Category Archives for Airlines.
United Airlines MileagePlus is somewhat less lucrative for the airline than American’s and Delta’s frequent flyer programs. You can get some insight into the economics of their loyalty program from their latest SEC 10-K filing as well as disclosures made around raising debt backed by the revenue from its mileage offering.
Delta hasn’t been nearly as aggressive with mileage partnerships over the past several years, outside of its main credit card partner, as competitor airlines.
That could be changing. Through March 31, 2023 hotel and car rental bookings through their portal earn qualifying dollars towards SkyMiles elite status.
American Airlines offers some nuggets which provide insight into the AAdvantage program, buried in this SEC filing which is over 200 pages long (plus attachments). The biggest takeaway is that fewer seats on American Airlines are filled with passengers redeeming miles than at Delta or Southwest.
It’s remarkable how airlines in Europe, the Middle East and Asia can serve amazing meals on short flights, while U.S. airlines serve such lower quality food on flights that are much longer.
But just because you’re flying a European or Asian airline in business class doesn’t mean all of the food is going to be impressive.
New all business class airline BeOnd plans to launch with a hub in Male, capital of the Maldives. If there’s a luxury resort destination attracting a clientele that might spring for such a service, the Maldives is on the short list. But the business model of flying 68 premium seats on board A321neos to 60 – 80 destinations seems.. insane?
They plan to launch with the neo but ultimately fly A321XLRs to reach Europe and Australia. And they claim they’re going to be subsidized by the government of the Maldives, to which I have to wonder.. why?
I flew what seemed to me like a lot growing up. My parents were divorced and lived on different coasts, and I went back-and-forth. And living in New York I naturally found myself in Florida over winters as well. (My very first flight memory is a drive to the airport for a flight to Florida, probably when I was three.)
But I always flew coach, and I remember thinking to myself as boarded a widebody flight once that I would always travel in back. I’d never be wealthy enough to sit up front, and even if I was why would I waste my money that way? I had no idea what it cost, but it just seemed so… extravagant to be more comfortable for a few hours.
There’s no question that Southwest’s once-vaunted labor relations are frayed with their pilots at present. The airline didn’t furlough anyone during the pandemic, while American furloughed nearly 20,000 including pilots. But memories are short. It seems pilots will be walking out at every rally until there’s a new contract.
Right on the heels of that spicy flight attendant telling people they shouldn’t use the lavatory when they first board a plane, a JetBlue flight attendant confronts a passenger demanding to know why they could possibly need to use the lavatory since they’d spent a three hour delay in the terminal. And the crewmember even went so far as to claim airplane toilets don’t flush while the plane is on the ground.
United Airlines has added language to its Contract of Carriage to say that they will not honor mistake fares, but that if you book one and incur non-refundable costs as a result they will reimburse those costs.
The airline also now says that booking flights likely to be delayed, and then complaining about the delays for compensation, is grounds to be banned from the MileagePlus frequent flyer program.
During a meeting with pilots last week, American Airlines Chief Operating Officer David Seymour reviewed the carrier’s recent performance from the holidays and February storms, noting that “[Dallas – Forth Worth airport] does not deal with ice that well.” DFW is known colloquially as ‘Doesn’t Function Wet.’
Kendall Lock, American’s Vice President for Airline Operations Technology, reviewed how the new HEAT system works to choose which flights to delay in order to end up cancelling fewer trips.
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 »
