Category Archives for Airlines.
Spirit Airlines lost its relentless focus on costs, but Frontier Airlines still has it. Frontier is the U.S. Franke airline now and it’s headed by Spirit’s former marketing chief, Barry Biffle. Flight attendant training is done at a truck stop in Wyoming because it’s cheap.
United’s CEO Scott Kirby says airlines are overstaffed by 10%. Biffle will actually do something about it.
United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby warned about proposed Biden administration passenger delay compensation rules, “I do not want a pilot, I do not want a mechanic, thinking about the extra cost of delay when they’re thinking about a decision.”
Leave it to Delta to stick it to their best customers’ stored value in this transition.
Delta is changing how elite status is earned, eliminating the use of three metrics (dollars, qualifying miles, and segments) to focus on only a single metric (dollars) while allowing some activities other than flying to count towards those dollars. And they’re restricting credit card access to their Sky Clubs – limiting the number of cardmember visits, and not allowing visits when traveling on a basic economy fare.
American Airlines presented its contract proposal to flight attendants and the terms basically match watch Delta gets, according to the union. But they aren’t happy.
United Airlines CEO claims the entire U.S. airline industry is overstaffed by 10%. But airlines haven’t been getting more efficient, and they’ve lacked the staff to manage their operations, especially as air traffic control melts down, bad weather rolls in, and carriers like United lose control of their schedule.
Is this a clue about the direction it’s changing? I’m told that the effort is internally called Project Orion, that nondisclosure agreements were signed (and so we’re hearing fewer leaks than normal), and that the way status is earned will be changing – but details are not yet fully clear.
Gate agents are asked to do more with less than ever before. During the pandemic, American moved to single agent boarding where narrowbody aircraft that are less than 80% full get just one gate agent rather than two. They have to make all of the announcements, deal with standbys and upgrades, check boarding passes at the gate, and also deal with gate checking bags. They’re supposed to do passenger breath checks, too?
And they’re going to get called in if the flight pushes back even one minute late. No time to notice if a passenger is high on meth!
Generally speaking involuntary denied boarding rules apply not just to when an airline cannot accommodate you on board, but also to when they cannot accommodate you in your ticketed class of service. You may wish to take a different flight rather than travel coach (even if it isn’t right away) or you might prefer to take your original flight and reach your destination faster. Either way, compensation is due.
The federal government argued that JetBlue is an important competitor to keep independent, in part for its low prices and for the passenger demand that it stimulates, when they wanted to break up the carrier’s partnership with American Airlines. JetBlue was the antidote to major airlines, and wanted to keep them from being co-opted.
Now, JetBlue says in court, the government shouldn’t be allowed to switch positions as it seeks to prevent them from acquiring Spirit Airlines.
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 »
