Monthly Archives for September 2020.
Noor Bin Ladin, who spells her last name with an ‘i’ rather than an ‘e’, was born in Switzerland. Her mother, a Swiss citizen, left her father in Saudi Arabia and raised her family in Europe. Bin Ladin spends much of her time in the United States and shared what airport security is like.
In a video shot last year, that only recently went viral, Bali police officers are videotaped extorting a Japanese tourist.
The visitor was driving a motorbike without its headlights on, which is required both day and night in Indonesia. The maximum fine is less than US$7. However the officers demand one million Indonesian Rupees in cash (about ten times the maximum fine). Since the man didn’t have that much, they haggled and accepted a lower amount. And by the way the officers who approached him aren’t even traffic cops.
What makes Miami surprising is that it’s the type of market the ‘old Southwest’ would never have entered. They already have a huge operation in Fort Lauderdale, and a smaller one at West Palm Beach and while they aren’t exactly the same markets there’s huge overlap. Southwest always favored the less expensive airports, and avoided congested business hubs.
Miami is one of the more expensive airports to operate from in the U.S. This was, if not an explicit policy of pre-merger American Airlines to drive up airport costs, something that their management sat by and was ok with happening – because it chased all the low cost carriers to Fort Lauderdale. That’s changing.
Ultimately basic economy isn’t how American and other airlines will attract more of the travelers that are out there – it is how they will give those travelers less than they used to, in order to charge more money to people that aren’t as price sensitive.
Delta Air Lines won’t be furloughing any flight attendants this year, even as its largest competitors lay off thousands.
Last Labor Day Delta gave its non-union workforce a big raise. This Labor Day their flight attendants get to keep their jobs. Delta has made a strong argument to its flight attendants not to unionize.
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.
The note a disgruntled passenger passed to an American Airlines flight attendant has gone viral. In the note, the passenger objected to being told their mask had to cover their nose and called the crewmember “a glorified MAID” a “mask nazi” who should be “cleaning motel rooms for $2 tips and meth” and that her life is “a waste.”
The change isn’t about being ‘customer friendly’ and it wasn’t about share shift – which won’t happen, because major airlines quickly matched each other on this – it’s about modernizing the pricing model and getting rid of a tool that wasn’t relevant anymore, while at the same time making those non-basic economy fares more attractive to less price-sensitive buyers.
American Airlines is surveying some top elites on how they might reorganize systemwide upgrades, the upgrades American’s top elites and million milers receive that can be used to secure a seat in a higher cabin than what you purchase any time after booking. They’re looking at how they might replace at least one of these upgrades with other rewards. Here’s what they seem to be testing, according to reports I’ve seen:
Demetria Poe, a kindergarten teacher from Minnesota, shared a story about Delta Air Lines on Facebook about the seat mate from hell – that Delta told her would be banned from the airline – and about how other passengers around her reacted to the incident. The story ends in an upgrade, and a gift bag from the airline.
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 »
