Category Archives for Airlines.
The U.S. Drug Czar Rahul Gupta is being slammed as “egocentric” and a “primma donna” who creates a “toxic work environment.” Most striking is that he’ll blow up months of work on a trip when he learns that he’d have to fly Southwest Airlines.
You’re allowed to carry bags onto the plane – but only if there’s enough space on board. That’s the main reason it’s better to board planes early, rather than being last onto the plane. Priority boarding is a benefit to ensure you get access to carry on bin space – even though no one wants to spend more time on board the aircraft than they have to.
Overhead bins are stuffed full, and passengers are forced to gate check their carry on bags, even though airlines are installing bigger overhead bins – bins that are supposed to have enough space for everyone. And it didn’t used to be this way!
Tuesday’s Delta flight 133 from Amsterdam to Detroit was forced to turn around an hour into the trip when maggots fell from an overhead bin onto passengers seated in economy.
Apparently a suitcase in the overhead bin contained rotten fish. It opened, and maggots spilled out. The fish was only wrapped in a plastic bag from a grocery store in the customer’s rollaboard. It wasn’t even packed in ice.
Qatar has one of the best business class product in the world in its ‘QSuites’ that offer doors and movable partitions that allow two and even four passengers to travel together in their own space. Their QSuite is a fantastic hard product, and service and food in the air are outstanding.
Right now there’s amazing award availability for the new second flight they’ve added from Miami. You’ll generally find two business class awards Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays on flights QR781 and QR782 from September through December.
140 members of the House of Representatives have written to Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian telling him to stay out of union organizing efforts at the airline, and remain neutral. This is dumb.
Hawaii service used to be something special. That isn’t really true anymore. It was an exciting development when Southwest Airlines added the state to its route map, especially for holders of the Companion Pass (designated companion flies for just the taxes whether you’re paying for your ticket with points or cash). But the product is standard Southwest — no meals or seat power — and the journey relatively long.
But did you know that Untied Airlines used to offer its own version of the modern Etihad Residence — a private stateroom on their Hawaii flights 70 years ago?
NPR ran a piece purporting to explain why flight attendants don’t get paid for time spent boarding planes, except they did not explain it at all.
Over the holidays I saw reports of American Airlines selling upgrades from Los Angeles to Sydney (from coach to business class) for $350 and I thought that this must be a mistake. Lucky passenger!
However there are several data points of American Airlines selling long haul business class upgrades at this price.
United Airlines was the first airline to create a nonsmoking section back in 1971. Delta was the first to fully ban smoking worldwide in 1994. U.S. airlines were no longer permitted to allow smoking on any flight starting in 2000. Yet planes still have ashtrays! You’ll usually find them in or near the lavatory, because customers may smoke even though it’s illegal to do so. Passengers need to be told when not to smoke. And crewmembers need to be able to turn on that sign. If they can’t turn it on, because it is always on, then an exemption from the rule must be requested. Oops!
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 »
