Category Archives for Airlines.
The JetBlue flight attendants union let crewmembers know on Thursday that the airline was planning to need fewer flight attendants starting in September as a result of schedule reducations, and that this would last at least through the winter season. Specifically they estimated that 39,000 flight attendant hours would be dropped from the schedule. As a result they’re offering leaves of absence of up to six months.
Initially the flight delay was due to maintenance. A passenger reports that it was a “door issue.” Mechanics responded, and it appears that maintenance determined they could defer fixing the issue. The captain, though, told passengers he wouldn’t fly the plane in that condition.
Domestic first class will reportedly be called “Mini Mint” and be introduced in 2026. It’s currently expected that they will use the Collins Aerospace MiQ seat. They won’t reduce total seats on planes, so they’ll squeeze legroom from coach to make room for first class.
Twenty years ago Alaska Airlines seriously considered eliminating first class altogether, but determined that they could better monetize the product instead. Now they’re betting more heavily on premium.
They don’t have lie flat seats even for cross country flights, and they eliminated Virgin America’s superior first class product after the merger, but they’re planning to add a row of first class to Boeing 737-800s and add a row of extra legroom coach (“premium class”) to their 737-900ER and 737 MAX 9s.
Former American Airlines Chairman Doug Parker shared how he championed his airline’s cause using the federal government to try to take out a small competitor. In March he went on the Airlines Confidential podcast and shared that a year earlier he and Southwest Airlines Chief Operating Officer Andrew Watterson button-holed David Pekoske, asking him to stop allowing JSX from operating out of private terminals without TSA screeners.
American Airlines let go Chief Commercial Officer Vasu Raja, architect of their strategy of chasing award managed business travel. His thesis had been that they were going to fill their planes, and didn’t need to offer companies discounts. They’d make more money, and do so at a lower cost – without the sales teams and special customer service to service those accounts.
Now they’re backtracking on this strategy.
Now that American Airlines is huddling with its flight attendants union in Phoenix this week to wrap up a new contract, without even the help of federal mediators, United Airlines flight attendants are ready to turn up the heat in their own negotiations.
What they lack is – in some sense – fixable by a management who sweats the small stuff to deliver an outstanding customer experience and who articulates a vision that aligns employees with a shared goal to deliver on that experience.
There are (13) things that I believe about American Airlines, from customer experience to business strategy, and they help explain both the outsized potential of this airline to be great and the decisions holding them back.
A passenger on a Southwest Airlines flight fsnapped a photo of an entire row of seats blocked off using a neck pillow and two bags. The passenger who did it wasn’t even seated in the row but nearby, saving those seats for family.
This is a flight departing from California but it could be any – or every – Spirit Airlines flight as a an agent for the airline announces, “Everybody’s attention right now! Right now! Alright, now, [do you all] wanna get on this flight or not?”
She continues her rant to passengers waiting for their flight to Las Vegas, “everyone’s gonna shut up and we’re gonna say this once, and we’ll only gonna say this again ’cause we’re frustrated as hell!” Maybe she’s referring to the flight delay or maybe she’s referring to all of the airline’s fees. Either way, the crowd erupts!
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 »
