Monthly Archives for May 2021.
American Airlines refers to its premium long haul and cross country product as ‘Flagship’ and even calls its business class lounges Flagship. Delta used the term Flagship in releases – in its ordinary sense of the term, describing something as being premier – when talking about its Atlanta Sky Club, its business class suite, and its Airbus A350. American sued. The case has settled on the eve of trial.
The FAA usually sees 100 – 150 cases of bad inflight behavior filed with them each year. Already this year there have been 2500, 1900 of which have deal with refusal to wear a mask. Most inflight disturbances don’t make it to the FAA.
We’ve seen a real increase in inflight conflicts, and it’s going to get worse before it gets better. There are generally five reasons why we’re heading towards a new peak.
On Tuesday I wrote about the American Airlines plan to reduce labor costs with ‘single agent boarding’. Airline CFO Derek Kerr brought up the plan at an investment conference after saying that employees just “have to work harder in certain areas.”
This is going to be a disaster for customers, and tough on employees.
Reciprocal mileage and status-earning on all flights operated by either airline is now available to members of both the TrueBlue and AAdvantage programs. Codeshares – which can be challenging for consumers – are no longer required.
Presenting at the Wolfe Research conference on Tuesday, Delta Air Lines President Glen Hauenstein shared that traveler confidence is up because “people booking further out” than before. Instead of just making a last minute flight reservation, they’re willing to plan ahead, confident in the direction of the global pandemic.
People are buying more premium seats than they used to, they’re promising to change policies if necessary to ensure as many people have status going forward as did in 2019, and they plan to keep investing in club lounges because their clubs sell credit cards.
On Tuesday’s American Airlines flight AA2547 from Phoenix to Orlando a passenger barely made it on board before the doors closed. He apparently was in a rush to make the flight and didn’t manage a needed stop at the restroom while enroute, according to the flight’s notes.
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.
United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby reported at the Wolfe Research conference on Tuesday that leisure demand is back over 100% of pre-pandemic levels, and business travel is going to fully recover too. He’s seen a spike in people using MileagePlus credit cards. And United will win customers with technology, soft product, and lower costs rather than investing in hard product.
Top American Airlines executives presented at the Wolfe Research financial conference Tuesday, and revealed that people are buying more first class seats than before because they want to distance on board – and no one is blocking middle seats anymore.
While the airline industry is recovering, led by leisure traffic, that could come to a half in the fall as kids go back to school and employees return to offices, with business travel not yet recovered enough to make up the slack. As a result, their cost-cutting is important and they expect employees to work harder than before – in ways that won’t be good for the customer.
Here’s why you should always use the dead bolt on your hotel room door – and it protects you from mistaken entry, too. And here’s what this 15 year old woman had the presence of mind to say to scare her intruder away.
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 »
