Category Archives for Airlines.
The longest domestic flights today are all U.S. routes to Hawaii, but during Covid Air Tahiti Nui briefly flew Tahiti–Paris nonstop as an even longer “domestic” oddity.
American Airlines pilot trading cards are now in circulation for the airline’s 100th anniversary, but not every pilot has them yet. Here’s the best way to ask.
American Airlines is spending billions on better seats, lounges, wine, and food, but recent service complaints show its premium pivot still depends on getting flight attendants to deliver it.
Delta confirms plan to consider Thompson VantageSOLO business class seat, which is already flying with several airlines, because their planned Safran seat for premium A321neo transcon aircraft has so far been unable to achieve certification. That’s a less desireable seat, and still leaves their new cross-country business class product years away.
United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby is still talking about buying American Airlines, and continued to give remarks advocating for it at the IATA annual general meeting in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Kirby is keeping pressure on American Airlines CEO Robert Isom and his board while pretending the matter is practically closed.
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.
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 »
