Category Archives for Airlines.
Flight attendants at American Airlines are getting increasingly frustrated. Here’s what American’s Philadelphia base is promoting, an interesting amalgamation of complaints about society as well as a reflection on their own leadership: Being a “union thug” “overthrow capitalism” “solidarity with Palestine”
Southwest Airlines reported a loss of $231 million for the first quarter, and they’ve shared a number of actions that they’re taking to turn around their financial performance. During their earnings call they highlighted several measures they’re taking but one in particular will change what it means to fly Southwest.
This Southwest Airlines pilot cleaned his own windshield in order to make it out safely and on time. That’s not part of the job description, or something you see every day, though here’s an American Airlines pilot who did it, too.
A tug driving too fast in wet conditions at the Charlotte airpor hydroplaned into an American Airlines jet, doing serious damage to the aircraft.
I don’t write very much about booking travel with Priceline. I don’t like dealing with Expedia on changes and when things go wrong. But for simple bookings that most travelers might make, is Priceline actually worse?
Give A Mile is a unique charity that takes donations of miles and uses the miles to book flights for to book tickets so that those in need can be together with loved ones in their last moments of life, so that people don’t die alone.
Last month a Chase Ultimate Rewards member transferred their points to United, in order to book an award that showed as available at United.com, but wasn’t really available. United wouldn’t send his points back to Chase, and he complained to the Department of Transportation that this was an unfair and deceptive practice. They needed 193,000 more miles than they had in their account. United’s website suggested they buy the miles. They transferred the points in from Chase Ultimate Rewards instead. The award space for business class travel on EVA Air from Chicago to Singapore via Taipei turned out to be phantom and unbookable. The website errored out after they transferred the points. While the space still showed up online, a phone agent said the space wasn’t available and also that they couldn’t send their points…
The federal government has issued a final rule for how airlines disclose their fees, and requiring prompt refund of fees when they don’t provide the promised service.
It largely will not change how most passengers experience airlines most of the time. Airlines already disclose their fees, and generally provide refunds for services they don’t provide. There will be a stronger requirement, though, to refund checked bag fees for long-delayed and lost bags.
American Airlines reduced the number of flight attendants on board its widebody and premium cross-country planes during the pandemic. They were trying to save money any way they could, and there wasn’t as much service to offer back then. Travel returned, and service came back, but American has kept operating with fewer people to serve meals and drinks.
The union hates that – it’s fewer jobs, and more work – and it’s not great for customers either. Nearly four years later, an arbitrator has just hard the union’s grievance over the change.
JetBlue Airlines stock was down nearly 19% today on its earnings report – on a day when the broader market, including Delta and United, were up.
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 »
