Category Archives for Airlines.
American Airlines appears to be telling flight attendants that it has plans to re-start Chicago to Honolulu flying, listing the route on the bid sheet that cabin crew use to express preferences for the flights that they will work.
Brazilian airline Gol was the worst performing stock on the country’s benchmark index on Tuesday, dropping at one point as much as 13%, on reports that it is considering filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the United States within a month. An out of court restructuring, however, is seen as “increasingly inviable.”
Airbus has submitted a request to the FAA. to allow it to put business class suites with doors on Airbus A321neo narrowbody aircraft.
It’ll be interesting to see how this proceeds, since JetBlue really doesn’t have another game plan. They face tremendous uncertainty, but certainly could succeed with a time-consuming appeal. Their costs grow each and every month that the merger isn’t called off, however.
Better, perhaps, would be to revisit a deal with American Airlines akin to the one American has with Alaska Airlines, involving frequent flyer program reciprocity and codeshares – something the judge in that trial expressly suggested would be legal. They’d continue to return money-losing slots in New York to American. That won’t solve all of their problems but is likely a better path – having a partner in strong financial centers that allows them to double down on their co-brand credit card – than pursuing an acquisition of Spirit that wasn’t great for the airline or investors to begin with.
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.”
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 »
