Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian told CNBC that while passengers have the right to recline, proper etiquette is to ask first. The conversation was in response to a video that went viral tht showed an angry passenger on a American Airlines flight berating a woman sitting in front of him for reclining her seat. Delta is testing reduced-recline seats on some of its aircraft.

Michael Avenatti, a lawyer who gained fame by representing Stormy Daniels in lawsuits against President Donald Trump, was convicted Friday of trying to extort sportswear giant Nike. Avenatti was charged with attempted extortion and honest services fraud in what prosecutors say was an attempt to extort up to $25 million from Nike with threats to otherwise harm it. Avenatti also faces an April trial in New York on charges that he defrauded Daniels of book proceeds.

Airbnb experienced a net loss of $322 million in the first nine months of 2019, down from a profit of $200 million during the year-earlier period. “Perhaps more ominous: These losses don't reflect new spending that Airbnb committed to late last year, to improve safety across its sprawling network of vacation rental homes,” according to Fortune. “Last fall, six weeks after Airbnb announced its intention to go public in 2020, the company was hit by a wave of bad publicity about its safety practices, involving a fatal Airbnb house party shooting and a viral exposé documenting a widespread scam on …

Classic women’s brand Jones New York has hired supermodel and entrepreneur Cindy Crawford to star in its spring campaign which launches Feb. 15. The target customer is “a modern woman who leads a multifaceted life. Her lifestyle requires that her wardrobe be versatile and take her from day to night,” according to WWD. In addition to sportswear, the Jones New York brand includes footwear, accessories, hosiery, eyewear, watches, jewelry, bed and bath.

Rihanna is under fire from a consumer protection group that alleges her lingerie company Savage x Fenty “ensnares consumers into unwanted monthly charges,” through a membership plan that's difficult to opt out of.  The group alerted the Federal Trade Commission to the line’s business practices, which it believes violate the agency’s rules and the Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act, according to The New York Times.

It’s either the greatest thing since sliced bread (if you don’t eat meat but miss the taste), or a complete travesty. But plant-based corned beef might be coming to a deli near you. New Yorkers at Sarge’s Delicatessen & Diner in Murray Hill can order a Reuben with “meat” that is not meat. “I was definitely hesitant at first,” Sarge’s fourth-generation owner, Andrew Wengrover, whose great-grandfather founded the deli in 1964, tells Grub Street. “But it’s 2020 — we live in a whole new world, so I finally said, ‘Let’s do it.’”

Land O’Lakes is jumping on the “meet your farmer” bandwagon. Many consumers apparently are unaware that the company is a farmer-owned cooperative. “Now as the company approaches its 100th birthday, Land O’Lakes plans to double down on emphasizing its farmer roots—a move meant to appeal to shoppers who increasingly want a deeper connection to what they eat,” according to Fortune.

A huge hit since the summer, the Popeyes chicken sandwich isn’t going away anytime soon. Restaurant Brands International, which owns Popeyes, Burger King and Tim Hortons, reported Monday that sales at all Popeyes restaurants jumped about 42% to $1.3 billion in the last three months of 2019. Burger King, which counts the Impossible Burger among its success stories, also had good results. Sales jumped roughly 8% to $5.9 billion in the fourth quarter. compared to the same period a year before.

In conjunction with the Chicago Auto Show, CBS Chicago anchors had some fun with their own version of Hyundai's "Smaht Pahk" Super Bowl spot for the Hyundai Sonata. The parody includes some exaggerated Chicago accents (as opposed to the Boston accents in the original) and references to iconic landmarks in the Windy City, like Soldier Field, the Sears Tower and Comiskey Park. Hyundai unveiled a hybrid version of the Sonata during the Chicago show's media days.

The D2C space is so crowded that "new businesses are formed every day, each claiming to offer something unique. But many of these businesses seem similar to past ones, or they offer a service that may not naturally fit within the direct-to-consumer model," according to Modern Retail. So "businesses must figure out a way to telegraph that their product is superior — or that they offer some kind of service that makes it different from the rest." And at least one expert cited expects a shakeout of D2C brands, with survivors “serving a slightly different customer with a slightly different …