American Airlines Blasts United for Flooding Chicago O’Hare to Block Gates — The Employee Memo Isn’t Signed by CEO Robert Isom [Roundup]

by Gary Leff on March 4, 2026

News and notes from around the interweb:

• I feel like this American Airlines note to employees should have come from the CEO, not jointly from the COO and Chief Commercial Officer. That raises flags for me about Robert Isom’s tenure.

  He’s seemed on the chopping block with investors disgruntled and both the pilot and flight attendants union coming out against him, but the board has never held its executives accountable. Still, the CEO is strangely absent here (and elsewhere).

  New: @AmericanAir letter to employees on @united at ORD: “”Our lease at ORD contains a unique provision that allocates gates based on how much flying each airline operates in the previous year. This provision provides the context behind a decision by United to dump capacity into… pic.twitter.com/3H9oKxtTj4

  — David Shepardson (@davidshepardson) March 3, 2026

• People are wondering how this claim could possibly have worked. American Express doesn’t allow transfers between different cardmember Membership Rewards accounts! Officially you could only transfer points to your own airline or hotel loyalty program accounts, but up until June 2014 you could link another person’s accounts in your Membership Rewards account in order to make the transfer. (You can add someone as an authorized user on your card account and then transfer your points to their loyalty accounts – the 90 day waiting period for this didn’t start until September 2019.) The various workarounds to actually gift one million Amex points in some sense have generally required the recipient’s involvement. (HT: Steve G.)

  Kathryn Ruemmler: Former Goldman Sachs general counsel, former White House counsel

  Epstein’s schedules contained more than three dozen meetings with Ruemmler starting in 2014; they emailed extensively up until months before his arrest, including discussions about Ruemmler’s post–White House career and Epstein trying to help her land a senior position at Facebook. Documents released by the Justice Department show that Epstein also sent numerous gifts to Ruemmler, including $10,000 worth of Bergdorf Goodman gift cards, flowers, one million Amex points, and an Hermès bag.

• Southwest’s assigned seating is an unnecessarily draconian experience. In contrast, Delta’s official rules allow passengers to swap into open seats within the same cabin.

  Do better @SouthwestAir. NINETY open seats on my 5 hour flight, and I was not allowed to move two rows ahead so an elderly couple I was seated next to in my row could have more room. We were one of the only full rows on the entire plane. Your new policies stink. pic.twitter.com/OhTdOWJv9H

  — Shawn Hubbard (@shawn_hubbard) March 3, 2026

• Plaza Premium and Plaza Premium First lounges will open at DFW airport on Monday, by gate D15 in the space that was the original Amex Centurion lounge. Priority Pass gets you into Plaza Premium, the First lounge is a $45 co-pay with complimentary sit down dining (Plaza Premium actually has more modest sit down dining with a la carte pricing).

  Plaza Premium First is available to first and business class passengers on Air France, EVA Air, Finnair, Emirates, and Turkish Airlines.

• Delta opens its renovated Denver Sky Club this is the only lounge in the Denver airport I’ve never been to (in fact, the only one I haven’t been to in the past year, as well).

  DEN Sky Club Grand Opening
  by
  u/Adiastas in
  delta

• The $70 million DHS Sex Plane

  🚨BOOOOOM!!! Kristi Noem’s job is in JEOPARDY after this. My god…

  WHITEHOUSE: Can you explain this?

  NOEM: I’m looking at a picture of an interior; it looks like a bedroom…

  WHITEHOUSE: Of an airplane. You’re not familiar with that?

  NOEM: Ummm… pic.twitter.com/sJzeFK6FaK

  — CALL TO ACTIVISM (@CalltoActivism) March 3, 2026

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