Category Archives for Airlines.
A strong showing may signal ‘resolve’ to the company – that flight attendants are united in getting a good deal and won’t settle. But they probably do little else. Picketing in front of the White House might get more media, and make a point to the President not to intervene the way President Clinton did, halting an American Airlines flight attendants strike in 1993. I’m quite optimistic that a strike can be avoided altogether.
JetBlue is in a rough spot. They’re losing money. Their primary strategic plays – acquiring Spirit to have the planes and pilots to benefit from their American Airlines partnership – have been lost to Biden administration opposition. Now both Spirit and JetBlue fight for their lives, as the DOJ anti-trust suits may turn out to reduce competition in the industry (and of course help United but especially Delta in New York and Boston).
In March I wrote that JetBlue would cut some transatlantic flying and this announcement would come in April. It looks like the timing was off by about a week, but that they are pulling back on winter trips across the Pond. That’s a sinkhole for money and JetBlue can’t afford losses right now.
Fighting for San Juan, and offering premium service to winter long distance domestic destinations from New York makes good sense.
I personally don’t see a problem with leaving it up to the customer to request a refund. That’s how every other product in the world works – if you want a refund, you ask for one. I’m not sure why we should be treating airline passengers differently, especially given the complexity, and writing this into law. But people get frustrated with airlines, and politicians don’t like siding with them in an election year.
A Southwest Airlines passenger was scolded by a flight attendant for drinking kombucha on board – telling her that it’s illegal to bring on board. Kombucha contains alcohol and you cannot drink alcohol that you’ve served to yourself on a plane.
Social media reports showed Qatar Airways flight 1499 experiencing extreme turbulence on Sunday while over Somalia. The Doha to to Kilimanjaro flight reportedly experienced extreme weather conditions, and photos show damage to the cabin. Apparently one passenger was hospitalized.
JetBlue called the cops on a passenger who spoke up about a flight attendant who wore a Palestine flag pin on her uniform, and made sure it was visible even while wearing an apron during service and even while her Black Lives Matter pin was covered.
The ten-year elite passenger’s return trip was also cancelled after the crew reported that he made threatening comments, a notion that was disputed by several other passengers on the aircraft.
Korean Air underpaid the Guam Airport over $600,000 in passenger facilities charges, because they underreported the number of passengers on their flights for years. As soon as the airport caught it in an audit, the airline paid up – and started asking questions.
Their former station manager will now serve 41 months in federal prison, plus five years of supervised release, for bank fraud and money laundering and will have to pay restitution to the airline.
On Sunday evening, British Airways flight 158 from Bermuda to London Heathrow airport was evacuated following an emailed bomb threat. The Boeing 777-200ER, registered G-VIIN, was preparing for a scheduled 8:50 PM departure and was already taxiing towards the runway.
A 33-year veteran flight attendant asks me a pretty interesting question: why do passengers touch cabin crew so much?
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 »
