Sorry I was unclear. I didn’t mean gate agents and cabin crew can’t upgrade you. I just meant they can’t do it on their own initiative, so to speak. They have to do it in accordance with company policy.

This is really a North American thing. In most of the world, upgrades for high-tier loyalty members only happen if the lower class is oversold and seats need to be freed up.

BTW North American “first class” is known in the rest of the world as “regional business” or something similar. First class products for airlines…

The days of FAs and gate attendants giving upgrades “as a courtesy” are long gone. Because of past abuse, it is a serious rule breach at my airline. There are strict rules for who, when and how upgrades are given. Many booking systems do it automatically.

Airlines already do this. Most airlines will upgrade higher-tier loyalty members in order of loyalty rank, but only if the lower class is oversold and they have to free up seats there. Some carriers, mainly in North America, will upgrade higher-tier members even if the lower class is not oversold.

Caught the name Sonya Belousova in the credits.

Looks very nice.

Yes. However many, if not most, major airport surfaces are not asphalt. They are typically some sort of reinforced concrete. Much more durable and stronger.

The CRJ200 is not “weak”. It’s just not very large. Hence a few passengers make a relatively big difference to weight and balance. It isn’t normally that you have to offload some pax and/or bags. You just have to move people about in order to bring the center of gravity within tolerable limits.

Just to be clear, in North America, domestic flights typically have economy (“coach”) and first, with no business class. The seat standard that is called first in North America would typically be called something like “regional business” in the rest of the world. A bigger, more comfortable seat but no lie flat or the…

While there have been some extremely rare cases of interference, phones not on airplane mode are not something pilots worry about. Many airlines offer in flight Internet service, which certainly means phones devices will be transmitting.

(787s, in particular, because of material incorporated for their structural integrity)

TAIKA WAITITI!!!

an aircraft collision avoidance system—a bit of gear usually used in airplanes to help them avoid hitting other airplanes.

I don’t know about “few people”. I can only speak for myself, but that’s the size of glass I’d expect to use for a decent red. Even IKEA sells them.

Your username. Genius...

Headrest grabbers are the worst...

Most overhead bins have a grab rail along the bottom for the specific purpose of stabilising yourself in turbulence. I wish more people knew about this.