In the Alaska Airlines second quarter earnings call on Thursday Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer Andrew Harrison noted that award redemptions spiked after combining Alaska and Virgin America into a single airline,. He reported total “redemptions grew by 22%” and saver redemptions were up 40%.
American AAdvantage members gobbled up the inventory.
The Federal Air Marshal Service is arguably the least competent law enforcement agency in the country. Naturally they are part of the TSA, which reportedly has a program to make sure air marshals don’t show up tot he airport drunk.
No air marshal has ever stopped a terrorist or hijacker since the service was founded in 1962. Although an air marshal did shoot and kill a US citizen in 2005. If something really bad did happen on a flight and an air marshal was onboard they lack the training to do anything about it.
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.
Most of the things that raise concerns for airline passengers aren’t safety issues.
It’s natural for passengers to wonder if seeing broken items in the cabin means that’s also how important maintenance are being neglected. Is the aircraft safe? Except U.S. airlines really haven’t sacrificed safety even during the toughest times.
Oh the drama! First Iberia offered up to 90,000 points at a cost of around $300 for booking flights you never even need to take. That’s because the points were supposed to post right away, and expire if unused December 1, while flights could even be for next year.
Iberia started freezing accounts that took advantage of the promotion and coming up with reasons not to honor the deal for some members. However they honored the deal for most people and even have been unlocking some accounts and continuing to post bonus points.
American Airlines believes that investing in product, while necessary to keep up, won’t be a sustainable advantage. All airlines can buy the same products. So the real competitive advantage has to be culture.
The airline does a weekly podcast for employees. This week’s episode is about the airline’s Elevate Training.
When United delayed several flights overnight this week at Chicago O’Hare, passengers took to cots provided by the airport. But airport security rousted them all at 4 a.m. adding true insult to injury.
Austin’s airport is adding 37% more gates next year, and Delta is preparing to make it a focus city complete with SkyClub with outdoor deck.
Focus city status isn’t official for Austin yet, but as of Friday it is for Raleigh-Durham which serves the Research Triangle area of North Carolina, where Delta is already the largest airline (carrying one-third of passengers, with 10% connecting connecting traffic). Delta’s other focus cities are Cincinnati and Boston (of course Cincinnati used to be a hub).
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.
Hilton has been running double points since May 1. Hilton usually runs double points, for instance they basically ran it all of 2016.
Apparently they’re not ready to launch a new, exciting different promotion right away because instead of ending double points August 31 they’re extending it.
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 »
