Monthly Archives

Monthly Archives for August 2019.

Marriott’s Twitter Team Can’t Fathom Anyone Complimenting Bonvoy on Social Media

by Gary Leff

outside marriott hotel
Aug 19 2019

Twitter used to be the “go-to” way of getting personalized customer service, and with some brands it still is. Many companies assign super competent agents to deal with twitter, and empower them to cut through bureaucracy to solve problems.

Not all do however. And some just follow the ‘first rule of social media’ which is to try to get customers to stop blasting the company as quickly as possible. The easiest way to do that is to get the customer to ‘take it to DM’.

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Are Flight Attendants Significantly Overpaid?

by Gary Leff

Aug 19 2019

Flight attendants respond to emergencies, bear the brunt of passenger frustrations and poor behavior, and staffing levels on some flights have been cut leading to more work. Maybe they’re underpaid.

I want to try out a very unpopular argument: that airlines pay too much for the flight attendants they’re hiring today, but that they should be paying more to attract flight attendants who will provide better service.

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Airlines Need a Brand Purpose (Not a Social Cause)

by Gary Leff

Aug 18 2019

One of the commercials in the series, though really resonated for its potential – a businessman reclining into his seat and crashing at the start of a long flight, the voiceover talks about what he’s done on his trip. Now he’s headed home.

The airline understands the business traveler. If it makes every decision focused on how to get the passenger where they need to go, when they need to be there, in the most comfortable way possible that’s a brand purpose. It focuses decision-making around schedule and product and it tells customers who they’re going to take care of and how.

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Report: American Airlines Tinkering With First Class, Won’t Fix Oasis Coach Seats

by Gary Leff

back of airplane seats
Aug 18 2019

There was a rumor swirling earlier in the year that American Airlines would reverse course and start giving back some space to passengers in coach as well as seat back entertainment screens.

While there’s a report confirming some fixes to American’s new ‘Oasis’ first class, it looks like there’s no reprieve in sight for customers in the main cabin — and the fixes up front may even come at a cost to passengers looking for extra legroom economy.

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The 10 Best Deals in All of Travel

by Gary Leff

first class
Aug 18 2019

The best deals at any given time will change, and I always assume that the very best one won’t last. There’s a tendency in travel towards mean reversion, with outlier offers disappearing and new ones popping up. That’s alright — as long as you’re taking advantage of the best deals while they’re around.

Here are what I think are the 10 best deals in travel. What do you think?

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What are the Really Unique Benefits of Top Tier Airline Elite Status?

by Gary Leff

air canada concierge
Aug 18 2019

Frequent flyer programs are really two separate and distinct efforts under the same banner: recognition and reward. Reward is mileage earning and redemption. Recognition consists of the (elite) benefits offered.

In the U.S. airline programs are generous by world standards in offering unsold domestic premium cabin seats as upgrades. However they aren’t as generous with service-oriented benefits.

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Southwest Airlines: Seat Fees and Bag Fees Coming?

by Gary Leff

airline seats
Aug 18 2019

Ariline Weekly founding editor Seth Kaplan writes at The Points Guy that Southwest Airlines may be doing worse at New York LaGuardia than at Newark, and they pulled out of Newark. He says they shouldn’t pull out of LaGuardia, though, and shouldn’t have left Newark.

The challenge of course is that at this point, given slot controls at two of the three New York airport and shortage of gates, it’s incredibly difficult to re-enter the market if you leave. Do they need to change their business model to succeed?

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Several States Go Farther Than the DOT – Criminalizing Fake Support Animals

by Gary Leff

Aug 17 2019

The Department of Transportation offered final guidance on its enforcement priorities with respect to emotional support animals.

They haven’t issued regulations – they’ve just told airlines the conditions under which they aren’t going to do anything in the event of a complaint by a passenger, essentially giving airlines license to deny carriage to emotional support animals of certain kinds, to place limits on the number of animals an individual may bring on, and to require paperwork from passengers claiming to need a support animal.

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