Category Archives for Airlines.
On Tuesday at New Chitose Airport near Sapporo, Japan, a Korean Air Airbus A330-300 collided with a stationary Cathay Pacific Boeing 777, which was unoccupied at the time. This incident, involving no injuries, occurred amidst snowy conditions. More than 45 flights were cancelled due to weather.
The Cheapening continues. While some airlines offer business class passengers amenities inside nice leather reusable bags, or hard side plastic Tumi suitcases, American Airlines has been giving out a new amenity kit in international business class that’s made out of cardboard.
Customers were quick to flee Delta after the airline announced major changes to earning status and accessing its airport clubs. Loyalty Status Company CEO Mark Ross-Smith says that “100,000+ high-value frequent flyers did a Status Match in 2023” and that this was “[m]ainly driven by the Delta SkyMiles changes.”
What’s special about this is that copious award space is available throughout the month on Singapore Airlines – and that it’s not just for a seat or two, but much of the cabin. And while Singapore is discounting these seats 30%, they’re also available at a reasonable rate through Air Canada Aeroplan as well.
Junior flight attendants often qualify for food stamps, while the most senior ones can work exhausting hours and turn the role into a six figure job – for as long as they can hold up.
Global Airlines wants to be a London-based long haul airline. They have an ex-Singapore Airlines Airbus A380 and say they have either a deal for three more A380s, or have them in their possession. Which one isn’t clear. They’ve talked up a 2024 launch, with daily service to New York and four times-weekly service to Los Angeles starting this summer. Now they say they plan to charter flights this year and operate scheduled service later. They claim they’ll serve “every continent.”
Passengers generally don’t have confidence in their travels. I didn’t when I was a kid! When I would fly cross country on my own when I was in junior high, especially if I was connecting, I remember going up to the gate agent and showing them my boarding pass just to confirm what I sort of already knew, that I was in the right place and that I had what I needed to fly?
This concern really resonated with me: someone flying American Airlines who didn’t “feel confident leaving the airport for a hotel” during an overnight delay.
Delta Air Lines earned $5.2 billion in 2023 and will pay out $1.4 billion in profit sharing with employees getting about an extra month’s pay.
Delta flight attendants have it better than their peers. They have something real at risk. This isn’t crew at the bottom where a union organizer can point to a better life somewhere else and say ‘we can get you that’. Unionized crew at American and (AFA-represented) United look at what Delta flight attendants have with envy.
During Friday’s Delta Air Lines earnings call, the Wall Street Journal‘s Aly Sider asked CEO Ed Bastian if he “think[s] Delta still has the same advantage over rivals just in terms of reliability in its operation?”
Bastian acknowledged that the rest of the industry has caught up.
Finnair business class, Los Angeles – Helsinki, is available via Iberia (a transfer partner of many programs) for just 4,650 points one way.
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 »
