Monthly Archives for June 2021.
My award booking partner Steve Belkin has a new book out, Mileage Maniac, which any frequent flyer or mileage junkie will get real enjoyment from.
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.
Masks have been highly controversial and some of their biggest flash points have taken place on planes, from passengers getting ejected over not wearing them to the continued U.S. federal mask mandate for transportation when mask requirements are lifted in most other situations.
Perhaps the best mask study to date shows that just telling people they had to wear masks was a mistake. The policy focus should have been on supplying better masks and teaching people how to wear them effectively.
The CARES Act and successor spending bills gave $79 billion from U.S. taxpayers to airlines. But American Airlines is blaming the laws for its inability to catering flights out of Dallas – Fort Worth with beverages and snacks.
At a recent employee question and answer session, a recording of which was reviewed by View From The Wing, a flight attendant asked CEO Doug Parker about catering problems in Dallas and Charlotte. Parker responded by blaming catering companies who have been unable to to hire employees.
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.
At an American Airlines employee question and answer session mid-month, a recording of which was reviewed by View From The Wing, a flight attendant asked CEO Doug Parker about unruly passengers and blamed alcohol – not the alcohol on planes, because American hasn’t been serving alcohol in coach, but the alcohol that passengers have been bringing onto the aircraft themselves.
And the crewmember suggested that American’s move to have just a single agent at each gate to board aircraft makes it tougher to notice and do something about these passengers who are breaking the law and causing incidents inflight before they get onto the plane.
At a recent American Airlines employee question and answer event, a recording of which was reviewed by View From The Wing, a flight attendant asked CEO Doug Parker about frequent inflight incidents with passengers. Parker acknowledged, “much of it is due to the masks, I know.” Parker predicts that the conflicts over masks “may get even harder between now and September 13th.”
The plan is to be “encouraging customers to authorize tips at check-in to ensure staff were recognized for their hard work” and having these charged to credit cards, since customers are carrying less cash. They’re also “considering adding a minimum gratuity to restaurant checks.”
This is a tipping point, according to the chain’s CEO, for consumers deciding whether to retain the elevated tipping levels of the pandemic, when consumers felt bad for hotel workers serving customers or whether they’ll revert to pre-pandemic tipping practices. The chain’s task, he believes, is “to educate customers about how hard staff had been working,” and make sure they continue elevated tipping. Hard work shouldn’t be recognized by higher wages.
United Airlines flight UA5365 from Los Angeles to Salt Lake City was delayed 3 hours and 40 minutes Friday night, not arriving until 1:25 a.m. on Saturday, after a passenger tried to enter the cockpit of the SkyWest regional jet prior to departure from LAX. When that didn’t work, he opened the door of the aircraft, popping the slide, and slid down onto the tarmac.
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.
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 »
