Category Archives for Airlines.
United Airlines has 140 new Boeing 787s on order, which they will use to grow their fleet and to replace Boeing 767 and 777-200 aircraft. They’ve been working on a new business class product for several years, and it appears that this seat will debut with the delivery of new Boeing 787-9s.
Aviation watchdog JonNYC broke the news about the configuration of these planes.
Southwest can’t sell premium seats until they have enough planes converted to be sure that the plane operating a given flight will have the new seats. They’re converting planes throughout 2025, but it’ll be 2026 flights that have these assigned seats.
That means you become increasingly likely throughout 2025 to wind up with a plane that has premium seats, but where seats are still available free on a first-come, first-served basis.
The Polaris business class seat remains a laggard. Though they were testing concepts for new business suites with doors 3 years ago, we still haven’t seen a new product. It appears that an announcement is coming in May and that doors remain an open question owing it sounds to me like the FAA’s insistence on additional flight attendant staffing for them.
United Airlines has a much broader worldwide route network than other U.S. airlines, and so must deal with far more regulations and local conditions. The United safety video says “Flight attendants will ask you to stow devices for certain international destinations.” There are some international destinations that have limited use of inflight internet while in their airspace, and that have even limited use of seatback entertainment. But the particular restriction on device usage that most interests me is an international destination that the FAA (and Postal Service, FCC, FDIC and several other federal agencies) actually treats as domestic: Bucholz Army Airfield on Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands. . @LukeW9257 hey now Luke, I'll try and post more here. Mostly Airport, Aircraft and Aerospace stuff here. (pictured is PKWA in the Pacific) pic.twitter.com/7wjNmLTlQp — Runway Wayne LLC…
New premium Gulf airline Riyadh Air, which launches later this year, has revealed the cabin product for its Boeing 787 aircraft. They frame the product choice and cabin interior design as “setting new levels of comfort and entertainment.”
One American Airlines passenger was shocked to learn that nobody would be permitted to spread out into wide open exit rows on a recent flight.
Although he wound up in a bulkhead seat (he calls it an exit) and it’s not clear how. He proceeds to sully the privilege with his feet propped up on the wall.
Several slides from the airline’s employee presentation have been making the rounds. The claim United makes about Chicago O’Hare in particular is really interesting. American was leading with local Chicago customers in 2015. But United has been gaining there ever since.
A Tropic Air flight from Corozal Town to San Pedro in Belize was hijacked by an American brandishing a knife this morning. He seized control of the small Caravan aircraft and held it “at the mercy” of his threats. The morning flight carried 11 passengers, and shortly after takeoff, 49‑year‑old Californian Akinyela Sawa Taylor approached the cockpit with a knife and ordered the pilot to stay in the air until the aircraft ran out of fuel The plane looped south toward Belize City, then out over Caye Caulker, Caye Chapel and San Pedro, before the airport became alerted to the crisis. Despite the threats, the pilot managed a safe unplanned landing in Belize City. Two passengers suffered knife wounds during the confrontation and were rushed to nearby hospitals; one remains in critical condition following surgery.…
Southwest Airlines is known for the games people play to secure the best seats, because the airline doesn’t assign seats – it’s first-board, first-served. That’s changing next year, and it’ll throw a crimp not just in passenger shenanigans angling for extra space, but flight attendants doing the same thing too.
American Airlines has suspended codesharing with LEVEL, the low cost transatlantic carrier within IAG, parent of British Airways, Iberia and Aer Lingus.
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 »
