Category Archives for Airlines.
If you’re a Delta frequent flyer you know how hard it is to get customer service. It’s taking the airline hours to answer phone calls even for their Diamond SkyMiles members, and months after they promised they had the issue under control.
Delta is a ‘full service’ carrier and things can be even worse with the ultra low cost set.
In the Airlines Confidential podcast last week, former Spirit Airlines CEO Ben Baldanza – talking about vaccine requirements and dismissal of employees who don’t get vaccinated – offered that it’s reasonable to exclude pregnant woman. The line he follows about it being inadvisable for pregnant women to be vaccinated is dangerous.
The ‘new Alitalia’ – ITA Airways – doesn’t have elite frequent flyers yet, and they’d like some. So they’re offering a status match to elites in most programs. So if you would like elite status you just need to e-mail them.
The Taliban is getting a harsh lesson in the limits to Islamic economics as it deals with international air service from Kabul, now that they’ve returned from the role of rebel force to that of managing institutions of governance. Price controls lead to scarcity.
The process of identifying JetBlue elites flying on American Airlines, waiving their checked bag fees, and receiving priority bag tags is not a seamless one. But JetBlue elites do get one benefit flying American that Ameircan’s own elites do not get flying on JetBlue.
According to the National Transportation Safety Board, the number one cause of air travel injuries is turbulence – and there’s a way for planes to avoid turbulence far more often.
This may not be surprising, but the last time the NTSB did a deep dive on the issue was 50 years ago. And they found that current weather reports from pilots are inadequate.
When a bad story is about to break, you want to get the whole thing out at once, and you want your first story to be the story.
The worst thing that happens when a story goes wrong is to lose control of the narrative. You don’t want a drip, drip, drip of facts spilling out and extending the story. And you don’t want your narrative to fall apart.
Inflight internet isn’t nearly as challenging as it used to be, at least if you’re flying an airline that offers it, and that isn’t United. Even United is investing in upgrading inflight wifi finally.
Internet speeds could improve soon beyond anything currently offered, at least if Elon Musk delivers on his word and if airlines are open to the investment.
I’ve actually expected that the December 8 deadline will push, but not until we get close, because if major airlines are far off from compliance the Biden administration won’t want to be blamed for ruining holiday travel due to mass cancellations.
They’ll need a reason for the delay, of course, that isn’t this. They will want to declare victory, or offer an extension on technical grounds. This will be especially tough to avoid if Covid-19 prevalence in the U.S. is low overall as the end of November approaches.
The partnership between American Airlines and JetBlue started allowing each program’s members to earn miles and elite qualifying credit on each other’s flights back in the spring, and they announced that recognition of elite benefits across the two airlines would begin in the fall.
Elite benefits are here – today – and award redemption starts next month. Here are the details.
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 »
