Category Archives for Airlines.
Airlines are all promoting enhanced cleaning standards but the truth is often that may just mean a weekly spray of the cabin. Airline ‘deep cleans’ used to happen just every year or year and a half which is just gross.
But what about those airline blankets? A blanket in sealed plastic should be clean. However dog poo on a Delta blanket made it onto the Conan show a few years back. And this American Airlines blanket doesn’t look great, either.
I’ve argued for a year that the time to expect mask mandates to be lifted for planes would be before the mid term elections. It’s not case counts or hospitalization that will drive an end to pandemic rules, as much as political necessity.
This is what betting markets are predicting, too.
Alaska Airlines says they’re introducing dynamically-priced awards on American Airlines. There are some folks freaking out and I am not sure that they should be.
There’s a note on the Alaska Airlines partner award charts saying that American Airlines award prices are going to start to “vary depending on demand.”
American Airlines, British Airways and Aer Lingus use the VeriFly app. You go through the app process for many international itineraries in order to complete online check-in. This service is free to travelers, it’s a benefit to the airline, but VeriFly in the past few weeks has introduced an ‘upsell’ which has no discernable benefit.
In the fictional book Up in the Air Great West Airlines counted all miles towards lifetime status and Ryan Bingham was on a quest for 1 million miles. He was being tracked by the airline along his quest and they celebrated his achievement when he reached it.
In the film version, George Clooney’s Bingham was an American Airlines flyer and on a quest for 10 million miles. Here he describes that when you hit 10 million “lifetime executive status, you get to meet the chief pilot Maynard Finch, and they put your name on the side of a plane.” Sadly none of that is true, but celebration moments do happen.
When I covered cuts in inflight service at the behest of its flight attendants union I pointed out all of the elements of hypocrisy and how this makes the American Airlines product worse.
In some sense American had no choice as a result of broader cultural issues we’re grappling with as we transition from the pandemic to endemic phase of dealing with Covid-19.
You’ll use fewer miles flying Emirates business class roundtrip than you’d use Delta miles on a business class one way to Europe. And fewer miles than United or American charges, while avoiding the draconian fuel surcharges that American AAdvantage passes along on British Airways itineraries.
There’s some eco-friendliness in the move, along with a drive to making pandemic cost cuts permanent. Whether customers enjoy the new amenities or not is what’s ultimately key. The wine in can they’ve selected may be perfectly fine compared to what’s usually served in domestic premium cabins, but I’d rather have wine selected on the basis of its quality and drinkability in the air than on the basis of packaging.
Spirit is launching service to Delta hub Salt Lake City starting May 26, 2022 with flights to Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and Orlando.
British Airways is moving into the American Airlines terminal at New York JFK in December, with the two joint venture partners working more closely together not just on scheduling and pricing but also on customer experience. That means a new shared premium check-in area and revamped larger joint premium lounges.
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 »
