Category Archives for Airlines.
American Airlines will be adding a row of seats to their Bombardier CRJ-900 regional jets operated by wholly-owned carrier PSA Airlines. These aircraft will go from a current 76 seats to 80 seats, but one of those seats will be blocked off in order to comply with the airline’s pilot contract.
An Airbus A321 from Madrid to Beirut operated by SkyTeam member Middle East Airlines was intercepted by Greek F-16 fighter jets after the pilot of August 10th’s flight 242, son of the airline’s Chairman and Director General, became non-responsive to air traffic control after signaling a distress code. Nothing was wrong, and the flight’s captain may have simply failed to communicate on the correct frequency.
Following the change to my account status, from Executive Platinum to ConciergeKey, I received a welcome email and then a phone call thanking me for my business. I was told to expect a welcome kit in about 3 weeks. In total it took 17 days.
On Friday I received an email that I had a Fedex package coming from “Specialty Print Communications” and that it would arrive by Tuesday. I googled them and saw they did work for American Airlines, so I knew this had to be my ConciergeKey package.
The Association of Flight Attendants – Communications Workers of America (AFA-CWA) is trying to organize flight attendants at Delta. They are promising more money, less work and a pony. It costs them nothing to make promises, which are almost certainly not true. In reality, Delta’s cabin crew will pay for union representation, they won’t make as much money as they will under Delta’s unique model in the industry, and their work lives will be worse.
Every Delta flight attendant should ask, are cabin crew represented by AFA-CWA actually happier and better off at the myriad of airlines where the union represents them now – like United Airlines, Spirit, Frontier, and Mesa?
Shockingly someone is selling ConciergeKey status on eBay! They’re asking $2000 and say that there are 10 available.
This is actually for a ConciergeKey challenge offering 3 months of status, and keeping the status through the end of the current member year (March 31, 2023) for $15,000 spend with the airline in those 3 months.
This has to be the most absurd fee ever charged by an airline. Startup carrier Breeze Airways, founded by the creator of JetBlue and several other airlines around the world, will hit you with a $27 “technology development fee” when buying a ticket. The reason why – and how to avoid it – will really take you beyond the looking glass of the U.S. airline industry.
United Airlines hasn’t been showing award seats that are being offered by their Star Alliance airline partner Air New Zealand. Air New Zealand publishes the award availability, and it can be seen by other airlines. But you won’t find the seats at United.com and the airline’s agents will tell you there’s nothing available.
Fortunately United claims this is a glitch, rather than intentional, and one they hope to resolve quickly.
Australia business class awards are some of the toughest around. That was true before the pandemic. It’s even more true now, with flights full generally and with not all service restored yet. For instance, American Airlines isn’t flying to Sydney again yet. Add in that Australians were banned from even leaving their country for a year and a half, and demand has been unprecedented.
I managed to score Air Canada business class saver seats for my trip Down Under in June, but that was one of a couple of times when availability seemed to pop up as a glitch. If you want to travel in a premium cabin to Australia it is very very hard right now. But there is one way. And some of you will find this amazing.
ZIPAIR is a Japanese low cost carrier owned by Japan Airlines. It launched during the pandemic with a hub at Tokyo Narita airport and flights to Singapore, Seoul, Bangkok, Honolulu and Los Angeles. San Jose flights are planned at the end of the year. They fly 4 Beoing 787-8 aircraft leased from Japan Airlines with 8 business class and 272 coach seats.
Right now a business class roundtrip might run $4000 between Los Angeles and Tokyo, while ZIPAIR is selling business class for just $1643 – or less.
Vietnam Airlines launched new service from San Francisco to Ho Chi Minh City (SGN) during the pandemic. They’ve been eyeing non-stop service to Los Angeles as well – but they’re not alone. In fact a surprising carrier may be first to launch the service, and receive two years of subsidies from the Los Angeles airports authority.
There are two airlines reportedly with Memorandums of Understanding in place to launch non-stop LA – Vietnam service, both may be surprising but talks with one have reportedly heated up.
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 »
