Delta fuel dump, dealing with jetlag, and a map of tipping culture (Saturday Selection)

Throughout the week, our team shares articles they’ve stumbled upon that may interest our readers, even if they might not otherwise merit a full post. Here are some things we found interesting this week: Delta has to pay up for their fuel dump over LA, tips for dealing with jetlag, and a map of tipping culture across the world.

Delta Will Pay $79 Million Over Puzzling Fuel Dumping Incident

(There’s “fuel dumping” and then there’s dumping fuel…this post is about the latter.) In 2020, a Delta flight from LA to Shanghai experienced an engine issue that sent it back to LA before it had burned off much fuel. The problem is, the maximum weight it was technically allowed for take-off was higher than the maximum weight it would be allowed for landing (to account for the fuel that should have been burned off). Apparently, what planes may do in cases like these is dump the excess fuel over the ocean from a high enough altitude that it dissipates. That is not what this plane did. Instead, it dumped the fuel from a low altitude over a populated LA neighborhood (even over a school). This is not only atypical behavior…it was without obvious need.

Perhaps the most amazing part of this story is that Delta has been claiming this was acceptable protocol, even claiming they had FAA clearance. Ben points out in his article, however, that the pilots didn’t even communicate their fuel dump with air traffic control, and even indicated that the original engine issue, which caused the turnaround, was “under control” and “not critical”. So why did they feel the need to dump fuel in such an atypical and careless place? Justifiable as Delta may think it to be, they’ve agreed to a nearly $79 million settlement.

How To Deal With Jetlag: My Tips & Strategies

I have a lot of opinions about dealing with jetlag, or more accurately, one half-hearted opinion and a very strong cynicism: Take 3mg of melatonin half an hour before you’d like to sleep, and otherwise don’t overthink it because it’s a losing battle where you should thank your lucky stars if you even get 4 or 5 hours of sleep at the “right” time. I’ve watched friends try to strategize exactly which flight times will optimize their sleep schedule, only to find out their body refuses to sleep when they want it to, and they’re left both frustrated and exhausted. I have never been that great of a sleeper, so jetlag typically dooms me to a solid 5-7 days of hazy existence and wide-awake nights. Literally the only thing that seems to help me is that small dose of melatonin (overusing melatonin has the reverse effect of keeping you awake) and resignation. The resignation is perhaps the most important part because, at least for me, sleep is the kind of thing that eludes me most when I most want it. When I resign to sleeplessness…I may actually fall asleep.

Despite my commitment to cynicism as far as jetlag is concerned, I actually think Ben’s tips are among the most reasonable I’ve heard, in part because he holds them loosely and includes “embracing jetlag” as one of his tips. It’s a more positive spin on what I called resignation above. But also, his tip of leaving your phone away from your bed on a white noise timer or playlist is also great advice, which has sometimes worked for me. (Though that’s also not worked for me before, too. Hence the cynicism and resignation.)

Even though I’ve just essentially admitted my cynicism will preclude me from taking any jetlag tips all that seriously, comment below with any of your jetlag tips. (Y’know, for the readers less cynical and more sleep adept than I.)

15 Maps That Will Blow Your Mind

I love data visualization, especially for “just-for-fun” purposes, and this post is full of exactly that: including maps for “Worldwide Tipping”, “Countries that Britain has invaded”, “Bigfoot sightings in North America”, and more. The “Worldwide Tipping” map might be the most useful on the list for travelers. Many times I’ve found myself wondering if I should tip or not. You may think, “What’s the harm in just tipping as a default – better safe than sorry.” But as this map points out, there are some places where tipping is actually confusing and even offensive. I remember watching a mini cultural train wreck as my dad attempted to offer a tip at a remote tea shop outside of Cappadocia and was met with a deep frown and furrowed brow. This left an aftertaste of damaged pride and confusion for all parties involved. But of course, not leaving a tip in the US would produce the same hurt pride and confusion.

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