Category Archives for Airlines.
American Airlines used to have espresso machines on board Boeing 777, 787, and Airbus A321T aircraft. They don’t anymore. The airline has removed the machines from these aircraft, a spokesperson confirms to me, “to help conserve fuel and prevent confusion about what services are currently offered.”
American Airlines is calling AAdvantage members with awards on hold for travel on Cathay Pacific and telling them they either have to ticket right away or cancel their bookings, thanks to a glitch where Cathay is cancelling held itineraries.
American Airlines has been testing protein boxes in domestic first class as meals which replace their serving the old coach buy on board options front. The airline tells me that next week this expands to non-premium flights over 2200 miles.
In other words premium transcon flights like New York JFK – Los Angeles and San Francisco continue to get hot meals. What’s new is that non-premium transcon flights, longer than Charlotte – Los Angeles like DC – Los Angeles or Miami Seattle, will get ‘Fresh Bites’ instead of the old coach buy on board wrapped sandwiches.
With the Biden administration looking to add ‘domestic extremists’ to the No Fly List. Democrats wanted to put Capitol Rioters on the list and President Obama wanted to ban anyone on the list from owning guns.
These efforts have had a lot of support from readers, but anyone who cares about civil liberties should be very, very concerned. And a new lawsuit hopes to expose some of these challenges.
Star Alliance carrier Singapore Airlines is letting members earn status credits for things other than flying through February 2022. In addition current Singapore elites earn double status credits for qualifying spend through KrisShop, KrisFlyer Spree and at Kris+ partners.
Current non-status members can earn silver or gold status without ever flying.
With Alaska Airlines joining the oneworld alliance and continuing to partner more closely with American Airlines, the two airlines have introduced reciprocal elite benefits – the most valuable of which are access for elites to extra legroom seats and upgrades.
As the partnership was being developed, American Airlines Senior Vice President Vasu Raja emphasized the need for a seamless customer experience between the two airlines so “that a customer of either Alaska or American Airlines would choose us over one of our competitors’ long haul services” as a result of upgrades, seat assignments, and other benefits. And yet….
With the new American Airlines-Alaska Airlines partnership, Alaska Airlines elites get free companion upgrades even though most American Airlines top tier elites do not.
And now Alaska Airlines elites are getting new international upgrades – for specific flights – that are bookable past when American’s Executive Platinum upgrades expire.
I’d absolutely fly JetBlue’s Collins Meridian seat with 32 inch pitch over a 30″ slimline on some competitors. And I appreciate that they’re trying to signal a thoughtfulness in their approach to food by letting you choose which appetizer you do not want, while at the same time preparing only 3 appetizers in total to accompany 3 different entrees.
At least 50% of passengers dragged off of planes to be women or minorities by 2030.
They don’t, however, appear to be ready to prioritize elite upgrades based on disadvantaged status.
Last year Air France KLM received $12.3 billion in government aid. Now the government of France will provide a new $4.7 billion in support, while the Dutch government is in talks with European regulators over an additional $1.18 billion.
The new aid to Air France is “a state-backed recapitalization,” converting loans from the government into “bonds with no maturity” along with additional capital through the issuance of new shares.
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 »
