When a Stopover Goes From Two Hours to Two Days; a Big Stanley Mug Recall–Coachella Valley Independent’s Indy Digest: Dec. 12, 2024

Indy Digest: Dec. 12, 2024

I’ve flown more this year than I ever have before, meaning I’ve spent a lot of time on planes and in airports—and, frankly, the whole process is pretty terrible.

I fly on Southwest Airlines a lot, because it has the most affordable flights between here and Reno (the home of the Independent’s sister publication). There are no direct flights, so I always have a layover in Las Vegas (an airport that badly needs upgrades), Oakland or San Jose. As most of you know, Southwest does not have assigned seating (although that will change in a little more than a year). Check-in starts exactly 24 hours before your first flight, and the earlier you check in, the earlier you get to board and choose a seat—unless you pay a lot extra for “business select” (which lets you board first, just after pre-boarders, among other perks). You can also pay extra for early check-in, which means you’re automatically checked in and assigned your boarding position before the horde starts checking in exactly 24 hours before.

On our last flight to Reno, the hubby and I shelled out $25 each for early-check-in, because we both had commitments on our schedules 24 hours before the flight, and we didn’t want to get stuck in the C boarding group (because sometimes you have to check your carry-on bag, if the plane’s bin space fills up). We were assigned positions right at the start of the B group, which was fine.

The day of travel, I watched the status of the flight to Vegas. It was 10 minutes late. Then 15. Then 25. Then 35. Considering this we only had a 45-minute layover to catch the flight to Reno—the last of the night—we had a problem.

I knew there was another way to get to Reno that evening, albeit a little later, by taking a slightly earlier flight to Oakland, and then getting on a plane to Reno after a two-hour layover. When we got to the airport, the gate agent agreed that the Oakland route was a better idea, so she re-booked us … and, of course, we ended up deep in the C boarding groups of both flights. Bleh. Fortunately, there was plenty of bin space on both legs—but we’d wasted $50 and wound up arriving later than planned.

In the scheme of things, however, this was nothing but a minor annoyance. And even when worse delays or even cancellations happen, it’s important for us all to remember: It could almost always be worse … and for some unfortunate travelers between Tahiti and France earlier this month, it was a LOT worse.

SFGate explains:

A routine flight from San Francisco to Paris devolved into a travel headache for passengers who were left stranded during a layover at San Francisco International Airport that lasted nearly two days.

On Thursday, passenger Séverine Margeridon boarded flight BF711 to Paris Orly Airport on French Bee, a low-cost and long-haul airline. However, the Dec. 5 flight underwent a significant delay after an accident during departure. While watching the front of the plane through her seat-back camera, Margeridon told SFGATE that she saw the aircraft “collide” with the passenger boarding bridge.

“The captain was confident all along that it was only superficial damages, and every hour or so we were informed that it was just a matter of paperwork to be signed,” Margeridon told SFGATE in an email. “However, after four-plus hours on the tarmac, someone made the decision it was not safe to depart.” …

Passengers had boarded the flight around 8 p.m. and were stuck on the tarmac until 1:30 a.m. the next day. Margeridon, a Bay Area resident, was able to return home with her luggage, unlike other passengers. Tahiti Nui Télévision reported that the airline provided hotel accommodations for the night.

As the story explains, first there was the damage-causing collision. Then the pilots “timed out,” meaning they were going to exceed the maximum number of hours they could work in a single shift. Then … well it’s unclear what happened—the airline did not return SFGate’s request for comment—but the flight was delayed a whole other day, before finally taking off 46 hours late. The story doesn’t say whether those poor Tahiti-to-Paris passengers had any access to their checked luggage during those 46 hours.

Yep. It can almost always be worse—though outside of injuries, accidents or delays resulting from criminal actions, it’s hard to imagine a travel snafu worse than a 46-hour delay on a stopover.

—Jimmy Boegle

More News

• Today’s recall news involves … Stanley mugs! NBC News reports: “Stanley issued a recall on 2.6 million of its popular steel cups, citing concerns about loose tops that have led to dozens of burn injuries, officials said Thursday. The action revolves around ‘all Stanley Switchback and Trigger Action stainless steel travel mugs sold in the United States’ from June 2016 through this month, the Consumer Product Safety Commission said in a statement. The cups were often sold through Amazon and at Walmart, Dick’s Sporting Goods and Target, it said. The recall covers 12- and 16-ounce Switchback models and 12-, 16- and 20-ounce Trigger Action cups, which were all made in China. The cups in question retailed for $20 to $50. … Stanley urged customers to reach out to the company and arrange for replacement tops to be sent to them.”

• The owner of the Los Angeles Times continues to insert himself into the newspaper’s editorial decisions in disconcerting ways. The New York Times explains: “After President-elect Donald J. Trump announced a cascade of cabinet picks last month, the editorial board of the Los Angeles Times decided it would weigh in. One writer prepared an editorial arguing that the Senate should follow its traditional process for confirming nominees, particularly given the board’s concerns about some of his picks, and ignore Mr. Trump’s call for so-called recess appointments. The paper’s owner, the billionaire medical entrepreneur Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, had other ideas. Hours before the editorial was set to be sent to the printer for the next day’s newspaper, Dr. Soon-Shiong told the opinion department’s leaders that the editorial could not be published unless the paper also published an editorial with an opposing view. … Dr. Soon-Shiong’s intervention, recounted by four people inside the Times who would speak only anonymously, is one of a string of events in which he has waded into the publication’s opinion section in ways that he hadn’t until this fall’s presidential campaign. Shortly before the presidential election, Dr. Soon-Shiong quashed the editorial board’s endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris. Multiple staff members quit in protest. He has also said publicly that the outlet needs more balance and that he wants to introduce a ‘bias meter’ alongside coverage.”

• The merger between Kroger (which owns Ralph’s) and Albertsons (which also owns Vons)—something that could have drastically changed the local supermarket offerings—appears to be dead. The Associated Press reports: “Kroger and Albertsons’ plan for the largest U.S. supermarket merger in history crumbled Wednesday, with Albertsons pulling out of the $24.6 billion deal and the two companies accusing each other of not doing enough to push their proposed alliance through. Albertsons said it had filed a lawsuit against Kroger, seeking a $600 million termination fee as well as billions of dollars in legal fees and lost shareholder value. Kroger said the claims were ‘baseless’ and that Albertsons was not entitled to the fee. … The bitter breakup came the day after two judges halted the proposed merger in separate court cases. U.S. District Court Judge Adrienne Nelson in Oregon issued a preliminary injunction Tuesday blocking the merger until an in-house judge at the Federal Trade Commission could consider the matter. An hour later, Superior Court Judge Marshall Ferguson in Seattle issued a permanent injunction barring the merger. Ferguson ruled that combining Albertsons and Kroger would lessen competition and violate consumer-protection laws.”

• Here’s a disheartening but predictable update on the PRESS Act (which we covered in this space on Nov. 29), via CNN: “Senate Republicans on Tuesday blocked an effort by Democrats to pass a bipartisan bill that would give journalists greater protections under federal law—a move that comes in the wake of President-elect Donald Trump opposing the measure. Trump called on Republicans to ‘kill this bill’ in a Truth Social post last month. Known as the PRESS Act, the Protect Reporters from Exploitative State Spying Act would prevent the government from forcing journalists to reveal their sources and limit the seizure of their data without their knowledge. The bill passed the GOP-controlled House earlier this year. After Trump’s reelection, press advocacy groups redoubled their efforts to get the legislation signed into law before the end of President Joe Biden’s term. But the bill’s failure to pass on Tuesday comes as time is fast-running out before the Democratic president leaves office. The bill is unlikely to win 60 votes, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has prioritized confirming judges during the lame-duck session.”

• Some good news: Farmers Insurance is increasing the number of homeowners’ policies it writes in California. The Los Angeles Times says: “Farmers Insurance plans to increase the number of homeowners insurance policies it will write and begin offering coverage again for new customers in other types of dwellings, citing improvements in California’s home insurance market. The Los Angeles-based company, the state’s second-largest home insurer, said it will boost the number of homeowners policies it will accept from new customers to 9,500 per month, up from 7,000. It also will resume writing new policies for condominiums, renters, landlords and other lines. It said many of those policies had been temporarily paused for more than a year. … The decision runs counter to some other large insurers who have pulled back from the market amid widening wildfire losses, including State Farm General, the state’s largest home insurer.”

• And finally … the feds are suing a massive booze distributor for prioritizing big retailers over smaller ones. CNBC explains: “The Federal Trade Commission in a new lawsuit accuses the largest U.S. distributor of wine and spirits of illegal price discrimination that gave large chains—among them Costco, Kroger and Total Wine & More—much better prices than those offered to small ‘mom and pop’ businesses such as independent liquor stores. The distributor, Southern Glazer’s Wine and Spirits, is the 10th-largest privately held company in the U.S., generating about $26 billion in revenue from sales to retail customers in 2023, the FTC said in announcing the suit Thursday. ‘At present, Southern sells one out of every three bottles of wine and spirits purchased in the United States,’ the suit filed in Los Angeles federal court notes. The complaint says that since at least 2018, Southern Glazer’s Wine and Spirits deprived smaller businesses of access to discounts and rebates, harming their ability to compete with large national and regional chain stores. The suit alleges the distributor violated the Robinson-Patman Act by providing ‘steep discounts’ without any market justification to a certain set of retailers.”

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