Category Archives for Airlines.
While Etihad is a partner of both American AAdvantage and Air Canada Aeroplan, this space won’t be bookable using those points, and Etihad’s own program is both costly and comes with draconian cancellation penalties. Fortunately, you can book the space using Air France KLM’s Flying Blue as reasonable rates.
SpaceX scrubbed the launch of its Falcon 9 rock on Sunday morning with just 11 seconds to blastoff – because air traffic control directed a Delta Air Lines flight from Los Angeles to Honolulu into the restricted airspace of its path.
Pakistan International Airlines – arguably the worst airline in the world, known for sacrificing a goat as part of its maintenance procedures and flying with more passengers on board than seats, and pilots with fake licenses – is under scrutiny again after flight PK150 from Dammam, Saudi Arabia to Multan, Pakistan diverted to Lahore and landed on the wrong runway.
Flying American Airlines from Miami to Chicago, cabin crew refused to take a box from food the passenger brought on board themselves, and according to the passenger, they responded “We don’t throw away your personal garbage.” So the passenger placed the box in the aisle and he says they still wouldn’t throw it away – they just kept kicking it out of the way each time they walked up or down the aisle.
For the most part, upgrades have been tough to get because (1) premium demand has grown while the supply of premium seats hasn’t kept up, and (2) airlines have shifted their merchandising to take less money for those seats from any willing buyer rather than honor frequent flyer upgrades.
However part of the reason why Delta’s upgrade percentage is so low, it seems, is because gate agents at Delta just don’t process upgrades as reliably as they do at other airlines.
Over the summer, TSA Administrator David Pekoske said that they weren’t going to make public charter operators fly out of commercial terminals, but that they would update security plans. They’ve done this – and will require new screening procedures at private terminals for ‘by the seat’ charter operators like JSX.
Big airlines have special programs for high revenue customers far beyond top elite status of their mileage programs. At Delta there’s the 360 program. At American it’s Concierge Key. At United Airlines it is Global Services. The criteria for obtaining this type of status is generally unpublished, however there are workarounds.
A Frontier Airlines passenger took to the internet to blast her seat opponent. She’s flying the airline’s Airbus A320 from a middle seat. The man at the aisle is spreading his legs into her space. That’s incredibly rude. She has so little space to begin with, and he has access to the aisle!
Ex-Reality TV star, Congressman, and Fox Business personality Sean Duffy was tapped to become Secretary of Transportation. He’s now a shoe-in for confirmation. Democrats, and even airline unions, are lining up to support him.
A Southwest Airlines pilot was arrested on Wednesday morning at Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport. The airline found another pilot and the flight departed to Chicago-Midway airport nearly five hours late.
He was stopped at the airport’s TSA checkpoint, and airport police called, because his breath smelled of alcohol.
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 »
