Monthly Archives

Monthly Archives for October 2019.

American Airlines is Launching Two New Flights to New Zealand

by Gary Leff

skyline
Oct 28 2019

American Airlines has just announced two new flights to New Zealand – Dallas Fort Worth – Auckland and Los Angeles – Christchurch. Since Air New Zealand abandoned its non-stop U.S. – Christchurch flying this will be the only flight between the U.S. and New Zealand’s South Island.

Both flights are non-daily and seasonal, and add to American’s seasonal service between Los Angeles and Auckland (which will see a slightly expanded winter 2020-2021 season starting October 7).

Continue Reading »

United’s Chief Commercial Officer Throws Shade at American: Extra Legroom Seats are Needed for Elites

by Gary Leff

united planes runway
Oct 27 2019

Andrew Nocella, United’s executive vice president and chief commercial officer – who came to United with Scott Kirby and who was responsible for many of the negative changes at American Airlines once legacy US Airways management took over – offered some important observations about their customers at the airline’s media day.

Continue Reading »

American Airlines Added a New Rome Flight – And Upgrades are Available Every Single Day

by Gary Leff

Oct 27 2019

American Airlines has added a second daily Dallas Fort-Worth – Rome flight for a limited summer season, July 2nd through August 17. That’s a peak of peak travel period.

While the pre-existing daily flights, AA239 and AA240, appear to rarely if every offer award or upgrade space (as we have come to expect from American Airlines), this new flight appears to have upgrade but no award space open every single day and indeed open with enough seats for the whole family.

Continue Reading »

Boeing 737 Pilot Decided to Keep Flying 800 Miles After Losing an Engine

by Gary Leff

Oct 27 2019

Back on August 22, a Smartwings Boeing 737-800 took off from Samos, Greece. Flight QS1125 was headed to Prague with 170 people on board. About 100 nautical miles northeast of Athens the aircraft’s left engine shut down while at 36,000 feet.

The crew tried to restart the engine while descending to 24,000 feet. The engine wouldn’t restart. The captain decided not to declare an emergency.

Continue Reading »

There’s a Trick to Closing American’s New Bigger Overhead Bins

by Gary Leff

inside plane
Oct 26 2019

American’s new overhead bins have enough space for each passenger on a full plane to bring a standard-sized carry on bag on board, which means passengers shouldn’t have to gate check their bags. That’s great for passengers, and also for the airline because gate checking can cause delays.

With more bags inside than before, the overhead bins can get heavy and difficult to close. It turns out there’s a trick to it.

Continue Reading »

United’s New Premium Regional Jet Launches Sunday. How Long Will It Last?

by Gary Leff

Oct 26 2019

United Airlines is launching their new premium regional jet configuration on board what they are calling the Bombardier CRJ-550. United can’t add more regional jets for large numbers of passengers. So they’re putting just 50 seats in a plane that can fit 50% more. This new aircraft makes its first commercial flight this Sunday, October 27th.

There are some positives – and, I think, real negatives – to this new aircraft. And it’s unclear United will even keep it in service if they get the deal they want from pilots in a new contract.

Continue Reading »