Category Archives for Airlines.
American Airlines held its third quarter earnings call this morning. There were several news items included today beyond just the airline’s financial performance. And there was a greater-than-normal amount of ‘color’ on the airline’s strategy going forward.
Customers often don’t like it. It isn’t something that should be done before 8 a.m. or in the morning prior to arrival at the end of a redeye. But ultimately the people most likely to take an airline’s credit card are the people who are actually already flying the airline.
Today Spirit Airlines announced the new program which goes into effect January 21, 2021. They’re launching a revenue-based program, introducing a new elite program, and allowing co-brand cardmembers to earn elite status from credit card spend alone (or through a combination of travel spend and card spend).
Southwest Airlines has limited the number of seats they’d sell on each flight, so that no one would have to be in a middle seat and everyone would have some space between them. They’ve been in a camp with Delta, Alaska, and JetBlue offering customers greater comfort (both physical, and peace of mind during the pandemic) and in opposition to United Airlines and American that have been booking to full capacity.
We’ve known that this strategy wouldn’t last.
A woman died of Covid-19 on a Spirit Airlines flight from Phoenix to Dallas Fort-Worth on July 24. The story is only just now being reported. And the facts seemed so obviously not alarming that I didn’t cover it right away. But now that I’m seeing claims like, “so much for the ‘you can’t catch covid on a plane’ nonsense” that it’s clearly important to dive in.
American Airlines CEO spoke to a group of pilots a question and answer session posted to the company’s intranet on Monday. In his introductory remarks he talked about the politics of the next coronavirus stimulus bill, which includes more payroll support for U.S. airlines.
He suggested that it’s only “a handful of really fiscal conservative Republicans who just think you know, who just viscerally disagree with the government doing anything that looks like you might be funding a business” who push back on another $25 billion airline bailout.
The CDC has issued a ‘strong’ recommendation for mask wearing on planes, rideshares and across public transportation. Yes, in October. And there are three reasons this will make no difference whatsoever for air travel.
Cathay Pacific will drop its regional Cathay Dragon (formerly Dragonair) brand and eliminate 6000 jobs. That represents 18% of its workforce.
Management had sought to eliminate 8000 jobs but “government intervention” prevented them from doing so.
Singapore Airlines will re-launch New York – Singapore non-stop service on November 9 using an Airbus A350-900. The flight will operate from to and from New York JFK, rather than Newark which the airline’s previous world’s longest flight used. Service will operate 3 days a week.
This isn’t like the old days with all business class service, or even all business and premium economy: the plane will have 42 business class, 24 premium economy and 187 coach seats.
United Airlines MileagePlus is now charging a premium for non-stop partner award tickets booked within a month of travel. Right now, of course, when people book air travel it tends to be at the last minute cause of all the uncertainty in the world. And United hasn’t even told members they made this change.
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 »
