Category Archives for Airlines.
A week ago I wrote that American Airlines would announce a big order for new planes on March 4th. Now they have done just that, placing an order for 260 planes: 85 Airbus A321neo, 85 Boeing 737 MAX 10, and 90 Embraer E175 aircraft.
It seems clear that JetBlue is better off without the distraction and cost of a Spirit Airlines acquisition. They should work on a new American Airlines alliance similar to American’s deal with Alaska, which the anti-trust judge outlined would be permissible (and American in its earnings call said they’d consider a new partnership).
They need to get their operation under control, rebuild service to Boston, shift away from long haul international growth where they’re bleeding, and walk away from Southern California. Or else, expect Carl Icahn to dismantle the carrier and sell it for parts.
Is American Airlines bumping paying passengers so that they can fly migrants out of southern border airports? That’s the claim being made across some sectors of the media. It takes one element of truth – that the number of migrants on planes out of a handful of airports has become substantial – and mixed it with an odd anecdote about a man who may have checked in late for his American Airlines flight and lost his seat.
Jeff Bezos for years has preached a simple mantra: that the biggest mistake companies can make is focusing on what their competitors do, rather than what their customers want – and working backwards from satisfying the customer to figuring out the product.
TikTok isn’t just for showing off your Nyquil chicken, teaching people how to get points from Delta when your luggage is delayed or making videos about eating frozen honey. It’s turned into an e-commerce phenomenon.
And that’s creating a challenge for global air cargo as Shein, Temu and ByteDance’s TikTok Shop try to ship products out of China, especially to consumers in the U.S.
American Airlines flight attendants want bigger raises than American is offering and they want retro pay back several years, like pilots (who have far more leverage).
So while the airline is holding its Investor Day on Monday afternoon, flight attendants will be holding a protest on Wall Street. The location is meant to symbolize investors, or something? Plus it’s New York, so maybe there will be media.
A ‘loophole’ is something that is expressly legal until it’s used in a way we dislike – or in this case, something that airline competitors and unions don’t like. The common connotation of loophole is some sort of mistake or drafting accident that’s being exploited.
However what JSX and others do by operating charter flights under FAA part 135, and selling individual seats on those flights under Part 380, is not actually a loophole. The linkage between parts 135 and 380 in regulations is actually intentional.
Southwest Airlines is known for going it alone. Part of their business model has largely been avoiding the cost and complexity of partnerships and of transferring bags to and from other airlines. But that may be about to change.
American had planned to fly Seattle to Bangalore and to Shanghai. Neither flight materialized. American isn’t even flying Seattle – London this winter. They aren’t operating long haul at all from Seattle. So it’s been a question mark whether Seattle would actually be a long haul city for American at all – whether their ‘L.A. replacement’ wasn’t one after all, and the airline would just shrink in the Pacific.
So I was surprised by the rumor – not necessarily endorsed – that aviation watchdog JonNYC passes along about the airline adding a flight attendant base in Seattle.
In a scoop broken first by aviation watchdog JonNYC, American Airlines is opening up a New York Boeing 787 pilot base. Basing 787 pilots in New York will allow the airline to operate that aircraft from New York JFK without deadheading pilots in from other cities. American Airlines has been flying all Boeing 777s on long haul international routes.
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 »
