Category Archives for Airlines.
Airlines have tried to crack down on the money-saving practice of ‘throwaway ticketing’ for years. You buy a flight to somewhere that connects beyond your final destination because it’s cheaper, and just don’t take the flight.
A reader was recently approached by American Airlines customer service staff at the airport and warned against throwaway ticketing. He did it anyway. Here’s what happened.
Google is a great source for finding flights and hotels as well as activities at your destination. Eight years ago Google was on the cusp of becoming your new travel agent and the online travel agencies (like Expedia) were trying to get the federal government to stop them.
Until now Google has largely sent travelers to other sites to make bookings.
An internal American Airlines memo from Jim Moses to Philadelphia staff reveals routes that the airline is cutting from their primary transatlantic gateway. American will eliminate operations to Iceland, Manchester U.K. and Prague and won’t fly to Venice in 2021 though they hope to return in 2022.
There’s no federal mask mandate. All U.S. airlines require passengers to wear masks. So most people assume that the only penalties for non-compliance are imposed by airlines. That’s not true.
Airlines only impose penalties, other than asking a passenger not to fly, when enforcing mask rules leads to an altercation. But when an altercation occurs, the FAA can impose penalties too. In other words, you don’t need a federal mask mandate to punish passengers for bad behavior.
British Airways is bringing back an almost-normal food and beverage service starting January 20, 2021, after serving cold food in snack boxes in international business class ‘due to Covid-19’.
I believe I was the first to report on the passenger with Covid-19 who died on a United Airlines flight on Monday. Initially the airline tried to wave me off the story. Now they’re acknowledging it.
United Airlines flight 591 from Orlando to Los Angeles diverted to New Orleans Monday evening. Passenger aoverhead the man’s wife telling medical personnel about the man’s Covid-19 diagnosis. Here’s what they’re telling employees.
International route networks are currently very limited, often only flights that can be supported by cargo with passengers a plus are operating. That’s both because of limited travel demand, with business travel non-existent and a raging virus keeping people at home, and because of travel restrictions and local restrictions too (there have to be activities at a destination happening to make the travel worthwhile).
But which routes are going to come back, and which ones are gone for good?
Throughout the pandemic Singapore has flown non-stop from Los Angeles. Now they’ve announced daily non-stops from New York, LA and San Francisco and will fly their premium-heavy long range A350 to New York and San Francisco.
There’s going to be a lot of excess business class seats flying all over the world for a long time, and this is a great example of adding capacity ahead of demand which will make this a flyer’s market for some time.
Now that airlines have been getting direct subsidies from the U.S. government during the pandemic, and they’re on the cusp of more, they no longer oppose airline subsidies.
One of the arguments they deployed during their campaign against Mideast airlines, though, is that the Gulf carriers weren’t just subsidized by their governments but their fortunes were too intertwined with those of the state. They pointed out that the CEO of Emirates, Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, is a member of Dubai’s ruling family and in addition to founding the airline also serves as President of the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority.
Mayor Pete Buttigieg has no particular experience in transportation policy or running a large bureaucracy, but he did propose to his husband at Chicago O’Hare – though it wasn’t because of any particular love of aviation. Still, O’Hare has already changed its twitter profile and United Airlines is memorializing gate B5 online.
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 »
