Category Archives for Airlines.
In the fall, I was first to report that Southwest Airlines would end onboard service earlier, and make passengers stow their laptops earlier. This means less time where service is available on board, and as a result Southwest is cutting drink service entirely on some flights.
At approximately 8:35 a.m. local time on Sunday, February 2, 2025, United Airlines Flight 1382 aborted its takeoff roll at Houston Bush Intercontinental airport. The Airbus A319, which was headed to New york LaGuardia, faced failure of the plane’s right engine. The crew rejected takeoff at high speed, slowed, and came to a stop on runway 15R.
U.S. and foreign airlines are granted anti-trust immunity all the time to collude on schedules and pricing, jointly deciding who will fly where and how much they’ll charge. The power the Department of Transportation has to allow this comes from an unusual, historical place, and its use has exploded in recent years.
The Sabena case was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York. Sabena’s defense was that this was common practice in the industry. Airlines all denied it, and pointed fingers at other carriers including Pan Am and TWA as well as KLM and other foreign carriers flying across the North Atlantic. Ultimately a consent decree was entered into, and an Iberia executive was jailed for continuing the practice.
A United Airlines passenger flying a regional jet from Chicago O’Hare to Fargo snagged $2,000 in travel credits to take a later flight on Thursday.
There’s a lot suggesting that this could be under discussion. The biggest argument against it is that it hasn’t happened yet, so might not come to fruition. But here’s the argument for yes.
Lufthansa keeps making strange decisions with the interiors of its aircraft, and not learning from the experience of other airlines. They’ve crammed so many seats into their Airbus A320neo aircraft that there’s virtually none left for the galley – and this leaves them to seat a flight attendant on a folding chair.
United Airlines has filed an SEC 8-K saying that they are not in negotiations or discussions (and have not been recently) regarding a merger or acquisition.
A year ago United filed a “large development review” plan with the City of Denver that did include adding 12 flight simulators for pilot training, but also allow for a new corporate campus that would support 5,000 employees, enough to move all the workers at the current Chicago Willis Tower headquarters.
They’ve now revealed more details about how the land at 17671 E. 64th Avenue east of Pena Boulevard near Denver’s airport would be developed.
Airlines have contingency plans for situations like this. American Airlines hasn’t experienced anything like flight 5342 in 23 years, but they update plans and train for it.
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 »
