Airlines

Category Archives for Airlines.

President Biden: Charging For Extra Legroom Seats After Ticket Purchase Is Racist

airplane seats
Oct 26 2022

The notion that airlines even sell seats with six extra inches of legroom on many domestic flights, as the President suggests, is fanciful. Three inches is far more common. Airline passengers skew quite well off, relatively few marginalized Americans fly regularly. It seems odd to suggest that they are disproportionately harmed (or, for that matter, that they are buying up to extra legroom seats).

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Starting This Month United Airlines Will Offer Jaguar Electric SUV Tarmac Transfers From Gate-To-Gate

Oct 26 2022

In general there’s a branded marketing tie-in to these tarmac transfer deals, best thought of as a merchant-funded offer conceptually similar to statement credits and elite status provided through credit card issuers. Here Jaguar’s electric I-PACE is what’s being promoted, showcased for the very customers that United values most. There’s even a 50,000 mile offer for buying one.

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The Reason Singapore Airlines Is Dropping Dom Perignon From First Class

Oct 26 2022

A week ago I was first to cover that Singapore Airlines would drop Dom Perignon from its first class and Suites cabin, though generally still offer two outstanding choices: Krug and Taittinger Comtes de Champagne.

It turns out that the reason for the change isn’t budgetary (they got a great deal from Taittinger) or a sourcing problem (there’s no Dom Perignon supply chain breakdown) but rather the airline, which was at one point reportedly the world’s second-largest purchaser of Dom, has been shut out from access.

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Why You Should Start Your Quest For American AAdvantage Status With A Challenge

airport
Oct 25 2022

It’s much, much easier to earn status when you already have status with American. If you were flying to earn status and not engaging in any other activity, it would take $18,182 for an existing Executive Platinum member to re-earn Executive Platinum. In contrast, someone starting with no status and earning Executive Platinum on flying alone would need to spend $27,012 on tickets. But you don’t have to start fresh.

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How American Airlines And Its Partners Decide Who Flies A Route

japan airlines plane
Oct 25 2022

American Airlines has joint ventures with several airlines, including British Airways, Qantas, and Japan Airlines. In theory these are “metal neutral” – it isn’t supposed to matter to the airlines which one flies a given route. They split the money.

So how do they decide who flies? In a recent employee meeting, a recording of which was reviewed by View From The Wing, American’s Vice President for Network and Schedule Planning Brian Znotins explained how they coordinate schedules with their joint venture partners, including who flies where and when.

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Alaska Airlines Says Miles No Longer Expire, But Their Program Terms Actually Say Otherwise

Oct 24 2022

Alaska Airlines has eliminated miles expiration. Accounts used to go inactive (therefore expiring miles) after 24 months without earning or redeeming their points. Now accounts go inactive but can be reactivated with all of your points restored for free – as long as you do it within a year. I missed this last wrinkle when first looking at the change, and it means account expiration in 3 years of true inactivity.

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There Are Two Reasons American Airlines Decided To Drop Flagship First Class

Oct 24 2022

When American Airlines introduces new business class suites with doors in 2024, alongside taking on new Boeing 787-9 aircraft, they’re going to reconfigure their Boeing 777-300ERs to have these seats as well. In the process they will eliminate ‘Flagship First Class’ and business will be the top cabin on the aircraft.

At an internal meeting this morning, a recording of which was reviewed by View From The Wing, senior executives at the airline laid out the two basic reasons they made the decision to drop Flagship First Class.

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New Saudi Arabian Mega Airline About To Place Huge Jet Order

airport terminal
Oct 24 2022

Saudi Arabia is starting a new mega-airline meant to counter Emirates and Qatar. They already have Saudia, based in Jeddah, and they aren’t expanding it. Instead they’re starting from scratch with a $30 billion warchest to launch “RIA” based in Riyadh. They’re hiring away the CEO of Etihad, and they’re about to place a major order for new planes.

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