Category Archives for Airlines.
Ryanair’s CEO says Starlink inflight WiFi would add a 2% fuel penalty from added weight and drag, making it too costly for the airline’s short flights. Elon Musk jumped in to say the CEO is “being misinformed,” arguing the incremental drag is effectively negligible—setting up a public spat over what Starlink connectivity really costs airlines to install and operate.
American and Southwest made inflight Wi-Fi free—then Intellectual Ventures sued, claiming the airlines owe royalties on the technology behind onboard internet. A judge has now ordered American to produce technical records and source code as the case accelerates.
United is storing Pratt-powered Boeing 777s because engines and parts are scarce. More incidents could cause certification issues, with significant affects on United’s ability to fly long haul.
A Delta passenger brought a “skunk” through TSA in Los Angeles, where officers reportedly laughed at the sight. Hours later it showed up in a first class seat on the flight to Minneapolis—and then the owner explained what it really was.
An email says Turkish Airlines has placed an aviation journalist on its internal no-fly list for six months, citing his articles and social media posts as the reason. The move has sparked a backlash over whether airlines should be able to bar critics from flying based on what they publish.
Victoria, Texas is offering residents $100 to book a roundtrip flight from the local airport—an effort to prop up lightly used United regional service to Houston that already draws nearly $7 million in federal subsidy. It’s a perfect snapshot of how the Essential Air Service program has evolved from a “temporary” deregulation bridge into a permanent, growing entitlement—often funding near-empty flights even when bigger airports are a short drive away.
Allegiant is buying Sun Country for $1.5 billion, betting it can sell across both airlines’ route networks and smooth out the seasonality that whipsaws leisure demand. The logic is simple—but integrating fleets, work groups, and operations is where mergers get expensive and blow up.
Southwest’s open seating has always invited games—saving rows, blocking middle seats, and all sorts of “someone’s sitting here” theatrics to keep extra space. That all changes January 27 when assigned seating begins, which should end a lot of the passenger scheming (and even the wheelchair-preboarding miracles) while also stripping away one of the last quirky, self-directed “wins” Southwest flyers could still chase.
She told her family she’d landed a flight attendant job—then showed up at the airport in a uniform, flashed a bogus crew ID, and even used crew fast track before boarding a flight as a normal ticketed passenger. Real cabin crew noticed the details didn’t match and exposed the impersonation midflight.
United Airlines’ latest update to flight attendants makes the trade explicit: the union’s new pay proposal is “too expensive,” and anything better than the rejected deal will require offsets. United hints it can move on ground-time pay and shorter reserve windows—but only if flight attendants accept “algorithm scheduling” and reserve pay changes.
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 »
