As a passenger this can be understandably scary. Fortunately the glass window panel didn’t actually break. There was no loss of cabin pressure. No one had to put on oxygen masks. The plane was safe to continue to its destination. Southwest did, however, give the passenger a $300 travel credit for the experience.
The deplaning process of an aircraft turn, IndiGo says, could be cut almost in half through use of this third door. That seems a stretch. But every minute matters to profitability – squeezing out an extra flight, getting flights out on time, or even just ensuring all flights are scheduled at a time the passenger wants to buy.
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 current ‘new design’ of American Airlines Admirals Clubs feel very institutional, from the lighting to the furniture. The perfect example of this is the A concourse club in Dallas which I think of as having hospital lighting. The smaller club in Charlotte follows this same motif.
Great news – they’re walking away from that design in upcoming new builds and renovations with a much more attractive template!
Spain has barred all commercial buildings from setting their thermostat below 80 degrees in summer. It would also ban setting thermostats above 66 degrees in winter. The moves are prompted by the country’s reliance on Russian gas.
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 Department of Transportation has published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would codify circumstances in which a passenger is entitled to a refund for their ticket, and rules for a future pandemic making passengers entitled to a voucher if it’s inadvisable for them to travel for public health reasons. DOT even wants to pre-write customer refunds into future pandemic bailouts of the airlines.
Mostly the rule would formalize current practice, after several airlines broke with convention during the pandemic and held their customers’ money hostage. There is much to like here, as a result of bad actors among the airlines and how tilted the law is in favor of air carriers. But there’s also some overreach as well.
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.
Airlines are one of the most heavily unionized industries in the country. That works out well for customers and investors at Southwest, but less well at other airlines. Delta, the other historically strong performer, is mostly non-union. Their largest unionized work group is their pilots. Delta’s dispatchers are also unionized.
The biggest flight attendants union is working hard to change that – even as they publish data that 97% of flight attendants they represent at United are deeply unhappy.
There are several rebates and bonus offers available right now for Uber and Uber Eats, that you can stack for lower costs, points, and to earn American Airlines elite status all at the same time if you sign up for the offers and use the right credit cards. In fact there’s a triple-dipping opportunity.
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 »
