Category Archives for Airlines.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy says he is open to airline mergers and framed the issue in unmistakably political terms, saying President Trump “loves to see big deals happen.” He’s signaling that the administration is more open to consolidation than the last one, and speculation abounds over what happens to Spirit Airlines and especially JetBlue.
Etihad is selling seats for half price not because Gulf fuel is cheap, but because demand to and through the UAE has weakened enough that the airline is cutting fares to fill planes. It has slashed some fares by up to 50% through June even as Emirates and Qatar have not matched those discounts.
I’m rooting for them each time they add something new, because competition benefits all of us even if you don’t make bookings through Rove – but I find I do occasionally use their shopping portal (when it offers the best deal) and they offer points for booking hotels that still earn hotel points and elite status credit, also.
Delta pilots are opening contract talks early and pushing for a fast deal even though they already earn as much as $465.13 an hour at the top of the scale, because they know their leverage may not last. Delta is highly profitable now, pilot hiring is resuming, and new aircraft types are entering the fleet, but oil prices, the economy, and politics can all turn quickly — so the union is trying to lock in gains while the window is still open.
Patent Armory has sued JSX over the software that routes customer service calls, the latest move from a plaintiff that has filed more than 90 patent cases in just three years. One of the two patents it is asserting has already expired, and a similar suit it brought against Delta lasted only about three months before being voluntarily dismissed.
An Alaska Airlines flight attendant was photographed wearing an “ICE OUT” pin while working a recent flight, injecting a charged immigration slogan into one of the few places passengers cannot simply walk away. Whatever someone thinks about immigration enforcement, the cabin is a bad place for crew political messaging: the power imbalance is real, the slogan flattens a complicated issue, and the airline’s brand winds up carrying an employee’s personal politics.
American Airlines current CEO Robert Isom and former CEO Doug Parker were reportedly on the same Paris-to-DFW flight Sunday, returning with family and “Gucci shopping bags in hand” — while Isom is currently embattled over the carrier’s poor financial performance.
Airlines keep telling passengers the overhead bins are full, then sending them onto planes where empty space is still sitting open above the seats.
It is one of the fastest ways to make customers furious, and it happens for a simple reason: gate agents are under pressure to avoid even minor delays, so they often start forcing carry-ons into the hold before the bins are actually full.
Airline upgrade advice never stops circulating, even though much of it is nonsense. From dressing nicely to hinting at a special occasion, travelers keep hearing that the right attitude or outfit can unlock first class. In reality, upgrades mostly go to elite status, paid offers, and airline-controlled systems — not to whoever looks most deserving at the gate.
United’s new tentative agreement really does deliver what the union is selling on the headline items: roughly 30% higher base pay, 50% boarding pay, a richer 401(k) match, and meaningfully better hotel language. But after reading all 425 pages, the fuller story is that the gains come with real tradeoffs too — profit sharing still trails Delta and American, the retro pay is not truly full retro, and the union gave up the restriction that had blocked United from owning a regional airline without using mainline flight attendants.
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 »
