Airlines

Category Archives for Airlines.

Award Space To Europe Is Back With A Vengeance!

by Gary Leff

Sep 26 2022

Just a few weeks ago the prospect of trying to coordinate changes to Europe awards would have given me heartburn. There was simply very little award space, save for a handful of airline and routes that I used as ‘worst-case scenarios’ when helping people to redeem their miles. And I didn’t want worst-case scenarios traveling with my wife and daughter.

Fortunately things are really looking up for those of us looking to use points for travel abroad, especially to Europe.

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Delta Passenger Scolded For Pushing The Flight Attendant Call Button

by Gary Leff

Sep 25 2022

A Delta Air Lines passenger shares what happened when they rang their flight attendant call bell to ask for a drink while flying from Atlanta to Boston recently.

Seated in extra legroom coach, which offers free cocktails, they asked for a Jack Daniels and Coke during the drink cart pass through the cabin. Half an hour later they wanted another drink so they pushed the button about their seat. It lit up. About five minutes later a crewmember showed up and declined their request.

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American Airlines Penalizes Employees Who Buy Their Own Travel To Ensure They’re Ready To Work

by Gary Leff

Sep 25 2022

There are numerous rules that go along with flying so-called ‘free’ (there are often fees for international travel, and for some there can be tax consequences as well).

One of the stranger ones on American Airlines is that employees cannot book conflicting paid travel and non-rev travel. In fact, they aren’t even allowed to list for non-rev travel on American is they have paid or mileage award tickets with the same origin and destination within 24 hours on another airline like Delta. This actually makes American Airlines less reliable for customers.

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United Airlines Is Letting Customers Test New Business Class Suites With Doors

by Gary Leff

Sep 24 2022

Delta Air Lines was the second airline – behind only Qatar Airways – to launch business class suites with doors into commercial service. American Airlines is going to enclosed suites with their Boeing 787-9 and Airbus A321XLR new aircraft deliveries in 2024. British Airways has been putting doors on business class seats, and Air France is going to be doing the same.

United Airlines isn’t going to be left behind in this race. In fact they’ve been vetting new seats with doors for a new Polaris product, as I reported this past spring.

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No, There’s No ‘Ghost In The Machine’ On Board American Airlines Aircraft

by Gary Leff

Sep 21 2022

The P.A. system is wired – it is not wifi or bluetooth-enabled. My first reaction when I saw this was, that’s simply not possible, right? It does not seem to be.

American Airlines inspected the Boeing 737-800 as well as the P.A. system itself after these reports. They tell me that maintenance “determined the sounds were caused by an issue with the PA amplifier. There was no external access to the system.”

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Delta Is Testing A New Way To Board Flights – Using Two Gates At The Same Time For Just One Plane

by Gary Leff

Sep 20 2022

Delta Air Lines is conducting a test boarding planes using two jet bridges at the same time. This way they can get twice as many passengers onto the aircraft at once, making the boarding process go faster.

If adopted, in the future this could mean a single jet bridge that splits off and then boards passengers through two different doors on the aircraft. For now they are using two gates next to each other to accomplish the feat. Since Cincinnati is a much smaller station for Delta than the hub it used to be, they have extra gate space to allow this kind of test.

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