Airlines

Category Archives for Airlines.

Europe May Get Rid Of Strong Airline Consumer Protections

airplane docked
Aug 08 2022

Europe has strong airline consumer protection rules, at least in theory. In practice even when an airline owes you money for a delay, it’s tough to collect. We’ve seen customers literally send bailiffs to airline offices to collect and airlines even cancel flights to avoid having their aircraft impounded over $300.

Now they may even eliminate the protections in EU regulation 261 (2004) which requires airlines to compensate passengers between €250 and €600 cash for flight delays of over 3 hours, for cancellations, and for involuntary denied boardings due to overbooking.

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Update On My Award Booking Service

Aug 06 2022

I started helping readers book their award travel with an award booking service, Book Your Award, in 2009. Ten years ago Steve Belkin came on as my partner. Steve literally wrote the book on large scale mileage exploits. He’s been famous in mileage circles for 30 years, we’ve known each other for 20 years, and for a decade now he’s helped redeem billions of miles.

I can’t do it all myself. There’s too much at stake. And there are very few people that I trust to deliver at the level I’m committed to. Steve, my partner and friend, has decided to step back from award booking after 10 years.

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Delta Flight Attendants May Unionize Even Though Unionized Crew Are Deeply Unhappy Elsewhere

Aug 03 2022

Airlines are one of the most heavily unionized industries in the country. That works out well for customers and investors at Southwest, but less well at other airlines. Delta, the other historically strong performer, is mostly non-union. Their largest unionized work group is their pilots. Delta’s dispatchers are also unionized.

The biggest flight attendants union is working hard to change that – even as they publish data that 97% of flight attendants they represent at United are deeply unhappy.

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Watch: Tug Get Stuck Underneath An American Airlines Boeing 737 At LaGuardia Airport

Aug 02 2022

The American Airlines Boeing 737-800, came in from Miami on Monday night. It was scheduled to fly as American Airlines 2036 from New York LaGuardia to Charlotte on Tuesday morning. That didn’t quite happen.

Instead, a tug got caught underneath the aircraft. It’s amazing and cringeworthy to watch at the same time. Thankfully everyone involved is ok.

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How Do We Stop Diseases From Spreading On Planes?

Aug 01 2022

About half of people said they’d fly even if they had the flu. Socially many people felt compelled to travel when sick, perhaps they’d lose out on an important meeting. I always hated this – and got very angry at people who came to work at my office sick – because they risked spreading whatever they had. Financially airlines have made it hard for people to reschedule.

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