Category Archives for Airlines.
The federal transportation mask mandate was extended through April 18 for no good reason, other than political fear from the Biden administration (that some new variant would come along) and political opportunism (they weren’t yet ready to declare victory and removing the ban will be useful as part of that).
The Democrat-controlled U.S. Senate has now voted 57-40 to overturn the transportation mask mandate. Here’s what to expect,
Outgoing American Airlines CEO Doug Parker spoke at the JP Morgan Industrials Conference today and suggested that since he’s leaving and won’t be responsible for results after this quarter, he shouldn’t talk about American’s future forecasts. Instead he talked about the airline industry – and revealed something about his own investing in competitor stocks.
A Captain for Russian government-owned low cost carrier Pobeda, a subsidiary of Aeroflot, demonstrated real bravery by announcing to his flight that his government’s invasion of Ukraine is a crime and must be stopped. Caveating that he was speaking for himself and not the airline that had brought passengers to Antalya, Turkey, he asked passengers to do everything they could to bring the war to an end. Passengers cheered.
British Airways has followed the lead of some other U.K. carriers in announcing the end of its mask mandate effective March 16, except where they’re required to continue imposing one such as flights to the U.S. and to Italy.
A man posted to Reddit and literally got branded an ‘a-hole’ on the site (with flair!) after sharing that he upgraded himself on a 12 hour flight while leaving his wife in economy, and expressed surprised that she was upset by this.
The 25 year old US expat living in Japan said his 24 year old wife was traveling with him to the U.S. for a month and they’d booked seats together. He spent miles for his own upgrade. He asked if he was being a jerk and the internet said yes.
When American Airlines suspended its service to Sydney that meant my award itinerary to see my family was cancelled. I spoke to the airline and was told they would re-accommodate my business class award on Qantas… in coach.
This seems to violate both the airline’s published rules and the promise of the joint ventures with other airlines that they promote and are fighting with the government to allow.
Turkish Airlines will give business class passengers two free hotel nights, and coach passengers one night, when they have long connections in Istanbul – and this even applies to award tickets as long as the award is booked with their miles (transferable from Citibank, Capital One and Bilt).
United Airlines flight 2425 from Orange County to Houston diverted to Austin on Friday after a flight attendant reportedly announced “that there was an explosion in the cargo and there could or may not be a fire.” According to a passenger on the flight, “You could feel the plane start to pick up in speed.”
A few months into the pandemic Alaska Airlines started running promotions offering elite qualifying miles for credit card spend. That’s a trick they repeated. And they’ve brought it back for the rest of 2022.
The AAdvantage program has been without a Vice President for several months. Rick Elieson, who took over from Bridget Blaise-Shamai in the huge American Airlines pandemic leadership shuffle, announced his departure has fall. They’ve named a new Vice President in Julie Rath. Julie has been Vice President of Customer Experience and Reservations and becomes Vice President of Customer Experience, Loyalty and Marketing. American has also been without a Vice President of Marketing since Janelle Anderson’s departure. She previously worked at Delta Air Lines and Northwest, where she went to work out of college in 1991. Ms. Rath continues to report to Alison Taylor, Chief Customer Officer who has overseen sales, and whom many have expected to leave after being passed over for incoming CEO Robert Isom’s Senior Leadership Team. Heather Samp, the current Managing Director…
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 »
