Monthly Archives for February 2019.
Southwest Airlines doesn’t charge checked bag fees or change fees, and they’ve been profitable 46 years in a row. They don’t offer assigned seats, but generate $400 million a year in early boarding charges which let customers have a better shot at the seats they want. That’s an improvement for those customers compared to the airline’s base product.
While they continue to eschew bag and change fees, there’s talk of adding extras that they could charge… extra for.
Readers have lots of opinions of whether young kids belong on planes in the first place. If there’s anything close to an official word, though, you’d expect it from the columnist who calls herself Miss Manners. And she declares that “It is public transport: There is nothing prohibitive about who sits in which class except for the cost itself.”
Putting Milwaukee in the airport name emphasizes where it is but I don’t think anyone was confused about the Milwaukee airport’s location. The idea that this rebranding is going to “help[..] more people recognize MKE as an option” when they want to fly to Milwaukee seems to me patently absurd.
Meanwhile the irony of an airport named for General Mitchell – who had his title of General stripped by the military — having his title stripped from the airport that honors him is a bit too much.
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.
Banked hubs are costly to an airline, there’s a lot of activity, a lot of downtime, and they wind up paying people to stand around. But they’re attractive for selling tickets — shorter connecting times mean flights filter up to the top of search. Customers want to get where they’re going quickly. The problem is during irregular operations — bad weather can delay flight departures, then there are no gates for arriving flights, and challenges connecting cascade.
When Marriott launched its new program back in August they re-adjusted the redemption categories hotels were assigned to, after having done the same thing just months earlier. Moreover they ‘pre-announced’ about 60 hotels that would become more expensive in 2019 with the introduction of a new higher category 8.
Now they’ve announced 2019 category changes which go into effect March 5. Here’s what the changes look like and how to lock in lower pricing now.
Air France was partially privatized in 1999. As part of its acquisition of KLM in 2004, the French government’s stake in the combined carrier was reduced from 54.4% to 44%. The deal made the group the world’s largest airline by revenue.
The acquisition of a flag carrier was controversial, and not only did it require the French government giving up majority control but commitments were also made regarding KLM’s independence. To this day KLM has its own CEO, the independence of whom group CEO Ben Smith apparently bristles at.
British Airways and American announced today that BA would move to American’s terminal 8 in 2022. That’s not really news, since New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said this was part of the plan back in October. However we do get new details including a bus gate for the terminal. That’s miserable.
Some are surprised by BA’s willingness to walk away from that investment, but $65 million is peanuts amortized over four years in the context of the $1 billion annually they generate on the New York – London route.
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.
Confronted with proof that American Airlines does, in fact, offer predeparture beverages up front a spokesperson says “Safety is our highest priority and we apologise to our customers for the disruption to their travel plans, we have rebooked them on alternative flights.”
I asked what was being done for customers and was told that everyone on the flight is being offered 15,000 miles. Of course that is separate from the compensation that passengers are entitled to under EU Regulation 261/2004.
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 »
