Modern airlines are really transportation system, and part financial trading firm. And sometimes they’re more of the latter than the former.
As Delta lost billions of dollars last year on commodities futures (‘fuel hedges’) I wrote that they’re as much a complex derivatives trading firm as an airline.
United and Continental merged in 2010, with Continental management eventually taking over, but six years later that merger is still not complete.
Legacy United and Continental flight attendants still do not operate under a single contract, and as a result United flight attendants work United planes and Continental flight attendants work Continental planes — and new aircraft get split between them.
A couple of weeks ago – finally – United and its flight attendants came to terms on a joint contract. Here’s a union summary of the deal (.pdf) showing that wages go up substantially.
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.
It’s a Bank of America offer of up to 90,000 bonus miles for a card that earns 1.5 miles per dollar on all of your spend. I’d stop at earning 75,000 bonus miles, but if you go all the way you’ll earn 127,500 miles including the miles from your spending.
Virgin Atlantic miles aren’t the best miles, but this is a great bonus from a bank you may not already have any rewards cards from.
On Thursday American announced details of the launch of their new Boeing 787-9 aircraft.
Inaugural flights have been loaded into American’s schedule and are now available for sale.
Delta is running a domestic economy (and extra legroom seating) award sale. At least they tell us it’s a sale, which means there are regular prices, even though Delta hides what those regular prices are (“an ignorant customer is their best customer”).
At the upper end of value, Chicago Midway – Atlanta is on sale for 5000 miles (and tax of $5.60). That’s better than paying 12,500 miles of course for the same flight. And its actually a good deal. Normally when we see these sales 5000 mile awards correspond to flights less than $90. This time 5000 miles can save you nearly $200.
SkyTeam member KLM has been working with Dutch brewery Heineken on a way to offer draft beer inflight.
This is a technical challenge. Most planes are pressurized to 8000 feet, and new aircraft like Boeing 787s and Airbus A350s to 6000 feet.
With less air pressure in the cabin than on the ground, it isn’t just taste buds that change. A beer tap will “only dispense a huge amount of foam” according to Heineken’s Edwin Griffioen.
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.
The Qatar Airways first class lounge in Doha is one of the strangest, most stunning, and most exclusive lounges in the world. Someone on my Facebook feed said it ‘looked like a museum’. Indeed, it actually has hundreds of years old pieces on display from Doha’s Museum of Islamic Art (!). There are some real quirks to it, though.
Uber, which normally only gives free Uber credit to new customers, has an offer for even existing customers of $15 towards their next ride in the U.S. when paying with a MasterCard.
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 »
