Category Archives for Airlines.
Passengers express frustration as pilots receive upgrade priority over them, prompting a reassessment of the value of top-tier elite status versus the advantages of mid-tier benefits.
While there’s a tradeoff upgrading pilots versus passengers along a certain margin, that’s not the reason most elites are sitting in back most of the time – just a visible lightning rod. Still, re-evaluating loyalty and status makes sense.
Turkish Airlines has updated its award charts and it’s an absolute gut punch to the value of the Miles & More program. But there may still be an opportunity to redeem your miles at the old rates.
The airline lost anti-trust trials over its partnership with American Airlines and its acquisition of Spirit Airlines (for which it was likely overpaying, and would be taking on significant operational complexity to execute the merger). And its CEO announced his exit.
JetBlue elevated airline President Joanna Geraghty to CEO-designate. Now they’ve made another big move.
American Airlines has ceased financial support for a charity aiding flight attendants in need, amidst ongoing contract negotiations and economic pressures, highlighting the airline’s financial austerity measures and the consequent hardships faced by its cabin crew.
United Airlines has over 700 new aircraft on order, even excluding 45 Airbus A350s that until recent Boeing production issues were expected never to materialize. If demand develops to support that sort of growth (though many aircraft on order will allow the airline to replace existing planes) they are going to need more places to send them. And one gap is certainly the Southeastern United States.
American AAdvantage has expanded access to Alaska Airlines award space in and out of California with new booking classes at higher mileage prices, but this change poses questions about the potential impact on the value of AAdvantage miles and the program’s overall benefits.
An American Airlines pilot operating flight 1479 from El Paso to Phoenix exhibited grumpy and passive-aggressive behavior, failing to correctly read back ATC instructions and engaging in a contentious exchange with controllers over communication issues.
United Airlines’ Super Bowl ad with Kyle Chandler promotes “No Change Fees,” but is misleading about basic economy and how long you can use your travel credits when you cancel a trip. However the broader industry shift to dropping change fees on most fares has meant ticket changes that would have cost customers $10 billion to make.
The Maldives-based all business class airline has received its second leased aircraft, an Airbus A321 which will be fitted with 68 lie flat seats. It’s expected to fly between the Maldives and Milan, Dubai and Bangkok later in the year.
Lufthansa’s ground staff union will strike Wednesday and Thursday. The airline estimates that they will only be able to operate 10% – 20% of flights on Wednesday, and has not provided an estimate for Thursday.
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 »
