Category Archives for Airlines.
Style matters. Detail matters. Often it’s not even a matter of cost, it’s a matter of having a culture where 80% isn’t good enough, a culture of not being lazy and paying attention to what seems like the small things. You have to buy dishware anyway, don’t just find dishes and check the box. Find the right dishes.
News came out over the weekend about a United Airlines Boeing 777-200 that took off from Maui’s airport back on December 18 – and nearly dropping to the ocean. Despite flight 1722 to Maui climbing to 2,200 feet and then plunging to within 775 feet of impact, news of the incident had not been reported.
In addition to questions around what happened, whether it was wind shear in a significant storm or whether the pilots raised their flaps too far, and possibly became disoriented, there’s been mystery around why no one on the plane – out of more than 200 passengers – posted about the incident to social media.
Back in December, American Airlines shared that they planned to eliminated fixed-price awards in 2023, and make all award travel on American Airlines ‘web special’ variable pricing.
We now have a window into when this change will occur.
Australia in business class is one of the toughest frequent flyer awards out there. It’s a long flight, people pay for business class seats, and there aren’t that many ways of getting there through many frequent flyer programs. If you want to use United miles, for instance, you often have to travel through Asia – or pay triple the miles.
Right now Qantas is making quite a bit of business class award space available on its Dallas Fort Worth – Sydney flight over the summer in the U.S.
Google search trends reveals an exodus for United Airlines MileagePlus.
Regina Jackson was traveling from Atlanta to Charlotte on American Airlines, and had the best flight of her life despite a series of delays and a whole bunch of weather-induced turbulence. That’s because American Airlines flight 533 had just one passenger on board – her.
A Boeing 777-200 taking off from Maui’s airport nearly impacted the ocean on December 18, in a previously-unreported incident.
United Airlines flight 1722 departed for San Francisco at 2:49 p.m., climbed to 2,200 feet, and then went into a steep dive at a rate of over 8,000 feet per minute. While the pilots were able to recover, they came within 775 feet of the ocean.
With a new business class product – suites with doors – and more business class seats beginning to roll out at American Airlines next year, the airline is working on new meals, business class bedding, and amenity kits. They’re leaning on partner airlines like British Airways to understand how service flow works with more premium customers. And they’re testing a variety of products.
On Wednesday Southwest Airlines held an employee rally in Baltimore and pilots, in the midst of a contract negotiation with the airline, walked out on CEO Bob Jordan, reminiscent of United Airlines pilots turning their back on their own CEO in December.
Jordan reportedly flew back to Dallas, not on Southwest Airlines – but on American Airlines – according to a Southwest pilot.
Considering how important frequent flyer programs are to airlines – they drive billions of dollars of high margin revenue – they disclose very little about that portion of their business. Delta filed its SEC 10-K annual report on Friday, and included tidbits about the inner workings of the SkyMiles program
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 »
