Category Archives for Airlines.
American Airlines and JetBlue basically asked the judge to do what the judge suggested would have been permissible: codeshare and partner through their frequent flyer programs. That helps retain some competitiveness in the New York market, attracting customers away from the biggest players Delta and United.
The government though wants the partnership itself fully terminated, not only the parts that were found to be anti-competitive.
The starting gun on taking care of customers in the event of controllable delays and cancellations – compensating customers for failing to deliver the product that airlines have sold – has mass appeal, and signals a concern by the current administration for middle class concerns in a way that they think can differentiate themselves from their opponents. Precisely because this legislation won’t be acted upon, the President can paint Republicans as unwilling to protect voters from unpopular businesses.
A Chicago Midway airport customer service agent for Southwest Airlines has been indicted for selling almost $2 million in travel vouchers.
After working for the airline for about three years ago, the man figured out that he could issue customer service “LUV vouchers” to compensate passengers… and could do this even when there wasn’t actually a disserviced passenger.
Have you ever tried to get your cable fixed by calling Comcast? Or have you ever tried to get advice from the IRS 800 number? Most large organizations become sclerotic. The people hired to field calls may be judged not on whether they help customers, but how quickly they get rid of customers (average time per call). At the very least, they probably aren’t evaluated on whether or not they solve a customer’s problem.
Southwest Airlines denied a baggage claim even though there was video evidence, a police report, and an arrest showing the bags were stolen. Their reason? “A discrepancy.” And Southwest is hardly the Comcast of aviation.
The 1,500 hour rule leads to less well-trained, less-experienced pilots not more experienced pilots. They get hired by commercial airlines and go through remedial training to fix the bad habits they get into building up hours for hours’ sake.
Since delays have increased since European EU261 compensation, the airline industry argues that the financial incentive in imposing costs for delays doesn’t reduce delays. That’s a bit rich, though, to argue that an increasing number of passengers needing compensation for airline flight delays proves it’s unnecessary to pay? The incentive isn’t the only reason!
Starting June 9th American Airlines is making some minor changes to how complimentary upgrades work that most AAdvantage status members are going to like. Upgrades when traveling on an award ticket will now be available to all status members and will come with higher priority than before.
Last year former APFA President Bob Ross was found to have misappropriated funds while running the union. An arbitrator’s award covered charges he billed a family vacation to the union credit card, improperly billed his personal furniture (and bedding and even toilet paper) to the union, and of having the union pay for a personal office he wasn’t entitled to among other alleged misdeeds.
Ross filed suit to overturn the arbitrator’s judgment, arguing first that he shouldn’t be singled out among past union Presidents for financial impropriety, and then that the accusations against him are all part of a plot for Sara Nelson’s AFA-CWA to take over the union.
A senior American Airlines pilot has filed a class action lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas over the 100,000 member, $26 billion airline pension, arguing that it is pursuing “leftist political agendas” by making investments that follow ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) guidelines.
He argues that the plan breaches its fiduciary duty by privileging activism on issues including race, LGBTQ+ rights, and environmentalism over financial returns.
Long-term the Airbus A380 will retire. And rather than add a new, top-end first class along the lines of something that might compete with Gulf rivals like Emirates, Etihad and even Saudia, or even like European carriers Lufthansa and Air France, Qatar is planning to eliminate long haul first class.
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 »
