Category Archives for Airlines.
American Airlines is having problems feeding passengers, at least at two of its large hubs. While passengers aren’t necessarily being warned in advance to buy food and drinks inside the terminal before they board, they’re in for a surprise that their flight might not have anything for them once they’re in the air.
The National Mediation Board has called American Airlines and its flight attendants union to D.C. for a meeting this Saturday, after what the union described as “last ditch” negotiations failed just over a week ago.
Donald Trump, Jr. is a fan, “this is the way to do it… I’m a reasonably spoiled individual and this is still pretty spectacular.”
A Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 from Portland, Maine to Baltimore reportedly took off from a runway that had been closed this week – and there was a vehicle on the runway at the time.
When American Airlines sells you something and doesn’t deliver it, their position is often that they get to keep the money. If it’s part of a ‘bundle’ like what is sold as a Main Plus fare, and they don’t deliver parts of the bundle, you don’t get any money back.
Fiji Airways doesn’t have a points program. They’re the primary carrier at their destination, and haven’t seen the need to invest for locals. For foreigners, if you’re going to Fiji it’s probably only once and you’re not going to stay loyal to the airline. There are passengers who connect over Fiji, of course, and where points could sway their choice of destination and therefore carrier. But they haven’t previously invested.
JSX has announced a significant expansion to their schedule, with three new and returning seasonal airports, in what to me is one of their most aggressive and exciting moves.
They’re re-entering seasonal Salt Lake City, and adding New York – Florida from convenient and underserved airports with flights beginning in late November and into December.
The FAA has decided that the workload in ensuring business class suite doors are in their correct position is significant. These doors generally have to be open during taxi, take-off, and landing. And that extra work means that airlines have to staff cabin crew beyond otherwise-required minimums (of 1 flight attendant per 50 seats) for planes with doors.
Frontier AIrlines flies to National airport 3 times daily, but under the law for purposes of new flights they are not currently an incumbent carrier. Spirit Airlines doesn’t fly there, but they are considered to. And DOT says that Alaska is a “limited incumbent” but failed to consider their codesharing with American Airlines – while listing Air Canada as eligible to operate routes to U.S. domestic destinations. Oops!
To answer ‘who’s the biggest on the Fourth of July’ we’re mostly asking who carries passengers from the most places domestically to the most places domestically, and looking at most flights, even with smaller planes and fewer seats, makes sense.
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 »
