Category Archives for Airlines.
Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards will never be the stuff dreams are made of. There are no first class upgrades (Southwest has no premium cabin). You can’t redeem your miles to the Maldives or Seychelles (no partner airline redemptions). But there are some simple changes that could supercharge the value of the Rapid Rewards program.
American Airlines Platinum elites and higher now have access to extra legroom coach seats on Qatar Airways, complimentary at the time of booking, and Qatar Airways elites receive similar benefits on American.
Here’s another lesson in ‘never fly a Bill Franke airline’. The CEO of Budapest-based Wizz Air doesn’t want pilots cancelling flights just because they’re too tired to fly, saying “we are all fatigued but sometimes it is required to take the extra mile.”
Too tired? Just fly anyway!
With flights selling out it’s tough to get awards, especially in business class and especially for more than a passenger or two. That’s why it’s such a great time to book any winter Europe travel. It may be off-season but it’s also when destinations aren’t overrun with European tourists.
Star Alliance award space for four or more passengers is widely available between New York and several cities in Europe for January through March.
American Airlines now sells ‘Business Plus’ fares that include Flagship check-in, Flagship First Dining access (currently only available at New York JFK, Miami and Dallas Fort-Worth) and a third checked bag.
View it as bundling Flagship First Dining into the fare, but beware this is useful only at a limited number of airports.
On Sunday aa passenger in Dallas had their bag taken at the gate. The gate agent reportedly “tag[ged] them without asking final destination,” didn’t give customer a claim tag and told them to “them to look for it at [their] connecting airport NOT final destination.” They thought they’d never see their bag again.
The flight’s captain, though, wasn’t having any of this.
Delta once said ‘if everyone’s elite, nobody is.’ But if everyone has lounge access, nobody does. To mitigate overcrowding Delta and American Express worked on getting Delta premium card customers access to (also overcrowded) Centurion lounges, and to build Centurion lounges in some Delta terminals.
That hasn’t solved crowding because more people have access, and are trying to use the lounge, than there’s space. That can mean lines to get in – a wait list.
Someone asked on Twitter why American Airlines has the requirement for three separate fields to log in – the account number, password, and last name. In other words, why isn’t account number and password enough? I happen to know the reason, and it’s mildly interesting.
Some people suggest messaging Delta rather than calling when it’s impossible to get through but that can be just as futile, as one passenger who took to social media explained after being told of a more than 11 hour wait time to connect with an agent.
The Supreme Court issued a unanimous ruling against Southwest Airlines on Tuesday that is both almost self-evident in its simplicity as it will be surprising to some to see.
The Court ruled 8-0, with Justice Thomas writing the opinion and Justice Barrett not participating in the case, that ramp workers loading and unloading baggage and cargo are engaging in interstate commerce.
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 »
