Category Archives for Airlines.
Award space on these Airbus A380 flights is wide open for two passengers on many flights. But it’s currently available only to members spending Etihad Guest points and not partner miles (like American AAdvantage and Air Canada Aeroplan). However Etihad’s miles are very accessible.
When the seat belt sign is on, wear your seat belt. When the seat belt sign is off, but you’re in your seat wear your seat belt.
Some husbands fly first class while leaving their spouse in coach while others leave the spouse to take care of their kids.
At the same time, many couples are adamant about sitting together during flights. The inability to do so can trigger intense reactions and stress.
Indian tech billionaire Bhavin Turakhia choose American Airlines first class because of its “swivel seat” on the Boeing 777-300ER for long haul. That lets him set up his “rig” for working inflight with “laptop stand…keyboard, mouse, screen, power bank.” American Airlines endorsed the setup.
He brings a second computer screen, attaching to his laptop magnetically and connected via USB. Turakhia says it takes him just 30 seconds to get his inflight office set up and he claims a benefit of a 40% producitivty boost on a long haul flight. With this aircraft and seat he doesn’t even need to dismantle the electronic office for meals.
Alaska Airlines buying Hawaiian is good for Hawaiian‘s shareholders, who earn a premium for their shares they have little likelihood of achieving with the carrier as a standalone.
It is even neutral to good for customers. It just isn’t great business for Alaska.
Southwest Airlines passengers are using wheelchairs to get priority boarding and don’t even seat in them, instead using the wheelchair as a luggage cart to push their carry on bags.
Alaska Airlines has announced a deal to buy Hawaiian Airlines for $1 billion cash and assumption of $900 million in Hawaiian Airlines debt. They will keep the two separate brands, though combine their loyalty programs. The deal is expected to close in 12-18 months, subject to approval of Hawaiian’s shareholders and making it through anti-trust review.
For Mileage Plan and oneworld frequent flyers this is great. For Hawaiian customers this should be fine-to-positive. It’s Alaska shareholders that may not benefit from the merger integration costs in order to swallow an unprofitable airline. Although perhaps the biggest beneficiaries will be the transaction and anti-trust lawyers whose billable hours will be immeasurable.
Here’s the full detail, from an internal memo, on how pilot priority for first class upgrades works now at American Airlines.
American Airlines is refusing to fill empty seats with nonrev passengers through end of year in order to comply with the airport’s passenger caps.
A passenger took the controls of a flight form Toronto to Punta Cana after one of the plane’s pilots became incapacitated. Air Transat flight 186 departed at 9:30 a.m. on November 20 with 299 passengers on board, and was scheduled into the Dominican Republic at 2 p.m. About three hours into the journey one of the pilots became ill. One of the airline’s pilots was among the passengers and replaced the member of the cockpit crew. Dramatic Rendering, Credit: DALL-E The flight continued to its destination, instead of diverting which would have been required with only a single pilot. Earlier this year a passenger stepped into the cockpit to fly after a Southwest Airlines pilot fell ill. Another airline’s pilot was on the Las Vegas to Columbus, Ohio flight and assisted, akin to a pilot…
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 »
