News and notes from around the interweb:
- Southwest Airlines is testing free wifi through Monday on certain flights. They have a problem – free wifi means greater usage, which taxes bandwidth, and Southwest already has the generally worst-performing wifi of any U.S. airline (other than Frontier, which does not have wifi).
They trialed free wifi on some Anuvu-equipped planes on the West Coast back in mid-2022. This was after upgrading speed and bandwidth. I flew on a plane with ViaSat on Tuesday and the wifi was actually functional (it also featured USB power and space bins).
- Avelo will operate only one flight on Tuesdays starting June 10 (Burbank – Eugene, Oregon)
- It looks like the very generous targeted American Airlines loyalty point promotion is targeted at million milers who aren’t qualifying organically each year – essentially offering million milers a head start on higher status if they keep engaging in the program, a built-in feature of the Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan program.
- Atlanta airport says that Uber Black drivers are allowed to pick up passengers curbside – but drivers will be fined for doing so if the rides weren’t requested at least an hour in advance.
- This is true:
- 25% bonuses transferring Chase points to Air France KLM Flying Blue through May 31 and to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club through June 15.
- Okey dokey. (HT: Paul H)
Avelo only operates one flight system wide on Tuesdays? That’s got to be a horrible utilization of assets. It’s not like it’s 1985 when planes would fly on a Tuesday less than half full.
George,
the rest of Avelo’s planes are doing ICE deportation flights on Tuesdays.
good reason to never fly them
That ATL rideshare policy is silly. An hour before? Psh. If only DL actually had a DeltaOne lounge at its headquarters, then, and only then, would an extra hour at ATL be worthwhile, because you could visit the lounge upon arrival (if they allowed access like they do at JFK/LAX, maybe BOS.)
@Tim Dunn — For real (on Avelo)? If so, that’s disappointing. But in reality, it seems more like an economic indicator more than anything.
just google
“avelo ice flights”
@Tim Dunn — Yup, I see that, but it doesn’t seem to be the direct reason why the airline isn’t operating on Tuesdays. Anyway, I’ve never had the chance to fly Avelo (or Breeze, Silver, JSX, or Sun Country, for that matter, in terms of other current US-based carriers). Regardless, I tend to think that more competition is generally good for consumers and workers. Still, I see the ‘writing on the wall’ and fully expect bankruptcies, mergers and acquisitions.
Clown act right here!
The ICE flights are not that many not to mention the government uses various carriers, including non commercial. Global X? The idea that on Tuesday Avelo is a regional for ICE Express is laughable.
BTW, these are people with an order of removal. If you’d like an open border try Ireland because that’s worked out wonderful for them.
no one is making any judgment about whether the US should be doing deportation flights.
It simply shows that Avelo has other ways to use their aircraft on off-peak days which Tuesdays generally are.
There aren’t a whole lot of scheduled passenger carriers lining up to operate these flights.
@George N Romey — Well, apparently, not all people removed from the country received ‘due process’ in the last 100 days (some were indeed ‘renditioned’ on a whim, including US citizens, too, namely the kid with cancer, though I doubt Fox/OAN/Newsmax covered that one.)
Also, were you just mocking The Troubles? Awful false equivalence, sir. We are not dealing with that level of sectarian violence in the USA today (not yet.) If anything, such a tragedy should be a lesson for what we must avoid. Recall that between the 1960s and 1998, about 3,500 people died, nearly 1,900 civilians. I toured both countries in 2018, and am happy to report that both the Republic of Ireland and North Ireland are just fine today. Which horror do wish to mock next?