Category Archives for Airlines.
Climate advisers in the U.K. have floated restrictions on frequent flyer rewards as an “easy” way to reduce emissions, and commentators are now using that to explain why British Airways Avios keep getting worse. That gets the story backwards: BA is devaluing because loyalty is profitable, while bigger, fixable aviation emissions problems—from Europe’s fractured air traffic control system to contrail avoidance—are treated as an afterthought.
United and American are getting better at telling passengers the real reasons their flights are delayed. That transparency is useful, but it also exposes a long-running airline habit: blaming weather or air traffic control when it’s actually something within their control – like mechanical issues or available crew – that caused the delay in the first place.
American Airlines advertises same-day confirmed changes as a way to move to a better flight, but its rules make the benefit far harder to use than United or Delta. Seats can still be for sale, first class passengers can be blocked, hub customers can lose flexibility, and the app may not even show options that should be available.
Philippine Airlines is joining oneworld next year, finally putting one of the better-hidden Asia award opportunities within reach of American Airlines flyers. Its seats have often been unusually available but hard for U.S. travelers to book; once PAL enters oneworld, those awards should become cheaper and easier to access—until everyone else starts chasing them too.
American Airlines flight attendants are suing for overtime pay under Illinois law, arguing that time at the airport should count as work even though their union contract pays under a very different system. It is part of a growing wave of lawsuits trying to use state wage laws to punch through airline labor contracts.
A British Airways flight attendant has been suspended after reportedly getting drunk at a hotel in Belfast during a layover and offering a sexual proposition to an employee in exchange for wine after the bar closed. And given cabin crew layover culture at the airline, this is the most British Airways story ever.
A Houston man allegedly got through TSA with a fake boarding pass, slipped past a distracted United gate agent, and boarded a full flight to Los Angeles without a ticket. He might have made it farther if every seat hadn’t already been taken.
Avelo’s CEO wants the Ryanair model pushed even further: not just low airport costs, and cities paying his airline to fly there — but future airport deals giving Avelo part ownership of the airport itself. That turns ordinary route incentives into public airports handing over a stake to a fragile private airline while taxpayers absorb the risk.
Three weeks ago I revealed that American Airlines had brought restaurant-style ordering of hot food items to its Flagship lounges. American has now announced this change – along with several others.
Passengers on an Israeli airline flight bound for Slovenia ended up in Croatia instead after Slovenian authorities refused to let the plane land, forcing travelers to continue by ground to Ljubljana – all on the last day of the outgoing Slovenia which has been anti-Israel, before a new friendlier government took power.
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 »
