Category Archives for Airlines.
Most checked bags in the U.S. are limited to 50 pounds. Anything heavier than that and you’ll pay extra. First and business class passengers, and those with elite status, may be allowed 70 pounds. When you approach the check-in counter, they’ll weigh your bags, and if your luggage is overweight you’ll be assessed an extra fee. But some passengers are using a trick to make their luggage seem lighter.
Fog at Chicago Midway airport caused substantial cancellations on Saturday, and the airline’s operations are still disrupted today. Those Chicago cancels are having knock-on effects elsewhere in the airline’s network.
Already dozens of flights out of Chicago Midway have been cancelled for Christmas Eve Day and 57 total cancellations have been recorded prior to 8 a.m. Eastern time to start the day. This number will grow.
If you’re a British Airways silver you can use American Airlines business class Flagship lounges even on domestic flights. If you’re a BA Gold you can use partner first class lounges, even if you’re flying economy, like Cathay Pacific’s Wing or Pier or Qantas first class lounges.
Royal Air Maroc is back with its status match offer, this time including to top tier Platinum which is oneworld emerald and comes with access to partner first class lounges.
The lowest wages are earned by the newest flight attendants. This structure is something unions have bargained for over decades and multiple contracts. Low wages to start, and higher wages as seniority grows, is something that benefits more senior crewmembers. The airline ultimately doesn’t care nearly as much about how the cost of flight attendants is distributed across flight attendants.
Though the union itself is responsible for low starting wages, AFA-CWA union head Sara Nelson says that it’s actually… sexism.
Spirit Airlines sent a 6 year old flying alone to the wrong airport in Florida. They wound up hundreds of miles away from their waiting family. The child’s first time ever on a plane was taking a trip from Philadelphia to Fort Myers. The airline sent them to Orlando instead. The airline told his grandmother, who was waiting at the gate, that he “missed his flight.” Despite security protocols, she said that she “ran inside the plane to the flight attendant” and asked her, Where’s my grandson? He was handed over to you at Philadelphia? The flight attendant said “No, I had no kids with me.” Then the child called (impressive for a six year old!) saying he’d landed. His luggage went to Fort Myers, his grandmother drove to Orlando to collect him. Spirit is…
The lesson here is that contract airlines reflect on the carrier whose brand they fly under. She wasn’t an ‘American Airlines’ employee, but American still has to answer for her. And that means the quality of that airline and its staff matter. It isn’t enough to say “not us, different airline.”
Passengers in the exit row have to be willing to assist in an emergency. But if they’re drinking they may be impaired in their ability to assist.
Air France KLM’s Flying Blue is the best frequent flyer program in the SkyTeam alliance. It’s legions better than Delta SkyMiles. At the airline’s investor day, they explained how they’ll be doubling down on the loyalty program to drive profits, as relayed by Brian Sumers in his invaluable Substack. U.S. airlines see loyalty programs as cash cows. That’s not as true elsewhere. In Europe and Australia, credit card interchange is regulated, so rewards card deals aren’t as lucrative. In Australia, we’ve seen Qantas make each point worth less in order to keep awarding around one point per dollar for credit card spend. (Card fees have gone up, and in some cases points-earning has been capped.) In Europe the cards themselves aren’t as profitable, and the deals look different. For instance a past Air France-American Express…
Before the pandemic the American Airlines co-brand portfolio had the largest charge volume, but American, United and Delta were all over $100 billion annually.
In June Delta Air Lines made big news claiming to have broken away from the pack reporting that “approaching 1% of U.S. GDP” in charge volume on their co-brand cards. They appeared to suggest over a quarter trillion dollars being spend on Delta American Express cards.
Only the Department of Transportation has authority to police loyalty programs, and according to the DOT Inspector General the agency has improperly ignored complaints about frequent flyer programs. That appears about to change.
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 »
