Category Archives for Airlines.
For years United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby has argued that there’s an historical relationship between airfares and GDP. Fares have been lower than they have been in the past, and so they’re likely to snap back. In fact, five years ago, he was essentially arguing that airfares should double based on this natural relationship.
American and Southwest, for their part, face competition in their home market. JSX is allowed to offer convenient scheduled service from private terminals, using their own security (which includes scanners, bag swabs, and ID verification), because they operate with no more than 30 seats per aircraft. American is explicit that their concern is the competitive advantage this gives to JSX.
Female cabin crew at Hainan Airlines – and only women – face immediate suspension if they are 10% above the airline’s ‘standard’ weight limit for their height, as part of the carrier’s image program. It seems to be hurting their image more than helping it? Or maybe it’s guerilla marketing to sell tickets.
Etihad business class award space is wide open this spring, for up to four passengers. And there’s even two first class awards many dates from Washington Dulles as well.
Delta Air Lines flight from New York JFK to Los Angeles made an emergency landing in Salt Lake City on Saturday. And then, once on the ground, the plane’s emergency slide deployed — inside the aircraft. Passengers heard an explosion, and screams from a flight attendant.
The current version of the FAA reauthorization bill in the House, a product of compromise between Republicans and Democrats on the Transportation Committee, would reverse an Obama-era rule requiring airlines to display ‘all-in’ pricing when they advertise fares “as long as they include a link to the all-in price or disclose it some other way.”
No business has more data on passenger upsales to business class across airlines than PlusGrade, and its CEO says that the product an airline offers really matters in monetizing the cabin.
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.
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 »
