Summary: <br> Who had a worse week, <a href="http://www.boeing.com/commercial/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Boeing</a> and the 737 family or <a href="http://united.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">United Airlines</a> frequent flyers??<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> Among the topics in this week's show:<br> <br> <br> <br> * Roaming SIM cards are still a thing and we're <a href="https://prepaid-data-sim-card.fandom.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">dipping back into an old favorite resource</a>.* Boeing had a pretty bad week, with an<a href="https://www.apnews.com/5ff095b8b9954b03925410680e8c907d"> Ethiopian whistleblower</a> raising claims of questionable maintenance and training practices, Southwest pilots suing for lost wages, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-boeing-airplanes/cracks-found-on-38-of-810-boeing-737-ng-jets-inspected-globally-idUSKBN1WP2BD">at least 38 older planes</a> grounded after inspections revealed <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-10-09/cracks-found-on-more-than-5-of-older-boeing-737s-in-inspections?cmpid=socialflow-twitter-business&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=socialflow-organic&utm_medium=social&utm_content=business">cracking in the “pickle fork,”</a> and more. But that also led to <a href="https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/boeing-examines-genx-powered-767-x-for-cargo-and-pa-461386/">reports of</a> a <a href="https://paxex.aero/2019/10/boeing-767x-nma-replacement/">renewed 767 using the GEnx engines from the 787 line as a possible play</a>. Oh, and the CEO is no longer the Chairman.* <a href="https://paxex.aero/2019/10/starlux-swanky-seats/">Taiwanese upstart Starlux wants to deliver luxury in the sky with lie-flat beds, but its current route profile tops out at 4 to 5 hours in the sky</a>. That’s a hard value proposition to drive, especially without the long-haul portion of the network feeding traffic.* South America will see a <a href="https://paxex.aero/2019/09/delta-latam-strategic-partnership/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">shift in alliances with Delta investing in LATAM</a>. American might pick up GOL and there's a renewed push for United, Avianca, <a href="https://www.voeazul.com.br/en/home" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Azul</a> and Copa to figure things out.* <a href="http://aa.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">American Airlines</a> shifted a bunch of management roles around; <a href="https://twitter.com/fozzm" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Fozz</a> is not impressed.<br> <br> <br> <br> And, as always, plenty more. Enjoy!<br>
