat my mom paid for, and I am unable to fly alone (anxiety disorder). Thankfully, they gave us a whole row to ourselves.

On the way home though? Those bastards assumed we wouldn't make our connection, so they sold our seats, didn't give us any compensation, and even though we did get there on time we weren't allowed to board the plane home because of the sold seats.

We called the service number, they said it was 'due to weather' so they refused to compensate us. Dad started yelling at them over Twitter, they said they'd discipline the guy that was on the service call, still refused to compensate us. Me and mom were forced to pay for a hotel room and spend a night in Washington, then pay out of pocket for the flight home.

In conclusion: American Airlines are scummy jerks that don't care if you're in a rush or need to get home.

Delta Airlines though? They're incredible, go above and beyond for the people on their flights, re-booking tickets if people miss connections or paying for hotels if bad weather grounds the flights. The family is sticking with them from now, we learned out lesson the hard way.

I feel like people need to know this kind of stuff, just in case.

#airlines #american airlines #rant #anger #these greedy fuckers #I swear these assholes do it on purpose #slight vent #useful information

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mostlysignssomeportents · 10 months

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This day in history

I'm kickstarting the audiobook for "The Internet Con: How To Seize the Means of Computation," a Big Tech disassembly manual to disenshittify the web and make a new, good internet that picks up where the old, good internet left off. It's a DRM-free book, which means Audible won't carry it, so this crowdfunder is essential. Back now to get the audio, Verso hardcover and ebook:

http://seizethemeansofcomputation.org

#20yrsago Trademark-holders don’t have to be bullies https://web.archive.org/web/20030826225802/http://www.openp2p.com/pub/a/p2p/2003/08/14/trademarks.html

#15yrsago Stop Writing Young Adult Science Fiction https://gizmodo.com/stop-writing-young-adult-science-fiction-5037686

#15yrsago Young Adult Books Will Save Science Fiction https://gizmodo.com/young-adult-books-will-save-science-fiction-5036820

#15yrsago RIAA has to pay $107,951 for court costs in failed suit against disabled single mom https://yro.slashdot.org/story/08/08/15/1145236/riaa-pays-tanya-andersen-107951

#15yrsago Scamorama: book explains how to get into scambaiting as a hobby https://memex.craphound.com/2008/08/15/scamorama-book-explains-how-to-get-into-scambaiting-as-a-hobby/

#10yrsago NSA leaks trigger steep rise in ad/third-party-cookie blocking https://www.adweek.com/performance-marketing/study-nsa-scandal-still-setting-privacy-alarm-bells-among-consumers-151835/

#10yrsago On slagging off other writers’ books https://floggingbabel.blogspot.com/2013/08/on-my-refusal-to-mock-my-brothers-and.html

#10yrsago Decoding NSA doublespeak https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/08/guide-deceptions-word-games-obfuscations-officials-use-mislead-public-about-nsa

#10yrsago Dear airline execs: crowing about new fees and price hikes before your merger makes the DoJ mad https://consumerist.com/2013/08/14/past-statements-about-moneymaking-mergers-returning-to-bite-airline-execs-in-the-behind/

#10yrsago Copyright troll’s lawyer wants record sealed so we won’t make fun of him https://www.techdirt.com/2013/08/14/prenda-lawyer-would-like-future-documents-sealed-because-techdirt-commenters-said-mean-stuff-about-him/

#10yrsago Horse Association must accept clones on registry https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-cloning-horses/u-s-horse-association-will-be-ordered-to-allow-clones-on-registry-idUSBRE97C01V20130813

#5yrsago How a civic hacker used open data to halve tickets at Chicago’s most confusing parking spot https://mchap.io/using-foia-data-and-unix-to-halve-major-source-of-parking-tickets.html

#5yrsago Truthful security disclosures should always be legal. Period. https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2018/08/telling-truth-about-defects-technology-should-never-ever-ever-be-illegal-ever

#5yrsago Talking surveillance, elections, monopolies, and Facebook on the Bots and Ballots podcast https://www.yahoo.com/news/facebook-surveillance-system-sci-fi-author-cory-doctorow-says-090028574.html

#5yrsago Insecure medical equipment protocols let attackers spoof diagnostic information https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/hackers-can-falsify-patient-vitals/

#5yrsago Majority of young Americans distrust capitalism, embrace socialism https://www.cnbc.com/2018/08/14/fewer-than-half-of-young-americans-are-positive-about-capitalism.html

#5yrsago New Zealand bans most offshore residential real-estate ownership https://money.cnn.com/2018/08/15/investing/new-zealand-property-foreigners/index.html

#1yrago This weekend, I watched a hacker jailbreak a John Deere tractor live on stage https://pluralistic.net/2022/08/15/deere-in-headlights/#doh-a-deere

Back my anti-enshittification Kickstarter here!

#pluralistic

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bobbinacrosstheequator · 1 year

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April 1-2, 2023 Epilogue (or SJO-MIA-CLT-IAD)

We hope that in short order, we’ll look back fondly on our trip and not think about the agonizing journey home. It was a full - seriously long, FULL – two days of travel starting with a pleasant, early drive from Monteverde to San Jose, with Olgar, from our drive to Monteverde, and Juan Carlos. We even had a stop on the side of the road to observe a howler monkey family.

We checked-in for our American Airlines flight from San Jose to Charlotte, where we’d connect to DC. Only once checked-in, we learned that the flight was delayed. It wound up being the first of four delays on day 1 of our return. Because most people had connections they would miss, every passenger on the plane wound up clambering to be rescheduled, at first individually at various AA desks, then all together at a gate assigned to the task. We had our turn at the desk – were minutes from being rescheduled (!) on a different airline – only to have the AA attendants shut down the process and direct us all to reenter Costa Rica through immigration/customs, pick up our bags (note to selves — only duffels with wheels next time), get in line to rebook our connecting flights for day 2, retrieve hotel/food vouchers from AA, and proceed to the Crowne Plaza on shuttle busses for the night. Turns out the incoming flight was arriving the next day, so our flight was going to be delayed until the next day. Good Grief!! We divided and conquered – Sebbie collecting luggage and Jillebob heading up to the ticketing desk to get in line for re-booking. By the time she got to the front of the line, Seb joined her. We successfully (we thought successfully - more on that to come) re-booked the Charlotte-DC connections for our morning flight on day 2. We sprung for a taxi – finding what turned out to be a decent “official” driver in the sea of aggressive sheisters we’d been warned about. We got to the hotel before yet another line formed for check-in by everyone on the flight who took a shuttle. Dinner – a buffet – was marginal — a real let down after 2 ½ weeks of food that ranged from quite good to excellent. Sometime in the evening, Seb realized from an AA email that the attendant had only re-booked Jillebob’s connecting flight for day 2, even though he looked us in the eye and told us that we were rebooked together. Seb spent ages in the hotel in an online chat with AA customer support. The rep was courteous enough, but a response of “sorry for the inconvenience” is more than inadequate for having been lied to!!!! In the end, there was nothing the rep could do: all flights/all airlines from Charlotte to DC were reportedly full at that point. At least the hotel managed the large, last-minute influx of patrons well, even giving us a wake-up call (not requested). We were already up, and again took a taxi back to the airport to beat the masses from our flight and get our situation resolved before the agents were worn down by what promised to be a long morning of dealing with irate people.

Back at SJO on day 2, the first rep was super nice, checked us in and managed to get Seb on a United flight that got in later than Jill, but at least before the midnight arrival she was slated for. Oops, then when flight delays started again and it wasn’t clear she’d make the sweet booking she’d landed the day before, Jill had to rebook to a later Charlotte to DC flight. Then, several delays later, Seb had to re-book because she’d miss her re-booked United flight. United couldn’t do it, so another on-line chat with AA resulted in us being back on the same Charlotte to DC flight. In the end, we lost track of how many delays there were: an hour here, 90 minutes there…. Finally, the plane for the flight out of San Jose arrived, with added chaos of two AA 1248 flights: one on-time for April 2 and another one delayed from April 1, also leaving on April 2 — both listed on the departure board within minutes of each other. There’s humor in here somewhere. We lined up – again - and once on-board, doors closed, they announced that our destination was Miami. It almost felt like being kidnapped. It wasn’t clear whether the same plane would continue to Charlotte or whether we’d go through immigration/customs in Miami and have to figure out getting to Charlotte. On touchdown, one flight attendant welcomed us to Miami and wished us well for our connecting flights. SERIOUSLY!?!?!? Finally sorted by the airline, while we were still on the plane, we all put our bags back in the overhead bins; they brought on a fresh crew (we had to land in Miami because the last crew had reached the FAA’s flying duration limit); and shortly after, we took off again. All things considered, as grumpy as many of us were, we and our fellow passengers were pretty calm about the outrageous situation. Well, all but the few who had gone ahead and rebooked to Miami connections only to not be let off the plane.

Passing through immigration/customs in Charlotte was remarkably quick and easy. We were both a little disappointed that we did not get to use our Global Entry, just a quick wave through by a border agent. A short wait to board in Charlotte and 55 minutes later, we landed at Dulles. The events of these two days will fade and we’ll be left with memories of tortoises, sea turtles, sloths, tarantulas, an array of birds, among others and great experiences across the equator and back.

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whyilovetotravel · 2 years

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Holiday Travel Articles

Thousands more flights canceled or delayed as 4th of July travel blitz continues Flight cancellations and delays continued across the nation on Sunday during an already chaotic July Fourth weekend for travelers. At least 267 flights into, out of or within the US had been cancelled as of 3:16 p.m. EST, and nearly 2,300 were delayed, air travel tracking site FlightAware.com reported. The bulk of the cancellations and delays were in or out of China, Canada and Europe, according to the site. London Heathrow and Frankfurt saw a combined 494 flight delays, while two notorious airports — Toronto’s Pearson and Amsterdam’s Schiphol — combined for 484 delays and 72 cancellations, FlightAware reported. American Airlines on Wednesday told employees it would pause all ticket sales for flights out of Schiphol, according to The Points Guy travel website. Tickets are no longer available for American flights out of Amsterdam between July 7 and July 31; tickets that have already purchased will be honored. The situation at Toronto’s Pearson is so bad that one traveler was recently reported to be waiting for his luggage there — 16 days after his arrival. Holiday weekend flights have continued to be delayed or canceled across the country on Sunday. John Nacion/NurPhoto/Shutterstoc There have reportedly been 267 flights into, out of or within the US canceled so far on July 3, 2022. John Nacion/NurPhoto/Shutterstock New York’s airports reported relative quiet in terms of delays and cancellations — though a bomb scare did force an evacuation at JFK Airport, where 10% of flights were delayed. Newark Airport reported just 4% of flight delays and 3% canceled. At LaGuardia Airport, just six flights had been canceled and 38 delayed (8%). AAA has predicted 3.5 million Americans planned to travel over the holiday weekend. But airlines are over-booked and under-staffed, causing serious delays for travelers. There have been about 2,300 delayed flights across the country so far this afternoon. John Nacion/NurPhoto/Shutterstock Most of the flight cancellations and delays were reportedly in or out of China, Europe and Canada. Photo by Jeenah Moon/Getty Images There were at least 3,765 delays on US flights – including in and out of the country — and 612 cancellations on Saturday, nearly triple the daily average of 210 scrapped flights. The lack of service rivaled a day earlier, when more than 4,900 flight delays and nearly 500 cancellations were reported domestically as of Friday evening. Source: www.google.com/url?rct=j&sa=t&url=https://nypost.com/2022/07/03/fourth-of-july-travel-thousands-more-flights-canceled-or-delayed/&ct=ga&cd=CAIyGmE3N2E2NjhmOWY3MDY2NWY6Y29tOmVuOlVT&usg=AOvVaw3umBzcfaebMJqWlDj0OZ2JThere have reportedly been 267 flights into, out of or within the US canceled so far on July 3, 2022. John Nacion/NurPhoto/Shutterstock New York’s airports reported relative quiet in terms of delays and cancellations — though a bomb scare did force an evacuation at JFK Airport, where 10% of flights were delayed. Newark Airport reported just 4% of flight delays and 3% canceled. At LaGuardia Airport, just six flights had been canceled and 38 delayed (8%). AAA has predicted 3.5 million Americans planned to travel over the holiday weekend. But airlines are over-booked and under-staffed, causing serious delays for travelers.Source: www.google.com/url?rct=j&sa=t&url=https://nypost.com/2022/07/03/fourth-of-july-travel-thousands-more-flights-canceled-or-delayed/&ct=ga&cd=CAIyGmE3N2E2NjhmOWY3MDY2NWY6Y29tOmVuOlVT&usg=AOvVaw3umBzcfaebMJqWlDj0OZ2JMost of the flight cancellations and delays were reportedly in or out of China, Europe and Canada. Photo by Jeenah Moon/Getty Images There were at least 3,765 delays on US flights – including in and out of the country — and 612 cancellations on Saturday, nearly triple the daily average of 210 scrapped flights. The lack of service rivaled a day earlier, when more than 4,900 flight delays and nearly 500 cancellations were reported domestically as of Friday evening.Source: www.google.com/url?rct=j&sa=t&url=https://nypost.com/2022/07/03/fourth-of-july-travel-thousands-more-flights-canceled-or-delayed/&ct=ga&cd=CAIyGmE3N2E2NjhmOWY3MDY2NWY6Y29tOmVuOlVT&usg=AOvVaw3umBzcfaebMJqWlDj0OZ2JAirline delays and cancellations hobble july fourth weekend travel | Mint Flight delays continued into the start of the long July Fourth weekend as more than 600 U.S. flights were canceled by Saturday evening and more than 4,000 were delayed, according to FlightAware. Source: www.google.com/url?rct=j&sa=t&url=https://www.livemint.com/companies/news/airline-delays-and-cancellations-hobble-july-fourth-weekend-travel-11656851211073.html&ct=ga&cd=CAIyGmE3N2E2NjhmOWY3MDY2NWY6Y29tOmVuOlVT&usg=AOvVaw3sLOW9pBOKkupFMfNqJY6n

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