Boarding planes in the USA is generally a shitshow. Delta Air Lines hopes to change that with a revised process kicking off in January. Colors are now part of the scheme, not just zone names and numbers.

Also in this episode:

* Russia plans to rename nearly 50 airports to honor various historical figures

* Delta is bringing a handful of business routes online in Boston to further challenge American Airlines and JetBlue

* Malaysia Airlines downgrades its First Class cabin

* A Norwegian 737MAX diverted into Iran which presents some logistical challenges

* United Airlines makes "historic" route announcements for San Francisco that includes some cool destinations but that was also terribly overhyped

* Disputing credit card charges following an airline bankruptcy doesn't necessarily always work

* A cool new way to see what visa(s) you might need for travel

* New security screening equipment goes live in Denver, adding a new pose to the repertoire

And, as always, plenty of other random conversation mixed in.

The WOW death watch continues, even as the carrier launches a new destination in Asia.

Also in the episode:

* Privatair went bankrupt

* Jet Airways is still a mess

* United Airlines has new Paine Field routes

* Stephan hates Kansas City's airport. And Denver. And lots of other stuff, too.

* AA CEO Doug Parker lost a bet that his company's stock price would jump up. And what is happening with that China growth?

* An inaugural flight from Portsmouth, NH.

 

WOW had a suitor, lost it and (maybe) got a new one. Will the carrier still be flying next year??

Also in this episode:

* LaGuardia's new terminal is (finally, partially) open and it is every bit as awesome as was promised. Photos here and here.

* Is Joon now dead?

* Marriott/SPG exposed data from 500 million members to an unauthorized party. That's a massive breach.

* Oneworld is getting a new member on Wednesday and might pick up another soon

* A Brexit Miracle – US/UK bilateral agreed

* JAL Drunk Pilot arrested, boss takes a pay cut

* United's Premium Plus is now on sale

Enjoy the show!

We're recounting our Thanksgiving travels this week with discussions around eastern Tennessee and Qatar Airways QSuites. Yee-haw!

Also in this show:

* More talk about the Lion Air crash and associated MAX training issues

* Rolls Royce, Airbus and Brexit

* The first A330neo delivery to TAP (also, a point of clarification from the episode: Seth says 500 hours of operations; it is 500 cycles on the ETOPS so not as dire as believed)

* A plane with no moving parts

* Spain changes the law on tickets and skipping segments

* Airlines are mad at the PANYNJ

And lots more!

Perhaps our most coherent episode yet. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Boeing has had a rough go lately. The Lion Air incident is revealing some interesting pilot training details and then a 757 and 747 both suffered incidents likely to result in hull losses.

Perhaps the good(??) news is that Boeing is not alone. Air Astana had a scare with an Embraer E190 last week coming out of maintenance. The crew strongly considered ditching the uncontrollable plane in the ocean before eventually landing safely.

Also:

* Ryanair had a plane impounded in Bordeaux; it eventually was returned

* A three day delay for a British Airways flight

* Should we all fly less to help combat climate change?

* Delta wants to tell ATC how to do its job better in NYC

* A flight attendant brawl results in a lawsuit a couple years later

Did you pick Lome, Togo and Seattle, Washington for your next round of smooth connection opportunities? If so, please step forward to claim your prize.

Also in this episode:

* Singapore Airlines adds Seattle to its route map

* Ethiopian shifts its LAX feed to Lome

* IATA gets more aggressive on Brexit (and Stephan might change a vacation as a result)

* Icelandair buys out WOW

* Someone will probably buy out Alitalia. Maybe. And it might not really have a loyalty program by the time that happens.

* American adjusts EXP rules

* United Airlines faces a lawsuit over its actions related to a catering facility listeria outbreak

* Engine issues and engine issues because we like to rile Fozz up from time to time

* And a first flight, just to round out the list

Why fly to Hong Kong and Beijing for the weekend? Because we can. The price was right and dumplings were on our minds. And so away we went.

Two very different itineraries gave us equally different travel experiences. Economy class plus an overnight train led to the new high speed rail service for Seth while Stephan took advantage of a good United Airlines business class fare to make his trip. Once in Hong Kong there were dumplings a plenty. The venerable Tim Ho Wan baked BBQ buns were a hit, though the rest of that experience left a little to be desired. Soup dumplings at Cheung Hing Kee Shanghai Pan Fried Buns were a hit, too, thought the black truffle option was incredibly overpowering (multiple locations, comparable quality).

We missed stops at this bamboo noodle shop, Maxim's City Hall and One Dim Sum, but we did stop in at one of the many airplane model shops to collect souvenirs.

United made changes to its 1K program (and other tiers) for the 2019 program year and, not surprisingly, lots of people have lots of opinions on this issue. Somewhat surprisingly, they're not all completely negative.

Also in this episode:

* Marriott continues in its struggles to integrate the SPG operations into a common loyalty program and website operation

* Emirates might not be taking those new A380s after all, thanks to engine issues at Rolls Royce

* Drunken pull-ups caused the diversion of an American Airlines flight

* JFK Airport moved a step closer to a $13 billion terminal upgrade

* British Airways is no longer the largest foreign carrier in the New York City area by passenger count. Does that matter?

* OTG transactions are annoying

* How should Seth ride the trains in China?

 

Want a look into the future of aircraft cabin interiors? APEX EXPO is a good opportunity to see what's coming and prepare for the inevitable. Often that means getting ready for not so great changes to the passenger experience. As is often the case we have Jason on as a guest to review the show and parse out what's really going to fly or not.

What's cool? What's going to fly? What isn't?

* New, smaller lavs are definitely coming

* A new way to pay for power on board might take off

* Overhead bins get connected to the internet in strange and maybe useful ways

* New screens for entertainment systems are bigger and brighter than ever

Also in this episode:

* Austin gets another long haul

* JetBlue goes Basic

* Delta had another computer outage

* Paine Field gets some routes

* United confirms the first 787-10 routes