Category Archives for Airlines.
Bill Franke is a name that should make airline passengers shudder and yet it’s hardly known. He ran America West and hired Doug Parker to be his cost-cutting CFO.
Franke is responsible for turning Spirit Airlines into an ultra low cost carrier. He divested there and bought Frontier Airlines, turning it into a Spirit clone. And now he’s merging the two. And another one of his airlines is looking to offer transatlantic service.
Hong Kong is will reportedly be suing Cathay Pacific over its latest and worst outbreak to date of Covid-19, which the government is blaming on two crewmembers.
Delta filed its SEC 10-K and buried in the 272 pages are several interesting tidbits about the SkyMiles program.
When you work in a union shop, ratting out your colleagues usually doesn’t end well for you. That was a lesson the union leaders tried to teach this flight attendant, it seems. They lost their job. But life probably is still going to be rough for the flight attendant who reported them.
There’s a big debate going on about whether flight attendants are fairly paid, based on the idea that they are generally paid only for the time flying and not for the time spent boarding an aircraft. A Change.org petition to change this has garnered over 100,000 signatures.
The petition rests on a fairly fundamental misunderstanding of how mostly-union contracts are bargained on behalf of flight attendants.
Right now there’s really good business class saver award inventory on one of American’s lesser-known partners. And even better it’s for a West Coast departure to Europe, which is even harder to get.
Air Tahiti Nui has good award space for two passengers in business class flying Los Angeles – Paris Charles de Gaulle in March, April, July, August, and December at a cost of 57,500 American AAdvantage miles apiece.
In what no doubt will not be the last concession to make status-earning easier this year, United will let members know on Friday they’re getting deposits in their accounts of 15% – 20% of the qualifying dollars they need to keep their current status. And in typical United fashion, it’s complicated…
United is bringing back Capetown service and making it year-round, with three flights a week starting June 5. And United Airlines is making business class saver awards available for Newark – Capetown non-stop for up to four passengers.
oneworld says it is on track to roll out the platform for members of one airline’s program in the alliance to use their miles to upgrade on a flight operated by another airline in the alliance.
This would mean members of American Airlines AAdvantage and Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan could potentially use their miles to upgrade on at least 14 different airlines.
United Airlines fired to key members of its flight attendants union this week. The union is blisteringly angry. The union sent out a message saying they’re outraged. The note, under Sara Nelson’s signature and that of the head of the United union executive council, gave absolutely no specifics on the matter – who was let go, what was alleged, or any defense.
Here’s the story as I understand it.
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 »
