Airlines

Category Archives for Airlines.

Southwest Airlines Raising Fees Starting August 15th

by Gary Leff

Jun 23 2023

Southwest Airlines, the largest U.S. domestic airline, is raising several fees effective August 15, 2023, the carrier has revealed to employees in a document reviewed by View From The Wing. They will be raising pet and unaccompanied minor fees, as well as fees for additional, oversize, and overweight bags. Third and beyond checked bag goes from $75 to 125. Overweight bags go from $75 for up to 100 pounds to $100 for up to 70 pounds or $125 for up to 100 pounds. Oversized bags go from $75 to $125. Unaccompanied minor fees go from $50 to $100. Pets go from $95 to $125 per carrier, with no change to intra-Hawaii pet fees. Southwest still doesn’t charge for seats (they don’t pre-assign seats), don’t have change fees or basic economy fares that are unchangeable, and…

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The FAA Goes After The Points Guy: Who Is At Fault For Airline Delays?

by Gary Leff

air traffic control
Jun 22 2023

The FAA is calling out Brian Kelly (‘The Points Guy’) who sold his eponymous website years ago, and no longer manages it, but still represents them in media. He blamed summer 2023 flight delays on FAA staffing, but the FAA points out that weather is a bigger cause of delays.

The FAA also calls out volume of flights and runway capacity as bigger issues with delays than staffing, though this is misleading.

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Is Domestic First Class Air Travel For The Poors?

by Gary Leff

economy seats
Jun 21 2023

Airline domestic first class isn’t a marker of wealth, since a large subset of passengers able to pay for air travel can pay for first class as well as it often isn’t that much more. But it hasn’t really ever been a marker of wealth.

Twenty years ago 90% of seats up front were going to upgrades, which frequently meant business travelers who weren’t poor by any stretch but often in the middle rungs of the corporate ladder. Who is flying up front has changed a bit, especially with managed business travel still down, but it hasn’t matched the mythology of the product in decades.

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Using Elite Benefits After Your Status Expires

by Gary Leff

Jun 20 2023

If your status is ending, consider booking as much future travel as you can, because some of your benefits will likely apply to trips booked before your status expires for trips that occur after.

You can book extra legroom coach seats with your status, where that benefit applies, and those seat assignments will usually stick. And here’s an interesting wrinkle with checked baggage, too.

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Southwest Airlines Will Start Selling Overnight Connections

by Gary Leff

Jun 19 2023

Southwest will start selling overnight connection flights for the first time on June 26. They won’t offer redeye flights, but will use their current schedule to sell itineraries that involve an overnight at six airports – Baltimore; Denver; Las Vegas; Phoenix; Chicago Midway; and Oakland.

No new flights are being added to the schedule, this just adds flight options to sell… that customers should be on the lookout for, because they’re options that many will potentially want to avoid.

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