Category Archives for Airlines.
An already-boarded Delta Air Lines flight from Edinburgh, Scotland to New York JFK was cancelled on Friday when the 61 year old captain was arrested on charges stemming from intoxication either with alcohol or drugs.
The Biden administration’s Department of Transportation has spent a lot of time jawboning airlines into committing to put passengers up in hotels when faced with overnight delays that are the airline’s fault, such as mechanical issues or lack of crew.
However there’s no minimum standard for what ‘counts’ as a hotel that the airline must provide, as this Delta Air Lines passenger shows after their flight was cancelled and they were put up in a Motel 6 with dirty bath towels and a peeling ceiling.
The American Airlines flight attendants union is in contract negotiations and is proposing to make schedules and quality of life worse for all crewmembers hired after the contract is signed.
If adopted, the union’s proposal would require new employees to sit on ‘standby’ to pick up trips for three years, effectively making them work in service of better schedules for all existing flight attendants.
There’s a tremendous amount of wrangling over what will be in the FAA’s 5-year reauthorization currently being developed in Congress.
One lesser-noticed item that’s been posted by the Senate Commerce Committee includes protections for members of frequent flyer programs stating that frequent flyer programs wouldn’t be able to devalue their miles without first giving members 90 days’ advance notice
After spending years asking the federal government to violate a treaty with the United Arab Emirates and block Emirates from flying to the U.S., several months ago they entered into a partnership with the Gulf carrier. The partnership does very little so far, but helped make the case for United to launch its own Newark – Dubai flight.
A passenger on board a Ryanair flight to Tel Aviv was threatened with arrest after objecting to cabin crew announcements that the plane was headed to “Palestine” and trying to photograph the crewmember making the announcement.
United Airlines turned a lot of heads when they brought in a Vice President of Comcast to be the new leader of their MileagePlus frequent flyer program. He had no experience in loyalty or working with airlines. And they were tapping someone from Comcast – one of the companies in America most hated by consumers – to lead their consumer marketing.
Last month an Aerolineas Argentinas crewmember called in a bomb threat – because she was assigned to work alongside her ex-boyfriend and his new girlfriend.
Airlines fly ultra long haul flights, such as New York to Hong Kong or Sydney to Perth, and they usually treat catering similarly to a short hop across the pond from Boston to London – a meal after takeoff, and then something to eat again prior to landing, perhaps with midflight snacks available in the galley. Passengers are hungry.
Southwest is offering 40% off paid and award flights booked by June 15 for travel August 15 – December 14, 2023 using promo code 40OFF.
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 »
