Monthly Archives for March 2017.
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
It’s often been said that there are two kinds of luggage: carry on and lost. Add a third kind to the mix… damaged.
I’ve frequently argued that Pakistan International Airlines is the worst airline in the world. But what’s finally got the government’s attention isn’t sacrificing a goat for safety or flying with more passengers than seats (and making customers stand for 1700 miles).
Instead there’s now a corruption probe over a wet lease deal with SriLankan in which PIA spent $19 million to lease an Airbus A330 for 6 months in ‘the most profitable deal SriLankan ever had’.
A REX (Regional Express) Saab 340 turboprop flying from Albury, Australia to Sydney lost a propeller… and when they lost it, they really lost it, fortunately it didn’t bonk anyone on the head on the way down.
The Trump Administration’s proposed budget eliminates the non-essential Essential Air Service program.
Created in the late 1970s as a temporary measure to soften the blow of deregulation, it’s a perfect example of the old axiom that there’s nothing as permanent in life as a temporary government program. The legislation included a ’10 year transition’ period in which small community service could receive subsidies. This was supposed to end in 1988.
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
Middle seats are the worst. You’ve got someone on either side of you, so you can’t just lean over into the window or the aisle, and you’ve got two armrests to fight over not just one.
Often the passenger in the middle seat was disserviced on a previous flight. Or they paid the most for their ticket in the whole cabin, buying when there weren’t any aisle or window seats left. In either case the person who may be the most deserving of a better (or at least not deserving of a wose) experience gets exactly that. Over time there have been several ideas floated to address this.
American Airlines finally has a plan to put seat power in the legacy US Airways ‘basket of deplorables’ aircraft.
Since this is the management team that decided to remove seat power from planes that used to have it when America West took over US Airways, there’s a little small part of me that wonders if the whole thing wasn’t contrived to begin building the case not to make this investment.
Air Canada’s frequent flyer program Aeroplan was spun off into a separate public company in 2005. As a separate company, the frequent flyer program makes arms-length transactions with the airline and has a very extensive contract allowing it to buy a minimum number of seats and other benefits.
Air Canada expects to negotiate more favorable terms for the airline compared to the current contract which expires in 2020.
I checked into the Park Hyatt Sydney where I’ve had mixed luck at best with upgrades.
I arrived early on my first stay there and was told that my pre-assigned room wasn’t ready — but that if I wanted to pay an extra AUD$100 per day I could have an Opera View room. This wasn’t even a larger room, just an upgraded view, and if it was available I should have been offered it as a complimentary upgrade as a Hyatt Diamond.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
