Category Archives for Airlines.
Southwest Airlines is known for going it alone. Part of their business model has largely been avoiding the cost and complexity of partnerships and of transferring bags to and from other airlines. But that may be about to change.
American had planned to fly Seattle to Bangalore and to Shanghai. Neither flight materialized. American isn’t even flying Seattle – London this winter. They aren’t operating long haul at all from Seattle. So it’s been a question mark whether Seattle would actually be a long haul city for American at all – whether their ‘L.A. replacement’ wasn’t one after all, and the airline would just shrink in the Pacific.
So I was surprised by the rumor – not necessarily endorsed – that aviation watchdog JonNYC passes along about the airline adding a flight attendant base in Seattle.
In a scoop broken first by aviation watchdog JonNYC, American Airlines is opening up a New York Boeing 787 pilot base. Basing 787 pilots in New York will allow the airline to operate that aircraft from New York JFK without deadheading pilots in from other cities. American Airlines has been flying all Boeing 777s on long haul international routes.
This took place on a flight from Washington Dulles to Munich this week on board a Boeing 767-400, which has 34 business class seats and just two lavatories in that cabin. Business class passengers were limited to using a single lavatory during the flight, as one of the bathrooms was locked by the pilot during the flight while a line of passengers were waiting to use it.
Bailiffs sought to collect a $3,400 refund that had been owed to a passenger for a couple of years. The customer had obtained a court writ, and the agents are empowered to seize a company’s property to satisfy the debt. They can seize planes. They’re shown planning to halt check-in and ground aircraft unless Delta paid.
Time after time I’ve gotten home early when I’ve been willing to run. My connecting flight lands in Dallas a little bit early, I’m one of the first off the plane, and I book it to the gate of an earlier flight to Austin that hasn’t left yet. There’s still an open seat or two (or maybe someone doesn’t make the flight.) I walk up to the gate agent and ask to get added to the flight. For most customers, the answer from American Airlines is going to be “no” starting March 1, 2024.
Emirates is adding a fourth flight between Dubai and Singapore, and the aircraft will continue on from Singapore to Phnom Penh, Cambodia and back to Singapore beginning May 1.
It was only last month that Southwest Airlines pilots approved a new contract. Late last summer American and United got pilot deals done. It may have been just in time for record-breaking pay, as demand for pilots could be cooling.
To mark 10 years of British Airways service to Austin, BA will be serving barbecue in business class and premium economy out of the Central Texas city in March and giving barbecue sauce bottles from world famous Franklin Barbecue to business class passengers. These bottles will be labeled BA-B-Q.
Bilt Rewards has been promising new elite benefits and they’ve just announced two new elements of their Platinum status: dedicated support, and Air France KLM Flying Blue Gold status. Both of these benefits launch February 29.
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 »
