Category Archives for Airlines.
Increasingly, airline customers have been willing to spend more money for a better experience. It used to be that people booked on schedule and price and were willing to take whatever they had to in order to get where they’re going as long as things operated reasonably on time. That’s no longer the case, yet even premium airline products haven’t adapted, at least domestically.
Air New Zealand’s CEO Greg Foran may have violated his flight attendant union contract scope clause by taking over cabin crew duties to serve drinks to passengers on a flight from Auckland to Tokyo. (I kid, I kid.)
He was trying to make up for having the flight diverted – to pick him up, along with a New Zealand trade delegation of 30 business leaders, government officials, and media.
Pro-Trump activist and former Libertarian Heather Mullins complained about her treatment flying American Airlines first class, reporting that a flight attendant skipped over her when taking drink orders because of her MAGA hat.
Last summer, the FAA outlined an intention to ban JSX and other scheduled public charter operators, largely because they offer a popular, quality product that competitors do not like.
Now the FAA says that it will move forward with a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would – at least in some cases – prevent public charter operators from selling scheduled flights from private terminals, using co-pilots with fewer than 1,500 flying hours.
For the past 9 years, logging into an American AAdvantage account has required entering an account number, password, and last name. In the past few days, American dropped the requirement to type your last name in order to access your AAdvantage account.
Prior to the pandemic Qatar Airways was looking at taking a 49% stake in RwandAir after already having invested in and taken control of the new Kigali airport. The plan was to improve RwandAir’s systems and quality, and bring them into oneworld although it was not clear at the time whether the airline would become a full or ‘connect’ member of the alliance.
After nearly five years of discussions, punctuated by the pandemic, Qatar Airways finally looks ready to take the stake in RwandAir this summer.
There was a push three years ago to have the federal government ban airlines serving alcohol on planes. It didn’t go anywhere, but a new study has thrust this back onto the agenda.
Delta is growing their ‘we don’t actually care’ Austin presence even more: daily SkyWest regional jet Austin – Harlingen service starting in October.
American Airlines and its flight attendants union were in Washington, D.C. this week for what the Association of Professional Flight Attendants described as ‘last ditch’ talks before a strike. Leaks from the National Mediation Board suggested that if a deal wasn’t reached by early June, flight attendants would be released to strike.
However the week’s negotiations ended, there is no deal – and no declared impasse by the National Mediation Board.
The first officer, who had been handling the controls, accidentally pushed the control column forward and reduced speed, causing the plane to drop from approximately 1,000 feet to just 400 feet above the ocean rapidly – at a rate of over 4,000 feet per minute. Warning alarms sounded due to surface proximity.
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 »
