Reclining is allowed. Repeatedly body-slamming your seatback for two hours because the guy behind you is tall is not. That is what passengers say happened on a United flight from Denver to Chicago, while the 6’7″ man behind him somehow stayed completely unbothered while a flight attendant allowed it to continue.
Delta’s “eco-conscious” inflight cutbacks look even worse when the utensils start melting. Plus: Southwest’s once-unthinkable layoffs continue, American’s cabin cleaning misses another seatback surprise, and Spirit gets its own ballad.
A Qantas Boeing 787 flying from Melbourne to Dallas diverted to Tahiti after a disruptive passenger allegedly bit a flight attendant and had to be restrained with help from other passengers.
Soon your AI may book your flights. The question is whether it will find the best fare for you — or the one that pays its creator, after researchers found models could be prompted to push $1,500 sponsored flights over $500 alternatives.
AFA-CWA wants the government to force airlines to add flight attendants on widebody jets in the name of evacuation safety. But the FAA’s own data says evacuations are already safe, and risks involve passenger bags, communication, blocked exits, smoke, fire, and training — not too few flight attendants.
Hyatt just won a major appeals court fight over how its loyalty program is taxed, a ruling that could ultimately save the company $589 million, just as World of Hyatt members are about to pay more for free nights. The program is also getting a major economic boost from the new Chase deal.
The FAA has a novel way to ease the air traffic controller shortage: lower the staffing target by 2,000. Plus: a king cobra emerges from a resort toilet, Delta defends its Wi-Fi portal after Elon Musk’s Starlink jab, and American serves a very sad international meal.
LAX’s new Metro station is about to get an airline name — but not Delta, United, American or Southwest. Cathay Pacific is set to pay nearly $10 million for naming rights to the airport’s rail-and-bus gateway, turning it into the Cathay Pacific/LAX Metro Transit Center even though most riders will be heading to other airlines.
Warren Buffett spent decades warning that airlines destroy capital, joking that investors needed to be talked down before buying them. Now Berkshire Hathaway is back anyway, disclosing a $2.6 billion stake in Delta — its third major run at an industry Buffett once treated like an addiction.
American Airlines wants to bring commercial flights back to Naples, Florida — a wealthy, convenient Gulf Coast airport that locals have spent years fighting, and even tried to move. The plan is for Charlotte service starting this winter, but the real story is whether one of Florida’s most contested small airports is finally opening the door to airline service again.
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 »
