Category Archives for Airlines.
Earlier today there was a small fire at New York JFK’s terminal 1 which caused an electrical panel to fail. It closed down the terminal. Many flights diverted, while Air New Zealand flight 2 non-stop from Auckland made a 16 hour flight to nowhere – while the pilots argued with the company to press on.
MIAT Mongolian Airlines has a brand new Boeing 787-9, will acquire another, and wants to fly to the San Francisco.
Inflight internet on JetBlue is free. Delta Air Lines has made wifi free as long as you join the free SkyMiles program (this lets them market their credit card to you).
Southwest Airlines, whose bags fly free, is going the opposite direction with internet. In a change expected to be announced on Tuesday, they will be making it more expensive for passengers that have to take more than one flight to reach their destination.
This can be a good deal on upgrades, not just full redemption tickets, and the deal makes economy travel more reasonable where fuel surcharges are lower (but still – always compare to the cash cost of a ticket to see what the savings are). Northeast – London is just 7,000 miles one way after discount. This isn’t just for business class. And it’s definitely a nice offer for Virgin Atlantic credit card customers with upgrade and 2-for-1 vouchers.
United Airlines flight attendants, represented by the AFA-CWA union, have been working on a contract over the past year and a half and report very little progress. Direct negotiations began in January 2022, yet there’s been resolution on just one section out of 34 in their contract – dealing with flight attendants taken hostage.
Here’s what they’re demanding, and why negotiations are stuck.
When I saw Tucker Carlson’s Tuesday evening piece on air travel safety making the rounds, I didn’t give it much mind. But as it’s picking up steam, it seemed important to cover. Because while nearly everything he says in the segment is wrong, if his staff spent a little bit of time researching instead of picking up online complaints by United pilots who do not like the politics of their airline or President Biden, he could come up with a much better-grounded argument.
It details that flight attendant is not a high paying job. The schedules can be grueling. Dealing with passengers can be hard, and when you’re up in the air you’re on your own with little support. You see many people, passengers dealing with the worst that life throws at them and a clash of cultures between seat opponents who bring their own priors to travel, which has become increasingly small-d democratic over the past 45 years.
Style matters. Detail matters. Often it’s not even a matter of cost, it’s a matter of having a culture where 80% isn’t good enough, a culture of not being lazy and paying attention to what seems like the small things. You have to buy dishware anyway, don’t just find dishes and check the box. Find the right dishes.
News came out over the weekend about a United Airlines Boeing 777-200 that took off from Maui’s airport back on December 18 – and nearly dropping to the ocean. Despite flight 1722 to Maui climbing to 2,200 feet and then plunging to within 775 feet of impact, news of the incident had not been reported.
In addition to questions around what happened, whether it was wind shear in a significant storm or whether the pilots raised their flaps too far, and possibly became disoriented, there’s been mystery around why no one on the plane – out of more than 200 passengers – posted about the incident to social media.
Back in December, American Airlines shared that they planned to eliminated fixed-price awards in 2023, and make all award travel on American Airlines ‘web special’ variable pricing.
We now have a window into when this change will occur.
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 »
