Category Archives for Airlines.
There hasn’t been a scheduled commercial flight in or out of North Korea since the start of the pandemic over three years ago. The first one was supposed to occur today, but two hours after the flight from Pyongyang to Beijing was supposed to land it was announced in Beijing as having cancelled.
American Airlines flight 1680 from Miami to New York LaGuardia diverted to Jacksonville, Florida on Sunday after a passenger released pepper spray into the cabin. Passengers towards the rear of the aircraft began coughing and had their eyesight affected. Flight attendants were impacted as well. A crewmember made an announcement asking for any information about what might be in the air of the cabin.
Cleveland to Pittsburgh is a 106 mile flight. You can drive it in 2 hours. But Alaska Airlines is going to fly this route, and they’ll sell you a ticket for $129. But they won’t fly you back.
There are times when American Airlines systems do not recognize these bag benefits even though the passenger is entitled to them.
An August 8, 2023 memo to the airline’s customer care agents outlines “a few known scenarios” where American’s computers fail to recognize free checked bags that customers are entitled to.
An American Airlines flight attendant took to social media because she wants premium cabin customers to know that they are not entitled to a bottle of water. Traditionally you’ll find a bottle of water at your seat when flying long haul in business class. Alaska Airlines gives you one at your seat domestically. But if you ask for one, that’s at the discretion of the crewmember on American – and this one wants you to know that it is a privilege and not a right.
This past Wednesday, boarding passes printed by American Airlines agents no longer show a customer’s full frequent flyer number on them.
This is still just for agent-printed boarding passes. Kiosks, mobile app, and American Airlines website boarding passes still show full frequent flyer numbers, although the plan is that these “will also eventually conceal the frequent flyer number by end of 2023.”
American Airlines has just pulled the trigger on one more element of unwinding the partnership. The airline no longer has access to seat maps for JetBlue flights. They can’t assign seats for customers who booked through them, and have to tell customers to contact JetBlue for seat assignments.
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.
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 »
