Category Archives for Airlines.
American has now aligned self-service check-in machines to have the same cut-off times as the system agents use at the counter.
However there are still times when you’ll need to see an agent to take advantage of an exception.
For at least five years American Airlines has been saying that the two things that drive premium passenger satisfaction with cabin crew are being addressed by name, and being served a predeparture beverage.
Now they’re turning to fortunate cookies to encourage these flight attendant behaviors.
Airlines, like many businesses, have become far more political in recent years – taking stances on controversial issues like voting rights, affirmative action, and gun control. But perhaps the most salient political topic right now alongside inflation is abortion – and airlines are staying silent even when asked about the issue.
A flight attendant accused Elon Musk of sexual harassment while working on contract for SpaceX corporate jets in 2016. She was paid a $250,000 settlement two years later over accusations that Musk, after she had become a licensed masseuse, sought sex during an inflight massage on a trip to London and offered to buy her a horse.
The CDC says you need to get tested for domestic travel, something they didn’t argue was necessary during the Delta surge or the Omicron surge at the beginning of the year. They’re also saying it’s important to be tested for domestic travel but not for indoor dining or concerts.
More than bringing politics into the aircraft cabin, the problem here is that Let’s Go Brandon has simply become derivative. It’s so 2021. Wearing a Let’s Go Brandon pin isn’t just a juvenile way to express yourself, it’s a way of saying I’m 8 months behind the meme.
Sometimes airline union leaders flat out steal from their members. Sometimes it’s more subtle.
On Sunday I covered remarks by the head of the Delta SkyMiles program where he explained, among other things, why Delta doesn’t try to offer awards that look like outsized value to the member the way that Air Canada Aeroplan does.
So it seemed worth looking at Mark Nasr’s comments at the same Skift conference. Mark is Air Canada’s Senior Vice President of Marketing, Digital, Product, and Brand and oversees the Aeroplan program. He explains why it’s important to deliver good value awards to customers in order to succeed.
In January 2020 a passenger lost their iPad on an American Airlines flight from London Heathrow to Dallas – Fort Worth. As they explained it “somehow got ‘swallowed’ by [the] seat” in business class.
The passenger reports that the pilot (!) helped him to “partially strip away some of the seat upholstery including the life vest” but they weren’t able to find it. And they abandoned the search.
When things go wrong with an airline’s operation most carriers have “interline agreements” that let them put their passengers on another airline’s flights. However in 2018 American Airlines decided it was too expensive to put passengers on other airlines when they cancelled their own flights.
There’s an ability for American Airlines agents to make exceptions to this policy, and these are important for passengers without status flying coach to know about and ask for.
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 »
