Monthly Archives for July 2017.
Justin Cho and his family were preparing to board Delta flight DL937 from Los Angeles to Cancun on Friday. They tried to board the flight during priority boarding and were told to wait.
The father had his boarding pass scanned first. Since the rest of the family were several people back he waited for them before entering the jetway. And he got into an altercation with a Delta gate agent as a result.
The airline’s yield “was down 9.2% and overall load factors down by 1.2%” after making the change to their program, though of course program changes alone weren’t the drivers. However this ‘focus on high yield passengers’ didn’t lead to higher yields. It just chased away customers buying mid-range fares.
This seems as though it might be a cautionary tale for others.
British Airways doesn’t have a very good business class. It’s terribly expensive when redeeming miles thanks to choke-worthy fuel surcharges which continue even in an era of $45 oil. For transatlantic flying to and from the U.S. both American Airlines and Virgin Atlantic are better. I’m not a fan of Delta’s 767s, but DeltaOne is probably better than British Airways business class.
However it makes sense to buy British Airways when it’s super cheap.
After a great time visiting my family in the Sydney suburbs and staying at the Park Hyatt Sydney for four nights it was time to move on.
Since we were in Sydney anyway Singapore seemed pretty much close enough, a short-ish flight away and an opportunity to eat some great food. Singapore is one of my favorite food cities in the world along with Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur.
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.
Dr. David Dao thrust airline overbooking policies into the national spotlight in April.
Airlines quickly revised their policies. American Airlines has quietly made one more change to their procedure to handling overbooking situations.
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.
The TSA has failed to meaningfully detect dangerous items going through the checkpoint for years. Two years ago their disclosed 95% failure rate seemed shocking and surprising to many but is hardly new, ten years ago they had a 91% failure rate.
Much hand wringing ensued.
Yesterday’s Air India flight AI880 from Bagroda to Delhi took off without functioning air conditioning.
The 168 passengers onboard did not like it one bit. Air India dismisses this as “a technical matter” but promises “an investigation.”
Delta is reportedly in talks with Jet Airways to take a 24% stake in the Indian airline. Jet Airways and Delta are already partners. This would put them in business with arch Gulf rival Etihad.
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 »
