Category Archives for Airlines.
Southwest Airlines doesn’t pre-assign seats. Once you board you can take any open seat. There’s no rule against saving seats for other passengers. And it’s perfectly acceptable to subtly discourage other passengers from sitting beside you, though if they want to take the empty seat next to you they can.
In this Hunger Games world of Southwest Airlines seat selection there’s basic game theory to defend and expand your turf.
A special IATA meeting was held in London to define a sandwich, and hear violations. The airline industry body declared that sandwiches had to be “cold… simple… unadorned… inexpensive” and had to “consist of a substantial and visible chunk of bread.” Moreover they could not contain anything “normally regarded as expensive or luxurious, such as smoked salmon, oysters, caviar, lobster, game, asparagus, pate de foie gras” nor could they feature “overgenerous or lavish helpings which affect the money value of the unit.”
Frontier Airlines, which is struggling financially (as is ultra low cost Spirit Airlines), is trying a number of new things. They’ve just announced an intra-Europe style business class offering that they call UpFront Plus seating.
United dropped change fees as a competitive response to Southwest. Kirby no longer believes are travel is a commodity – as he did throughout his career – having been shown it doesn’ thave to be by Delta. Boeing is headed back into his good graces. And United is working on their new business class.
Passengers aboard the flight recounted moments of chaos and fear as some individuals, not secured by seatbelts, were propelled through the cabin, causing injuries and damage to the aircraft’s interior. Passenger Brian Jokat described the plane suddenly dropping without warning, likening the experience to a nosedive at the top of a rollercoaster before stabilizing again. Passengers hit the ceiling, with one individual suffering broken ribs after falling back down, among other reported injuries involving broken bones and head trauma.
Retired Delta Airlines captain Karlene Petitt, who had a long-running dispute with her airline over her fitness to fly reported that a pilot from another airline, flying on Delta, noticed that the plane had incorrect safety briefing cards in the seat back pocket.
The flight was operated by a Boeing 757, but there were some seats with cards for a Boeing 737. The flight had to be delayed, eventually 10 incorrect cards were found, and fortunately this was in Atlanta and they had the correct cards to replace them with – otherwise the plane could not fly.
I’m looking at changing an American Airlines business class ticket. This is not a cheap ticket. It’s well over $3,000 one way. American’s website says it’s possible to do what I want.
A very common misunderstanding among elite frequent flyers is to see first class seats available, but their upgrade not clear. Something must be wrong! After all, the airline promises space available upgrades within a certain number of hours until departure. That time has passed, and there’s first class space available! But that’s not how this works.
American Airlines flight attendants have a status conference with the National Mediation Board this upcoming Wednesday over whether the federal government will allow them to strike.
And flight attendant social media is lighting up over an incident on board a flight from Dallas to Denver this week where the airline’s Senior Vice President of Inflight and Premium Guest Services, Brady Byrnes, was traveling with his family and reportedly wrote up the crew for failing to deliver proper service.
Can you put a mimosa in a Starbucks cup, and drink your own booze on board your flight? I’ve been on a flight where the woman sitting next to me had a coffee cup with wine from the American Airlines Admirals Club. A flight attendant realized it and confronted the passenger.
Things escalated quickly. We were in first class, and the woman was offered both a predeparture beverage and could have free wine once we were at cruising altitude. But she wanted her wine for taxi and takeoff, too!
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 »
