Category Archives for Airlines.
A passenger whose father passed away is railing against United Airlines. His parents were supposed to travel on the airline to London. Without her husband to fly with, his mom still wants to take the trip with her daughter. They have two tickets, and want to use two tickets, but the airline wants an additional $1,000. Is that fair?
An empty seat is the best thing you can do to have a better flight. On most airlines it is luck. On Southwest it is strategy.
Southwest doesn’t pre-assign seats, but if you board early and get the one you want and the flight isn’t sold out, you can improve your odds that the seat next to you stays vacant – by making it unappealing for someone to choose to sit down next to you. Always ask if the flight is full when you board!
Last month American Airlines took a teenager into a security room and interrogated him, eventually banning him from flying the airline for using Skiplagged.
His parents bought him a ticket from Gainesville, Florida to New York via Charlotte, when he only planned to travel to Charlotte. He didn’t plan to use his connecting flight, but the New York trip was cheaper. Now American Airlines is suing Skiplagged.
United Airlines pilot Kenneth Jones was arrested in a Denver Airport employee parking lot after a “bizarre ax attack” against the lot’s exit gate. He says he got tired of waiting for the arm to go up. The uniformed pilot is shown on video taking an axe out of his trunk and swinging the axe at the gate more than 24 times and finally got it up.
An American Airlines passenger bought a seat for her 18 month old child. A flight attendant refused to allow them to use it, saying children under two weren’t allowed in seats without a car seat. This was wrong. The passenger is suing, because American wouldn’t refund the seat they’d purchased but weren’t permitted to use. And One Mile at a Time reports that the airline is making two claims in response to the suit, They’re only required to transport a passenger, not to transport them in a seat. Since the toddler flew, they got the full value of their ticket. The flight attendant, who threatened to kick the passengers off the flight and who denied use of the seat all based on a misunderstanding of policy, was within their rights to do so even though…
While this is a buildup in seasonal Europe, it’s a way to give transpacific winter jets a place to go as Senior Vice President of Network Brian Znotins explains. Philadelphia gives more single connections to competitors than other Copenhagen, Nice and Naples flights. Philadelphia – not New York – gets growth with this announcement, and that follows moving New York JFK – Doha to Philadelphia. Znotins describes Philadelphia as a connecting hub, versus New York as a focus for local traffic.
One of the major complaints I see from flight attendants (and other employees, but mostly flight attendants) is that standby passengers make it difficult for them to fly free as nonrevs. All they see if passengers filling up a flight as a standby, ahead of them on the list to get onto a flight. They do not ‘see’ the flight the passenger comes off of, freeing up more seats for nonrevs.
I think this is the best guess we’ve seen that puts it all together. Philadelphia to Copenhagen, Nice, and Naples; Chicago to Venice; and Dallas to Barcelona. It’s good to see American viewing itself as more than just the airline that connects Tulsa and Indianapolis, but they’re not doing anything nearly as ‘exciting’ as United launching routes like Manila (American will likely pride themselves on this, to be fair).
One woman flying American Airlines did a great job. She packed a great-looking snack box. A well-fed kid will be a happier kid, and that’s great for everyone in the cabin! But her three year old nephew didn’t get a chance to eat the snacks, because a crewmember on the St. Louis to Dallas… took them away?
American Airlines will announce 5 new international routes on Thursday. They will cover departures from Dallas, Philadelphia, and Chicago, and there hints about what these routes will be.
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 »
