Category Archives for Airlines.
Three years ago United Airlines launched ‘agent on demand’ where customers would reach local agents, rather than a call center, when contacting customer service via their mobile device – scan a QR code at a hub, and chat by voice or video to deal with rebooking and other issues. This is a great feature, especially for the average passenger. It helps get real help faster, and utilizes agents efficiently.
It isn’t great for everyone, though.
When flight attendants first get started, wages are very low, and those assigned to big cities may be eligible for food stamps. Some crew live off stealing food from first class snack baskets.
But since they’re working perhaps just 75 ‘paid’ hours per month, they have the perfect opportunity to build a side hustle.
The pair booked window and aisle seats. When a middle seat passenger showed up on the Saturday flight, Congresswoman Pelosi gave him the window seat. This is being touted in the media as offering that passenger an “upgrade” rather than “strategy.”
Avoiding checked luggage saves time and reduces the risk of loss, but if unavoidable, using specific credit cards for protection, maximizing baggage allowances, not checking valuable items, and considering luggage trackers can mitigate the hassles.
Tipping is out of control. We now get presented with an option to tip even at self-checkout. At the Austin airport I was asked to tip when buying a water from a machine that was programmed not to accept $0 as an input.
The U.S. tipping culture always seemed strange, with customers supplementing worker wages, but this used to be limited to personal services provided by low wage workers. Now it’s everywhere.
I love premium products, and innovative ideas. So I’m rooting for Beond to succeed. But I’ve been skeptical of filling an all business class plane (most airlines go with a mix of products for a reason), based in a highly seasonal destination, operating only a few flights a week to each destination.
Fortunately on Thursday I had the opportunity to speak with the airline’s Chairman and CEO, Tero Taskila, to see whether he could turn around my skepticism.
American Airlines sent a redeye flight from Los Angeles to New York on February 2 without working electrical systems. There was only emergency lighting in the cabin. Flight attendants couldn’t prepare food in the galley of the cross country flight, and business and first class seats didn’t have power so could not recline. Toilets did not flush.
United Airlines has been warning flight attendants not to have their face in their phones. It’s bad for customer service, and ostensibly cabin crew are there to be paying attention to safety not Candy Crush.
I have seen no such warning memos from American. I have, however, heard flight attendants talk to each other about performing the minimum required service because of contract negotiations that are dragging on.
Last week Southwest Airlines unveiled images of its new cabin and seats. It was striking that these seats look thin and not well padded – a genuine downgrade from the older tan seats that are still flying and even less comfortable than the seats in the 737 MAX 8 today.
They’re not adding more seats to the planes. So what are they doing with the extra room they create?
What’s it like to fly the smallest commercial plane out of Los Angeles? Eli McCann bought his $100 ticket and boarded a plane with just a few other people – cramped, but cozy, “Succession, but for poor people.” The pilot gave the safety briefing, asking passengers not to leave barf bags on the plane. And he ran an icebreaker for everyone on board to get to know each other.
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 »
