Category Archives for Airlines.
There’s a rather odd take on the Southwest Airlines meltdown, that it was caused by capitalism or, in Senator Bernie Sanders’ formulation, caused by stock buybacks to benefit shareholders at the expense of passengers.
The Southwest Airlines pilot union sent its members a note in the aftermath of their airline’s meltdown, diagnosing the core issues and challenges at the company. It’s a mix of correct analysis and hobby horses.
Tom Nekouei, 2nd Vice President of SWAPA, mostly dumps on former CEO Gary Kelly, who retired early in 2022, and correctly flags that the company has deferred technology investment for decades.
Spirit Airlines flight NK1095 from Philadelphia to Orlando on December 26 cancelled, after a delay of several hours. Passengers in the boarding area were not at all happy, and Spirit gate agents have… their own way of communicating with customers. They let everyone know there would be refunds, or rebookings, but passengers would have to wait several days if they wanted another flight from Philadelphia. And don’t expect Spirit to pay for hotels!
This video of the announcements is… really something.
Delta SkyMiles has been known to status match a ham sandwich. No matter what proof of your current status with another airline you’d send in, they’d approve temporary SkyMiles status and a challenge to keep that status. That’s part of how they work to poach the best customers of their competitors.
The easy matches may be tightening up a bit at Delta Boulevard. At least they may be working to make sure the status you’re offering with another airline to justify the match is at least real.
Etihad first class award space is fairly open for two passengers on the Washington Dulles – Abu Dhabi route from April through November, 2023. The easiest way to book these seats is through Air Canada Aeroplan.
Airline JSX has banned a family from travel, cancelling the return portion of their trip, after their toddler “dropped some chips on the ground” and then threw up as they were deplaning the Embraer-145 aircraft. If anyone is looking for a recommendation for the least family friendly airline, fly @flyjsx ! They canceled our return flight and banned us from the airline because my toddler dropped some chips on the ground and my baby spit up on our way out. — [Redacted] December 25, 2022 This has proven highly contentious. Reactions from some travelers has been to applaud the airline, and say they’re more likely to fly JSX – the scheduled charter service that flies to and from private terminals – while others are appalled at cancelling a family’s travel plans because of something that…
With the virtual shutdown of Southwest Airlines for a week, customers weren’t able to fly, and that means they weren’t able to take those last trips that would have earned their status for 2023 or taken advantage of their soon-to-expire companion passes. So Southwest is giving members one extra month to qualify for status and giving members with December 31, 2022-expiring companion passes an extra month (January 2023) to use those companion passes.
It’s not clear how many people appear in ‘Safety at Scale’ but the meaning here suggests scale in a couple of key scenes, using people to do things like form the American Airlines logo and a no smoking sign, and to suggest just how large American Airlines is.
This new video isn’t as chic as the last one. Still, it’s visually interesting.
Back in the early fall Alaska Airlines committed to introducing a new, simplified award chart by the end of the year. They’ve done that and it’s… not helpful. Alaska gives us less information, not more, and hides some devaluations in the mix.
Southwest has said they’ll cover reasonable expenses for affected travelers. That likely covers modest meals and hotel accommodations. But what about immodest expenses? For those, Larry Flynt’s Hustler Club has Southwest passengers covered.
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 »
