Monthly Archives

Monthly Archives for September 2018.

Watch Out for Seat Changes When American Airlines Gives You An ‘Oasis’ Plane

by Gary Leff

airplane seats
Sep 16 2018

I flew American Airlines for the first time on one of their Boeing 737-800s that’s been converted to a “Project Oasis” interior — meaning it’s been retrofit to have the same lack of legroom and smaller lavatories (but larger overhead bins) as their new Boeing 737 MAX aircraft.

I wrote only days ago that these are planes to avoid but right now it’s really difficult to do so. You book a flight on a 737, and there aren’t enough ‘new’ 172 seat 737s to know consistently where these torture tubes are going to turn up. If you get one of the torture tubes, your seat assignments may wind up messed up, too.

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Housekeeping Protesting Guests Who ‘Make a Green Choice’ With Marriott

by Gary Leff

marriott old promo
Sep 16 2018

Hotels want you to re-use towels, not have your sheets changed, and even decline housekeeping entirely. They tell you it’s for the environment, but their primary interest is saving costs.

Housekeeping staff complain about the programs. More guests opting out means fewer rooms to clean and less work. But they have to do more cleaning after a guest has gone without for several days. And they say work scheduling becomes more erratic.

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Boeing Replaced the Export-Import Bank With Its Own Financing, Now It’s Being Sued

by Gary Leff

airplane in hangar
Sep 16 2018

It turns out that aircraft financing isn’t very risky, and Boeing created their own private sector replacement for the Export-Import Bank and made money doing so.

This new lawsuit alleges that Boeing violated contracts with another company that Boeing built out the structure to do this with years earlier – a private sector bet that involved Ex-Im staff.

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ConnectMe: American Working on Better Communications During Flight Delays

by Gary Leff

american plane
Sep 15 2018

While I don’t know any plans to improve the efforts of American’s Integrated Operations Center to prioritize better departure time expectations, there is a new effort to improve communications between different parts of the airline to better deal with delays, and hopefully reduce them as well. It’s called ConnectMe, and here’s how it’s being described to employees.

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Delta’s 72 Hour Rule & $150 Award Change Fee? Not This Time

by Gary Leff

delta plane
Sep 15 2018

When frequent flyer programs launched award tickets were supposed to be a reward for loyalty, and award customers were expected to be treated better than paying customers. There are often steep change fees on award tickets now, but mileage awards are for the most part still cancellable with points redeposited into an account. In other words even after myriad rule changes over the years, inventory issues aside, they’re still more flexible than paid tickets.

Miles aren’t just an alternative currency used to purchase travel or services from an airline, they are a thank you for your business, and redeeming miles should feel like a reward and not a punishment. Delta got this one right.

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United Threatens to Leave Newark Over Fuel Taxes

by Gary Leff

airport newark
Sep 15 2018

New Jersey is considering raising aviation fuel taxes — but only on United Airlines. Currently New Jersey taxes fuel burned during taxi and takeoff. A bill under consideration would extend that to all fuel that United burns (since it applies only to airlines carrying over 8 million passengers per year out of the state).

United’s position “the tax is enacted, she said United might have to consider transferring the bulk of its operations to one of the other hubs.” The extra cost to United is expected to be $20 million. United will not abandon its Newark hub over $20 million.

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San Francisco Centurion Lounge: Departing Passengers Only, No More Than 3 Hours Before Flight

by Gary Leff

outside lounge
Sep 14 2018

Ultimately there are too many people who have been eligible to use the lounges, who have wanted to use the lounges, relative to the size of the lounges. There’s only so much they can do to expand capacity in the airports they work in (and larger lounges are going to attract more people who still stay longer, since currently some people – like me – often stay away precisely due to the crowding).

It is simply difficult to offer a quality lounge product which includes a peaceful, quiet experience for the number of people who have access through Platinum American Express cards.

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