On Tuesday I wrote about the American Airlines plan to reduce labor costs with ‘single agent boarding’. Airline CFO Derek Kerr brought up the plan at an investment conference after saying that employees just “have to work harder in certain areas.”
This is going to be a disaster for customers, and tough on employees.
Reciprocal mileage and status-earning on all flights operated by either airline is now available to members of both the TrueBlue and AAdvantage programs. Codeshares – which can be challenging for consumers – are no longer required.
Presenting at the Wolfe Research conference on Tuesday, Delta Air Lines President Glen Hauenstein shared that traveler confidence is up because “people booking further out” than before. Instead of just making a last minute flight reservation, they’re willing to plan ahead, confident in the direction of the global pandemic.
People are buying more premium seats than they used to, they’re promising to change policies if necessary to ensure as many people have status going forward as did in 2019, and they plan to keep investing in club lounges because their clubs sell credit cards.
On Tuesday’s American Airlines flight AA2547 from Phoenix to Orlando a passenger barely made it on board before the doors closed. He apparently was in a rush to make the flight and didn’t manage a needed stop at the restroom while enroute, according to the flight’s notes.
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.
United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby reported at the Wolfe Research conference on Tuesday that leisure demand is back over 100% of pre-pandemic levels, and business travel is going to fully recover too. He’s seen a spike in people using MileagePlus credit cards. And United will win customers with technology, soft product, and lower costs rather than investing in hard product.
Top American Airlines executives presented at the Wolfe Research financial conference Tuesday, and revealed that people are buying more first class seats than before because they want to distance on board – and no one is blocking middle seats anymore.
While the airline industry is recovering, led by leisure traffic, that could come to a half in the fall as kids go back to school and employees return to offices, with business travel not yet recovered enough to make up the slack. As a result, their cost-cutting is important and they expect employees to work harder than before – in ways that won’t be good for the customer.
Here’s why you should always use the dead bolt on your hotel room door – and it protects you from mistaken entry, too. And here’s what this 15 year old woman had the presence of mind to say to scare her intruder away.
The Westin Fort Lauderdale Beach Resort was hitting customers with a 2% fee to pay by credit card. Marriott has rich credit card deals with Chase and American Express, but Bonvoy members were even being penalized at this hotel for paying with a Marriott credit card.
It took a couple of months after being exposed, but this hotel no longer imposes a credit card fee – and no Marriott hotel in the U.S. or Canada is supposed to, either thanks to a new brand standard.
Belarus used a fake bomb threat to justify sending a fighter jet to intercept Ryanair flight FR4978 from Athens to Vilnius, Lithuania – and force it to land in the Belarusian capital of Minsk. Then, once it was on the ground, they snatched a journalist who had been highly critical of the nation’s strongman leader – and living in exile to avoid just this fate.
Now we know more about what happened as that plane was forced to land, and how the rest of the passengers were treated on the ground.
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 »
