Category Archives for Airlines.
Flight attendants are getting busted for accepting gifts from passengers – after passengers have been inspired to bribe their crew by a viral TikTok trend.
The captain halted the departure process, emergency vehicles surrounded the plane, and armed FBI agents boarded the aircraft. Initially passengers were told there was a ‘technical issue’ but that was clearly false when government agents, rather than mechanics, boarded the plane with weapons and not tools.
Delta stopped passing through the coach cabin offering complimentary earbuds on May 15. This includes the extra legroom ‘Comfort+’ section. They still proactively pass them out in premium cabins.
They don’t tell you this, but the earbuds are still available on request.
Phoenix is getting its first flight to Asia. Taiwan’s Starlux will launch Phoenix – Taipei service three times weekly with an Airbus A350-900.
Southwest Airlines will become the first U.S. carrier to restrict the use of power banks inflight for portable charging. Southwest also significantly lags American, Delta and United in offering passengers power at their seat.
When CEO Robert Isom took over the airline, his admonition to employees at his first gathering was to never spend a dollar they don’t have to. That appears to cover the employee restroom facilities at their largest hub airport.
Etihad’s decision to launch Charlotte flights is attributable to President Trump’s Mideast trip. They weren’t even talking to the airport beforehand.
More and smaller airports are needed. Streamlined security, that doesn’t wait for nationwide universal rollout, is needed. We need runways and taxiways and air traffic capacity to increase throughput without stacking delays. Most of all, we need to avoid complacency that accepts the status quo as given.
Aviation blogger and New Hampshire state legislator Seth Miller (‘sbm12’ in frequent flyer forums) is suing in U.S. District Court in Nevada to affirm his right to publicly criticize Avelo Airlines over this service. He raised $6,000 from 70 people to fund billboards criticizing Avelo, but the airline got them taken down.
Obviously they should optimize their schedules – stop burning peak-hour slots on thin-regional routes and upgauge high yield routes. They should continue to lean into the co-location of their oneworld partners in terminal 8. They should consider growing at Newark (long-term, this month wouldn’t be the time to announce it).
But I actually think there are several additional things that American Airlines can do to compete effectively in New York.
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 »
