Monthly Archives for August 2021.
Mask rules hinder air travel’s recovery. American’s strength in Latin America is on the southern side of the equation. And the airline needs to think differently to succeed in earning a revenue premium.
In a prank, someone asked for Delta Air Lines help in recalling Newsom to gate A25 at the Atlanta airport. In the best Bart Simpson tradition, Delta paged “Recall Newsom.”
A Pakistani truck driver named Masho Shinwari reportedly went to the Kabul airport to see the unfolding drama there – and wound up in the United States.
It almost always seems better to solve the structural problems of the mainline carrier than to start a new airline. That seems harder ex ante but given the track record of ‘creating new airlines’ and walking away from economies of scale in the process the airline within an airline model hardly seems the uniquely better option.
Indeed, British Airways has already altered its short haul product to be more like a low cost leisure carrier, with less seat pitch than Ryanair (even in business class). They’ve reduced their labor costs through a series of contracts, B scales, and labor actions over the past dozen years – a process which accelerated during the pandemic.
One flight I like right now for redemption is American’s Charlotte – Frankfurt service where I’m seeing 4 business class saver awards on a majority of flights in November and for January through March.
What’s useful about this is the connectivity in and out of Charlotte, much of it pairable with this daily Boeing 777-200 flight.
Australia kept the virus at bay through much of the pandemic, but is seeing more spread than at any time in the past 18 months. They’re in lockdown, and behind most of the West in vaccinations. Australians can’t leave the country, and few residents can even enter. The A380 wasn’t supposed to fly again until mid-2023 ‘at the earliest.’
So who had the Qantas A380 returning to Los Angeles in July on their pandemic aviation bingo card?
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.
American Airlines wholly-owned regional carrier Piedmont has come to an agreement for more pay with its pilots union.
I’ve heard from flight attendants at Piedmont none too happy, because they’ve waited several years for a new contract. Of course pilots are in much greater demand by airlines and harder to replace, and unhappy pilots directly affect an airline’s operation (while unhappy flight attendants ‘merely’ mean unhappy customers).
United Airlines is beginning to roll out cash and points (‘money + miles’) awards on a limited number of domestic U.S. markets. They want to make it possible for customers to redeem a small number of miles and get some value quickly from the program.
Cathay Pacific is currently making business class awards widely available between the U.S. and Hong Kong for up to four passengers, from several gateway cities, in late spring and summer 2022. This allows you to connect beyond Hong Kong to much of Asia. And if you’re uncertain what the future holds, American AAdvantage no longer has award cancellation/redeposit fees.
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 »
