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--- transportation:airlines [2026/07/12 22:40] – [Air New Zeland] timb
+++ transportation:airlines [2026/09/07 20:15] (current) – [Employees] timb
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+==== Hub ====
+== The Hub Delta Air Lines Threw Away After Merging With Northwest ==
+Daniel S Osipov - Aug 14, 2026, 7:00 PM EDT
+The 2008 merger between Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines was the first to create one of the US's current 'mega legacy carriers.' Delta Air Lines and its contemporaries today have hubs spanning the entire country while operating over 1,000 mainline aircraft each.
+The main benefits of these mergers were scale, including network size, and all three legacy carriers have largely used the hubs that they inherited from their mergers to their advantage, enabling further growth and boosting relevance in more markets. One of the biggest exceptions, however, came with Northwest's hub at Tokyo Narita International Airport.
+Northwest had traditionally been heavily focused on its Asia network, competing primarily against United Airlines to be the dominant US airline across the Pacific. Ever since the merger, Delta has attempted to still be competitive in this market space, but has moved away from the Narita hub, slowly de-prioritizing it and then pulling out of Narita entirely in 2020.
+https://simpleflying.com/hub-delta-air-lines-threw-away-merging-northwest/
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 https://www.distractify.com/p/20-year-old-kicked-off-frontier-flight
+== Frontier passenger denied boarding due to aircraft swap, highlighting airline rule loophole ==
+A Denver man's return from Las Vegas was disrupted when Frontier Airlines unexpectedly denied him boarding due to a plane swap.
+Steve Staeger, Anna Hewson - 6:57 PM MDT August 7, 2026 / Updated 6:57 PM MDT August 7, 2026
+DENVER — What happens in Vegas may stay in Vegas, but Vince Vranesic was hoping to leave.
+He and his wife were returning to Denver after a quick trip to Las Vegas to see "The Wizard of Oz at the Sphere" for their 30th wedding anniversary in early July. But as the couple went to board their Frontier flight, his wife was waved through, but the gate agent asked Vranesic to step aside.
+“She kind of grabs me and says, 'Sir, you cannot board.' It's like, what? For what reason?”
+Vranesic said people at the gate couldn’t seem to explain why he and several others had been stopped.
+“I asked them 20 times, and they just never would give us a concrete answer,” he said. “They said we're going to book you on another flight.”
+He said it took 45 minutes for a Frontier supervisor to finally explain that the airline had to change the aircraft flying the route, reducing the number of seats, leaving only 180 seats for the 186 passengers on board.
+He was shocked to find out that not only was the airline allowed to do this to a paying customer but that federal rules don’t require compensation for passengers who have been involuntarily bumped because of an
+operational issue.
+https://www.9news.com/article/money/consumer/steve-on-your-side/frontier-passenger-denied-boarding-aircraft-swap/73-00094539-bb32-431c-a59e-9ddc006a1a00
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 https://viewfromthewing.com/pilot-comes-into-the-cabin-sees-wing-damage-leading-to-emergency-landing-for-united-flight/
+== United's latest Economy Plus gambit? Kick out the middle-seat passenger for more space. ==
+Pras Subramanian, Senior Reporter - Tue, July 14, 2026 at 12:07 PM PDT
+United Airlines (UAL) has found a new way to monetize the seat nobody wants to sit in — by kicking out the middle passenger and charging more for the space.
+Later this year, United will begin selling an Economy Plus "innovation" that guarantees an empty middle seat, debuting on its new Airbus A321XLR aircraft. United claims to be the first US airline to provide such an offering.
+Essentially, United is installing a custom tray table that stretches from armrest to armrest across the unoccupied middle seat in its Economy Plus cabin. The window and aisle passengers share it and, more importantly, share the guarantee that nobody will ever wedge in between them. On a long international flight, that empty seat could likely be very welcome.
+https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/article/uniteds-latest-economy-plus-gambit-kick-out-the-middle-seat-passenger-for-more-space-190742980.html
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 https://www.paddleyourownkanoo.com/2025/05/10/money-troubles-forced-her-to-quit-her-dream-job-as-a-united-flight-attendant-now-the-airline-wants-payback/
+== United Airlines Pilot Defies Gate Agents And Sticks Head Out Of Window In Heroic Moment At SFO ==
+Alessandro Passalalpic - Aug 19, 2026, 6:30 AM EDT
+A United Airlines pilot did the right thing at San Francisco International Airport, defying gate agents and signaling customers to board the flight despite their tardiness. Another traveler caught the incident at the major United Airlines hub, and it generated plenty of reactions online. This moment follows a similar incident in which a Delta Air Lines pilot warned passengers to get into their seats quickly on a flight at Boston Logan International Airport, trying to avoid the service being timed out after multiple delays.
+In this case, the United flyers were able to board, and, according to a commercial flight pilot, it was a rare situation given how strict certain gate agents are about flights departing on time.
+https://www.thetravel.com/united-airlines-pilot-defies-gate-agents-sticks-head-out-of-window-in-heroic-moment-at-sfo/
+== "Pops?": Father And Daughter Pilots In US Cross Paths On Airport Radio, Their Exchange Wins Hearts ==
+While Kent was communicating with air traffic control, he suddenly heard a familiar voice come through the headset.
+Ritu Singh - Sep 06, 2026 13:12 IST
+A routine day at the airport turned into a sweet family moment when a father and daughter, both commercial pilots, unexpectedly found themselves on the same radio frequency at Washington Dulles International Airport. The moment happened on September 1, when Kent Katnik was preparing to take off as the pilot of United Airlines Flight 108. Nearby, his daughter Kenny Katnik was also getting ready for departure, flying CommutAir Flight 4977 for United Express.
+While Kent was communicating with air traffic control, he suddenly heard a familiar voice come through the headset. His daughter had recognised her father and greeted him with a quick, affectionate call. Kent immediately realised who was speaking and asked where she was. Kenny told him she was holding on Runway 1R, just nearby and ready to depart.
+The interaction then took a humorous turn when the air traffic controller asked Kent whether he was a proud father of a pilot daughter. Kent gave a playful response before the conversation shifted to Kenny's living arrangements.
+https://www.ndtv.com/offbeat/pops-father-and-daughter-pilots-in-us-cross-paths-on-airport-radio-their-exchange-wins-hearts-12008654