Category Archives for Airlines.
Turkish Airlines, which has around 435 planes in its fleet and another 100 on order, is set to announce a major order from Airbus for 345 planes. It will likely be reported in many places as 355 planes, folding in 10 Airbus A350-900s whose purchase was already announced. When you see coverage of the order, talking about how much it is ‘worth’, remember to divide by two.
Southwest Airlines will raise the price of beer, wine, and Spirits effective November 15. Currently wine is $6, beer is $6-7, and spirits are $7. Most options go up by $2, or as much as 33%.
Singapore Airlines is offering business class award space between New York JFK and Frankfurt over the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays and then most days in 2024 through end of the schedule.
He’d gotten together with friends to celebrate his friend who had died, and he mixed mushrooms and alcohol – and days later thought he was dreaming and couldn’t wake up. All he was trying to do was wake up and that’s why he tried to kill the engines, and also tried to open the plane’s emergency exit once taken to the back. He even says that the grabbed a coffee pot from the galley and drank it straight to wake himself up.
While being held by police at the airport he took off all of his clothes, he urinated on himself, and he tried cuffing the carrot… all to ‘wake up.’ When he was given a phone to call an attorney, he instead rang his wife and sang It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday by Boyz II Men.
Southwest Airlines will devalue its points by about 4% on January 1, 2024. The Rapid Rewards program announced several changes a month ago to much fanfare, but this one they buried.
In the battle for limited takeoff and landing slots at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport, U.S. airlines like Delta, American, and United vied for positions, with Delta receiving the most slots despite not having a Japanese airline partner. The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) now faces decisions on slot reallocations, as Delta relinquishes its Portland-Tokyo route and other airlines propose routes that overlap with their joint venture partners, raising questions about competition and consumer benefit.
A group from the Society of Musicians of Ireland performed traditional Irish tunes during a ground delay on an Aer Lingus flight from Frankfurt to Dublin, sparking mixed reactions among passengers. This incident is part of a trend of spontaneous in-flight concerts, with previous instances on Aer Lingus and Southwest Airlines, raising questions about the appropriateness of such performances during flights.
An American Airlines passenger was upgraded to first class along with his girlfriend, but she was subsequently moved to economy due to a supposedly broken seat, which was then occupied by a pilot. This incident raises questions about the airline’s priorities and policies, especially in light of a new contract allowing pilots first-class seats when deadheading.
Whether flying with someone that you’re plotting with, or traveling on your own, there’s nothing like an empty middle seat. Having extra space makes everything about the journey seem better. The flight attendants are friendlier. The food is somehow delicious!
Virgin Australia flight attendant Ashlee Jane recorded a TikTok explaining why she quit her job. The flight attendant lifestyle seems rewarding at first, but is actually grueling.
You can’t really switch airlines, since you will start out at the bottom (seniority rules). But it’s easy to see why people stick with it once flexibility start to improve a little and pay goes up a bit with seniority – but also easy to see why the job drains you – and why so many flight attendants burn out on the job without leaving it like Ashlee Jane does.
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 »
