Category Archives for Airlines.
This week we got word that there would be a new Air France first class suite. Details were slight. There’s now a rendering that’s been shared from an Air France deck, which allows us to piece together an understanding of the new product.
Saturday’s Delta flight from Seattle to Kona, Hawaii – Delta 565 – was delayed over 9 hours and then – as the flight boarded – the airline realized that one of the pilots was not qualified to operate the flight, as relayed to passengers by the gate agent. It took an overnight – another 8 hours – before passengers were able to fly.
I’ve had passengers tell me they’ve arrived at their boarding gate in Charlotte more than 15 minutes to departure only to find their boarding door closed. And I’m told by employees on the ground there that at least some managers are enforcing 20 minute door closes when no more passengers are boarding (even if checked-in passengers haven’t yet boarded).
We know know that the passenger was former NFL player Brendan Langley (who was a third round draft pick as a cornerback by the Denver Broncos in 2017). He currently plays for the Calgary Stampeders in the Canadian Football League. Langley was arrested and charged with assault. He appears to have swung first, at least based on available footage.
The employee should have de-escalated, not exacerbated the incident, and shouldn’t have engaged in the brawl beyond defending himself. He was employed by United Airlines subsidiary United Ground Express and has been terminated.
All that’s ‘different’ to make this is a ‘shuttle service’ is that the 11:50 p.m. Air France departure from New York and 7:35 p.m. departure from Paris will operate on Friday and Saturday nights, which they do not now. Let’s see which travel media get tripped up by just ‘publishing the press release.’
Flight attendants rearrange the beverage carts they’re given in order to serve customers efficiently as they move down the aisle. That’s almost a requirement to provide beverage service. American Airlines is now telling flight attendants that when they do this, they must also restore beverage carts to their original organization prior to the end of the flight.
The airline says that if they do not do this, caterers won’t “salvage and recycle products for future flights.” They want flight attendants, pressed for time and who are supposed to be providing service to customers, organizing things for the benefit of caterers who are on the ground.
Flight attendants sometimes engage in hijinks when there aren’t any passengers around. Sometimes that gets them in trouble, like when an airline decides that viral videos of crew inside of overhead bins shouldn’t circulate or when the photos are too provocative.
And other times the stunts they pull become instant sensations because of the skill and daring they display, like this Virgin Australia crewmember whose gymnastics and yoga gets put to use closing overhead bins. Upside down. With her feet. While maintaining perfect style and grace – and her uniform.
American has now aligned self-service check-in machines to have the same cut-off times as the system agents use at the counter.
However there are still times when you’ll need to see an agent to take advantage of an exception.
For at least five years American Airlines has been saying that the two things that drive premium passenger satisfaction with cabin crew are being addressed by name, and being served a predeparture beverage.
Now they’re turning to fortunate cookies to encourage these flight attendant behaviors.
Airlines, like many businesses, have become far more political in recent years – taking stances on controversial issues like voting rights, affirmative action, and gun control. But perhaps the most salient political topic right now alongside inflation is abortion – and airlines are staying silent even when asked about the issue.
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 »
