Monthly Archives for June 2018.
Delta partner China Eastern, a SkyTeam member, is running an amazing fare from Los Angeles to Beijing. This may be the best non-mistake fare business class deal to Asia in 20 years: just $1137 roundtrip.
There was a real buzz tonight at New York JFK. A JetBlue flight, 1623 to Los Angeles, went silent. Media picked this up, and there was little to no information about what was happening. Speculation abounded, fearing the worst.
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.
Prior to the plane going into service, and before American began retrofitting its fleet with this new interior, the airline’s CEO Doug Parker hadn’t even tried the product. And it told me that domestic passenger experience isn’t central to the product the airline believes it is offering.
He now at least says he’s seen the lavatory, though he still hasn’t flown on a plane that has it. He also doesn’t seem to know that his airline has an ongoing effort to reconfigure its existing domestic fleet with more seats and smaller planes, in fact he denies it outright.
Right now there’s great Air France award space for four or more passengers New York – Paris in both directions in February and March. Pretty much every day. And that’s not all.
You’ll note plenty of New York – Amsterdam space. That’s KLM. New York – Madrid is generally Air Europa. There are several Delta flights offering four or more seats as well — such as London, Zurich, Barcelona, Dublin, Frankfurt, and Lisbon.
A Spirit Airlines flight from Houston to Minneapolis diverted to Rochester, Minnesota, because of a medical emergency. A man onboard slipped into a coma during the flight.
After landing one woman “marched up and down the aisle and launched a profanity-laced and threatening tirade.” Things got so bad that “at least one flight attendant was in tears after the incident and that other crew members handed out tissues to passengers who were crying.”
American Airlines now offers free drinks in Main Cabin Extra seating. First class and Main Cabin Extra also have reserved signs on the overhead bins, though this isn’t something flight attendants are expected to enforce and I watch customers walking to the back of coach storing their backs up front all the time.
Last week at an employee town hall a flight attendant brought up to the carrier’s CEO Doug Parker that they’re having difficulty delivering the free drink benefit to customers in extra legroom seats.
I always prefer an aisle seat because I want to be in control of my own destiny. I can lean into the aisle for extra room (but watch the drink cart!) and I can get up for the lavatory whenever I wish. Crucially, I also have at least one armrest I don’t have to fight for.
This means giving up being able to gaze out the window (lost Instagram opportunity), and an obligation to get up when someone else wants to use the restroom, but those are easy tradeoffs.
American Airlines hasn’t fully integrated its operations for the amount of beverages they’ll stock on board. American Airlines used to actually stock fewer beverages than US Airways. And they reduced beverage catering in Phoenix down to the old American Airlines levels.
Fortunately that’s being reversed and come “late August” we’ll start seeing more beverages catered in first class across the system.
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.
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 »
