Category Archives for Airlines.
Delta Air Lines announced two changes to the SkyMiles program this morning. SkyMiles award tickets for travel on Delta, which first began counting towards elite status in 2021, will become a permanent feature of the program. And, in an effort to incentivize customers who buy the most expensive tickets, there will no longer be a cap on the miles earn for travel.
Doug Parker steps down today as CEO of American Airlines. He’ll become non-executive Chairman, but consistently describes this as “retiring.” Airline President Robert Isom becomes CEO in his place.
Parker has been a staple at the top of U.S. aviation for more than two decades, and more than anyone is responsible for changing the entire industry by kicking off consolidation. He’s been a genial leader willing to dress up for Halloween and sing to employees. He’s been personally successful – as successful as anyone can possibly be in the airline industry – while leaving customers, shareholders, and employees all worse off.
The best benefit here is lounge access. oneworld sapphire members of frequent flyer programs other than American AAdvantage and Alaska’s Mileage Plan get access not just to American Airlines Admirals Clubs and Alaska Lounges but also to American Airlines Flagship lounges even when traveling domestically. That means nice bar setups and buffets at New York JFK, Miami, Dallas, Los Angeles and in a few weeks once again at Chicago O’Hare.
It’s particularly galling to send flight attendants to collections and threaten termination over their dues within days of reporting to those same flight attendants that their former union president misappropriated their dues for personal gain. And doubly so since the union flight attendants are paying for is so weak.
Air Tahiti Nui is launching non-stop Papeete – Seattle service and a new partnership with Alaska Airlines. This is in addition to its partnership with American AAdvantage.
Qantas business class awards are broadly available in November and December between Los Angeles and Melbourne. Getting business class awards US – Australia can be catch as catch can at best, and Qantas is notoriously stingy with space. That’s doubly true during the November – March period.
On March 16th outgoing American Airlines CEO Doug Parker shared with employees at an internal meeting, a recording of which was reviewed by View From The Wing, that “Demand is enormous right now for air travel. We had last week the 3 highest revenue booking days in our history.”
Qantas announced that they will fly non-stop Dallas Fort Worth – Melbourne starting December 2. The service will be four times weekly using a Boeing 787-9.
Russian airlines are about to steal hundreds of aircraft. The leases on these planes must be terminated by Monday March 28, but the Russian government won’t permit their return. The registrations of these aircraft are being cancelled, but Russia is registering the planes itself.
The airworthiness certificates of most of the planes, registered in Ireland and Bermuda, have been suspended. And yet many of them are still flying. It’s an open question for how long, because Russia’s Cape Town Treaty obligations notwithstanding, they aren’t able to get parts for these planes on the legal market.
Two U.S. airline pilots were shot during the same week in Colombia this month. One incident occurred in Bogota and the other in Cali – both had been robbed at gunpoint near their layover hotels. Fortunately both are expected to recover fully from their injuries.
Carriers are reminding crew to be on alert during their foreign layovers, and not to resist robberies as apparently both pilots had done.
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 »
