Category Archives for Airlines.
American Airlines begins flying its first Airbus A321 acquired from Alaska Airlines today, introducing a sub-fleet with a distinct interior that offers more legroom but fewer first class seats, diverging from their standard cabin layout.
These aren’t factory workers during the industrial revolution. On average Air France pilots earn around $160,000 with senior captains frequently earning in excess of $250,000 per year. French per capita GDP is only just over half that of the United States, so these numbers are even more impressive.
Frontier Airlines’ new scheduling strategy aimed at improving operational efficiency and ensuring planes return to base nightly has sparked significant backlash from flight attendants, who decry the loss of per diems, increased lodging costs, and daily commutes as shifts toward a more conventional job structure away from their traditional, travel-centric roles.
IdeaWorks’ latest survey on U.S. airline award availability uncovers a widespread devaluation of airline miles since 2019, except for American Airlines, which has seen an increase in mile value, highlighting changes in award travel costs and the influence of credit card partnerships on mileage accrual and redemption.
When Alaska Airlines announced their new distance-based award charts back in November, they teased that there would be regular discounts not just on Alaska Airlines travel but also on airline partner travel as well.
The lavatory of an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9 from Honolulu to Anchorage flooded the aisle with up to 4 inches of water on Saturday, forcing the aircraft to turn around.
Flight attendants can be seen on video trying to sop up the water using paper towels. It was a losing battle.
ITA Airways is the new Alitalia – a small Italian state airline that the EU keeps slow-walking Lufthansa’s ability to buy. It’s Alitalia with a new name, without some of its legacy costs, but with many of the same problems with its business model.
One thing that’s different about ITA Airways, though, is the frequent flyer program. ITA Airways is a member of SkyTeam but it only has limited participation. They don’t fully link up with all other members of the alliance.
A woman on Southwest Airlines may have set a record by occupying 13 seats prior to departure. She boarded early and saved seats for 12 other passengers – four rows of seats seats apiece.
On Friday, United Airlines flight 59 from Frankfurt to San Francisco had to turn around when a toilet overflowed. The Boeing 777-300ER was at 30,000 feet around 70 nautical miles northwest of Amsterdam when pilots asked to enter a holding pattern to troubleshoot the lav. Half an hour later they turned back.
Apparently one of the lavatory toilets “overflowed” and what was called “the soup” spilled into the cabin, with an unbearable stench.
According to data from Cirium, the price of U.S. domestic airfares are up 9% versus 2019, while inflation is up 19%. That means tickets are cheaper in real terms.
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 »
