Category Archives for Airlines.
World-recognized cellist Amit Peled played the Israeli national anthem Hatikvah on board a Southwest Airlines flight.
A crewmember introduced the performance, “We’re going to show you a little love with some music. For this kind gentleman up front Amit, we are going to play for the people of Israel. His daughter is there. She is safe. We’ll dedicated it to her and all the people that are at war for Israel right now. So, enjoy you guys.”
On a United Airlines flight from Newark to San Francisco, a severe vomiting incident caused the plane to divert to Chicago, despite it being a smooth ride with no turbulence. While the airline termed it a “biohazard” and moved passengers due to the mess, the vomiting individual was allowed to continue on the flight to San Francisco, raising questions about the safety and decision-making of the airline, especially since they were already at a United hub with alternate travel options.
American Airlines and JetBlue dissolved their partnership following a Department of Justice anti-trust suit victory, leading to the cessation of joint ticketing, frequent flyer benefits, and key operational elements.
Three more consumer benefits end this week.
“Lost in Charlotte” delves into the challenges frequent flyers face at Charlotte Airport, notorious for 30 minute connections. However, the article also highlights two saving graces that can transform the travel experience, offering hope amidst the chaos.
American Airlines is imposing new hurdles for identity verification when redeeming miles over the phone.
The self-upgrading woman was black. The passenger American made her give up her seat in front of the (Air?)bus was black. The passenger being moved up was white. She was asked to go to what she says was “the back of the bus” to her assigned 14A. She objected and she was invited to get off the plane and onto the jet bridge to discuss her concerns.
While nearly all other airlines have ceased operations that Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion International Airport, Israel’s national carrier El Al continues to operate nearly its entire schedule, every day.
Yet there’s video of an aircraft on approach to Tel Aviv while Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile system takes out inbound rockets.
There’s confirmation from internal leaks that American is indeed looking at a narrowbody order and of the specific aircraft under consideration. The airline needs a plan to replace their oldest Airbus A319s and A320s, as well as their oldest Boeing 737-800s.
Air France KLM’s Flying Blue is the best frequent flyer program in the SkyTeam alliance, far better than Delta SkyMiles. And it just keeps getting better. A decade ago they were following Delta’s lead. Now they’re moving in the opposite direction. Lower award prices for business class.
Delta talks publicly about its expectation of generating nearly $7 billion from American Express this year, and that it has a goal to stretch this to $10 billion. And because of this, it’s commonly believed to be the best at extracting revenue from its SkyMiles program. Yet SkyMiles is the least rewarding of the major frequent flyer programs. Its miles are indisputably worth less than competitor currencies. What’s going on here?
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 »
