Category Archives for Airlines.
A traveler says they spent a pile of miles for a one-time first class trip — only to hear a child casually compare it unfavorably to Emirates. The joke lands because it is not really about aviation at all, but about the moment your hard-won luxury is revealed to be someone else’s baseline.
Passengers on a United flight from Chicago to New York were told to brace for an emergency landing, then ordered to leave everything behind and run after the plane diverted to Pittsburgh over a possible bomb on board. The episode triggered a 7700 emergency squawk, a runway evacuation, and a rapid response from bomb technicians, even though officials were still describing it as a security issue rather than confirming an actual explosive device.
The new system American Airlines is using to connect pilots with flights at the last minute, and make sure flights are staffed, is fueling a revolt of its more senior cockpit crew. It means junior pilots get access to more high paying flights. With senior pilots furious that their union let this in the contract, it could tip the scales in efforts already underway by half the pilots to overthrow their union.
American Airlines says it is not in merger talks with United, but its carefully worded response does more than just shut down one specific rumor. By backing broader airline consolidation while ruling out a United deal, American appears to be drawing a line against the merger it cannot survive politically while leaving open the possibility of other combinations that might better fit both antitrust realities and the Trump administration’s dealmaking instincts.
Spirit Airlines is asking the Trump administration for a taxpayer bailout as the airline fights to avoid liquidation in its second bankruptcy in a year. The request is extraordinary not just because Spirit already took hundreds of millions in pandemic aid, but because there is no obvious legal path for the government to rescue a single failing airline without Congress — and if Spirit gets help, other struggling carriers will be lined up next.
A United Airlines pilot was accused of using a slur against a passenger. Then the accuser admitted the whole thing was made up and asked for points anyway, turning the episode into an example of the fake brand complaint meme that airlines and their social teams increasingly have to navigate.
Southwest Airlines is no longer just testing the idea of lounges. The airline now appears to have at least five lounges in its pipeline, with Honolulu, Nashville, Denver, Dallas Love Field, and Austin all part of a move into premium airport space.
United’s free Starlink internet rollout is still supposed to take until the end of next year, but passengers are now reporting that free Wi-Fi has quietly spread to some non-Starlink aircraft as well. If that holds, it means United has started delivering one of the biggest quality-of-life upgrades in domestic flying faster and more broadly than it has publicly said.
The FAA has capped Chicago O’Hare at 2025 schedule levels for the summer, a move that sharply cuts back United’s much larger growth plan while largely preserving American’s rebuilt position. That makes this more than a routine delay-fighting order: it is a major intervention in the Chicago airline battle, one that blocks United from using aggressive over-scheduling to strengthen its hold on gates and market share.
Airlines are selling domestic first class seats for as little as $26 instead of using them to reward frequent flyers, and that is quietly gutting the biggest reason many customers chase top-tier status in the first place. That weakens premium credit card spend. But there are ways they could fix this.
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 »
