Airlines

Category Archives for Airlines.

American Airlines Will Start Serving Alcohol In Coach April 18 – Even With The Mask Mandate Extended

by Gary Leff

Apr 13 2022

United, Delta and Southwest all sell alcohol in coach. American Airlines has been the lone holdout, consistently saying they wouldn’t bring alcohol back into the main cabin while the mask mandate was in place. Former CEO Doug Parker emphasized that he believed adding alcohol into tense confrontations over masks was a bad idea.

The mask mandate was scheduled to lift April 18, and not coincidentally American has been scheduled to bring back alcohol sales and coursed meals on longer flights up front. Now that the mask mandate is being extended again, what happens to American’s plans for booze?

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Breaking: CDC Extending Travel Mask Mandate

by Gary Leff

Apr 13 2022

The CDC will extend the mask mandate by two weeks. The goal is to “monitor for any observable increase in severe virus outcomes as cases rise in parts of the country..out of abundance of caution.”

While CDC mask guidance suggests nearly the entire country doesn’t need to wear masks indoors, the only real remaining mask mandates are flying (and other transportation) and in some backward jurisdictions for 2-4 year olds in preschools.

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Will American Airlines Eliminate Flagship First Class Next Year?

by Gary Leff

Apr 12 2022

It would be a shame to see Flagship First Class disappear from American Airlines. I’d far rather see them invest in a truly first class product. They have Flagship First Class Dining, Five Star service on the ground, and aircraft selling the product already. And it’s a market that few airlines compete against them to service. Modest tweaks would go a long way, but unfortunately signs point in the opposite direction.

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New Status Match Offer From LATAM

by Gary Leff

plane on tarmac
Apr 12 2022

As travel returns, airlines have been looking to juice their elite ranks. One way they do that is by poaching customers from competitors. It’s hard to attract a customer used to elite treatment and asking them to start with your business at the bottom. So giving them an easy path to switch makes sense.

Now another airline has entered the fray. LATAM will match the status of customers with any other frequent flyer program of an airline operating in the region.

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Is The Air Travel Mask Mandate About To Get Extended Again?

by Gary Leff

Apr 11 2022

We’re a week away from the expiration of the transportation mask mandate, and masks are generally required only on planes, trains, buses and automobiles (and in certain backward parts of the country, preschools). However Philadelphia just imposed an indoor mask mandate and that potentially makes it more difficult for the Biden administration to take a more permissive (albeit purely symbolic) stance. However we’re no longer in a place where public mandates are needed.

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New American Airlines Business Class Is Coming With Bigger Cabin, Seats With Doors

by Gary Leff

Apr 11 2022

We’re not just looking at a new seat, but also more premium seats. I wrote last fall that American Airlines is planning to put more business class seats on planes. That’s true both for their widebodies and also their Airbus A319s.

We’re getting some sense now just what this means from two separate recent reports that I’ve confirmed.

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4 Things American Airlines Is Doing So Flight Attendants Don’t Have To Sleep In Airports Anymore

by Gary Leff

Apr 10 2022

American is blaming an inability for crew to even get in touch with the airline on weather when this has happened before and when they’ve promised to fix it so it does not happen again before.

American promised to improve on this a year ago. They didn’t. They said hotel booking desks would get staffed up – both more staff at their outsourced vendor, and also augmenting that with American Airlines staff as well. Now they’ve outlined a four-step plan to avoid crew getting stuck sleeping in airports again.

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American Airlines Nailed Domestic First Class Breakfast In A Way Few Airlines Do

by Gary Leff

Apr 09 2022

Before the pandemic one of the American Airlines breakfasts on regional jets was a smoked salmon plate. American’s regional jets don’t have ovens in the galleys so it was a perfect meal to serve cold. I always thought that it was a better choice than an egg dish with sausage on mainline.

In the fall I had a smoked salmon plate on my Los Angeles – Honolulu flight. I was thrilled at the choice, but there was no tomato and I was given a miniature bagel. I’ve often criticized American Airlines for failing to pay attention to the details. On this flight they’d really figured it out.

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