The FAA ATO is understaffed. It has badly managed technology investments for decades, only finally working to eliminate the use of paper flight strips and pushing back against investments like remote towers.
Cleveland to Pittsburgh is a 106 mile flight. You can drive it in 2 hours. But Alaska Airlines is going to fly this route, and they’ll sell you a ticket for $129. But they won’t fly you back.
There are times when American Airlines systems do not recognize these bag benefits even though the passenger is entitled to them.
An August 8, 2023 memo to the airline’s customer care agents outlines “a few known scenarios” where American’s computers fail to recognize free checked bags that customers are entitled to.
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency and International Civil Aviation Organisation conducted a “pre-audit” in June, to prepare for next year’s formal Universal Safety Oversight Audit, to give them a chance to rectify problems first. They identified two issues, both problems in the United States, but it’s the details here that are scary.
An American Airlines flight attendant took to social media because she wants premium cabin customers to know that they are not entitled to a bottle of water. Traditionally you’ll find a bottle of water at your seat when flying long haul in business class. Alaska Airlines gives you one at your seat domestically. But if you ask for one, that’s at the discretion of the crewmember on American – and this one wants you to know that it is a privilege and not a right.
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Two police officers were injured at Washington Dulles airport when a segway belonging to the airport’s Segway/T3 Patrol spontaneously caught fire. The departures level of the head house was evacuated for approximately 90 minutes while the fire department responded to the blaze.
This past Wednesday, boarding passes printed by American Airlines agents no longer show a customer’s full frequent flyer number on them.
This is still just for agent-printed boarding passes. Kiosks, mobile app, and American Airlines website boarding passes still show full frequent flyer numbers, although the plan is that these “will also eventually conceal the frequent flyer number by end of 2023.”
American Airlines has just pulled the trigger on one more element of unwinding the partnership. The airline no longer has access to seat maps for JetBlue flights. They can’t assign seats for customers who booked through them, and have to tell customers to contact JetBlue for seat assignments.
A passenger whose father passed away is railing against United Airlines. His parents were supposed to travel on the airline to London. Without her husband to fly with, his mom still wants to take the trip with her daughter. They have two tickets, and want to use two tickets, but the airline wants an additional $1,000. Is that fair?
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 »
