Major airline of the United States
POPULARITY
Categories
236 episodes with American Airlines
76 episodes with American Airlines
45 episodes with American Airlines
35 episodes with American Airlines
27 episodes with American Airlines
36 episodes with American Airlines
34 episodes with American Airlines
26 episodes with American Airlines
26 episodes with American Airlines
38 episodes with American Airlines
11 episodes with American Airlines
20 episodes with American Airlines
24 episodes with American Airlines
17 episodes with American Airlines
11 episodes with American Airlines
19 episodes with American Airlines
30 episodes with American Airlines
24 episodes with American Airlines
14 episodes with American Airlines
12 episodes with American Airlines
14 episodes with American Airlines
14 episodes with American Airlines
14 episodes with American Airlines
14 episodes with American Airlines
18 episodes with American Airlines
21 episodes with American Airlines
6 episodes with American Airlines
15 episodes with American Airlines
14 episodes with American Airlines
10 episodes with American Airlines
9 episodes with American Airlines
13 episodes with American Airlines
12 episodes with American Airlines
14 episodes with American Airlines
14 episodes with American Airlines
13 episodes with American Airlines
7 episodes with American Airlines
11 episodes with American Airlines
10 episodes with American Airlines
8 episodes with American Airlines
9 episodes with American Airlines
10 episodes with American Airlines
8 episodes with American Airlines
11 episodes with American Airlines
22 episodes with American Airlines
5 episodes with American Airlines
5 episodes with American Airlines
14 episodes with American Airlines
6 episodes with American Airlines
7 episodes with American Airlines
12 episodes with American Airlines
9 episodes with American Airlines
15 episodes with American Airlines
5 episodes with American Airlines
7 episodes with American Airlines
11 episodes with American Airlines
8 episodes with American Airlines
8 episodes with American Airlines
21 episodes with American Airlines
10 episodes with American Airlines
12 episodes with American Airlines
5 episodes with American Airlines
9 episodes with American Airlines
14 episodes with American Airlines
12 episodes with American Airlines
5 episodes with American Airlines
13 episodes with American Airlines
8 episodes with American Airlines
4 episodes with American Airlines
6 episodes with American Airlines
9 episodes with American Airlines
9 episodes with American Airlines
8 episodes with American Airlines
5 episodes with American Airlines
8 episodes with American Airlines
7 episodes with American Airlines
5 episodes with American Airlines
6 episodes with American Airlines
6 episodes with American Airlines
6 episodes with American Airlines
5 episodes with American Airlines
5 episodes with American Airlines
6 episodes with American Airlines
7 episodes with American Airlines
8 episodes with American Airlines
6 episodes with American Airlines
8 episodes with American Airlines
6 episodes with American Airlines
7 episodes with American Airlines
8 episodes with American Airlines
3 episodes with American Airlines
7 episodes with American Airlines
6 episodes with American Airlines
8 episodes with American Airlines
4 episodes with American Airlines
6 episodes with American Airlines
7 episodes with American Airlines
12 episodes with American Airlines
3 episodes with American Airlines
5 episodes with American Airlines
9 episodes with American Airlines
3 episodes with American Airlines
6 episodes with American Airlines
5 episodes with American Airlines
4 episodes with American Airlines
3 episodes with American Airlines
4 episodes with American Airlines
5 episodes with American Airlines
6 episodes with American Airlines
8 episodes with American Airlines
3 episodes with American Airlines
7 episodes with American Airlines
3 episodes with American Airlines
2 episodes with American Airlines
4 episodes with American Airlines
5 episodes with American Airlines
7 episodes with American Airlines
3 episodes with American Airlines
3 episodes with American Airlines
11 episodes with American Airlines
16 episodes with American Airlines
4 episodes with American Airlines
7 episodes with American Airlines
3 episodes with American Airlines
4 episodes with American Airlines
5 episodes with American Airlines
6 episodes with American Airlines
6 episodes with American Airlines
3 episodes with American Airlines
3 episodes with American Airlines
7 episodes with American Airlines
7 episodes with American Airlines
4 episodes with American Airlines
6 episodes with American Airlines
6 episodes with American Airlines
4 episodes with American Airlines
3 episodes with American Airlines
4 episodes with American Airlines
4 episodes with American Airlines
2 episodes with American Airlines
5 episodes with American Airlines
5 episodes with American Airlines
4 episodes with American Airlines
4 episodes with American Airlines
4 episodes with American Airlines
5 episodes with American Airlines
3 episodes with American Airlines
4 episodes with American Airlines
9 episodes with American Airlines
4 episodes with American Airlines
3 episodes with American Airlines
5 episodes with American Airlines
4 episodes with American Airlines
4 episodes with American Airlines
4 episodes with American Airlines
5 episodes with American Airlines
4 episodes with American Airlines
3 episodes with American Airlines
5 episodes with American Airlines
5 episodes with American Airlines
5 episodes with American Airlines
2 episodes with American Airlines
American Airlines has launched the shortest international flight and the new AirPods track your heart rate.
Texas State Senator Brian Birdwell was at the Pentagon on September 11, 2001 when American Airlines flight 77 crashed just yards away from him, instantly engulfing his body in flames. Brian was faced with certain death but also with complete peace in knowing that his faith was already placed in a Savior. His story is raw, true, and filled with miracles. ++++++++++++ Compelled is a seasonal podcast using gripping, immersive storytelling to celebrate the powerful ways God is transforming Christians around the world. These Christian testimonies are raw, true, and powerful. Be encouraged and let your faith be strengthened! Want to help make new episodes? Either make a one-time gift, or become a Monthly Partner at: https://compelledpodcast.com/donate Perks of being a Monthly Partner include: EARLY ACCESS to each new Compelled episode 1 week early! FULL LIBRARY of our unedited, behind-the-scenes interviews with each guest... over 100+ hours of additional stories and takeaways! Become a Monthly Partner by selecting the "Monthly" option during check-out. Show notes, emails, and more at: https://compelledpodcast.com Buy the Compelled book of testimonies, endorsed by Lee Strobel, Marvin Olasky, and more: https://compelledpodcast.com/book Compelled is a member of the Proclaim Podcast Network: https://proclaim.fm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Ep. 387 Ken and Dave discuss a looming recession, the NRA getting one right, illegal Koreans, the deepening Secretary of State field, a strike in the high seas, a Georgia hospital hiring anyone with a pulse in management, denigrating the uniform, and Georgians heading to guard D.C. **Pike County Modernization:** Discussing the new professional live streaming of county meetings, enhancing transparency and public engagement. **Georgia Political Buzz:** An in-depth look at Governor Kemp's controversial endorsement of Derek Douly for Senate over Mike Collins, and the heating up Georgia Secretary of State race featuring Tim Fleming, Kelvin King, and Gabriel Sterling. **Travel Adventures & Culinary Delights:** Recaps from trips to Hilton Head and North Georgia wineries, plus a surprise find in Dublin, Georgia – the highly-rated Saltwater Fishing Company and a unique Jerk Shop. **National News & Controversies:** The Powerball jackpot's massive numbers and the challenges of spending a billion dollars. An American Airlines incident involving an ex-Playboy playmate and influencer. A critical examination of Trump's proposal to ban transgender individuals from owning firearms, and the Second Amendment implications. The ICE raid at the new Hyundai plant in Bryan County, Georgia, and the ensuing political fallout for Governor Kemp. The Trump administration's controversial decision to blow up a drug boat in international waters. **Local & Military Issues:** Concerns over a problematic Chief Nursing Officer hired at Effingham County Hospital. Retired military officers protesting in uniform in Washington D.C., raising questions about UCMJ jurisdiction. Georgia National Guard deployment to Washington D.C. and its impact. **Mule of the Week:** Awarded to Canadian Police Chief Jim Mcween for his controversial advice to homeowners during home invasions. **Economic Outlook:** Analysis of the latest jobs report, the impact of tariffs, and predictions for interest rate cuts and the economy's future.
1:1 Points Travel Strategy Session - Book here!This is the link from DOC that mentions the 85K in flight Alaska offer - at the time of publishing this the link would not load for me but I'm leaving it here in case it gets fixed. If it's still broken, here is the regular link for the 80K offer for the new Alaska Ascent card plus the other 2 Alaska cards mentioned in this episode. Follow us on Instagram @TravelPartyof5The credit card market has 2 new exciting-ish options with Citi's premium Strata Elite and Alaska's revamped lineup including their first-ever premium card.• Citi Strata Elite ($595 annual fee) offers 80,000 points, transferable to American Airlines, plus $300 hotel credit and $200 "splurge credit"• Alaska's new Atmos Rewards Ascent Visa ($395 fee) gives 100,000 points and a 25,000-point companion discount• Alaska's two lower-tier cards (Summit and Business) offer 80-85k points with $95 annual fees• Bank of America's approval rules require under 3 or 7 new accounts in 12 months depending on banking relationship• Alaska miles excel for "positioning flights" at just 4,500 points per person to reach major international airports• Alaska's new program allows fee-free points transfers between family members• West Coast families may find more value in Alaska cards while those near AA hubs might prefer the Citi option. My overall pick would be the new Alaska card and the Alaska rewards program in general!
Do you know, with certainty, how you would react in a time of extreme stress or crisis? As a 22 year old woman in San Francisco, Betty had not yet decided on a career path. So, while she was figuring out what she wanted to do, she worked at the factory owned by her parents. The factory produced beef jerky. It wasn't really her dream job, but it kept her busy at the time, and she also felt good about helping her parents in their business. One day, Betty's workplace suddenly became very dangerous. Some people came in to rob the family business – and they were waving guns around. Betty was out front, and one of the first employees to come in contact with the robbers. She never panicked, even as one of the men held a gun to her head. Instead, she calmly called her dad, who was in the back, and said, “Dad, we're being robbed”. The robbers got some money and left, and no one was physically injured. Betty's nerves of steel would come into play again years later. She was one of the flight attendants on American Airlines flight 11, on September 11, 2001. Today you'll hear her voice, and you'll learn why the 9/11 Commission declared Betty a hero. Full show notes and pictures for this episode are here: https://WhatWasThatLike.com/228 Graphics for this episode by Bob Bretz. Transcription was done by James Lai. Want to discuss this episode and other things with thousands of other WWTL listeners? Join our podcast Facebook group at WhatWasThatLike.com/facebook (many of the podcast guests are there as well) Get every episode ad-free, AND get all the Raw Audio exclusive episodes to binge, by joining the other listeners at What Was That Like PLUS. Try What Was That Like PLUS free: iPhone: at the top of the What Was That Like podcast feed, click on “Try free” Android: on your phone, go to WhatWasThatLike.com/PLUS and click to try it free on any app Sponsor deals: If you're 21 or older, get 25% OFF your first order + free shipping @IndaCloud with code [WHATWAS] at https://inda.shop/[WHATWAS]! #indacloudpod Go to ThriveMarket.com/WHATWAS to get 30% off your first order, plus a FREE $60 gift just for signing up. Go to Quince.com/whatwas for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns! Get 15% off OneSkin with the code [WHATWAS] at https://www.oneskin.co/ #oneskinpod Try Mint Mobile for 3 months, for just 15 bucks a month - MintMobile.com/WHAT Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
De Vale Tudo e Mulheres Ricas até Succession e The White Lotus, a vida dos ricos sempre rende boas histórias. Lá fora, elas aparecem como sátira ou crítica. Aqui, a gente acompanha com fascínio — seja na novela das nove, seja no feed do TikTok. Mas afinal, quem são esses ricos? Os de ‘velho dinheiro', discretos e cheios de códigos invisíveis? Ou os emergentes que fazem questão de mostrar cada conquista? O Brasil tem sua própria novela sobre distinção social — e nós adoramos assistir. Pra essa conversa, recebemos mais uma vez o antropólogo Michel Alcoforado, autor de “Coisa de Rico” - https://amzn.to/4mVCmDg - que mergulha no universo das elites brasileiras e mostra por que, no Brasil, até bilionário acha que rico é sempre o outro. 08:20 - Pauta 01:18:06 - QEAB _ NEXGARD SPECTRA®: É OUTRO NÍVEL DE PROTEÇÃO. https://www.cobasi.com.br/pesquisa?hotsite=nexgard-spectra-podcast&utm_source=parceiro_comercial&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=boehringer_podcast_20nexgard&utm_source=globo&utm_medium=cpm&utm_content=AH_ALAMEA_BRASIL_25_aon_glo_glocom_awa_cpm_tutc_A25mais_60s_NA_braincast_boeh00995ne25&utm_campaign=AH_ALAMEA_BRASIL_NEX_25_AON_GLO_GLOCOM_AWA_CPM Cupom: 20nexgard Vigência: Até 31/12 Regras: 1 uso por CPF, não acumulativo com compra programada -- VIASAT ADS: ENGAJE MILHÕES DE CONSUMIDORES EM SUAS JORNADAS DE VIAGEM Você já percebeu como, quando a gente tá no avião, parece que o tempo desacelera? A gente lê, trabalha, maratona série… e, principalmente, presta atenção. Agora, imagina a sua marca nesse cenário. É exatamente isso que a Viasat Ads oferece no WiFi dos vôos da Azul: publicidade digital a bordo, para um público cativo e de alto valor, em um ambiente premium e sem distrações. Nada de brigar por atenção com milhares de anúncios nas redes sociais. Com a Viasat Ads, você segmenta suas campanhas por destino, rota ou comportamento de viagem, e ainda acompanha tudo com dados em tempo real. É mídia direcionada, mensurável e altamente relevante. Esse modelo já funciona com companhias como Delta e American Airlines nos Estados Unidos e na Europa, e agora chegou ao Brasil. Junte-se à jornada com a Viasat Ads e leve sua marca direto para onde a atenção está. Acesse: https://www.viasatads.com/pt-br/?cid=SOC_BR_3484_2YDKGVRD9U -- ✳️ TORNE-SE MEMBRO DO B9 E GANHE BENEFÍCIOS: Braincast secreto; grupo de assinantes no Telegram; e episódios sem anúncios! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGNdGepMFVqPNgaCkNBdiLw/join --
In Episode 136 of the Award Travel 101 podcast, hosts Angie Sparks and Cameron Laufer discuss a variety of travel and points-related topics. They begin with a member highlight, where a listener shares a positive experience using their Saks credit on an Amex Platinum card. The hosts also cover recent travel news, including JetBlue's new partnership with Condor, which offers redemption opportunities with varied point values depending on the departure location, and Citi's new transfer relationship with American Airlines, allowing certain cards to transfer points at a 10:7 ratio. They also touch on Virgin Voyages' status match offer, which benefits travelers looking to get perks on their first or second Virgin cruise.The main focus of the episode is on Southwest's Companion Pass (CP). Cameron and Angie outline how the CP works and how to earn it—primarily through accumulating 135K points in a calendar year, with credit card bonuses counting toward that total. They discuss the timing of earning the pass and mention that the current 100K sign-up bonuses on personal cards through September 17th provide a great opportunity for those looking to earn it. They also delve into whether Southwest's higher fares and additional fees, such as baggage and seat selection charges, have diminished the value of the Companion Pass. Both hosts speculate on potential changes to the CP program, suggesting that the benefit might be limited in the future, especially for those planning to earn it in 2026 or beyond. Finally, they offer a tip about not opting out of marketing messages, which can lead to lucrative offers, and announce the upcoming launch of an Award Travel 101 merchandise store.Episode Links:- Book Condor With JetBlue Points- Citi Transfers to American Airlines- Virgin Cruise Status Match- Sign Up for Southwest Cards to Support the Group Where to Find Us The Free Award Travel 101 Community. To book time with our team, check out Award Travel 1-on-1. You can also email us at 101@award.travel Our partner CardPointers helps us get the most from our cards. We love being able to automatically add all of our offers and quickly seeing the best card to use for every purchase. Signup today at https://cardpointers.com/at101 for a 30% discount on annual and lifetime subscriptions! Lastly, we appreciate your support of the AT101 Podcast/Community when you signup for your next card! Technical note: Some user experience difficulty streaming the podcast while connected to a VPN. If you have difficulty, disconnect from your VPN.
It's time to start looking under the hood at American Airlines. As promised before our summer break, Jon Ostrower, Brett Snyder, and Brian Sumers are starting with a detailed analysis of American's fleet and network. When it comes to American, do you have other areas in mind (besides brand) or questions we should address in future episodes? Get in touch with us (anonymously) at www.theairshowpodcast.com.We would like to thank Plusgrade for supporting The Air Show.
In this episode, we speak with Val Miftakhov, CEO and founder of ZeroAvia, who shares how the clean propulsion systems company is championing hydrogen-electric engines that could transform commercial aviation.Miftakhov discusses:ZeroAvia's vertical integration strategy for developing in-house fuel cells, power electronics, and motors.The company's global expansion with Centres of Excellence in Seattle for electric propulsion systems, Kemble for aircraft integration, and the newly announced Glasgow facility for hydrogen fuel cells.Major commercial traction with 3,000 engines ordered worth $10 billion and another 5,000 in the pipeline, representing up to 8% of the global commercial engine market, with customers including American Airlines and backing from Airbus as lead investor.The certification milestone of achieving G1 approval from the FAA for their 600-kilowatt engine, with commercial operations expected to begin in 2027 for 10-20 seat aircraft, followed by larger regional aircraft in the early 2030s.ZeroAvia's liquid hydrogen developments for longer-range aircraft, including plans to eliminate contrail formation by condensing water vapour at altitude and releasing it as ice below the typical contrail formation zone.Miftakhov also explains why he believes sustainable aviation fuel is ultimately a transition technology, arguing that hydrogen offers superior economics by avoiding the energy-intensive processes required to create synthetic fuels whilst delivering three times better efficiency through fuel cells versus combustion engines.If you LOVED this episode, you'll also love the conversation we had with Daniel Rosen Jacobson, Co-Founder & Co-CEO of Elysian Aircraft, who shares the startup's unique approach to electric aviation. Check it out here. Learn more about the innovators who are navigating the industry's challenges to make sustainable aviation a reality, in our new book ‘Sustainability in the Air: Volume 2'. Click here to learn more.Feel free to reach out via email to podcast@simpliflying.com. For more content on sustainable aviation, visit our website green.simpliflying.com and join the movement. It's about time.Links & more:ZeroAvia ZeroAvia achieves FAA milestone for 600 kW electric aircraft propulsion system certification - Charged EVs American Airlines signs landmark deal with ZeroAvia for 100 hydrogen-electric engines, ushering in a greener era for regional aviation - Travel And Tour World ZeroAvia secures nine new patents to scale hydrogen fuel cell technology for regional aviation - Hydrogen Fuel News
Aviation and catastrophic injury lawyer Bob Clifford joins Karen Conti to talk about trending news in aviation law. Bob looks back at the American Airlines mid-air collision with an Army Black Hawk helicopter in Washington, D.C. last January and discusses how it could have been avoided. Bob explains the upcoming lawsuit against the U.S. Army, […]
Summer is heating up, but American Airlines is already making winter vacation plans. The carrier has announced an expanded schedule for the winter season, with seven new routes and two new destinations.In the headlines on #TheUpdate this Friday, an archery instructor was killed and 14 others were injured when lightning struck an outdoor archery range in New Jersey where a scout troop was learning how to shoot, according to the venue and local officials.We continue our coverage of The Road To City Hall. Andrew Cuomo — who infamously paraded around his control over the MTA while governor — proposed City Hall take over the reins of the transit authority as he tries to revive an independent bid for mayor following his embarrassing primary loss.And in Washington, President Trump recently had a medical checkup after noticing “mild swelling” in his lower legs and was found to have a condition common in older adults that causes blood to pool in his veins, according to the White House .
Kenneth Webb has lived several lifetimes in one. He spent 33 years in the U.S. Army, rising to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, with combat deployments to Iraq, Afghanistan, and Kosovo. He knows what it means to lead under fire and carry the unseen weight of command—but his toughest battles began long before the military, growing up in a home marked by trauma and chaos.Now retired from both the Army and American Airlines, Ken has chosen a different fight: rebuilding his life on his own terms. Living in Peru, he's writing his first psychological thriller, Trapped in Deception—a raw story shaped by betrayal, manipulation, and emotional warfare.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHR2DxkWSMABecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/i-am-refocused-radio--2671113/support.
In this podcast episode, we'll talk about Frontier's Million Mile Match, we'll get tripped up by The Seattle Seahawks 12s, and we'll debate which loyalty program is better: American Airlines' AAdvantage program or Alaska's Atmos program.Giant Mailbag(01:26) - Lisa gives us an update about the question of whether or not she had a no-show fee when she cancelled her 2 LifeMiles flights.Mattress Running the Numbers(05:05) - Frontier Match your MilesRead more about Frontier Match your Miles here.Bonvoyed(13:13) - Wyndham/VacasaAwards, Points, and More(17:02) - Delta 12Status is back: Washington state residents earn 1 SkyMile for every Seahawks passing yard(19:06) - Delta not changing elite requirements in 2026(22:25) - Condor flights now bookable with JetBlue points (54K biz class from east coast to FRA; ~100K from west coast)Read more about Condor flights with JetBlue points here.Main Event: American Airlines AAdvantage vs Alaska Atmos(25:15) - Similar programs(31:25) - Earning Redeemable Miles(38:27) - Elite Status(54:29) - Using Miles(1:05:53) - Final Word?Question of the Week(1:13:23) - Questions about rebooking options with Hawaiian Airlines with a route termination.Subscribe and FollowVisit https://frequentmiler.com/subscribe/ to get updated on in-depth points and miles content like this, and don't forget to like and follow us on social media.Music Credit – “Ocean Deep” by Annie Yoder
No Braincast de hoje, a gente fala sobre três movimentos que estão mexendo com a internet, o entretenimento e a ideia de corpo perfeito. Tem o PL 2628, que promete proteger crianças online, mas levanta dúvidas sobre privacidade, censura e até o futuro da web livre. Tem Guerreiras do K-Pop, a animação que saiu do sofá pro cinema com força de fandom e pode estar apontando um novo jeito de lançar filmes. E tem Serena Williams, que entrou pro time dos GLP-1s, e virou garota-propaganda de um novo corpo, uma nova conversa e um novo mercado. 06:17 - Pauta 01:05:28 - QEAB _ NEXGARD SPECTRA®: É OUTRO NÍVEL DE PROTEÇÃO. https://www.cobasi.com.br/pesquisa?hotsite=nexgard-spectra-podcast&utm_source=parceiro_comercial&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=boehringer_podcast_20nexgard&utm_source=globo&utm_medium=cpm&utm_content=AH_ALAMEA_BRASIL_25_aon_glo_glocom_awa_cpm_tutc_A25mais_60s_NA_braincast_boeh00995ne25&utm_campaign=AH_ALAMEA_BRASIL_NEX_25_AON_GLO_GLOCOM_AWA_CPM Cupom: 20nexgard Vigência: Até 31/12 Regras: 1 uso por CPF, não acumulativo com compra programada -- VIASAT ADS: ENGAJE MILHÕES DE CONSUMIDORES EM SUAS JORNADAS DE VIAGEM Você já percebeu como, quando a gente tá no avião, parece que o tempo desacelera? A gente lê, trabalha, maratona série… e, principalmente, presta atenção. Agora, imagina a sua marca nesse cenário. É exatamente isso que a Viasat Ads oferece no WiFi dos vôos da Azul: publicidade digital a bordo, para um público cativo e de alto valor, em um ambiente premium e sem distrações. Nada de brigar por atenção com milhares de anúncios nas redes sociais. Com a Viasat Ads, você segmenta suas campanhas por destino, rota ou comportamento de viagem, e ainda acompanha tudo com dados em tempo real. É mídia direcionada, mensurável e altamente relevante. Esse modelo já funciona com companhias como Delta e American Airlines nos Estados Unidos e na Europa, e agora chegou ao Brasil. Junte-se à jornada com a Viasat Ads e leve sua marca direto para onde a atenção está. Acesse: https://www.viasatads.com/pt-br/?cid=SOC_BR_3477_6AP9PG0EL9 -- ✳️ TORNE-SE MEMBRO DO B9 E GANHE BENEFÍCIOS: Braincast secreto; grupo de assinantes no Telegram; e episódios sem anúncios! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGNdGepMFVqPNgaCkNBdiLw/join --
On today's MJ Morning Show: Selfie-related deaths and injuries Morons in the news EminMJ Home explosions Crazy mugshot Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are engaged... We took calls Goodyear auctioning off a blimp ride Butter candles Powerball How many ding dongs can Fester fit in his mouth? Cracker Barrel backlash Former USF head coach Jim Leavitt arrested Pumpkin spice latte MJ spoke with Jim Leavitt's lawyer Amazon driver harassed Ride share driver rescued after driving down boat ramp Hooters may be making a change Couple needs to set up a doorbell camera at their new apartment Suing Delta over being slapped by flight attendant Device smoking on a flight causes emergency Brawl on an American Airlines plane Man arrested after he allegedly battered girlfriend over watching video during sex
Vince shares the latest details coming out of Minneapolis, Minnesota after a horrific shooting at Annunciation Catholic School. Aviation headlines regarding a new American Airlines partnership. Also, Wellness Wednesday. That and much more on The Vince Coakley Radio Program. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
In the latest episode of our “Positive Rate” podcast, Communications Committee Deputy Chair FO Melissa Monahan talks with CA Bridget Van Scoy, Safety Committee Deputy Chair-Smoke Odor and Fumes Subcommittee, about the ongoing collaboration between APA and American Airlines to identify root causes of smoke, odor, and fume events, reduce their frequency, and effect change at the OEM level. CA Van Scoy also addresses what to do if you experience one of these events. Each episode of “Positive Rate” features APA subject-matter experts working on the membership's behalf. The podcast is available through popular streaming services, including Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Spotify. You can search for “Positive Rate” or “Allied Pilots Association” on your platform of choice to subscribe and download. Your first opportunity to listen will be via AlliedPilots.org/Podcasts.
FEATURING: Greg McBrayer ORGANIZATION: American Airlines Too often, our culture paints the later chapters of life as a time to slow down and focus on personal leisure. But what if this season is when you can live out your Christian legacy most fully—mentoring younger generations, sharing your faith, and showing the world what a vibrant life looks like? In this episode, Father Greg McBrayer—Anglican priest, aviation chaplain, and 46-year veteran of American Airlines—shares how God is using his decades of experience to make an eternal impact. From leading one of the largest airport chaplaincy programs in the world to investing in the lives of coworkers and ministry leaders, Greg shows how post-career years can be your most fruitful season yet. You’ll hear how to: Find greater purpose beyond your career by serving God in the marketplace and your community Use your experience to mentor younger generations and strengthen the next wave of leaders Identify opportunities for post-retirement ministry that bring joy, meaning, and impact Embrace your unique calling and keep serving in faith and work environments, even in highly secular spaces Build a Christian legacy that inspires others long after the workday ends Whether you’re still working, recently retired, or in a new season of volunteering and ministry, this conversation will encourage you to see your life as a lifelong calling from God—one that doesn’t end with a job title. ____________________________________________________________________ Links and resources mentioned in this show: SaferNet.com - protect yourself from digital delinquency with an amazing app from a Kingdom business US Christian Chamber of Commerce – a network of marketplace influencers for the Kingdom; grab your mentees and register for the SWC 2026 Business Expo in Orlando, April 22-24 (use code IWORK4HIM) Get your copy – in print, digital, or audio – of the iRetire4Him book for tons of examples and resources to live out your “retired” years with purpose and impact! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Você viu. uim vídeo publicado pelo youtuber Felca viralizou ao denunciar a adultização de crianças nas redes sociais. A repercussão foi enorme: perfis deletados, prisão de influenciadores, investigações reabertas, projetos de lei apresentados no Congresso. Mas enquanto o tema ganhava força nas redes e nos jornais, um novo debate surgiu: por que um vídeo de um criador de conteúdo teve mais impacto do que anos de reportagens sobre o mesmo assunto? O que isso revela sobre o jornalismo, sobre o poder das plataformas e sobre a maneira como a gente consome informação hoje? Neste episódio, Carlos Merigo, Bia Fiorotto, Ana Freitas e Debora Baldin mergulham nessa discussão: quais os limites e as potências do jornalismo tradicional, o papel dos influenciadores, a força das narrativas digitais e como tudo isso está moldando — ou desafiando — o espaço público. 07:44 - Pauta 01:09:03 - QEAB _ NEXGARD SPECTRA®: É OUTRO NÍVEL DE PROTEÇÃO. https://www.cobasi.com.br/pesquisa?hotsite=nexgard-spectra-podcast&utm_source=parceiro_comercial&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=boehringer_podcast_20nexgard&utm_source=globo&utm_medium=cpm&utm_content=AH_ALAMEA_BRASIL_25_aon_glo_glocom_awa_cpm_tutc_A25mais_60s_NA_braincast_boeh00995ne25&utm_campaign=AH_ALAMEA_BRASIL_NEX_25_AON_GLO_GLOCOM_AWA_CPM Cupom: 20nexgard Vigência: Até 31/12 Regras: 1 uso por CPF, não acumulativo com compra programada -- VIASAT ADS: ENGAJE MILHÕES DE CONSUMIDORES EM SUAS JORNADAS DE VIAGEM Você já percebeu como, quando a gente tá no avião, parece que o tempo desacelera? A gente lê, trabalha, maratona série… e, principalmente, presta atenção. Agora, imagina a sua marca nesse cenário. É exatamente isso que a Viasat Ads oferece no WiFi dos vôos da Azul: publicidade digital a bordo, para um público cativo e de alto valor, em um ambiente premium e sem distrações. Nada de brigar por atenção com milhares de anúncios nas redes sociais. Com a Viasat Ads, você segmenta suas campanhas por destino, rota ou comportamento de viagem, e ainda acompanha tudo com dados em tempo real. É mídia direcionada, mensurável e altamente relevante. Esse modelo já funciona com companhias como Delta e American Airlines nos Estados Unidos e na Europa, e agora chegou ao Brasil. Junte-se à jornada com a Viasat Ads e leve sua marca direto para onde a atenção está. Acesse: https://www.viasatads.com/pt-br/?cid=SOC_BR_3477_6AP9PG0EL9 -- ✳️ TORNE-SE MEMBRO DO B9 E GANHE BENEFÍCIOS: Braincast secreto; grupo de assinantes no Telegram; e episódios sem anúncios! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGNdGepMFVqPNgaCkNBdiLw/join --
In this Quick Hits episode of Revolutionizing Your Journey, DeAndre Coke breaks down the latest travel and points updates shaping the rewards landscape. He covers Chase's surprising move to end its transfer partnership with Emirates, American Airlines' new partnership with Starlux Airlines, and the upcoming changes to Amex Platinum and Business Platinum cards—including higher annual fees paired with new perks.Listeners will also learn about a valuable new Amex offer for Hilton stays, a strange Uber pricing quirk at airports, and a listener update highlighting issues with the Mesa card application process. Packed with actionable insights and community-driven updates, this episode helps travelers stay ahead in the ever-evolving world of points and miles.Key takeaways: Chase and Emirates: Chase is ending its partnership with Emirates on October 16th.New Partnerships: American Airlines has partnered with Starlux Airlines, expanding premium travel options.Oneworld Potential: Starlux may eventually join the Oneworld Alliance, offering more redemption opportunities.Amex Changes: The Amex Platinum and Business Platinum cards will see annual fee increases along with enhanced benefits.Hilton Savings: A new Amex offer saves users 20% at Hilton properties.Airport Rides: An Uber pricing quirk reveals that fares can vary depending on the airline selection—compare with Lyft.Mesa Card: Applicants are reporting delays and issues with the Mesa card process.Fee vs. Value: Amex continues to raise fees while aiming to deliver more value.Travel Strategy: Travelers should act before the Emirates transfer deadline and maximize Hilton/Amex offers.Resources:Hyatt status for AA elites (register by October 31)AA status for Hyatt elites, targeted (register by September 4)Aeroplan Reserve 5,000 Mile CertificateBook a Free 30-minute points & miles consultationStart here to learn how to unlock nearly free travelSign up for our newsletter!BoldlyGo Travel With Points & Miles Facebook GroupInterested in Financial Planning?Truicity Wealth ManagementSome of Our Favorite Tools For Elevating Your Points & Miles Game:Note: Contains affiliate/sponsored linksCard Pointers (Saves the average user $750 per year)Zil Money (For Payroll on Credit Card)
Are you struggling to make tough business decisions without second-guessing yourself? You're not alone; many creatives struggle with balancing human connection with data-driven clarity. In this episode of The Agency Blueprint, I'm joined by Bill Coletti to discuss the interplay between fear and data in entrepreneurship, especially during pivotal decision-making moments. Bill is the founder of Kith.co and SCT Leadership, a seasoned entrepreneur, strategist, and author of Critical Moments. With decades of experience navigating global political campaigns and leading reputation management for brands like Target and American Airlines, Bill now dedicates his expertise to helping founders evolve into CEOs. Listen in to learn why basic understanding of financials is essential as a mindset shift when evolving from freelancer to CEO. You will also learn in detail the emotional and psychological challenges that come with leadership, hiring, and entrepreneurship. Key Questions: [01:27] How has fear—especially self-doubt—shaped your entrepreneurial journey? [04:42] Were there moments when data helped you manage or even intensify your fears? [09:39] How can creatives, who often dislike data, still use it effectively without sacrificing their creative edge? [19:11] How have you helped people to see where fear or logic is their guiding financial decision-maker? [22:00] What's the worst possible outcome of your next big decision, and are you okay with it? [34:20] What if you stopped judging your emotions and started observing them instead? What You'll Discover: [02:02] Bill's internal fears during early entrepreneurship, including impostor syndrome and leaving the safety of a big firm. [04:55] How data became essential when he planned to exit his company, transitioning from a practitioner to a high-level operator. [07:39] The importance of not losing sight of humanity when relying on data, because numbers impact people. [09:57] How to keep communication simple and tie data directly to vision and execution as a data-averse creative. [11:36] The danger of creatives who ignore financials and how it turns businesses into hobbies. [13:50] The two major revenue inflection points—$300K and $1M—and what changes at each level. [17:28] Understanding what parts of financial management you can outsource and what parts you must still understand. [19:53] How a scarcity mindset can paralyze even a well-capitalized business from investing in growth. [23:53] How founders often double down on bad decisions to protect their ego, and how to break that pattern. [27:42] Why smooth sailing might not be teaching you anything and how challenges can become fuel for evolution. [31:08] How visualizing future success can re-energize your present and dissolve fear-based hesitation. [32:46] Understand why emotional self-awareness—not just strategy—is at the heart of great leadership. [34:42] How combining self-exploration with professional competence creates a balanced, effective leader. Connect with Bill: WebsiteLinkedIn
Discover how to keep your workplace safer, stronger, and more in control—one smart move at a time. In this engaging and informative episode of The Safety Guru, we welcome Robert Pater, founder of MoveSMART®. Robert brings a unique perspective, blending martial arts principles with cutting-edge safety and ergonomics to explore how internalizing mental and physical safety practices can elevate your safety culture. Drawing on decades of expertise, he shares practical strategies to rethink ergonomics for safer workplaces, engage senior leaders in safety initiatives, make safety changes easy to boost compliance and effectiveness, and tap into “eureka moments” that enhance learning retention while driving deeper, lasting behavioral shifts. Don't miss this conversation packed with actionable ways to reduce injuries, improve ergonomics, and empower workers to take control of their safety. About the Guest: Robert Pater is the Founder and Managing Director of the MoveSMART® system for significantly reducing soft-tissue injuries and slips/trips/falls while simultaneously elevating Safety culture and leadership. He has published over 370 articles (in Professional Safety, Occupational Health & Safety, and many others). He's also the author of "Leading From Within", in 5 languages. Globally, their client list has included: Airgas, Alcoa, American Airlines, BHP Billiton, BMW, BorgWarner, BP, Cummins, Cushman & Wakefield, DuPont, Frito-Lay, Hawaiian Airlines, Honda, Honda Canada, Kimberly-Clark, Kinross Gold, Kloeckner, Marathon Oil, Michelin, Nissan, Nutrien, ONE Gas, Pfizer, Prysmian, Solventum, United Airlines, U.S. Steel, and many others. For more information: www.movesmart.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In this episode of the Fran Spielman Show, Fran interviews Michael McMurray, the Commissioner overseeing O'Hare and Midway Airports. They discuss the recent groundbreaking of the $730 million Concourse D project at O'Hare, McMurray's background, and the future plans for the airports. McMurray shares his vision for O'Hare's expansion, addressing financial concerns, tariffs, and the importance of innovation and amenities to enhance the passenger experience. Additionally, they touch on topics such as the potential for slot machines at the airports, the American Airlines lawsuit, and prospects for a high-speed train from downtown to O'Hare.
In 2022, Josh Harris founded 26North, an alternative asset management firm that has reached close to $30 billion in assets under management in its first 3 years. Josh also co-founded Apollo Global Management and Harris Blitzer Sports and Entertainment (HSBE) and is a prominent figure in the sports management arena. He has stakes in the Washington Commanders, Philadelphia 76ers, New Jersey Devils, and Crystal Palace Football Club, amongst other teams. In this episode, Josh speaks with our North America Chair and senior partner Eric Kutcher, sharing insights that span his high school wrestling years, to starting anew at the age of 55 with 26North. His thoughts on leadership, culture, and resilience traverse both the worlds of investment and sports.Related insights A CEO For All Seasons: Mastering the Cycles of LeadershipCEO Excellence: The Six Mindsets That Distinguish the Best Leaders from the RestThe Strategic CEO newsletterDoug Parker, former chairman and CEO of American Airlines, shares leadership lessonsJohn Stankey talks about leaning into the long term at AT&TSupport the show: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/mckinsey-strategy-&-corporate-finance/See www.mckinsey.com/privacy-policy for privacy information
A guest panel discusses aircraft accidents, air turbulence injuries, airline and airframer culture, pilot training and experience, FAA shortfalls, and other topics that impact the flying public. In the news, the 90-second evacuation rule, the fatal Jeju Air crash at Muan Airport, and Zunum Air's suit against Boeing for the misappropriation of trade secrets. Guests Chris Manno became an Air Force pilot after graduation from college and served seven years as a squadron pilot in the Pacific. He flew as a pilot with American Airlines for 35 years and was a captain for 29 of those years. Over his career, Chris logged over 25,000 hours of jet time. He's a cartoonist and author of many books. Chris has just written a new book based on actual airline incidents titled Whiskey Air. It's a fictionalized deep-dive into actual airline incidents. James Albright co-wrote Whiskey Air. He's a fellow USAF pilot (they flew together in a squadron in PACAF) who went on to command a USAF squadron, then retired and spent another twenty years as a corporate pilot. He also writes safety analysis for AvWeek. Erin Applebaum is a Partner in the aviation practice at Kreindler & Kreindler LLP. She represents the interests of passengers severely injured or killed in general aviation and commercial airline accidents. Erin is currently on the team representing numerous victims of the DCA midair collision. She's also handling cases on behalf of several passengers from the February 2025 Delta Air Lines crash in Toronto. Erin is a foremost authority on litigating claims governed by the Montreal Convention, the international treaty on commercial air travel. Erin's other major cases at Kreindler include the Southwest Airlines Flight 1380 catastrophic engine failure and the Liberty Helicopters doors-off tour helicopter crash in the East River. For the past six years, Erin has played a key role in Kreindler's fight against Boeing in the Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302/737 MAX litigation. She was appointed by the court as a member of the Plaintiffs' Executive Committee for the Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 cases and was instrumental in the victims' families' effort to overturn the Deferred Prosecution Agreement between Boeing and the Department of Justice. Discussion In this episode's roundtable, our guests bring their knowledge and experience to the discussion of important issues faced by the industry, including: The 90-second evacuation rule. The liability of the airlines, airports, and the regulators. Boeing's corporate culture, reputation, and the DOJ's criminal case. Profit motives over safety. Decision making in the cockpit and being the captain that sometimes has to say, “no.” Lack of FAA oversight resources and the Aviation Safety Action Program (ASAP). Delegated oversight authority. Injuries sustained due to air turbulence. See: Whiskey Air on Amazon Chris Manno's author page Code 7700 page by James Albright Rough Skies Ahead: Legal Options for Turbulence Injuries [PDF] by Erin Applebaum and Taylor Sandella. Aviation News Senator Pushes FAA to Examine Aircraft Evacuation Rules Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) sent a letter to the FAA asking the agency to compare its 90-second evacuation standard against recent incidents. The rule originated in the late 1960s and requires aircraft manufacturers to demonstrate during certification that all passengers and crew can evacuate the aircraft within 90 seconds, even with only half of the emergency exits available. Duckworth's letter: “While FAA has yet to disclose how long any of the referenced passenger evacuations took, these incidents once again raise serious questions about FAA's 90-second evacuation standard as well as FAA's assumptions about how evacuations occur in real world conditions (such as the assumption every passenger will comply with instructions to deplane without carry-on bags).”
Building a successful business often means solving problems nobody else sees coming. In this episode of Building Texas Business, I sit down with Merrilee Kick, founder of BuzzBallz, to talk about how she transformed a poolside idea into a ready-to-drink cocktail empire she sold to Sazerac in 2024. Merrilee shares her journey from high school teacher to manufacturing pioneer who bootstrapped through engineering challenges and suppliers who refused to sell her essential components. Her approach demonstrates that when traditional paths close, entrepreneurs must forge their own. We explore how Merrilee built a family-like culture with minimal turnover through practical benefits like daily cooked meals and extended holiday breaks. She discusses why fairness matters more than equality in building loyal teams. During COVID, she created an on-site school for employees' children and manufactured hand sanitizer for hospitals, showing how adaptability serves both business continuity and community needs. Merrilee reflects on mistakes that shaped her success, from coconut cream that solidified at room temperature to trusting the wrong people. She emphasizes that entrepreneurs must trust their gut instincts and move quickly when something isn't working. Her discussion about selling to Sazerac reveals the cultural shifts that come with acquisition and why selecting the right buyer matters as much as the price. The conversation reveals how a teacher's frustration with glass by the pool became a multi-million dollar business through relentless problem-solving and genuine employee care. Listen to discover why sometimes the best business education comes from cleaning your own warehouse bathrooms. SHOW HIGHLIGHTS "S#@t doesn't smell any better with age" - why firing fast is critical to maintaining culture and performance When suppliers demand hundreds of thousands for R&D, sometimes you have to source from Canada and figure it out yourself A $10 daily lunch investment eliminated production delays and built the family culture that kept turnover near zero Creating an on-site school during COVID kept the production lines running when competitors shut down People quit managers, not companies - know your employees' kids' names and eat lunch with them Trust your gut over resumes - the West Point MIT grad who couldn't deliver taught her that credentials don't guarantee performance LINKSShow Notes Previous Episodes About BoyarMiller About BuzzBallz GUESTS Merrilee KickAbout Merrilee TRANSCRIPT (AI transcript provided as supporting material and may contain errors) Chris: In this episode, you'll meet Merrilee Kick, founder of BuzzBallz. Merrilee shares her story of going from a high school teacher grading papers to a multimillion dollar manufacturer of ready to drink cocktails by trusting her instincts, being honest and fair, and keeping sales concepts funny. Merrilee, I want to welcome you to Building Texas Business. Thank you for taking the time to come on in the podcast. Merrilee: Thanks Chris. Chris: So let's start. You founded a very interesting company called BuzzBallz. Love the name. Tell the listeners what is BuzzBallz, what is the company and what's it known for? Merrilee: So BuzzBallz is a ready to drink cocktail company. It's a manufacturing company based in Texas, and I started it back in 2009. Our first sale was in 2010 and I sold it. I ran it for 15 years and then I sold it last year, may of 2024 to Sazerac, a big company, one of the world's largest manufacturers of bourbon and alcoholic spirits. And they were very interested in us because it was the convenience store channel and it was ready to drink. And so it was a little bit different twist for them. Chris: Very good. So what was the inspiration for you in 2009 to start a alcoholic beverage company? Merrilee: I was going through some hard times with my marriage and I was a high school teacher at the time and I wanted to be more financially independent. And my high school that I was working at said that they would give me a teacher's enrichment program to where I could go get my master's in administration and be a principal. And I was like, oh my God, no, I don't want to be a principal. No, I want to go into my own field, which was business because I taught entrepreneurship, business law, international business marketing, computer science, all those kinds of wonderful subjects to high school kids, and I wanted to get my degree and get my MBA in that. So I convinced them to let me do it. Got my MBA and BuzzBallz was my master's degree thesis project. I was grading papers by the pool thinking of what should my project be for my capstone, my final project for my MBA and I had a little vo of candle with me and drinking a cocktail like a good teacher would, and I should probably not have a glass glass out here by the pool where I'm grading papers. I need to have something plastic. So I came up with the idea and the concept of a little party ball, a little ready to drink cocktail in a ball shape. Then my family and I, we sat down at dinner and we came up with the name Buzzballz. I love it. So catchy. And so that's where it came from and it stuck, you know, and it's one of those names you don't forget. So, that's the genesis of it all. Chris: What a great story. So high school teacher grading papers by the pool comes up with a cocktail and turns it into a wildly successful business. That is a coolest story I think I've ever heard. Merrilee: Yeah, we started out with six different flavors and they were pretty edgy. I'm a pretty edgy person, I guess. So, we came out with names like OJ Screamer because it was right when OJ Simpson was on trial and we had an orange juice and vodka screwdriver and we thought, okay, this will be funny, and funny sells, and it makes people laugh again. It makes it fun. So, We came up with some funny, funny names, strawberry Rum job, you know, like kind of edgy, dirty names, but funny and people loved it. Since then, it's kind of calmed the waves a little bit. We've mellowed it down a little bit, toned it down for the general grocery store shoppers, and more more family focused. But we've been through many renditions, many different flavors and sizes and things over the years. Yeah, Chris: It is really cool. Let's go back to kind of that 2009 or maybe time period. So I guess you had your MBA and you had this idea, but what did you do to get this off the ground and what kind of hurdles were you facing in order to do that? There Merrilee: Was so many hurdles. I didn't know anything manufacturing. I didn't know anything business. I was told by bankers all around Texas that I've applied for loans with that you're just a teacher, you don't have any experience, you don't have any collateral, you don't have any knowledge of manufacturing, how are you going to pull this off? And I just googled everything. Google was a really good friend, but I was looking at how many pounds per square inch does a Coke have on the inner walls of its container and will my container hold that and will this plastic have BPA in it and will it leach into my product? And what is the oxygen scavenging ratio of will oxygen permeate this plastic and degrade the product and what kind of petaloid base do I need on this? So there's a lot of engineering involved to create the container because it is a custom container. And then I was almost to the finish line and then a company, I wanted to put these metal lids on the container and a company came to me and they said, we want you to pay us hundreds of thousands of dollars so that we can r and d and see if your product really can be a good product for the market. And I couldn't afford it, so I just did it myself and I had to launch it myself and they said they wouldn't sell me any lids because of it. So I had to buy 'em from Canada. I had to buy 'em from overseas and then do it myself. So one of the things I learned is you just have to do everything yourself. You have to clean the bathrooms, you have to clean the warehouse, you have to set up the equipment, you have to do all the QuickBooks, you have to do the shipping, you have to do the billing, you have to understand all the details of this business inside now before you can pass it on to anybody. Chris: That's a very common theme amongst entrepreneurs, especially in the startup. You have an inspiration or a passion or something or idea that you believe so much in and are so passionate about that despite all the hurdles you run into, you just figure out ways over the hurdles. Merrilee: That's because if you don't, your failure to do anything and try to get it right means bankruptcy. And most entrepreneurs are going on their last thread, maxed out their credit cards. They can't afford a complete and utter failure. They can afford mistakes, but they quickly pivot and fix it and keep going. They keep swimming Chris: To that point. So you said you have to be able to do everything to get it going. Those are early days. How do you then transition once you've got some legs underneath it to start letting go of some things and bringing people in because it's your baby and you have to learn to trust some people to take care of it, Merrilee: And you make a lot of mistakes trusting people too. So you'll have a lot of duds people that you hire, some family and friends I would steer away from as much as possible unless that family is under your control, like cousins, aunts, uncles, those are more difficult to work with than your own sons because your sons will do whatever you tell 'em to do. Chris: And I know you have your sons in the business, Merrilee: But it was difficult when I hired friends because they were entitled. They thought they would be able to have more. So it's very different when you're having to hire people that are friends, Chris: That's having a strong team around you is so critical to the success of any business. What did you learn along the way? And aside from maybe don't hire friends to really hone in on your process to improve your hit rate on making sure you were hiring people that you could trust and they could do the job Merrilee: Well, sometimes you hire somebody based on their resume or their referrals or whatever, and that's a good first step, but you're going to still make mistakes. I remember I had a guy that had all the accolades in the world. He was a West Point grad, he was MIT, he had all these accolades, but he couldn't seem to get anything done and talk about delegation. I had to have my son because I was out of town. I was like, Hey, you get to fire this guy and here's this guy that's 30 years his senior and my son has never fired anyone before. And he had to have that experience. It was difficult. But one thing I've learned is crap doesn't smell any better with age. So you've got to get rid of people that are toxic or that even if you have a relationship, a friendly relationship with them, sometimes it just isn't going to work for whatever reason. Either something legal that they did or something that was immoral that they did or just basic laziness or in capability to get the job done. So sometimes if you don't feel it, it's almost like a gut feel. If it's not working right, then there's something wrong and you got to make moves. A Chris: Couple of things there, right? First I think the adage of hire slow fire fast is very true. Easier said than done. I Merrilee: Don't hire slow. I don't like that. I don't like that saying because I think sometimes you hire fast and it's okay. I think the important thing is fire fast if you have grounds to do so and try to get somebody to replace them as quickly as possible. You got to do everything fast when you're an entrepreneur. Chris: So on the fire fast side, right? I mean I think it's whether it's performance or cultural fit, if it's not working, the sooner you move, the better your organization's going to be. Merrilee: But on the cultural fit too, that's a big one because they may have the capability to do it, but maybe at their own pace or maybe not at your pace or maybe they just have a different idea of work altogether. Chris: And one of the things we say here, it doesn't necessarily make 'em a bad person. This isn't the right organization for them and they need to go find that organization that will fit them better. But speaking of culture, how would you describe the culture that you built at BuzzBallz? Merrilee: Okay, so my culture at BuzzBallz, we hardly had any turnover because I treated it like family. I think that people quit managers, and I've heard that before, but people do quit, managers and they quit companies that don't believe in them. And I think that is a big cultural learning. You've got to do things together, you got to take them to lunch, you got to talk to them, you got to get involved with their family life, know their kids' names. You need to know something about the people that report to you. Now when you have a thousand people reporting to you can't possibly do all that, but you can have parties and you can have celebrations and you can recognize people at every level of the totem pole. And I think some of the things to do to build culture, we would have a cook on staff that cooked for everybody every day because that $10 a day savings meant more to, and it meant a lot to me because they could start the lines on time. I didn't have to wait for somebody to go get a burrito down the street and come back. They could just go ahead and keep together. And it built culture that way too. They started to trust each other, they started to rely on each other. And the other thing that we did was we all rolled up our sleeves. It didn't matter whether you were the lead accountant or if you were the CEO, if something needed to get done, you go do it. Chris: I think Merrilee: That's great. So it's not that it's above you or it's somebody else's job. Chris: Yeah. Kind of lead by example, right? No task is above anyone. It's all about getting the job done. Merrilee: Correct. Chris: And I think to your point of knowing your people as best you can, when you start to scale the business as you did, I think it breaks into tier. So within your direct reports or a level or two, you have the ability to get to really know them. And then I think it's important to teach them that they take it another level down and really have good connections within their direct reports and then you can layer that through the organization so that people feel connected. And so Merrilee: One thing I learned too, Chris, is I learned that people are better managers than me. I'm more of an inventor. I'm an entrepreneur. I'm not really a good manager of people. I'm a good people person and I'm a good salesperson, but I don't like doing the management of the day to day of my car broke down or I'm sick or I need PTO approved or I need blah, blah, blah, blah. I don't like doing any of that. All the administrative stuff that comes with management I'm terrible at. It's not that I'm terrible, it's just that I don't want to do it. I would rather have somebody that's better at it do it. I think that it's really important that people see your genuine self and that you're honest and fair to them more than equal. Equality is different than fairness. And I think fairness trumps equality, fairness. Somebody who comes to work every day works their butt off every day, takes care of you, always says they're going to get it done. That person is a person I want to hire versus somebody who's complaining and moaning about equality. If you gave them a day off, I want a day off, I need a PTO day just because I just need a de-stress day, it's buzz off. I don't need you to complain about your daily work. Chris: Everybody has stuff. So despite that, we still have to get a job done and that gets lost sometimes. And that just goes back to the hiring process and making sure, and I agree with you, no hiring process is perfect. It's more of an art than a science, but if you really focus on some of the right things, you're going to have better hits. But again, like we said earlier, once you realize you've made a mistake, you got to make a move. Merrilee: And also about the speed of hiring. When you said hire slow, I've been with companies that hire too slow and they drag prospective employees on for so long doing too many rounds and they lose them Chris: For sure. I guess it slows relative, but yes, if you drag it out immersively long, if you have a good process, you know what you're looking for. And within a couple rounds of an interview, you should know whether that person's going to hit fit or not. We talked a little bit about culture and I guess one thing would be interesting is how do you believe that you've been through a transition in the last 12 months? Has that culture been impacted by that Merrilee: Tremendously? Yeah. Culture is completely different with a big company versus a small entrepreneurial company. Entrepreneur companies are more freewheeling, more giving in terms of the things they allow people to do. They help people more. Bigger companies are more rigid. They have more rules because they have to, they're just bound by more legal problems if I could say. So just they've got more issues to have to Chris: Worry, maybe legal hurdles and regulations and such, Merrilee: And they have just a bigger spotlight on them. So people are always looking at them trying to find fault and trying to sue them for anything possible. There's rules and regulations that they have to abide by that I didn't. So culture has changed also with they had to let go a lot of people and that was really hard because these are people that I loved and people that I cared very dearly about that helped me build the business, but they had their own internal structure and people already filling some of those roles so it didn't make financial sense or business sense to string them along and have two people doing the same thing. So there were some business decisions that were made that affected culture. Yes, Chris: It's almost inevitable when that type of combination happens, right? Because there's going to be some overlap and a business has to run efficiently and can't have two people doing the same thing Merrilee: And they just run it differently. It's not that one's better or one's worse. They just are different. And I tried to pick a company to buy us that would be as close as possible to our culture and I tried to pick one that was privately owned and family owned and manufacturing instead of some other kind of company. I didn't want private equity or anything like that. I wanted somebody that held some of the same beliefs I did and I think I did a good job with this company. I really like them and I think they have a lot of great ideas, but it's different than how I would've done it. Chris: Hello friends. This is Chris Hanzlik, your building Texas business host. Did you know that Boyer Miller, the producer of this podcast is a business law firm that works with entrepreneurs, corporations and business leaders. Our team of attorneys serve as strategic partners to businesses by providing legal guidance to organizations of all sizes. Get to know the firm@boermiller.com and thanks for listening to the show. So let's talk a little bit about innovation because what you did there was nothing like it on the market. Obviously the initial concept seems unique and novel As you grew the company over those 15 years, how did you incorporate or encouraged innovation within the company to keep it going? Merrilee: We would have so much fun together. We always had happy hours after work and we would sit and brainstorm with a cocktail in our hand and just anything goes. We would talk about anything and everything and we would do fun marketing things too. Things that were a little edgy maybe too far. Like we had Buzz Ball condoms for spring break and we had crazy stuff for marketing and now the marketing is a little more toned down because it's going to the general populace instead of just craziness. So I think that that's changed for sure. Tell me again what you were asking about Chris: Kind of incorporating innovation into Merrilee: Innovation. Yeah, so it's just Chris: Propelling success. Merrilee: We would try different flavors and this tastes gross or this tastes like medicine or no, I don't like it or I don't like the color of it or whatever. So we had an r and d team and they were fun people and that was really important to me. I wanted the ability to have the science aspect of it, but I also wanted the ability, we had a good formulation going so that we could do that. Now, one thing we decided when it was around, I don't know, four or five years in, we were thinking, oh, sales are starting to slump a little bit, wonder what's going on. We should start our own vodka and our own rum and our own gin and our own bourbon and start making those. We could do that. And so we started doing that. The thing we didn't do well was marketing of those products. So those products felt flat over two or three years. We had distribution, but we didn't know how to sell it because we had been selling in a different channel in a different way. So we went back and focused on our core learning from that mistake, just innovation is something else. Do you want to make things in a different shaped container? So we came out with the biggie, the giant biggie, and I had always wanted to make a big bowling ball sized buzz ball and everywhere I went, they were like, no, the Chris: Party size, we Merrilee: Can't do it party size, we can't do it. That's what they kept saying, you can't do it, you can't make it. It won't work. We found a way to make it work and it's one of the coolest looking things on the market and we've got witches potion coming out pretty soon. We've got biggie, BuzzBallz everywhere. Chris: I think one of the things you mentioned there, just it's okay to try new things and expand, but you've got to stay on top of 'em and I guess you said with the vodka and the bourbon and whatnot, eventually we're not as good at this. So you have to know just higher or firing fast, you have to know when to cut that off and go back to your core to really just focus on what you're good at and be the best at that. Merrilee: And so what we did with all that excess booze that we made is we just drank it in our bar. We had it at our bar at work. We had a nice big bar at work, so we would Chris: Some cost savings. We had to go buy support Merrilee: Our habits. Chris: So I'd be interested to know, you said you were in the Dallas area when you started this company. Do you feel that being in Texas as a entrepreneur and startup business had its advantages that allowed you to achieve the success that you have? Merrilee: I knew that Texas is a little bit cheaper than some of the other big cities out there, la, New York, and it's centrally located, so that helps a lot in terms of shipping, but I don't think that Texas particularly helped me other than this is where I grew my family and it was home Chris: Cheaper real estate. I think typically a legislature at the state level that's business friendly. Merrilee: Yeah, yeah, it is. I think that the other thing I wanted to make a point of is we have a big labor pool, not necessarily good though, it's a big labor pool, but sometimes you have to go through a bunch of people to find the right kind of people. What's that work ethic thing? Chris: Of course. So let's talk a little bit then about leadership and how you would describe your leadership style and how you think that evolved over time. Merrilee: I'm a hugger. I walk down the hall, I smile at everybody, I talk to everybody. I give them a hug, I eat lunch with 'em. It's an open door. So I think that is one thing that's different about me. I care about my employees so much. When COVID hit, one of the things we did that I'm especially proud of was we started our own little school. So I knew I needed employees to show up for a manufacturing plant, but how could they do that if they had to stay home to take care of their kids? Their kids' school was closed, so I was like, I'll start a school. And so I started a school onsite, a buzz ball school, hired a Texas education, the agency teacher and an aide, so a TE, a certified teacher and an aide, and we converted a conference room, big conference room into a kids learning center and we got headphones and we had them get their PCs from all their different schools. We had kids' books, we had play mats, we had tents, we had all kinds of stuff. We cooked breakfast for 'em, we cooked lunch for 'em, we gave them a snack, we helped them with their homework and then their parents could bring 'em to work at 6:00 AM before school starts, but 6:00 AM We had somebody there to greet those kids when their shift started, the people working and we'd help the kids, give them a snack, give them their homework, make sure they got everything done, and then their parents could eat lunch with them if they wanted to during that day and then pick 'em up at two or three o'clock in the afternoon when their shift was over. But that's one of the things I'm really proud of. That's like a different thing that we had to do for COVID. So we did a lot of things like the lunches, the free lunches. We also gave everybody time off between Christmas and New Year's, right around December 22nd to January 2nd, I just said everybody gets that time off because of when I was a teacher. That was really important to have that family time and when you're working your job for your first year when you're out of college, or even if you never went to college, you get two weeks vacation. That's not enough for the whole year. So two weeks vacation plus a week of PTO for sick time, and then you get this extra 10 days off paid and you don't have to come to work. You can make that plan and go to New York for your family. And then we also give them a bonus at Christmas so that they could buy some Christmas presents. Some of them were paycheck to paycheck and so it meant lot. Yeah, just little celebrations, chili cook-offs and dinosaur races and silly stuff, but it was good. It was a good relationship, good culture. Chris: What you just mentioned about the school during COVID is fascinating to me and brilliant by the way, so kudos to you that would fit within my definition of innovation. Thinking outside the box and going, one, you have to keep your business going and so how can I do this given what my workforce is dealing with? And you found that is an amazing solution. Merrilee: We also decided that we would be an essential business, so we made BuzzBallz, hand sanitizer, we took some of our spirit based vodka and rum and gin and put these little toppers on them instead of the 50 ml size that's on the airplane that had a screw cap, put these tops on 'em and then made hand sanitizer, gave it out to all the lab corps, all the hospitals in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, all of the grocery stores, Southwest Airlines, American Airlines, spirit Airlines, we gave it out to so many people and all the hospitals and everything. So that was one way that we could stay in business made us essential. Chris: It's funny, I had some clients do some similar things with hand sanitizers during that time. Of course, looking back, if you remember the spike in alcohol cells during COVID, it seems like it would've been a natural essential business anyway, right? Merrilee: Straight answer from any kind of government saying essential business or not. I was like, we're going to make ourselves essential, and people wanted to buy our hand sanitizer and I'm like, no, we're giving it for free. We're not doing it for money. We're doing it for the betterment of mankind. Chris: At that point, it was so uncertain, right? Merrilee: Yeah, we thought we were going to die, we're going to all Chris: Die. Thank goodness that didn't happen. We've suffered that. I think there's been a slow progression back to normalcy in the business world as a result of COVID. You see it more and more the work remote versus now just this year a lot more about five days a week back in the office, which four or five years ago, you never thought that would happen. Merrilee: That really made me mad too, that everybody was expecting to work from home forever, and I was just like, that's not real life people. You need to collaborate with other people. You need to get things done. And you can't do it in a bubble unless you're like a computer programmer and that's all you do all day is sit in front of your pc. It doesn't make any sense if you're in a people oriented business. Chris: I couldn't agree with you more. And that's what our firm is, people oriented, customer service, customer facing professional services, and we say we're better together and the collaboration is key. It's where learning and training and development come from, and we think where our best client service comes from. So we got to be together. We actually got back in the office in May of 2020 in a smart and safe way, but it was that critical. Merrilee: It's changed time and leveraging technology. I've just noticed such a flowing in customer service and an accountability and when you call somebody to set up an appointment for something, you get some robot on the phone and you push one and you push two and then you push one and then you push three and then you get somebody that's a voicemail or whatever. It's so frustrating. There is such a decline in accountability. It's like somebody's always passing the buck to somebody else or that's not my department. I don't do that. And companies have gotten so big, and I'm talking about the big at ts, the big companies that don't ever answer their phone, they don't have a human that answers their phone. You can't get support. And I think that when it's just so refreshing when you have a company that actually answers their phone, that actually responds to your email that you sent, even if it's a complaint, somebody listened. Somebody responded, oh crap, I'll buy their stuff forever because of that. I was mad, but now I'm happy. Chris: So true. So you mentioned something, it was a while back, but you talked about making mistakes along the way. Can you give us an example of maybe one or two where you're like failure or mistake, but that you learned through persevered through made you better because you had that experience? Merrilee: Yeah, so I had so many mistakes. I think that it's so important to make mistakes because you don't get better unless you make mistakes. Mistakes don't mean failure. Overall. Mistakes mean it's an opportunity to change it for the better, to make your product better, to make it more solid. One of the things early on that I did was I was making a pina colada and I was using real coconut cream. A lot of these entrepreneurs come to me, I'm going to do everything with real stuff. It's healthy, it's this, it's that. It's whatever. I'm not going to use anything artificial. That's great. Okay, go for it. Is it shelf stable? Was it going to rot on the shelf? All those kinds of questions I have that come up when you do a commercial product. But anyway, I was making this pina colada coconut cream. What I didn't know, what I didn't Google was that coconut cream freezes and turns solid at 70 degrees Fahrenheit. So I'm sitting here making this coconut cream. Oh my gosh, taste is so good. The pina coladas were so awesome. And then after that sat there on the shelf for about two or three months, it started to clump up and it looked like cottage cheese in the container. So when people would open it up, they're like, so that was one mistake that I learned from and had to fix, and we did and it's awesome. Another mistake I made was I was using real orange juice in my, instead of triple suck, I was using some orange juice in my tequila, Rita, it was a margarita, and I wanted just a little tad of orange juice in there. That orange juice pulp turned brown over time and you don't notice it when you make it. You don't notice it when you test it, but it looked like fish food floating around in the bottom of my container. You could see through my container Chris: Once it goes on the shelf and sits for a while right then, Merrilee: And people are going, I'm shaking it and there's brown specks going around in here. What is that? So these were all early lessons learned, just things you learned just by running the machinery or by cleaning products or by making the containers. I can't even tell you how many mistakes I've made, but I think most of my mistakes were later on more with people than with product And also just learning who to trust. Trusting your gut instinct I think is one of the most important things entrepreneurs have to do. When you feel something's wrong, it is wrong. Even if you meet somebody that seems to be nice or really important, they might just be weird or they might have a problem. So got to keep your distance. Chris: That's good. On that point, any advice you received along the way from someone that really stuck with you and helped you through the journey? Merrilee: There was lots of times I had advice, but it wasn't really framed in terms of advice. I remember when it was pretty early on, my dad came to see me and it was before we knew any level of success and he sat there and he looked at the buzz ball and he goes, I think you might have something here. And that just felt so good to me to hear that from someone else. And it wasn't because he was my dad, it was just like he was just a normal person looking at a normal product and he was judging it and I thought, wow, okay. He said that. Another one that comes to mind is Blair Casey. He was an original distributor for me, and he was the first guy to bring in my buzz ball product into Texas. He worked for Glazer's at the time, and then I hired him in 2017. He came on board and became my head of sales. Anyway, this guy was always positive. I relate him to Ted Lasso, but he's just so positive. But he always was, glass is always half full with that guy, and I always remember his way of being more than him saying the glass is half full, but the glass was always half full with Blair. And even when you focus on how it's half empty, you got to remember that it's also half full. Chris: Look for the positives in the learning though. That's great. Great stuff. Merrilee really appreciate your insights and sharing your story. A couple of things just to maybe wrap things up more Texas specific. Is there anything, having been in Texas for a long time, any traditions or things that you and your family like to do in the state or in the dallas Fort Worth area? Merrilee: I like to go to Stars games and things like that. My husband loves to play golf. My kids, I've got five grandkids now, so home is special to me. My home is the most important place to me and there isn't really, I can't say I like State Fair of Texas or the PBR Rodeo or anything like that is sticking out in my mind. I like to go occasionally, but I like to stay home a lot and I like to spend time at work a lot and I love Christmas holiday lights. Just the holiday season, seeing all the lights, it just warm my heart. It just makes me feel good. Chris: That's great. Okay. Here's a question for you. Do you prefer TexMex or barbecue? Merrilee: TexMex with lots of cheese. Chris: Lots of cheese. I can relate to that. Merrilee. This has been great. I really appreciate your time. Congratulations on just what a cool story coming from a teacher to a very successful alcoholic beverage manufacturer. Merrilee: Oh, thank you. Thank you. I'm on my new things now and I'm actually making some barbecue sauce and doing some other things with gourmet land that's a completely different new products, new company, and that's where I'm spending a lot of my time now. And RAC is carrying the torch for BuzzBallz and they're doing a great job. Chris: Well, it sounds like you meet the definition of some of my favorite people, which is serial entrepreneur onto the next thing. Merrilee: Can't stop. Chris: I love it. I love it. This has been a pleasure. Thanks again and wishy continued success. Merrilee: Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Chris: And there we have it. Another great episode. Don't forget to check out the show notes at boyer miller.com/podcast and you can find out more about all the ways our firm can help you@boyermiller.com. That's it for this episode. Have a great week and we'll talk to you next time. Special Guest: Merrilee Kick.
In this episode: Randy Lipps is Chairman, President, Chief Executive Officer, and Founder of Omnicell, a leader in transforming the pharmacy care delivery model. Under his leadership, Omnicell has grown from a single product offering to delivering the most comprehensive portfolio of medication management solutions across the continuum of care.Mr. Lipps founded Omnicell in 1992 after observing how inefficiently medical supplies were managed when his daughter was hospitalized at birth. Inspired by his work in airline industry operations and logistics, he sought to enable better management of supplies and medications to help improve patient care.Omnicell became a publicly traded company in August 2001, and today healthcare systems worldwide leverage the company's automation and advanced services offerings to maximize clinical and operational outcomes.In 2014 Mr. Lipps was elected to the Bellwether League Hall of Fame, an industry organization that honors healthcare supply chain innovators, pioneers, and visionaries.Mr. Lipps has made giving back to the community a priority at Omnicell. Omnicell Cares, the company's formalized charitable efforts program, translates this into action, making a positive difference by fostering opportunities for volunteerism, charitable giving, and raising awareness for critical topics and issues. Mr. Lipps and his wife, Kathy, have focused their own philanthropy on poverty, nursing and public education, pharmacy research, youth groups, and local community efforts. Mr. Lipps serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of the American Nurses Foundation.Prior to founding Omnicell, Mr. Lipps was Assistant Vice President of Sales and Operations for a division of American Airlines. He holds Bachelor degrees in both Economics and Business Administration from Southern Methodist University. Topics to discuss –Introduction to Randy and Omnicell and his journey leading the digital transformation of medication management Staffing shortages and employee retention are top problems facing employers today, especially hospitals and health systems. In the pharmacy, labor shortages have far-reaching impacts including reduced quality of patient care, increased workloads for staff, slow delivery of medications, growing operational costs and process inefficiencies that lead to medication errors. Automation for pharmacies could be the key to addressing these issues and optimizing hospital staff's efficiency to reduce labor gaps.How the Innovation Lab allows customers to get a firsthand look at how automation technologies can make their healthcare operations more efficient and enable nurses and pharmacists to spend more time caring for patients. The autonomous pharmacy vision. How pharmacy automation reduces medication errors through accurate dispensing, streamlines inventory management and real-time tracking, ensures controlled substance security and regulatory compliance, and gives nurses more time to focus on higher-value tasks that directly impact patient care.Guest - Randall Lipps is Chairman, President, Chief Executive Officer, and Founder of OmnicellSocial Media:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/randall-lipps-a76412195/Website: https://www.omnicell.comYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Omnicell1Host - Hillary Blackburn, PharmD, MBAhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/hillary-blackburn-67a92421/ ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
CASEY'S GENERAL STORES, INC.At last year's annual meeting in August, shareholders were asked YES or NO on CEO Darren Robelez's pay plan. To help them make a decision on the pay practices they had information like the ratio of the annual total compensation of Casey's General Stores CEO to that of its median employee for the 2024 fiscal year, commonly known as the CEO Pay Ratio. Let's begin the quiz there:According to the company's SEC filing, at what point in the fiscal year 2024 did CEO Darren earn the compensation of his company's median employee?12:35:33 PM on January 1st, the first day of the work year, meaning his pay CEO pay ratio was 579:1Additionally, the CEO's target equity award was $6.7M. In the worst case scenario where every single peer company outperformed Casey's General Stores in terms of total shareholder return, how much equity could the CEO receive?$5,025,000, reflecting a TSR Modifier of -25%.Accordingly, based in part on the information you have just learned, what percentage of Casey's shareholders voted against his pay practices?2%Bonus question: According to the company's 2025 SEC filing, at what point in the fiscal year 2025 did CEO Darren earn the compensation of his company's median employee? Remember, it was 12:35:33 PM on January 1st, the first day of the work year.12:32:05 PM on January 1st, the first day of the work year: 3 minutes and 28 seconds earlier. AGM: 9/3/2025589:1 CEO pay ratio CEO Darren Robelez 98% YESPay committee: *Former BJ's Restaurants CEO Gregory Trojan, Oobli CEO Allison Wing2024 AGM99.1% YES average33% Influence CEO/Chair: 20% YES SHP independent board chair policy-13% gender influence gap: Darren M. Rebelez (33%) & Gregory A. Trojan (14%)CROWDSTRIKE HOLDINGS, INC.A recent Fortune article called Laying off workers because of AI is more of a fashionable excuse than a real business imperative cites CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz linking 5% job cuts to the cybersecurity company's need to double down on AI investments to “accelerate execution and efficiency.” Kurtz said: “AI flattens our hiring curve, and helps us innovate from idea to product faster.”First question, are CrowdStrike shareholders also given the privilege to “accelerate execution and efficiency”? How many total years does it take for a CrowdStrike investor to vote on all nine board members?3 years, classified board.This is important because clearly shareholders were not completely pleased this year: 34% said NO Pay Committee Chair Cary Davis while 38% said NO to Nomination Committee chair Laura Schumacher2% NO CEO KurtzConsidering the board influence of Founder/CEO/Director and third largest shareholder George Kurtz, investors would typically be best served with a board provides an effective counterbalance to his control. Of the board's eight independent directors, what percentage has served for at least a decade alongside Kurtz?Four directors, or half.Again, to counteract his control, investors should expect regular board refreshment. How many new directors have joined the board in the last 5 years?One, Johanna Flower, the only director who sits on zero board committees. She joined the board in January 2023Kurtz already owns $2.7B of Crowdstrike shares. What percentage of his annual pay consists of equity?90%, with a target equity award of $35M.Finally, CrowdStrike's infamous 2024 software update is commonly described as what?The largest outage in the history of information technology.In 2024, CrowdStrike released a software update that disrupted millions of Microsoft Windows systems around the worldA faulty update to its Falcon sensor platform led to the "Blue Screen of Death" on millions of machines, bringing critical operations to a standstill across numerous sectors.The immediate and most visible impact was the widespread and severe disruption to the global economy. The financial toll is estimated to be in the billions of dollars. Key sectors affected include:Aviation: Major airlines like Delta, United, and American Airlines grounded thousands of flights, disrupting travel for millions and costing airlines hundreds of millions of dollars.Healthcare: Access to electronic health records was hindered, leading to the cancellation of surgeries and appointments. This disruption posed a direct risk to patient care and safety.Financial Services: Banks and financial institutions faced outages that affected everything from ATM services to online banking and stock trading. This not only resulted in financial losses but also eroded consumer confidence.Government and Emergency Services: The outage impacted various government agencies and even emergency services in some areas, highlighting a significant threat to public safety and national security.For Mr. Kurtz, the amount for fiscal 2025 also includes approximately (i) $104,279 for costs related to personal security for Mr. Kurtz and his family at his residences and (ii) $898,426 for costs related to personal usage of private aircraft.As part of our sales and marketing activities, we sponsor a CrowdStrike-branded professional racing car, which Mr. Kurtz drives in some races at no incremental cost to us and in lieu of us hiring a professional driver. As we do not pay any amounts to Mr. Kurtz under these arrangements, it is not reflected in the above table.No vote on payTARGET CORPORATIONTarget foot traffic is still suffering 6 months post-boycott. An industry veteran says the retailer's problems are bigger than curtailing DEITarget Boycott Leader Jamal Bryant Is Arriving on CEOs' Radar ScreensInside Target, Frustrated Employees and Search for New CEOThis article from the WSJ says:Many Target shoppers are frustrated with the retailer. Many Target employees are too.In early June, a companywide survey showed that roughly half of Target's employees didn't think the company was making the changes necessary to compete effectively. About 40% of the roughly 260,000 staffers who replied said they didn't have confidence in the company's future. The scores—which declined from a year ago—were even lower for those staffers at Target's headquarters in Minneapolis.The worker sentiment data reflects the challenges ahead for the company as it prepares to navigate a leadership change and turn around 10 quarters of flat or falling sales in an increasingly complex consumer environment.Based on what I just told you, TRUE or FALSE on this next headline from Fortune? Is this real or am I making it up? Target's CEO succession tilts toward an insider and company liferTrue. The leading contender appears to be: Michael Fiddelke is executive vice president and chief operating officer for Target and a member of its leadership team.Since joining Target in 2003 as an intern, Michael has held a variety of leadership positions across the organization, including finance, merchandising, human resources and operations. He most recently served as Target's chief financial officer. In addition to his Target responsibilities, Michael serves on the board of Shipt, Target's wholly-owned subsidiary.Compensation & Human Capital Management Committee: “Management development and succession planning. Senior management development, evaluation, and succession planning, including CEO succession planning.”Ms. Lozano (Chair)Mr. BakerMr. BarrettMr. KnaussMs. LeahyCORECIVIC, INC.-17% gender influence gap:Robert J. Dennis 17%: retiringCEO Damon T. Hininger 17% (2009-)On February 15, 2024, in recognition of the substantial contributions made by our Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Hininger, to the Company, and to encourage retention of Mr. Hininger for a multi-year period, our Compensation Committee, determined to provide a Special One-Time Award to Mr. Hininger. This award consisted of 70,225 performance-based RSUs at a fair market value of $14.24 per share, the approximate equivalent of $1,000,000 at the time of award. The Compensation Committee believes this Special One-Time Award is designed to incentivize Mr. Hininger's performance and retain him for a multi-year period.On August 18, 2025, CoreCivic, Inc., a Maryland corporation (the “Company”) announced that Damon T. Hininger, the Company's Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”), will step down as CEO and resign from his position on the Company's Board of Directors (the “Board”), effective as of January 1, 2026 (the “Transition Date”). Patrick Swindle, who currently serves as the Company's President and Chief Operating Officer, will assume the role of CEO of the Company, effective as of the Transition Date, and will continue serving as the President of the Company. Additionally, the Board will appoint Mr. Swindle to the Board to fill the vacancy created by Mr. Hininger's resignation as of the Transition Date.Chair Mark A. Emkes 17% (2014-)John R. Prann 13% (2000-)Thurgood Marshall 12% (2002-)Devin I Murphy 9%2025 AGM: 99% YES director average; 97% YES PAYShort-term pay: if NONE of four strategic goals achieved CEO still receives 80% of bonusLong-term: If Lowest quartile TSR results is only 20% reduction of long-term awards: “If the Company's absolute TSR for the performance period is less than zero, the rTSR modifier shall not exceed 1.0x for the performance period”WHO DO YOU BLAME FOR PAYING A MULTI YEAR “RETENTION BONUS” WHO QUITS AFTER ONE YEAR?Pay committee included Dennis*, Emkes (17%, 11 yrs), Prann (13%, 25 yrs)Donald Trump - after donating to Trump, his immigration orders have swelled the amount of work Hininger has to do and he burnt out with excitementThe zero female board leadership - there was no mom to say it was a bad ideaThe amount of the award - $1m in 2025?? The stock is up 45% thanks to our prison state, and even with the massive stock bump, the award is still worth less than $2m… it's an insult, not an awardThe prisoners who keep claiming the prisons are dangerous - there have been more than 120 reports and exposes in the last 10 years alone that found Corecivic were complicit in family separations, deaths, cancelled contracts due to conditions in the prisons, and other human rights violationsO'Reilly Automotive, Inc.Vote discount for wearing the uniform:First appearance in the proxy of the uniform shirts were actually ORANGE shirts in 2021, blue shirt introduced in 2024 proxySince 2021, directors who wear the uniform average 92.9% votes for, while directors not wearing shirts average 96.8% forWHO DO WE BLAME FOR THE UNIFORM DISCOUNT?Old timers - average start year for a uniform wearer is 1998, and for a non-exec 2006. Average start year for a non-uniform wearer is 2021.The color orange - the orange shirt wearers average 90.4% votes for, while blue got 92.6% forHaving a third of the board be executives - O'Reilly is a single class stock where the O'Reilly family owns less than 5% (all execs own less than 3% collectively), and yet somehow investors think there should be no less than 3 executive directors at any time - who are entirely responsible for wearing uniforms in proxy photosThe shirts themselves - we have TWO case studies of directors who switched from no shirt to shirt - Maria Sastre (2023 to 2024 forward) and Andrea Weiss (2023 to 2024 before she quit, probably in protest of being forced to wear a shirt). In BOTH cases, votes for dropped by an average of 2%Lead “Independent” Director Tom Hendrickson who has been on the board for 15 years, was CFO at a number of sports retail store companies, and lists “technology” as one his core skills (because all 70 year old retired CPAs advising auto parts companies for $347,836 in summary comp have tech experience) Bonus prediction: In 2025, ALL DIRECTORS have been forced to wear the shirt, but now they have a variety of O'Reilly shirts - which director will get the lowest votes now?Blue shirtPink shirtPlaid shirtGreen shirtCream shirtPALANTIR TECHNOLOGIES INC.Palantir CEO Alex Karp takes a shot at elite colleges and says the company offers 'a new credential independent of class'Palantir CEO says working at his $430 billion software company is better than a degree from Harvard or Yale: ‘No one cares about the other stuff'WHICH ELITE IS TO BLAME FOR KARP'S HATE FOR ELITES:Board member and VC bro Alex Moore, who got his BA in Econ from StanfordBoard member and journalist Alexandra Schiff who get her BA in English from DukeBoard member and co founder Stephen Cohen who got his BS in CompSci from StanfordBoard member, troll, and insecure VC Peter Thiel who got his BA in Philosophy from Stanford and a JD from Stanford LawBoard member and consultant Lauren Stat who got a dual degree in Science and Math from StanfordBoard member and VC bro Eric Woersching who got a BS and Masters in Electrical Engineering from StanfordStanfordVISA INC.Mark Cuban calls for higher tax on companies buying back their own sharesVisa bought back $13.4bn from Oct 2024 to June 2025$4.0bn from Oct to Dec (Sep 30 close: 274.95)$4.8bn from Jan to March (Dec 31 close: 316.04)$4.6bn from April to June (March 31 close: 350.46)June 30 close: 355.05WHO'S TO BLAME:As of Dec proxy, CEO Ryan McInerney owns 822,155 shares worth $259,833,866 - if buyback boost the investor return, and McInerney made a cool $28m in part by boosting the stock.Board Chair John Lundgren, been on the board 7 years and took over as chair after Executive Chair Al Kelly stepped down (but Kelly left with 589,890 shares)Francisco Fernandez-Carbajal, the director with the most shares at 31,599 who's been on the board for 17 years and is on the Comp and Finance committees
In this Quick Hits episode of Revolutionizing Your Journey, DeAndre Coke brings you the latest updates in the points and miles world, including a limited-time Air Canada promotion, the return of the American Airlines and Hyatt elite status match, and details on Hyatt's fast track to American Airlines status. He also covers current transfer bonuses from Citi and Capital One, shares listener feedback on recent travel experiences, and emphasizes the value of strategic planning for maximizing elite status benefits. Whether it's leveraging limited-time offers or making informed booking choices, this episode offers practical insights for maximizing your rewards.Key takeaways: Air Canada offer: Register for a 5,000-point flight certificate.Elite Status Match: American Airlines and Hyatt Renew Their Reciprocal Program.Hyatt fast track: Complete 10 nights in 90 days to maintain status.AA status for Hyatt elites: Earn through a targeted fast-track program.Transfer bonuses: Citi ThankYou Rewards and Capital One offer current promos.Listener feedback: Highlights the importance of trustworthy travel recommendations.Strategic stays: Plan bookings to maximize elite perks and benefits.Points value: Can vary greatly depending on redemption strategy.Community connections: Enhance the travel experience through engagement.Resources:Hyatt status for AA elites (register by October 31)AA status for Hyatt elites, targeted (register by September 4)Aeroplan Reserve 5,000 Mile CertificateBook a Free 30-minute points & miles consultationStart here to learn how to unlock nearly free travelSign up for our newsletter!BoldlyGo Travel With Points & Miles Facebook GroupInterested in Financial Planning?Truicity Wealth ManagementSome of Our Favorite Tools For Elevating Your Points & Miles Game:Note: Contains affiliate/sponsored linksCard Pointers (Saves the average user $750 per year)Zil Money (For Payroll on Credit Card)Travel FreelyPoint.meFlightConnections.comThrifty...
ICYMI: Hour Three of ‘Later, with Mo'Kelly' Presents – In-depth analysis of the most viral stories of the week in ‘The Viral Load' with regular guest contributor Tiffany Hobbs weighing in on everything from a social media influencer that took down a nurse on a recent flight, to an elementary school math question that's gone viral leaving everyone scratching their heads…PLUS – Thoughts on the viral story regarding an American Airlines' passenger caught vaping and his claims that his “privacy and dignity were violated” - on KFI AM 640…Live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app & YouTube @MrMoKelly
Big news for points collectors! Citi ThankYou Points are now a permanent transfer partner of American Airlines — opening up new ways to earn and use those elusive AA miles. We break down what this means for your travel game, the best Citi cards to maximize your earnings, and why the new Citi Strata Elite card is shaking up the premium travel card space.If you've been waiting for more flexible access to AA points — this is the episode for you. Learn about smart card pairings, welcome offers, and key perks to watch for before applying. Plus, get the scoop on Citi's unique points sharing feature and whether this new high-fee card is worth it for your wallet.Don't miss this quick update that could change how you plan your next trip!Facebook GroupWonderland On Points BlogFind Us On InstagramMary Ellen | JoLinksCapitalOne Venture and Venture X LinksFlyKitt- the BEST Jet Lag Solution!30% off the CardPointers subscription!Tripiamo Driving TutorialsOur Favorite Travel NecessitiesWe receive a small commission when you choose to use any of our links to purchase your products or apply for your cards! We SO appreciate when you choose to give back to the podcast in this way!
In this episode, we cover VIX volatility, which has decreased notably as markets rallied. We offer detailed insights into high trading activities across various indices and stocks, including SPY, SPX, IWM, and popular single names like Apple, Tesla, Nvidia, and AMD. For VIX, about 642,000 contracts were traded compared to an ADV of 734,000. The SPY saw nearly 8.15 million contracts, while the SPX had around 4 million. Small caps (IWM) reported 2.13 million contracts. Key stocks like Intel, American Airlines, Robinhood, and Palantir also featured prominently, with Intel and American Airlines seeing notable options activity. 00:00 Introduction and Welcome 01:17 Public: Cost-Effective Options Trading 01:57 VIX and Volatility Market Update 02:57 SPY and SPX Options Activity 04:23 Small Caps and QQQ Analysis 06:20 Single Name Equity Options Highlights 07:29 Top Options Movers: Intel to Nvidia 14:24 Conclusion and Upcoming Content ------------------------------------------------------ All investing involves risk. Brokerage services for US listed securities, options and bonds in a self-directed brokerage account are offered by Open to the Public Investing Inc, member FINRA & SIPC. Not investment advice. Options trading entails significant risk and is not appropriate for all investors. Customers must read and understand the Characteristics and Risks of Standardized Options before considering any options strategy. Options investors can rapidly lose the value of their investment in a short period of time and incur permanent loss by expiration date. Certain complex options strategies carry additional risk, including the potential for losses that may exceed the original investment amount, and are only available for qualified customers. Index options have special features and fees that should be carefully considered, including settlement, exercise, expiration, tax, and cost characteristics. See Fee Schedule for all options trading fees. There are additional costs associated with option strategies that call for multiple purchases and sales of options, such as spreads, straddles, among others, as compared with a single option trade. Rebate rates vary monthly from $0.06-$0.18 and depend on the particular security, whether the trade was placed via API, as well as your current and prior month's options trading volume. Review Options Rebate Terms here. Rates are subject to change. Go to public.com/optionsbrief to learn more.
In “The Skill Gap Epidemic: How Untrained Workers Are Holding You Back”, Joe Lynch and Cary Dittmann, the the Chief Operating Officer at FreightPath, discuss the critical challenges facing the global logistics industry and how targeted workforce development is essential for overcoming the widening skills gap. About Cary Dittman Cary Dittmann is the Chief Operating Officer at FreightPath, where he leads the company's efforts to scale operations, forge strategic partnerships, and advance its mission to modernize supply chain education. With over 40 years of experience in logistics, technology, and enterprise growth, Cary plays a pivotal role in bringing accessible, industry-aligned training to a rapidly evolving sector. His career includes leadership roles at American Airlines, Panalpina, GT Nexus, and project44, where he helped build global sales teams and launch transformative digital freight solutions. Cary is known for aligning people, process, and innovation to drive measurable business impact. A passionate advocate for workforce development, he remains actively involved with CSCMP and other professional networks, working to elevate the next generation of logistics talent. About FreightPath FreightPath is a learning platform purpose-built for end-to-end logistics talent development—addressing one of the most critical challenges in today's global supply chains: the widening skills gap. Designed in collaboration with industry leaders, FreightPath delivers practical, expert-led training across all facets of logistics and supply chain management, including multimodal transportation, trade compliance, and stakeholder coordination. Its modular, scalable ecosystem empowers individuals and organizations alike to build job-ready skills through personalized, real-world learning experiences. As the $8 trillion logistics industry continues to evolve, FreightPath is uniquely positioned to serve as the go-to upskilling and workforce development solution—helping companies stay competitive, reduce risk, and accelerate growth through smarter training Key Takeaways: The Skill Gap Epidemic: How Untrained Workers Are Holding You Back In “The Skill Gap Epidemic: How Untrained Workers Are Holding You Back”, Joe Lynch and Cary Dittmann, the the Chief Operating Officer at FreightPath, discuss the critical challenges facing the global logistics industry and how targeted workforce development is essential for overcoming the widening skills gap. The Widening Skills Gap is a Critical Challenge: The logistics industry is facing a significant skills gap, which is hindering company growth and increasing risk. As technology and supply chains become more complex, the demand for qualified workers is outpacing the supply of trained talent. Practical, Industry-Aligned Training is the Solution: To close this gap, companies need to invest in practical, expert-led training that aligns with real-world industry needs. FreightPath's approach, which is designed in collaboration with industry leaders, ensures that workers gain job-ready skills rather than just theoretical knowledge. Cary Dittmann Bridges Experience with Innovation: With over 40 years of experience at companies like American Airlines and project44, Cary Dittmann brings a unique perspective on how to align people and processes with new technology. His background in leadership and digital solutions makes him a credible voice on modernizing workforce development. Technology Is Key to Modernizing Education: FreightPath's modular and scalable learning platform leverages technology to provide accessible, personalized training. This tech-driven approach allows organizations to build specific skills and adapt their training programs as the industry evolves. Workforce Development Is a Strategic Imperative: Investing in upskilling employees is not just an HR task; it is a strategic business imperative. Companies that prioritize smarter training are better positioned to stay competitive, reduce operational risk, and accelerate their growth in a rapidly changing market. FreightPath Offers a Comprehensive Solution: FreightPath's mission is to serve as the go-to upskilling solution for the logistics industry. By providing training across all facets of supply chain management, from transportation to trade compliance, the company directly addresses the skills gap, helping both individuals and organizations succeed. Learn More About The Skill Gap Epidemic: How Untrained Workers Are Holding You Back Cary Dittmann | Linkedin FreightPath | Linkedin FreightPath FreightPath Website Revamp Press Release FreightPath / ed2go Partnership Announcement Select FreightPath Courses Now Accredited through CBP FreightPath Launches Storefront Supply Chain Shock Waves: Strategies for Survival and Success with Mark Baxa and John Delgado Logistics Knowledge Work in the AI Age with John Delgado The Logistics of Logistics Podcast If you enjoy the podcast, please leave a positive review, subscribe, and share it with your friends and colleagues. The Logistics of Logistics Podcast: Google, Apple, Castbox, Spotify, Stitcher, PlayerFM, Tunein, Podbean, Owltail, Libsyn, Overcast Check out The Logistics of Logistics on Youtube
This week we're sharing a previously recorded episode from The Lot1 Podcast After Show vault with one of our fan-favorite guests, Denis Shepherd!–Denis Shepherd, a Los Angeles-based actor and filmmaker hailing from Chatsworth, California, has been making waves both in front of and behind the camera. His recent starring role in the independent feature film "The Compatriots" and his recurring role on Paramount's "Paradise Lost" have solidified his reputation as a versatile actor with a captivating on-screen presence.In addition to his work on the big screen, Denis has been featured and worked alongside major brands such as Disney, Nike, Google, Microsoft, Skechers, American Airlines, Southwest Airlines, Panera, Nissan, and Bud Light. His ability to connect with audiences and showcase his range has made him a sought-after talent in the industry.A graduate of the University of Arizona's Film & Television Producing program, Denis has also made significant strides behind the camera. He has written and produced award-winning short films, demonstrating his passion for storytelling and collaboration.Throughout his career, Denis has had the opportunity to collaborate with industry giants such as Gale Anne Hurd, Dave Myers, and John Lee Hancock, further establishing himself as a rising talent in both acting and producing. With his dedication to his craft and commitment to excellence, Denis continues to make strides in the entertainment industry, leaving a lasting impression on audiences and peers alike.Connect with Denis:➡️ Instagram: @dendshepAbout The Lot1 Podcast ✨The Lot1 Podcast is designed for anyone who is interested in or working in filmmaking. Whether you're just starting out or a seasoned veteran, we hope you gain the knowledge you need to improve your craft, achieve your filmmaking goals, or simply get an understanding and appreciation for the roles and duties of your peers and colleagues.
If a $595 annual fee premium credit card hits the market, should it automatically earn a place in your wallet? In this episode, I take a detailed look at Citi's newest addition to the transferable points landscape: the Citi Strata Elite Card. From its standard 80,000-point welcome bonus to the elevated 100,000-point offer available through certain channels, we'll walk through exactly what you get when you open this card. You'll hear how its bonus categories actually work, why the time-restricted “Citi Nights” dining perk is so unusual, and what makes its non-category 1.5x earning stand out—or not—compared to other cards. We'll also dig into the real value of the credits, including the split Blacklane credit, the merchant-specific Splurge credit, and the 2-night minimum hotel portal credit—plus where this card shines with American Airlines lounge passes and where it falls flat next to Citi's own mid-tier options and the retired Prestige card. Before you sign up for the welcome bonus, I'll share the points expiration rules that can cost you big if you cancel after a year, and what I think this launch reveals about the next wave of premium rewards cards. Get full show notes and transcript: https://pointmetofirstclass.com/citi-strata-elite-card-review/ Want to shape the show? Take the Point Me To First Class listener survey and share what you love and want more of! https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeAPfb3wIaphMn_NoQzm_fljydsivTELQwh7pYoxrI2uTFoKQ/viewform?usp=header Eager to learn the secrets of award travel so that you can turn your expenses into unforgettable experiences? Join the Points Made Easy course waitlist here: https://pointmetofirstclass.com/pointsmadeeasy
In Episode 132 of the Award Travel 101 podcast, host Mike Zaccheo is joined by community member Heather Killingbeck to dive into how her passion for the Dave Matthews Band (DMB) intersects with her love of points and miles. Heather shares how a spontaneous trip to a DMB show in Mexico led to meaningful friendships and a realization that she needed to make concert travel more affordable—enter points and miles. She's since used over half a million points, possibly up to a million, to follow the band to iconic venues like The Gorge and even on a European tour, with award redemptions taking her to Amsterdam, Paris, and Lisbon. Her go-to strategy includes the Southwest Companion Pass, Hyatt Globalist perks, and travel hacking tools to make the most of every trip, all while juggling work, family, and parent guilt.The episode also covers major news in the points world: the launch of Citi's new Strata Elite card with a hefty bonus, luxury perks, and the surprise reintroduction of American Airlines as a 1:1 transfer partner with Citi ThankYou Points. Heather shares recent bonuses she's earned, trip updates including an upcoming return to Baha Mar for Thanksgiving, and her unforgettable award-based travels. From crowdstrike flight chaos to lounge sprints and missed connections that turned into bonus nights, her stories highlight both the joys and unpredictability of award travel. The episode closes on a reflective note, encouraging listeners to "chase the joy," whether through a favorite band, a shared hobby, or the travel communities that make it all possible.Links to Topics DicussedComedian Experience Luxury Hotels with his "Sapphire Points"Citi Strata Elite LaunchesWhere to Find Us The Free 110k+ member Award Travel 101 Community. To book time with our team, check out Award Travel 1-on-1. You can also email us at 101@award.travel Tickets are now ON SALE for our next meetup in Miami September 19-21. Secure your spot today at https://award.travel/miami2025 Our partner CardPointers helps us get the most from our cards. We love being able to automatically add all of our offers and quickly seeing the best card to use for every purchase. Signup today at https://cardpointers.com/at101 for a 30% discount on annual and lifetime subscriptions! Lastly, we appreciate your support of the AT101 Podcast/Community when you signup for your next card! Technical note: Some user experience difficulty streaming the podcast while connected to a VPN. If you have difficulty, disconnect from your VPN.
Citi now offers a way to transfer points 1 to 1 to American Airlines, which has many predicting an AA devaluation is on the horizon. In this podcast episode, we'll discuss this concern.(00:44) - Why are we so excited about transfers to American Airlines?(04:06) - A devaluation assumes a flood of AA miles, but... Citi points are not that easy to get in bulk, but even if there are many more AA miles out there, is that reason for devaluation?(04:56) - Here's what we think...(15:35) - But wait...did AA devalue already?Read One Mile at a Time's post here: American AAdvantage Business Class Award Devaluation? Sort Of…: (16:24) - More than two years ago, AA published "starting at" prices for its own flights. Mostly, though, the starting at prices stayed as they were with previous saver award pricing.(17:15) - Now, though, "starting at" seems to be closer to American Airlines' published intentions from a few years ago...(18:29) - BUT... mix in another carrier to get the partner award chartRead more about this hereVisit https://frequentmiler.com/subscribe to get updated on in-depth points and miles content like this, and don't forget to like and follow us on social media.Music Credit – Beach Walk by Unicorn Heads
In this episode, Nik Fialka gets an exclusive interview with Alan Johnson, VP of Operations, and Dina Payne, Senior Manager of Pilot Hiring at American Airlines, for a conversation centered on the AA hiring process—packed with insights valuable to anyone pursuing a career at a major airline. Together, they walk through what makes a standout application and resume, how to show up prepared for your interview, and what to expect during training once you're hired. They also dive into why professionalism, attitude, and cultural fit matter just as much as flight time—and how every interaction with the company can influence your path. Whether you're just getting started or looking to move up to a legacy carrier, this episode offers practical advice straight from the decision-makers at American Airlines. What You'll Learn: What American Airlines looks for in pilot candidates beyond flight hours How to build a clean, complete application that gets noticed Common resume mistakes and how to avoid them Why professional presence and preparation matter at conferences and interviews What the training pipeline looks like once you're hired The role of servant leadership in the cockpit and on the ramp How authenticity and attitude play into hiring decisions Why culture and character matter just as much as qualifications How American's values—Safety, Care, Dependability, Efficiency—guide everything they do CONNECT WITH US Are you ready to take your preparation to the next level? Don't wait until it's too late. Use the promo code “R4P2025” and save 10% on all our services. Check us out at www.spitfireelite.com! If you want to recommend someone to guest on the show, email Nik at podcast@spitfireelite.com, and if you need a professional pilot resume, go to www.spitfireelite.com/podcast/ for FREE templates! SPONSOR Are you a pilot just coming out of the military and looking for the perfect second home for your family? Look no further! Reach out to Marty and his team by visiting www.tridenthomeloans.com to get the best VA loans available anywhere in the US. Be ready for takeoff anytime with 3D-stretch, stain-repellent, and wrinkle-free aviation uniforms by Flight Uniforms. Just go to www.flightuniform.com and type the code SPITFIREPOD20 to get a special 20% discount on your first order. #Aviation #AviationCareers #aviationcrew #AviationJobs #AviationLeadership #AviationEducation #AviationOpportunities #AviationPodcast #AirlinePilot #AirlineJobs #AirlineInterviewPrep #flying #flyingtips #PilotDevelopment #PilotFinance #pilotcareer #pilottips #pilotcareertips #PilotExperience #pilotcaptain #PilotTraining #PilotSuccess #pilotpodcast #PilotPreparation #Pilotrecruitment #flightschool #aviationschool #pilotcareer #pilotlife #pilot
Want to work with us? Reach out! inquiries at milestomemories dot com Episode Description This week Citi finally brought their new premium credit card to market. While many of the leaks were true, does this card measure up to its competition and will it drive further loyalty. Plus Citi added transfers from ThankYou to American Airlines, but is it as good as it sounds and will it drive sign-ups for this card? Most importantly should you get it? Joe Cheung also joins us to discuss his recent near miss on a welcome offer and how he still managed to save it. Are grace periods a thing? We also discuss international tipping culture as Americans and how we may be expected to tip when traveling even if locals aren't. Episode Guide 0:00 Welcome to MTM Travel 1:27 Royal Caribbean battling back - Loophole closed for viral hack 9:26 Why the future of cruise loyalty says a lot about where we are heading 15:35 Hyatt's Brand Explorer grows to 7 free nights and 35 brands! 21:55 How hotel design has evolved & why it isn't always good 31:05 United's cardholder award sale - Tahiti anyone? 33:45 Ninja tricks - Stacking deals/perks for a VIP tripCiti Strata Elite - https://www.citi.com/credit-cards/citi-strata-elite-credit-card Royal Caribbean drinks - https://www.cruisehive.com/royal-caribbean-tightens-policy-on-drink-package/182785 United sale - https://travel-on-points.com/united-credit-cardmembers-award-sale/ Enjoying the podcast? Please consider leaving us a positive review on your favorite podcast platform! You can also connect with us anytime at podcast@milestomemories.com. You can subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, TuneIn, Pocket Casts, or via RSS. Don't see your favorite podcast platform? Please let us know!
Texas House Democrats have left the state in order to derail a Republican-driven redistricting plan designed to flip up to five congressional seats from blue to red. In other news, Cooper Lutkenhaus did the unthinkable. On Sunday at the USATF Outdoor National Championships at legendary Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore., the Justin Northwest High School superstar ran an insane time of 1:42.27 for 800 meters at the age of 16 to set a new under-18 world record, beating two 2024 Olympians and the world's second-ranked half-miler to qualify for next month's World Championships in Tokyo; 'Like standing on Jello' - that's how one American Airlines spokesperson characterized the state of air travel this year. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
On this episode of AvTalk, what we learned from the first of three days of investigative hearings by the NTSB into January's crash at DCA. Russian investigators peel the layers of problems that led to the crash of a Gazpromavia SuperJet. An American Airlines 737 suffers a landing gear problem and fire in Denver. In […] The post AvTalk Episode 330: Acceptable deviation? appeared first on Flightradar24 Blog.
In this podcast episode, we'll talk about how US Bank is bonvoying grandfathers and US Bank's plans to add transfer partners. We'll also talk about who the Citi Strata Elite card is good for.Giant Mailbag(01:40) - This listener has tips about their strategy when a flight becomes available for a lesser mileage price...Card News(05:50) - Citi now offers transfers to American Airlines from Strata Elite, Prestige & Strata Premier(07:23) - Now transfer from most Citi cards to most ThankYou partners (even from Custom Cash)(09:41) - Citi Strata card now available(12:16) - U.S. Bank Altitude Reserve: Major changes expected in December.Bonvoyed(18:21) - US Bank bonvoys grandfathers (Smartly card sends updates to those previously grandfathered into old 4% term)Awards, Points, and More(22:38) - Inn at Bay Harbor leaving Marriott(23:42) - JetBlue & TAP Air Portugal split up as of 9/30(24:50) - Greg earned Alaska EQMs for his flight to London(26:53) - Nick's JetBlue 25 for 25 update postRead more about Nick's JetBlue 25 for 25 journey so far here.(27:50) - Another JetBlue 25 for 25 updateMain Event: Citi Strata Elite: Good, Bad, and Ugly(30:00) - Branch Offer: 100K after $4K of spend in 3 monthsRead more about the Citi Strata Elite offer here.Or, read our Citi Strata Elite Q&A post here.(31:45) - Application rules, basics, and earning rate...(39:32) - Credits and benefits(47:31) - Mini experiment: Citi Travel Hotels vs. Hotels.com(48:45) - What happens to Citi Prestige customers?(49:58) - Do Citi Travel hotel bookings earn hotel points and elite credit?(53:33) - Quick Review: What do we think about the card's earning rate and perks?(57:47) - What do we think about the card's coupons?(1:01:37) - Does this card deserve a place in an all-ThankYou wallet?(1:09:41) - Does this card deserve a place in a mixed-earning wallet? (For example, would this be your 3X card?)Question of the Week(1:12:54) - Advice regarding authorized users. What do you do about authorized user cards showing up to Chase as contributing to your 5/24 status?Subscribe and FollowVisit https://frequentmiler.com/subscribe/ to get updated on in-depth points and miles content like this, and don't forget to like and follow us on social media.Music Credit – “Ocean Deep” by Annie Yoder
In this Throwback episode, Chad Franzen interviews Josh, co-founder of Hadley Designs, about his journey from door-to-door sales and custom wedding invitations to building an eight-figure Amazon brand with over 1,300 SKUs. Josh shares how resilience, leveraging Facebook ads, and continuous learning fueled his growth. He discusses the transition from bespoke products to scalable e-commerce, the impact of mentorship, and the importance of reinvesting profits. Josh also introduces his new podcast, aimed at helping seven-figure business owners scale to eight figures by sharing real-world lessons and strategies from successful entrepreneurs.Chapters:Introduction and Early Entrepreneurial Drive (00:00:00)Josh discusses resilience, shaking off criticism, and introduces Chad Frandsen as the interviewer.Lifelong Entrepreneurial Spirit (00:00:44)Josh describes his restless drive for business ideas and entrepreneurial mindset.Starting Hadley Designs (00:01:03)Josh recounts working at American Airlines, Becca's passion for art, and launching Hadley Designs.First Wedding Invitation Sales & Facebook Groups (00:01:51)Becca's first wedding invitation project, joining Facebook groups, and early sales tactics.Early Revenue and Facebook Group Marketing (00:03:43)Josh explains how Facebook groups drove initial revenue and his extensive involvement in them.Sales Approach and Door-to-Door Experience (00:04:13)Josh credits his sales process and door-to-door pest control sales for refining his approach.Applying Sales Tactics to Wedding Invitations (00:05:00)Josh details his copy-paste sales messages and qualifying questions for potential clients.Lessons from Door-to-Door Sales (00:05:33)Josh shares how door-to-door sales taught him perseverance, handling rejection, and maintaining momentum.Resilience and Bouncing Back (00:07:47)Josh discusses shaking off criticism, confidence, and how resilience helps in business and relationships.Evolution of Marketing Strategy (00:08:35)Josh describes shifting from Facebook groups to Facebook ads, and the impact on Hadley Designs' growth.Transition to Amazon and Product Expansion (00:09:39)Josh explains moving from custom invitations to mass-produced products, launching on Amazon, and scaling SKUs.Mentorship and Continuous Learning (00:11:35)Josh talks about his college mentor, Troy D'Ambrosio, and the importance of ongoing education and learning from others.Key to Success: Willingness to Learn (00:13:33)Josh affirms that continuous learning and seeking knowledge have been crucial to his success.Launching a New Podcast (00:13:36)Josh introduces his new podcast aimed at helping entrepreneurs scale from seven to eight figures on Amazon.Podcast Focus and Value (00:13:56)Josh outlines the podcast's mission: sharing lessons, overcoming plateaus, and interviewing successful entrepreneurs.Conclusion and Farewell (00:15:21)Chad thanks Josh, expresses interest in the podcast, and the episode wraps up.Links and Mentions:Tools and Websites Adobe Illustrator Facebook Groups Facebook Advertising Amazon Courses Facebook Ads Course Amazon Course Mentors Troy D'Ambrosio on LinkedIn Transcript:Josh 00:00:00 But you got to just shake things off and some people would be like, You seem like super scammy. Like, I don't, you know, you're you're a creepy dude. Like, why are you in these Facebook groups? It's mostly women in here. It's like, you know, you just got to shake it off and go the next person because, you know, you're doing people a service, right? And it's not like I was trying to do anything maliciously. So to me, it's I had full confidence going forward and being like, hey, all right, let's just go to the next person. Let's let whatever people say just literally slide off my back. And today I have Chad Franzen here of rise 25, who has done thousands of interviews with successful entrepreneurs and CEOs. We have flipped the script and he's going to be interviewing me today. Welcome, Chad.Chad 00:00:44 Hey Josh, thanks so much. It's great to be here. Hey, question for you. Would you consider yourself a lifelong entrepreneur?Josh 00:00:51 Yeah, I would definitely say I'm a lifelong entrepreneur.Josh 00:00:54 For whatever reason, there's there's just something inside of me that, doesn't allow me to rest at night. I've always got a lot of business ideas going.Chad 00:01:03 You kind of. You graduated with your MBA and with your, bachelor's degree. And you went to American Airlines. You were working there for five years, and then you were you were working nights with your wife, and that was that Hadley designed?Josh 00:01:15 Yes, yes. So that's where Hadley Designs was born. So I started at American Airlines in August of 2014, and then Hadley Designs officially became an entity in March of 2015. So I had a good job with American Airlines, and we kind of asked ourselves, like, what is it that, you know, you should do? Becca. what? And she she didn't necessarily want to go work for somebody. right off the bat, which I thought was interesting. I was like, I fully support that. Like, let's go explore. Like, we've got time on our hands, right? No kids at this point.Josh 00:01:51 Like, we just graduated college. And so she actually She's always had a passion for art and creativity, and so she kind of explored that. And so she ended up, I think a friend was getting married and she's like, hey, you know, ...
In episode 263 of the Simple Flying Podcast, your hosts Tom and Channing discuss,Spirit Airlines furloughs and demotes hundreds of pilotsEtihad Airways' extraordinary loyalty challengeAmerican Airlines drops seatback screens in 1st legacy Airbus A319 retrofitWizz Air cuts A321XLR orderHawaiian Airlines to add premium economy seats to its A330-200s
Sorry for the error on the Monday upload. Here is the fixed episode. Enjoy! Want to work with us? Reach out! inquiries at milestomemories dot com Episode Description This week Citi finally brought their new premium credit card to market. While many of the leaks were true, does this card measure up to its competition and will it drive further loyalty. Plus Citi added transfers from ThankYou to American Airlines, but is it as good as it sounds and will it drive sign-ups for this card? Most importantly should you get it? Joe Cheung also joins us to discuss his recent near miss on a welcome offer and how he still managed to save it. Are grace periods a thing? We also discuss international tipping culture as Americans and how we may be expected to tip when traveling even if locals aren't. Episode Guide 0:00 Welcome to MTM Travel 0:23 Being stuck in AA banned account hell 4:10 Citi Strata Elite launches & bonus - Is this a good premium card 11:08 Citi adds AA as transfer partner - Is this a gamechanger? 18:32 Did Citi have bad timing with Strata Elite or was it the perfect time? 24:39 Almost missing a welcome offer and grace periods on spend 28:36 How American tipping culture is spreading & how its awkward when traveling Citi Strata Elite - https://www.citi.com/credit-cards/citi-strata-elite-credit-card Tipping OMAAT - https://onemileatatime.com/insights/tipping-abroad-american/ Enjoying the podcast? Please consider leaving us a positive review on your favorite podcast platform! You can also connect with us anytime at podcast@milestomemories.com. You can subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, TuneIn, Pocket Casts, or via RSS. Don't see your favorite podcast platform? Please let us know!
The A.M. Update dives into major developments: President Trump and EU's Ursula von der Leyen announced a trade deal with a 15% tariff on European imports, particularly automobiles, effective August 1, 2025, with Trump hinting at tariff rebate checks due to massive revenue and potential debt reduction. OMB Director Russ Vought claims progress toward a balanced budget, citing tariff revenues and spending cuts. FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino's cryptic X post about “shocking” discoveries in government corruption investigations raises questions, with no specifics provided. CIA Director John Ratcliffe alleges a criminal conspiracy in the Russiagate hoax, suggesting ongoing actions by DOJ and FBI. A harrowing evacuation at Denver International Airport due to a smoking American Airlines jet's landing gear issue left one injured. A Michigan Walmart stabbing spree is charged as terrorism, while a Cincinnati brawl raises racial concerns. Comedian Tony Hawks' decision to leave his wealth to charity, not his son, sparks debate about boomer inheritance trends and parental responsibility.
Time Magazine's favorite podcasts, Traverse City stabbing, Eli Zaret stops by, Donald Trump polls, Ghislaine Maxwell gets deal, Happy Gilmore 2, American Airlines up in smoke, hot priests, NBA YoungBoy's 13th kid, and our new favorite influencer: 225. Eli Zaret drops by to discuss the struggling Detroit Tigers, the upcoming trade deadline, Pat Caputo vs the Tigers TV broadcast, Jason Benetti to the Detroit Lions pre-season. Alex Anzalone's contract, the 2016 Lions schedule, MLB Hall of Fame induction day, high praise for Ken Daniels and Mickey Redmond, hot WNBA sex, College Football shenanigans, Trump “fixing” college sports, Teddy Bridgewater in BS hot water, Georgia recruit Chace Calicut trouble, Eli vs gambling and more. Is the Right losing faith in Donald Trump? No. There's a new trade deal with the EU. Bradford James Gille stabbed a bunch of people in Traverse City. American Airlines had a boo boo this weekend and the luggage came first. Another dude made a ruckus on an easyJet flight in Europe. Jizzlaine Maxwell granted limited immunity. Rats out 100 people. Dan Bongino “will never be the same”. Letters to Epstein are out there. Another day, another new Epstein/Trump photo. Kevin Spacey pops off. William McNeil speaks out after his arrest video goes viral. Sometimes you just gotta beat a couple in Cincinnati. Tyler Boebert is in trouble and Lauren is downplaying the charges. Nice family. The Vatican has a new method to gain more followers… hot priests. Movies: Happy Gilmore 2 has mixed reviews. We loved it. The Fantastic Four: First Steps is too much Pedro Pascal. Freakier Friday unleashes a smoking hot Lindsay Lohan. Anthony Anderson was #MeToo'd and nobody remembers. But his creepy interview with Lindsay Lohan is making the rounds again. A 5th accuser comes out against Smokey Robinson. Diddy is Tweeting again. At least his kids are to promote a terrible song called Diddy Free. NBA YoungBoy has a lot of children. He was pardoned by Trump. Spinal Tap II: The End Continues drops their trailer. An interrupter is told she's old. 225 is the biggest loser possibly ever and we love him. Time Magazine names their Top 100 best podcasts. They leave off Joe Rogan and The Drew Lane Show. The Billy Joel documentary is 5 hours long… but really good. Don't forget to grab your bags during an airline emergency. Stephen Colbert needs a staff of 200+ to be a complete leftist late night show. Jay Leno weighs in on left-only late night. If you'd like to help support the show… consider subscribing to our YouTube Channel, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter (Drew Lane, Marc Fellhauer, Trudi Daniels, Jim Bentley and BranDon).
In today's podcast episode, we'll talk about how JetBlue bonvoyed Nick, how Accor bonvoyed Greg, and finally, two new transferable points programs and a new credit card that allows us to earn transferable points.Giant Mailbag(00:58) - "I've noticed that you love to be underwhelmed by the Amex Green card. In your recent episode about travel cards, it seemed like you couldn't contain your boredom with it, despite its valuable 3x Amex points for all types of travel ... A major benefit that you may have overlooked is constant Amex Offers from travel providers, which I've combined with the 3x on the Green card for a lot of value."Catch Episode 315 here.Card News(05:43) - Citi Strata Elite. Here's what we expect...(08:59) - Southwest card offers...Crazy Thing: Citi!(15:09) - Citi to Accor 1 to 1Bonvoyed(17:54) - Capital One brings back baseball tickets, but shuts out Venture X cardholders(21:08) - JetBlue's 25% off sale with code SAVE25...but "fares booked with SAVE25 will not be counted towards 25 for 25"Awards, Points, and More(24:15) - Bilt transforming travel portal(30:52) - JetBlue Mosaic first impressions(35:11) - Escape lounge SJU and The Beekman Tower NYC(38:51) - Greg's experience with Accor Live Limitless(46:26) - Greg's experience flying American Airlines with Alaska milesMain Event: 3 new ways to earn transferable points(50:22) - Why we care so much about transferable points(52:50) - Rove Miles(1:00:58) - Consider using our referral link here.(1:01:33) - MesaRead more about Mesa here.(1:08:55) - Rakuten American Express® CardLearn more about the Rakuten American Express® Card here.Question of the Week(1:17:21) - A rep says you can only use an Alaska Credit Card to book companion fare flights... this is a problem when a companion fare cancellation goes to your Alaska wallet (which then can't be used for a new companion fare according to this new policy.) What gives?Subscribe and FollowVisit https://frequentmiler.com/subscribe/ to get updated on in-depth points and miles content like this, and don't forget to like and follow us on social media.Music Credit – “Ocean Deep” by Annie Yoder
© 2020-2025 Ivy Podcast Discovery LLC
