Category Archives for Airlines.
Self-tagging a bag should mean the airline has removed the bottleneck. Instead, passengers can print their own tags in two minutes and still stand in line for an hour just to hand the bag to an employee — a completely unnecessary failure when automated bag drop already exists and some airlines do use it.
Airlines say flight attendants are there primarily for safety, not service. But in an American Airlines teen death case, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed crew confusion and delay during a cardiac arrest on an international flight, saying what matters is whether the FAA-required defibrillator actually worked.
Global Airlines promised a luxury Airbus A380 revival across the Atlantic. Instead, its one used A380 is parked in storage, the airline still lacks the licenses needed to operate scheduled service, and now one of its most credible backers — OnlyFans co-founder Tom Stokely — has left the board.
Philippine Airlines has long had some of the best award availability across the Pacific, but U.S. travelers had few practical ways to book it. Now Qatar Airways Privilege Club can book Philippine Airlines awards online, opening a new path from U.S. transfer points to Manila and beyond — with reasonable taxes, useful availability, and pricing that is good to know before you transfer.
Southwest used to give everyone free bags and open seating. Now those perks increasingly belong to elites — and Southwest is letting rival airline elites match into top status, then potentially do it again year after year.
A viral video showed a Colorado Rockies coach sitting in a United cockpit midflight. The pilots were fired, the FAA investigated, and the captain now argues she was retaliated against for reporting the incident, but the security breach happened on her watch.
Emirates may get the right to fly Tel Aviv–New York, and not just as a stopover on the way to Dubai. Israel is reportedly offering the Gulf carrier rare seventh-freedom rights, setting up a fight with El Al, Delta, United, and anyone else that does not want Emirates competing on one of the most politically sensitive long-haul routes in the world.
United’s “Agent on Demand” is supposed to replace the airport customer service desk when travel goes sideways. But after a canceled flight in Atlanta, one passenger says the remote agent offered “nothing,” sent her to the 800 number, and could be heard talking about her while the call was still live.
fter more than 17 hours in the air from Dubai, Emirates flight 213 reached Miami in thunderstorms, missed one landing for windshear and poor visibility, then got sent around again when the runway was not clear. That second go-around turned “minimum fuel” into a Mayday call.
A passenger on a Shenzhen Airlines Boeing 737 noticed something wrong with the wing, photographed it, and showed the cabin crew — and after landing, the jet was pulled from service for maintenance. It appears to have been a loose or detached flap rail fairing, the kind of issue passengers may see from the cabin before anyone in the cockpit can.
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 »
