Category Archives for Airlines.
United Airlines award space is wide open between the U.S. and India. You can fly out of San Francisco, Chicago, or Newark (or, potentially, connect to one of those cities) and on to Delhi with some availability to Mumbai as well. You’ll find at least two business class seats every day through the end of the schedule.
An aggressive passenger in the American Airlines forum on Reddit declares that (1) passengers should not recline their seats, and (2) seats should not recline. Calling seat recliners “entitled,” the passenger says that if a passenger in front of them reclines they’ll “tug on” their seat and “do whatever I can to make yo[ur] trip miserable.”
And since this is a commonly-held view, it seems to be one worth correcting.
The membership card has been dropped, luggage tags reduced by half, and employee recognition certificates ended as part of these kits. They’re just a cheaper self-mailer with less personalization and at lower cost.
The highest paid jobs in the country are doctors, CEOs, and commercial airline pilots. And that was before the recent round of raises in new pilot contracts at Delta, American and United.
Yet despite the attractions of the profession, there aren’t nearly enough pilots. And that’s a safety risk.
Bask Bank has increased how fast you earn American Airlines AAdvantage® miles by 150% since they launched their Bask Bank Mileage Savings Account just before the start of the pandemic. They now reward you with 2.5 miles per dollar saved annually.
And they’ve just launched a new bonus offer to encourage you to start saving with them, or grow your savings. You can earn up to 20,000 bonus miles on top of the regular miles you earn each month. Existing customers are eligible for this offer, not just new customers.
Airlines can earn revenue from ticket sales on already sold out flights, where they ordinarily wouldn’t generate any incremental funds. Effectively it lets airlines keep selling last-minute tickets even after flights are sold out. The airline gets their last minute price, while potentially returning half of the original discounted ticket cost to the passenger in the form of travel credit that they’ll use – likely with additional cash – to fly the airline again in the future.
5,821 passenger were involved in these delays – so the total possible fine was $166,077,500. And American is only actually paying $2 million. In some cases it’s five years since the known violation occurred.
My current companion pass, earned in January 2022, runs through December 2023. I buy a ticket for myself, my wife is my companion (so most trips cost us just TSA fees for her travel) and then I redeem Rapid Rewards points for my daughter’s seat.
If you live in a big Southwest city as I do (they’re the largest carrier in Austin) and you have the time to take advantage of the offer, it’s a good one.
Scam travel agents create fake Google listings and take out Google ads to look like they’re the airline you’re trying to reach. They also take over old, defunct airline numbers because people will still find those listed and call. Tell Siri to call an airline? It may dial one of these scam agencies instead.
This winds up costing you big – getting charged fees for things as simple as seat assignments, getting charged to get rebooked when the airline cancels your flight. They stick unwary travelers with bills as much as $1,000 or more necessarily.
When Riyadh Air was first announced, I was very skeptical of a brand new airline in the Gulf. It would compete for low yield connecting traffic with Emirates, Qatar, and Etihad. And the Saudi Arabian government already had a global airline with a hub in Riyadh – and Jeddah – in Saudi. Why give it competition?
I’ve written that their strategy confuses me, but to be honest it doesn’t confuse me anymore.
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 »
