Clips
Writing samples and published clips
Exclusive: Boeing's new sales chief talks challenges — and of ceding a 'niche' market to Airbus
The Points Guy – 6/23/23
Boeing and its rival Airbus will not be able to meet airline demand for new airplanes over the next five years. It's not going to happen.
It's a dramatic statement from Boeing's new sales chief, Brad McMullen, as he begins his tenure leading the Boeing sales organization he's spent more than two decades in. However, it's nonetheless the reality of the current market as airlines try to find airplanes, passengers pay top dollar for flights and supply chains shattered by COVID-19 struggle to reassemble. Read more.
Snapshot: 1 in 13 flights were canceled during the holidays. How US airlines fared
The Points Guy – 1/6/22
It was a rough holiday period for the airlines and their passengers.
Overall, the majority of people — 92% of scheduled flights operated — still got where they needed to go, more or less on time.
But that's little solace for the thousands of travelers stranded as a wave of COVID-19 exposures and infections hit pilots, flight attendants, baggage handlers and other airline workers. Read more.
The 9-hour wait: Here's why airline hold times are so bad
The Points Guy – 6/18/21
The travel comeback is in full swing, but with it has come a major headache for many airline customers.
Returning travelers have been shocked by hours-long hold times for airline reservation desks and support lines, forcing them to run a gauntlet of lengthy phone queues and transfers as they try to book trips using vouchers from last year's scrapped vacations.
It's been an even tougher slog for those on newly booked trips marred by weather-related cancellations or last-minute schedule changes. Numerous flyers have complained about trying for days to reach an agent for rescheduling assistance, only to find they're unable to get through at all.
There's been much enthusiasm about the sudden resurgence of travel. But, for people in need of real-time help with a flight itinerary, it's been a mixed bag. Read more.
Southwest has a plan to get back on track after holiday meltdown. Here's what execs tell TPG
The Points Guy – 6/5/23
A widespread blizzard in December, perfectly timed to wreak havoc as millions hit the road for the holidays, led to thousands of canceled and delayed flights around the country.
Within a couple of days, most airlines had gotten back on their feet, brushed the snow off their wings and had things moving again.
Not Southwest Airlines. Read more.
Farm-to-terminal: How airport restaurants are becoming the 1st destination of your trip
The Points Guy – 11/13/23
It's about 70 degrees in Pennington, New Jersey, a warm afternoon for October, as we trek from the tomato tunnel to a sprawling rice field. We're on the Blue Moon Acres farm, about 50 miles southwest of Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) and 75 miles from LaGuardia Airport (LGA).
As the sun shines down and the breeze carries hints of flowers, peppers and compost, air travel is the furthest thing from mind.
That's not the case for the staff at Blue Moon Acres, including owner Jim Lyons, though. The farm is at the center of a transformation in American air travel that has seen airports become, unlikely as it sounds, nice. Read more.
United CEO talks travel: Boeing 767s will return to JFK, future of 50-seat regional jets uncertain
The Points Guy – 10/6/21
United Airlines just saw its strongest bookings week since the start of the pandemic — suggesting that the setback airlines saw from the rise of the delta variant is beginning to recede (other airlines saw similar improvement).
It came as the airline was receiving media coverage and praise from around the globe for its vaccine mandate, which saw more than 97% of employees vaccinated, and just a few hundred of its 67,000 U.S. employees unwilling to meet requirements.
Meanwhile, United rivals American Airlines and JetBlue, which have partnered together to try and present a United front against United and Delta in the Northeast, were hit by an antitrust lawsuit by the Department of Justice.
All in all, it's been an interesting couple of weeks for United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby. Read more.
Delta flight attendants say their uniforms are making them lose their hair, break out in hives, and cough uncontrollably
Business Insider – 12/18/19
Skin lesions. Fatigue. Migraines. Hair loss.
These are a few of the symptoms that some Delta flight attendants say are being caused by the airline's stylish new uniforms.
The affected workers say the new uniforms feature more than just purple tops and gray slacks — they also come with toxic chemicals that are causing a number of health problems among the airline's cabin crew. Read more.
Boom Supersonic inches closer to legitimacy as doubts remain
The Points Guy – 6/27/23
When Boom Supersonic first began publicly discussing its plans for faster-than-sound commercial travel with its Overature airplane, its reasoning made more sense. The Concorde supersonic airliner ultimately failed because of poor economics and a changing market, but it's been 20 years since that plane was retired. It was designed using pencil and paper and slide rulers. With modern digital design tools, it should be possible to design a much more efficient, cost-effective and safe airplane.
Then, nothing really happened. Read more.
Farewell to the misery of Gate 35X, the only thing everyone in Washington could agree on
The Points Guy – 4/19/21
It’s got some of the most overused clichés in travel. It's one of Dante’s circles. The not-so-great equalizer. The worst parts of both an airport and a bus terminal merged into one. Or so I’ve heard.
If you’re a business traveler or someone who travels to or from Washington, D.C. with any regularity, you probably already know what I’m talking about. It’s Gate 35X, the most hated airport gate in America, the most hated of a thing that rarely evokes any emotion whatsoever. Read more.
Pete Buttigieg thinks airlines are too stingy with refunds. He tells TPG how he wants to fix it
The Points Guy – 8/9/22
Getting a refund from an airline when things go wrong can feel like pulling teeth. But that could finally be on track to change.
A new set of rules proposed by the Department of Transportation would make it easier for passengers to get refunds from airlines when flights are canceled, delayed or itineraries are altered.
In an interview with TPG, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg described the proposed rules as building upon federal consumer protections already in place. Read more.
‘Flat out not true’: Incoming Southwest CEO denies pilot walkout rumors to TPG
The Points Guy – 10/13/21
Southwest Airlines canceled more than 1,800 flights over the weekend as it suffered a disastrous operational meltdown.
By Tuesday, operations were largely back under control, with just 93 cancellations, or 2% of the airline's schedule for the day, down from 435, or 12% of the schedule, on Monday.
Still, reports quickly spread this during the weekend claiming that Southwest pilots and other staffers were walking off the job in a "sick-out" to protest the looming vaccination mandate, which Southwest plans to implement in order to comply with the federal executive order requiring all employees at large businesses and federal contractors to be vaccinated.
Despite evidence of other causes for the meltdown, as well as evidence of a coordinated disinformation campaign pushing the walk-off narrative, high-profile pundits and politicians elevated and promoted the rumors, including Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and former president Donald Trump. Read more.
Best burgers in the sky: We compared inflight hamburgers to see which was the tastiest
The Points Guy – 5/26/22
"So what's the deal with airplane food?"Jerry Seinfeld once famously asked during a skit on Saturday Night Live. It was during an era of hot meals in coach, and his question served as the quintessential clichéd example of observational humor for decades to come.
I'll narrow that question down a bit: What's the deal with airplane hamburgers?
At first, the idea of eating a burger on a plane may be enough to make you consider swearing off meat (or food altogether) for good.
But believe it or not — and if you're a long-time frequent flyer, you'll know this — burgers are actually a long-time staple of the inflight meal. Read more.
Jubilant scenes across US as travel ban is lifted
The Points Guy – 11/8/21
A woman met her 1-year-old grandson for the first time on Monday. Parents and their adult children were reunited for the first time in years, couples shared a first kiss after 18 months of resorting to video chat, and foreign exchange students breathed a sigh of relief as they began programs before it was too late.
These scenes played out across U.S. airports on Monday as the country reopened its borders to fully vaccinated travelers, ending 18 months of restrictions on residents of dozens of countries. Read more.
What to know about the World Cup, Qatar and human rights there
The Points Guy – 11/10/22
The 2022 World Cup is about to kick off in Qatar as the world focuses on the small Gulf country.
This World Cup marks a few firsts: It's the first to be held in the Middle East, the first to take place outside the tournament's traditional May-July time frame, and the first to be held in a country as small as Qatar.
Since the event was awarded to Qatar in 2010, it's also become one of the most controversial World Cups in recent memory. Read more.
Would you fly Frontier to Europe? CEO Barry Biffle is working on that
The Points Guy – 10/31/22
For Frontier Airlines CEO Barry Biffle, a new frontier lies just ahead of the ultra-low-cost carrier (ULCC). Read more.
Onboard Air New Zealand's inaugural flight from NYC to Auckland, the world's 4th-longest
The Points Guy – 9/19/22
Seventeen hours is a long time to spend on an airplane. But is getting a journey over with in one 17-hour stint better than taking two shorter, but still-grueling, flights broken up by a transfer on the ground?
It really comes down to personal preference. For the majority of customers, Air New Zealand thinks the answer to that is "yes," embracing a trend that the airline industry at large seems to have adopted for long international travel.
The airline launched its inaugural nonstop service between Auckland Airport (AKL) and New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) this weekend, offering Kiwis and New Yorkers alike the chance to skip what some would view as a miserable stop at a hub like Los Angeles or Houston, and instead allowing them to stay asleep — or at least in that air travel-induced fugue state — without interruption. Read more.
Is it ethical to fly business class in light of the climate crisis?
The Points Guy – 4/19/22
Like just about anyone else who's ever been able to fly "up front," I like to sit in business class. However, lately I've been thinking more about the cost of doing so from a climate-related perspective.
My introduction to points, miles and credit card rewards came after a red-eye flight in coach where I suffered from a severe lack of sleep. I was miserable, so much so that I became determined to find a way to afford a lie-flat seat so that I wouldn't find myself in that predicament as much when I traveled long-haul.
As someone who travels fairly often for both my job and personal reasons, I recognize that my carbon footprint is quite large, even though I try and reduce it where I can.
As I attend airline industry events and constantly hear about emission reduction targets to address the 3-4% of global emissions currently attributed to commercial aviation, I've found my mind wandering to the big seats up front. Read more.
The real story behind Delta’s flight full of 1,000 lost bags — and no passengers
The Points Guy – 7/14/22
Delta CEO Ed Bastian raised eyebrows and made headlines on Wednesday when, during an earnings call with analysts, he said Delta had commissioned an aircraft just to retrieve customer luggage that had piled up at London's Heathrow Airport.
It's true that this week an Airbus A330-200 flew back to the U.S. from Heathrow with 1,000 bags and no passengers — but that's only part of the story. Read more.
Is Canada next? Retiring Southwest CEO Gary Kelly discusses carrier's future
The Points Guy – 12/15/21
Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly is on a farewell tour.
Flying to San Antonio to release a history book marking the airline's 50th year of operation. Speaking at a Wings Club luncheon in New York. It's his final holiday season as the airline's fourth CEO, and that makes for a meaningful period of reflection — and of looking forward.
That's because Kelly says he isn't really saying "goodbye." It's more of a "see you around."
"I'll still be a part of the team, but I won't be a part of the problem solving on a day-to-day basis, which I really enjoy, so I'm going to miss that," Kelly said during an exclusive interview with TPG, conducted aboard a Southwest flight from Dallas to San Antonio, where Kelly was going to promote the book. "It's exciting for me, personally." Read more.
Anti-competitive or pro-consumer? American, JetBlue square off with DOJ in antitrust trial
The Points Guy – 9/27/22
Are airfares lower when JetBlue and American Airlines compete against each other? Or does an alliance between the airlines compete more with Delta, United and Southwest, bringing more pricing pressure to the major airlines?
That's the question at the heart of the Justice Department's antitrust suitagainst JetBlue and American over their "Northeast Alliance" partnership.
The antitrust trial began on Tuesday, with the DOJ and the two airlines making opening statements and testimony from JetBlue CEO Robin Hayes in response to DOJ questioning. Read more.
First look: The new seaplane service between New York and Boston on Tailwind Air
The Points Guy – 8/4/21
Tailwind Air launched its long-awaited seaplane service between Boston and New York City on Tuesday, closing the door on a nearly decade-long quest to bring the downtown-to-midtown service to the cities' respective shorelines.
Tailwind was the first airline to launch seaplane service between the two cities in modern times, after Cape Air pulled back on plans that it had set in February 2020, which were derailed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Both Cape Air and Tailwind had been working on launching seaplane service between the cities for more than half a decade. Tailwind won final approval from the Federal Aviation Administration in July.
Bringing the service to reality was a challenge, according to Peter Manice, Tailwind's vice president of marketing and head of scheduled operations. Read more.
Take a behind-the-scenes look at an airport fire-and-rescue department
The Points Guy – 10/2/21
There are some airport amenities you can't wait to use. The Shake Shack in JFK's Terminal 4. A newly renovated lounge. A fun shop, or a runway viewing deck.
One of the most important services, though, which just about every commercial airport has, is one that you hope you'll never need.
Every airport has an on-site fire-and-rescue department, often known as ARFF (airport rescue and firefighting), which responds to accidents and crashes on the airfield, emergency landings and other emergencies. Read more.
USPS fans are loving a (very unofficial) poster that adds 'fascism' to the challenges that can't stop the postal service
Business Insider – 8/14/20
As far as government agencies go, the United States Postal Service boasts quite the creed: "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds." But in these unusual times, with the mail service at the center of a political maelstrom, weather can seem a paltry concern. Read more.
The pandemic is reshaping airlines — and how you fly will never return to ‘normal’
Business Insider – 6/30/20
On a flight to South Africa in March, just before the novel coronavirus outbreak was officially classified as a pandemic, I spent nearly 10 minutes wiping down my seat with Clorox wipes.
I'm a frequent flyer, but until this trip, I'd never done that before. I knew that planes weren't scrubbed sterile before each flight, but it never really bothered me. Read more.
How 9/11 changed aviation
The Points Guy – 9/10/21
I'm not sure when it became clear that 9/11 would change virtually everything. It might have been as the second plane hit the towers, and my school rushed to put a TV in the auditorium so we could watch history in real time (presumably they did not expect the towers to fall).
It might have been the next day, when smoke from the towers choked my neighborhood. It might have been when it became known around town that a local firefighter, Jonathan Ielpi, had been killed in the collapse, or when my mom went anxiously on her first business trip in the months after.
The attacks had an immediate impact on the air travel industry — an impact which, at the time, was seen as decisive and crucial. The interconnectedness of the world and the ubiquity of mass transportation were central to the attacks, with weaknesses exploited in a security system that had never before seemed to be of such key import, and methods of connecting friends, families and businesses turned into hellish missiles loaded with jet fuel warheads.
In the immediate years after the attacks and the decades since, the travel industry — specifically the airline industry and the experience of its patrons — changed in ways that at one time would have been unimaginable. Read more.
'Delta may be onto something': Experts describe how the company is winning with customers even though rival airlines can fit more passengers
Business Insider – 8/5/20
Out of America's so-called "big three," Delta is the only airline that continues to block the middle seats, as well as every-other seat in the domestic first class cabin, effectively capping capacity on its planes at 60%. But whether it's a PR or a safety strategy (and Delta insists it's the latter), it's working out well. Read more.
Boeing is quietly reaching out to retired airplane mechanics for help getting the 737 Max airborne again
Business Insider – 9/24/19
Boeing is trying to recruit retired employees as temporary workers as it prepares for the 737 Max to return to commercial service.
In a letter received by a retired American Airlines employee and seen by Business Insider, Kevin Brickner, the airline's senior vice president of technical operations, said that Boeing had contacted the airline asking for help contacting qualified, retired technicians at its Moses Lake, Washington facility. Read more.
American, United, and other flight attendants say they are growing anxious as coronavirus spreads in the US and flight cancellations mount
Business Insider – 3/10/20
"I'm exposed daily to so many germs," a United flight attendant said. "This isn't the first pandemic airlines have had to deal with." Read more.
Inside the closed-door meeting where Boeing tried to reassure 737 Max stakeholders as airlines and passengers get ready to fly the plane again
Business Insider – 12/10/19
In a presentation to 737 Max stakeholders last week, Boeing outlined the changes it has made to the troubled passenger jet in an effort to reassure airline officials, pilots, flight attendants, and industry analysts as the plane moves closer to returning to service.
The meeting, which was announced publicly but closed to the press, included industry stakeholders, analysts, airline representatives, pilots, flight attendants, and union representatives. About 30 to 40 people were invited to the Seattle-area summit, according to attendees who spoke with Business Insider. Read more.
With Boeing order, United reveals and doubles down on its plan for the next decade
The Points Guy – 12/17/22
United Airlines loves to make a scene.
This past week the airline placed an order with Boeing for 100 wide-body 787 Dreamliner jets with another 100 options.
It was the biggest single order for wide-body jets ever placed by a U.S. airline, United said, and will carry the airline through its fleet renewal and expansion plans through the next decade.
As part of the order, United also exercised options for additional 737 MAX aircraft while placing a new order for even more of the narrow-body jets.
United and Boeing teamed up to throw a big event at the plane-maker's Dreamliner assembly plant in Charleston, South Carolina, to mark the order signing, with appearances by Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun, Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO Stan Deal, most of United's C-suite — including CEO Scott Kirby — and South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster. Read more.
Leaked email reveals a Boeing executive tried to convince a congressman to avoid discussing another troubled plane during the 737 Max hearing
Business Insider – 10/31/19
During more than five hours of testimony in front of the House Committee on Transportation on Wednesday, Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg answered dozens of questions about the company's flawed 737 Max and the plane's two fatal crashes.
But it was a question about a different airplane that left Muilenburg speechless. Read more.
A viral tweet has inspired people to donate millions of frequent flyer miles to help reunite immigrant families separated at the US border
Business Insider – 8/9/18
As the American Civil Liberties Union and the federal government work to reunite families separated at the US-Mexico border under the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" immigration policy, road warriors and business travelers are donating their frequent flyer miles to help cover the cost of reuniting children with their families.
As nonprofit organizations attempt to help with the reunification process, families have had to pay as much as $2,000 or more in airfare in order to be reunited, which includes the cost of a round-trip ticket for a family escort, and a pricey one-way for each child.
Several organizations — including Miles4Migrants and Michigan Support Circle— have been accepting donations of frequent flyer miles to help book those flights for families and children. Read more.