Category Archives for Airlines.
The two airlines submitted copies of their agreement to the Department of Transportation for review on July 22, 2020. The review requirement isn’t just for codeshares and frequent flyer program tie ups as announced but also for “long-term wet leases involving a substantial number of aircraft” – a wet lease provides not just planes but also crew.
There are active discussions around what to do with the Airbus A321T premium configured fleet and a report suggests that there’s a plan to rip out the interiors and replace them with the standard domestic ‘Oasis’ offering.
The A321T offers 10 first class, 20 business class, 36 Main Cabin Extra (extra legroom coach) and 36 economy seats and is used on premium cross country routes. Moving to ‘Oasis’ would mean these planes would lose seat back television, a lot more seats would be squeezed in, and there would no longer be a lie flat business class or first class product.
A London Heathrow-based flight attendant for British Airways has deleted most of her social media accounts as an airline investigation is underway to uncover her identity, after the a U.K. newspaper revealed that she offered illicit onboard entertainment to passengers for a fee.
The Boeing 737 MAX is officially allowed to fly again in commercial service. A lot of things need to take place before that happens, but while Southwest Airlines plans to take 4-5 months to get the plane back in the air, American Airlines is far more aggressive – planning to fly it again on December 29th.
Employees of American Airlines and its wholly-owned regional carriers (Enjoy, Piedmont, and PSA) and of the American Airlines Credit Union are being invited to take one of five ‘flights to nowhere’ on the Boeing 737 MAX before it re-enters commercial service at the end of December.
The Department of Transportation is the primary avenue passengers have to see redress when being treated unfairly or otherwise harmed by an airline. Since airlines can’t be as heavily regulated as other industries elsewhere, and lawsuits against them are harder too, DOT was granted broad latitude to combat “unfair and deceptive” practices by airlines.
A new DOT rule defines unfair and deceptive more narrowly than in the past, and these new definitions will have to be used going forward when the considering consumer protections.
It’s rather odd timing – when some health systems in the U.S. are being overloaded, and the virus is spreading widely in Europe – but the Trump administration is considering lifting the ban on arrivals from Europe and Brazil. They are not, apparently, considering lifting the ban on arrivals from China which has largely had its Covid-19 outbreak under control for more than half a year.
It would appear that the administration is looking to make this change before the handover of power, so that the story about any future relaxation of restrictions is specifically focused on China – rather than allowing a Biden administration to lift all restrictions at once, making the story about travel restrictions broadly.
Kiersten Bak, who was just hired as a flight attendant by Delta in March, was fired last month for posts she made on her Facebook account. She “called out a man who had been trolling her” and her comments were reported to her employer, which was identified based on a profile picture she used in her uniform.
She was questioned about a photo with her top sweater buttons unbottoned and, she says, asked whether she’s racist against white men, before being terminated for violating the airline’s social media policy.
Star Alliance member TAP Air Portugal sells monthly mileage packages. For Black Friday (until November 30, 2020 in Lisbon) they’re offering more miles than usual at signup, more miles per month, and elite status as a signup promotion. The offer lets you buy miles at just over half a cent apiece and have access to United Clubs when flying United domestically.
The former Chairman of Thai Airways is just now receiving a two year sentence for activities dating to 2009: he abused his authority by not paying overweight bag fees on a trip home from Japan. The incident was investigated – and he paid back the fees, and lost his job – a decade ago.
Delta Air Lines, which has developed a reputation for extreme reliability, has faced a Thanskgiving operational meltdown cancelling a more flights over the holiday weekend than they typically cancel in a year. So far on Thanksgiving day Delta has cancelled 259 flights, or 18% of its schedule. By comparison, American Airlines has cancelled 5 flights and United has cancelled 7.
What’s going on at Delta? Delta’s meltdown seems to be a combination of poor operational management, and failing to use the tools available to them which would incur costs.
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 »
