Category Archives for Airlines.
Inflight internet isn’t nearly as challenging as it used to be, at least if you’re flying an airline that offers it, and that isn’t United. Even United is investing in upgrading inflight wifi finally.
Internet speeds could improve soon beyond anything currently offered, at least if Elon Musk delivers on his word and if airlines are open to the investment.
I’ve actually expected that the December 8 deadline will push, but not until we get close, because if major airlines are far off from compliance the Biden administration won’t want to be blamed for ruining holiday travel due to mass cancellations.
They’ll need a reason for the delay, of course, that isn’t this. They will want to declare victory, or offer an extension on technical grounds. This will be especially tough to avoid if Covid-19 prevalence in the U.S. is low overall as the end of November approaches.
The partnership between American Airlines and JetBlue started allowing each program’s members to earn miles and elite qualifying credit on each other’s flights back in the spring, and they announced that recognition of elite benefits across the two airlines would begin in the fall.
Elite benefits are here – today – and award redemption starts next month. Here are the details.
Airline employees who may be engaged in sick outs over vaccine mandates are told to lie. They can’t speak publicly about what they are doing, because it would be an illegal job action under the Railway Labor Act. Are they being told to lie in order to show complaince with mandates, too?
Many customers took it upon themselves to seek help when airlines refused refunds during the pandemic. Some credit card companies were more helpful than others. American Express, apparently, was most likely to process chargebacks against Ryanair. After all, you cannot keep money for services that haven’t been delivered.
Now customers who succeeded with chargebacks, but bought new tickets for travel, are being told to return the refunds or their trips are off.
The narrative about Southwest’s troubles could become self-fulfilling at the airline and spread to other carriers. Pilots are watching the operational carnage at Southwest and realizing that they can take down the operation, even if they weren’t doing so already. And employees at other airlines are watching.
A federal vaccination requirement for employees of government contractors is probably legal. An OSHA emergency rule mandating vaccination or regular testing for employees of large companies is more questionable, but the Governor’s Executive Order is more questionable still. All of this simply adds uncertainty for companies in Texas – whose potentially illegal orders are we supposed to follow?
Southwest Airlines blamed air traffic control and weather for cancelling a quarter of its flights over the weekend, while pilots were rumored to be calling in sick in heavy numbers to protest vaccine mandates. The cause of the cancellations was clearly only affecting weather and air traffic control surrounding Southwest planes because other airlines had no such problems, even at the same hubs.
The FAA, usually a staid agency, took to twitter to defend itself.
Spirit has worked hard to improve its operational reliability in recent years. Before the pandemic they weren’t just cheap, they were frequently on-time. That reputation may have been undermined, but it looks like they may be working towards a new reputation – one that takes care of customers when flights delay?
After cancelling a couple of thousand flights, and delaying hundreds more, the lives of tens of thousands of passengers are being thrown into disarray. People are missing important life events, and this is not just ‘air traffic control and weather’, i.e. ‘things outside of the airline’s control that they cannot be blamed for.’
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 »
