Category Archives for Airlines.
SAS EuroBonus offers Gold status to those who hold 100,000 shares in the airline, and those shares are cheap while the carrier is in bankruptcy. But there are risks and hurdles that will keep most away from this lucrative offer.
With Lufthansa tied to United and Air Canada, Air France KLM tied to Delta, and British Airways tied to American the transatlantic market has become far more concentrated inside of “metal neutral, anti-trust immunized, revenue-sharing joint ventures.” There are only a handful of players across the Pond operating with significant frequency outside of the one of these deals.
At the end of last year United Airlines ordered 100 Boeing 787s with options for 100 more, in addition to ordering 56 Boeing 737 Maxs and exercising options on 44 that were previously ordered as part of a massive buy in 2021.
United is going back to market for even more planes.
Delta wants us to believe that they are just trying to solve a problem – that there are too many elites for the benefits available like upgrades and club access. They have no choice! Victims of their own success!
The truth is that planned Delta changes weren’t about scarcity of benefits or too many Diamonds. It was all about squeezing customers for more American Express spend because Delta is trying to move from $7 billion in revenue from American Express to $10 billion. But they went too far.
There was a 352% increase in negative online commentary about Delta following their announced changes, and that’s compared to the week of the Delta diarrhea plane.
Airline expenses break down across planes, labor, and jet fuel. The amount of fuel it takes to fly a plane varies based on how much weight the plane needs to carry. So if passengers would lose weight, airlines would save money. If everyone dropped 10 pounds on Ozempic, United Airlines would save $80 million per year.
Two grandparents traveling with their 11 month old grandson were met by police on arrival in Detroit on Sunday after a flight attendant reported them for human trafficking.
They had flown in from Punta Cana, where the grandmother had spoken at a conference. Dee Dee Ohara Blizard is Black, and her husband is Japanese. And the child’s skin color looks different than theirs. That appears to have raised alarms with Delta cabin crew.
All of the great strategies for keeping people from sitting next to you on Southwest, so you can have an empty middle, don’t work when a flight attendant calls out passengers for trying. One passenger films herself trying to avoid passengers who might sit in her row. And you can hear a flight attendant announcing not to try.
American Airlines flight attendants are sticking “We Are Ready” tags on their bags, highlighting a willingness to strike for a better contract. But flight attendants aren’t actually ready.
What Delta forgot about its customers, but has since been reminded: if a frog is placed in boiling water, it will jump out immediately. However, if the frog is placed in tepid water that is then brought to a boil slowly, it will not perceive the danger and will be cooked to death. You’re the frog.
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 »
