Category Archives for Airlines.
An Alaska Airlines flight attendant says a midflight coffee maker failure sprayed her with scalding coffee, grounds, and boiling water, leaving permanent scars and ongoing medical treatment. She is not suing the airline, though — the lawsuit targets Stumptown Coffee, alleging the company’s packaging was defective and unsafe for aircraft use.
Delta is giving SkyMiles members free access to The New York Times onboard and for up to 24 hours afterward — but this is not really about passenger convenience. It is another deal to monetize a captive audience in the air, turning seatback screens into a trial-and-conversion funnel for both Delta and the Times.
Delta built the strongest airline in America by being better than everyone else at the basics and then layering on a premium halo.
That halo still matters, but it is starting to outrun the product underneath it. United is improving faster, Delta’s operational edge is not what it was, and the airline that spent 20 years building the title now looks increasingly vulnerable to losing it.
Passengers are still being caught going through other people’s carry-on bags on flights into Hong Kong, especially on short Southeast Asia routes, yet the obvious solution many travelers imagine — cameras watching the cabin — still is not standard airline practice.
United Airlines is planning two of the worlds largest airport lounges in Houston and Washington Dulles while also laying groundwork for a return to New York JFK. An internal presentation makes clear these projects are not just about nicer terminals — they are part of a broader strategy to turn hub spending into faster growth, stronger loyalty, and higher profits.
Southwest’s latest privacy policy email told customers almost nothing, which is exactly why so many people assumed the worst. The real changes were broader and older than Monday’s notice suggested, and they are fueling fears that the airline is building the tools for heavier tracking, biometric monitoring, and more personalized pricing.
Air India will begin weighing flight attendants under a new health and fitness policy starting May 1, with overweight crew removed from duty and, in some cases, taken off payroll until they clear medical review. The airline says the BMI-based crackdown is about safety and fitness, but it also comes in the middle of a broader effort to remake Air India’s image with new uniforms, stricter standards, and a very public brand reset.
A new report values American Airlines’ AAdvantage program at roughly four times the airline’s own stock market value, a stark reminder that the real economics of major carriers no longer sit mainly in selling seats. The most profitable part of the business is increasingly the loyalty machine — using aspirational travel rewards to drive high-spending credit card customers, with flying often acting as the marketing platform for the cards.
American Airlines offered an erotic fiction author $2,499 to keep her elite status, and instead of taking the bait she responded the only way she could: in character, through the jetset world of her own books. Beneath the joke is a real point about airline loyalty in 2026 — American is charging real money to preserve status benefits that many travelers increasingly believe no longer deliver much of anything.
Willie Walsh is coming back to run an airline, taking over IndiGo in August after years as the industry’s chief lobbyist at IATA. For passengers, the bigger point is that the former British Airways boss who spent years cutting costs and stripping back the full-service experience is finally getting the kind of carrier he seemed to want all along: a giant low cost airline.
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 »
