Airlines

Category Archives for Airlines.

United Is Paying A Guy To Hold Up A Sign At Hubs Thanking Passengers

by Gary Leff

united plane
Jul 29 2021

Back in the fall of 2003 United had a guy named Ted going around Denver picking up lunch tabs for entire restaurants. You see, Ted was their new low cost carrier ‘within the airline’ that United was launching. Ted was your friend. He was fun. That’s not how Ted turned out, in fact Ted – which shared the last 3 letters of United – was often described as being “the end of United.” And United retired Ted on January 6, 2009. Around the time that United was paying someone to pick up lunch, US Airways decided it needed to respond and so a guy named “Seth” picked up a few lunch tabs in Crystal City near the carrier’s Arlington, Virginia headquarters. Although by that time US Airways’ low cost carrier within a carrier MetroJet was…

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After American Airlines Pilot Sleeps In A Hotel’s Lobby, Pilots Told Not To Fly Without Confirmed Rooms

by Gary Leff

airplane cockpit
Jul 28 2021

Earlier I covered the American Airlines flight attendants who were stuck sleeping at the airport because they weren’t provided a hotel room for their layover. In it, I mentioned that the grievance filed by the flight attendants union indicated pilots were having similar problems with the airline’s accommodations (and ground transportation) providers.

American’s pilots also filed a grievance. While they don’t note pilots sleeping in airports, they do report a pilot sleeping in a hotel lobby because of lack of a room for the night.

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How I’m Spending My 215,000 Brex Points During Their 20% Transfer Bonus

by Gary Leff

airline cabin
Jul 28 2021

There’s no “obvious place” to transfer miles. Normally I don’t want to transfer points out of a transferrable program unless I have to. The option value is too strong. However I don’t entirely trust Brex as a place to store points, especially since I’m not actively continuing to use the account.

Through August 8, 2021, Brex is offering a 20% bonus on points transfers to several mileage programs. And that caused me to work through my options.

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Delta Gives Up On 2021, Extends Everyone’s Elite Status Again (And Rolls Over All Qualifying Miles)

by Gary Leff

Jul 27 2021

Delta already bonused all travel towards elite status and made award trips count too. Now they’re throwing in the towel, more or less, and calling 2021 another wash as they don’t want to risk losing elite members who may again be valuable customers.

They’ve also figured out how to continue incentivizing elites to travel this year – at the expense of those who do not.

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Southwest Is Now Suing Skiplagged Over Hidden City Ticketing

by Gary Leff

Jul 26 2021

Things are getting messy between consumer airfare savings site Skiplagged and Southwest Airlines. After receiving threats from Southwest, Skiplagged filed suit in New York to get a ruling that they were acting legally. Now Southwest has sued Skiplagged, trying to get the case – which claims even companies who do not access their website are bound by its terms and conditions – heard in Texas courts.

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American’s CEO Frustrated With Abusive Customers, “I Don’t Have The Answer”

by Gary Leff

Jul 26 2021

American Airlines CEO knows that the federal mask mandate – which he lobbied for – is causing most of the problems on airplanes today. American won’t service alcohol in coach until September 13th when the mask mandate expires. But he’s frustrated. He doesn’t know what else to know. So the airline is trying to stop ‘to go’ sales of alcohol in airports and trying to get more abusive customers prosecuted.

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American Airlines CEO: United And Delta Could Force Us To Put In Seat Back Entertainment

by Gary Leff

airplane aisle
Jul 25 2021

Doug Parker, Chairman and CEO of American Airlines, told employees on Thursday at a town hall question and answer session, that they’ll be watching what United’s new plan for seat back video screens – along with Delta’s current screens – means for competition. This could force the airline, he says, to install seat back screens again as well.

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