Monthly Archives for February 2018.
A man kicked off an American Airlines flight from Charlotte to Cincinnati on Monday stripped and picked a fight with groundworkers on the tarmac.
The “incident began when the flight crew attempted to remove the man for his behavior onboard the plane.” However that only made things worse. Much worse.
American Airlines is pissed that Chicago O’Hare expansion plans preserve United’s 14 gate advantage rather than the 9 gate advantage they say they expected after shelling out for 5 new gates themselves. At issue is O’Hare’s $8.5 billion expansion plan, and what they dub a ‘secret provision’ added in ‘at the last minute’ that gives United more gates than they thought the plan entailed. American Airlines at Chicago O’Hare Both United and American have resisted adding gates at Chicago O’Hare for years, since they have most of the gates themselves and don’t want competition. They are happy to see gates added as long as they are the ones who get the gates, and if they’re both getting gates they want to ensure neither gets an advantage over the other. United Airlines at O’Hare Things are…
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.
A Miami-based flight attendant asked about building a buffer to ensure flights are properly catered, “several years ago I was called into the office because I took a 14 minute delay to wait for china plates to plate the food for Brazil. Like I’m going to shut the door and have a first class service to Brazil with no china plates, I just set the tins in front of them.”
Chase revealed several interesting facts about its credit card business in an investor deck this week.
While the average FICO score is 785 that means many cardholders have lower scores, just as they have higher scores. Annual spend of $39,000 sounds high but equates to $3250/month, not low but not as intimidating. I’m intrigued that 90% of users are keeping the card after the first year.
There was a lot of discussion at an American Airlines employee Q&A about the carrier’s fleet.
Airline President Robert Isom confirms that “Newer model used aircraft are absolutely something we have an eye out for. As we take a look at where 319s are available we’re gonna be out there after them, because we want ’em”
In September Hyatt named Mark Vondrasek as their new head of loyalty ‘and business platforms’. Tellingly at the time he reported directly to the chain’s CEO — and not to the Chief Marketing Officer, who was most responsible for Hyatt’s loyalty program revamp that launched last year. That CMO has since been departed.
United Airlines filed their 10-K annual report to the SEC (.pdf), and a couple of things stood out to me in their disclosures about the MileagePlus program.
Most importantly United just isn’t growing the number of miles it sells to partners.
A passenger flying United from Chicago O’Hare to Newark on United got into an argument with staff over the definition of ‘is’ about whether their purse fit in the bag sizer as a personal item. Even though it clearly fits.
The first employee says it doesn’t fit even while the bag is inside the sizer.
During an airline Q&A session with employees, one pilot says of American’s new standard domestic lavatories “It’s the most miserable experience in the world.”
He continues, “I can’t turn around in it. The sink is the most miserable thing going, and you cram those people in those little tiny seats you just bragged about to the point that I can’t sit back there. As a crew member if I ever have to deadhead back there I’ll refuse because it’s just not practical.”
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 »
