My latest Starkman Approved trilogy:
The true value of a McKinsey consultant—spoiler: it’s not their slide decks.
Corporate America doubles down on toxic stock buybacks while the real economy withers.
Delta Air Lines traps passengers in another tarmac debacle—no air, no toilets, no accountability.
Read and rage — at least that’s my intent.
If you’ve flown recently, rented a car, or stayed in a hotel—you’ve probably been Hertzed.
The Department of Justice disclosed this week that Delta agreed to pay $8.1 million to settle the agency’s fraud allegations that the airline violated the False Claims Act by awarding executive compensation exceeding the $425,000 limit Delta agreed to when it received nearly $12 billion in pandemic relief funds from the federal government.
Not what I’d expect from an airline whose CEO is hailed for his supposedly superior ethics.
Commercial airlines love to boast about how safe cabin air is, and how powerful HEPA filters scrub out bacteria and viruses. What they prefer you don’t know: HEPA filters don’t stop engine fumes or chemical vapors—and those toxic substances seep into cabin air far more often than the public realizes.
How common are these so-called “fume events”? No one knows. The FAA reportedly blew off a Congressional mandate to track them.
The U.S. airline industry cartel had billions for stock buybacks, tens of millions for executive bonuses, and gladly covered the cost of branded snacks. But when it came to securing the digital systems that keep their planes—and passengers—moving, they fittingly invested peanuts.
Now the FBI and cybersecurity experts warn that U.S. airlines are at serious risk of being hacked—and air travel could face crippling disruptions.
Imagine if former Delta executives took over a car rental company. Sadly, it’s not a hypothetical—and as Hertz customers are fast learning, the consequences are real, robotic, and painfully expensive.
Think your Hyatt call center rep sounds like they grew up in Chicago, where the company is based? They might have—before getting deported and rehired in El Salvador.
A deep dive into the dark world of corporate outsourcing—and the backgrounds of the people increasingly handling the sensitive personal data of millions of Americans.
“There’s a sucker born every minute,” P.T. Barnum once said.
That’s the target demographic for Chase Bank’s newly repositioned Sapphire Reserve credit card.
Why the U.S. aviation system isn’t immune to a tragedy like today’s Air India crash.
Why it’s time to break up the Big Four airline monopoly and demand real reform in U.S. aviation.