Category Archives for Airlines.
What’s it like to fly domestically in Thailand right now, where your snacks and water are confiscated before departure (but flight attendants happily nibble away)? And what about connecting in Singapore, where business class passengers are treated to microwave mac and cheese and can’t use the restrooms?
The airline maintained that social distancing on board wasn’t necessary because of HEPA air filtration, downward air flow, cleaning regimens and masking. Yet they continued blocking some seats to maintain distance for flight attendants.
That policy ended, too, on May 1.
An interesting story American Airlines upgrade story – compounded by terrible customer service – tells me it’s worth reminding that American Airlines does not offer any way to upgrade to premium economy before the day of travel and that no American Airlines upgrade instrument will cover the cost of a premium economy upgrade.
This is actually a good thing because it means that all advance upgrades, and upgrades paid for with a certificate, still skip over the premium economy cabin.
One of the more frustrating programs to deal with by phone is Avianca LifeMiles. Fortunately I rarely have to speak to them. However David writes about his experience. He spent seven and a half hours on hold trying to cancel and redeposit an award ticket before giving up.
There are several ways to deal with long airline hold times.
It wasn’t until after TWA flight 800 that the U.S. government began requiring passengers to show ID. President Clinton wanted to be able to announce something to look like he was doing something after the event, since initially there was speculation that the explosion was terrorist-related rather than an accident.
Airlines have wanted customers to show ID for a long time because they don’t want their tickets to be transferable.
American Airlines sent a memo to flight attendants on Monday called ‘Moments That Matter’ which encourages them to be prepared to avoid even slight delays that could stand in the way of exact on-time departures. Unfortunately for employee morale it came off as patronizing.
One tip, aimed at flight attendants who are scheduled to work reserve, has incited a anger – and a response from the union. American told flight attendants that they may need to skip meals.
Beverages and snacks are returning to coach on June 1 but that’s not the only change to inflight service on American Airlines starting June 1.
American will be bringing back first class snack baskets at that time, too – as well as pre-order special meals for New York JFK – Los Angeles and San Francisco flights in business and first class.
The new Air Canada Aeroplan program lets members earn elite status through everyday activity, not just flying. Crediting shopping transactions, credit card spending, and other forms of points-earning can give you better treatment with Air Canada, and even incremental benefits with some of its partners – without ever setting foot on a plane.
Aeroplan hass partnerships with brands like Starbucks and Uber Eats that can deliver elite status.
Thunderstorms in Charlotte kept them from landing, and the flight diverted to Charleston, South Carolina. The flight, which departed 40 minutes late, spent an hour and 22 minutes on the ground in Charleston.
Word from the flight, though, was that the captain kept everyone in good spirits by having pizza delivered to the plane.
You may save a few dollars or earn more miles when one airline sells another airline’s flights but puts its own flight number on it. But when things go wrong they can get confusing. Passengers get confused, too, about where they’re flying and where to check in. And seat assignments can be difficult to obtain.
In fact right now American Airlines can’t even assign seats to customers off of a seat map when they sell JetBlue codeshares.
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 »
