Airlines

Category Archives for Airlines.

The World’s Biggest Airlines – And Aviation Regions – Have Shifted Because Of Covid And Thanksgiving

Nov 24 2020

OAG schedule data shows which airlines and which regions have brought schedules back closest to pre-pandemic levels.

As Covid-19 epidemics spread like wildfire both in the U.S. and Europe, European flight schedules have been pulling back amidst lockdowns while U.S. passenger travel has held firm and grown slightly entering the Thanksgiving period. In fact the entire world’s week-over-week increase of 400,000 seats is accounted for by Southwest Airlines.

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Airline CEO: You’ll Need Proof Of Vaccination To Fly

Nov 23 2020

Qantas CEO Alan Joyce says you’ll need proof of vaccination against Covid-19 to be able to fly his airline internationally, whether arriving or departing Australia.

His airline’s requirements may not be a bellwether for the world, but they do point to an expectation that travelers will need to be vaccinated in order to have access to the world. And this requirement is likely to last, when put in place by governments, for longer than is necessary.

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Virgin Atlantic Business Class Awards Just 23,750 Miles Each Way

virgin upper class seat
Nov 23 2020

Virgin Atlantic is running a fantastic business class sale from the UK at $1334 roundtrip on pretty much any route. Delta codeshares on Virgin may be even cheaper (from US$1083).

And incredibly Virgin Atlantic is running 50% off of award travel, too. That’s important because with taxes and fuel surcharges a roundtrip award ticket can still, at normal pricing, cost almost as much as a paid business class ticket under this sale.

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Revenue-Based Mileage-Earning No Longer Makes Sense

Nov 22 2020

Revenue-based frequent flyer programs have always been less generous. These programs were long popular with ultra low cost carriers, with low margins, where awarding customers little made sense.

When planes were full, rewarding customers less made some sense. Airlines didn’t need to spend as much marketing to fill empty seats when there weren’t many empty seats. The problem now is that revenue-based programs reward customers less in a low fare environment precisely when airlines need to invest more in marketing to fill empty seats, and it’s cheaper to offer award inventory than ever.

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Airline Lobby Group Warns Something Entirely Normal May Happen If Governments Don’t Fork Over Money

depressed businessman leaning his head below a bad stock market chart
Nov 22 2020

The head of world airline trade group IATA says so far governments have provided subsidies to carriers totaling $160 billion. But that’s not enough and they believe governments need to hand over more.

And what’s the terrible thing that will happen if they don’t? Something that is entirely and completely normal and happens all the time during normal times: some airlines may go out of business. That’s ok.

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Qatar Airways 7500 Miles For New Members, Stacks With Student Bonus Offers

giant teddy bear
Nov 21 2020

It’s been some time since there have been generous offers just to sign up for a frequent flyer program, essentially to start a permission marketing relationship. Maybe 16 years ago United Airlines was giving out 1000 miles to new members referred by an existing member, and rewarding the member that referred them to. But usually new member bonuses have required some kind of activity – proof of a customer’s value to the airline – before being triggered.

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Mask Disputes On Planes Are Set To Skyrocket By Late Winter

Nov 21 2020

Once so many people have either had Covid-19 or been vaccinated against it that it’s equally likely that someone is vulnerable to it as not, restrictions on those who aren’t vulnerable to the virus (and therefore cannot spread it) are going to be harder to maintain. We’re going to see more people rebelling against mask requirements on planes in late March than we’ve seen so far.

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5000 Free Miles From Underrated Star Alliance Frequent Flyer Program, Just For Signing Up

Nov 21 2020

Aegean Miles & Bonus is one of the most lucrative Star Alliance frequent flyer programs. Awards booked through them across Star Alliance partner airlines require fewer miles than in most other programs. So when they’re giving away 5000 redeemable miles just for signing up by December 1 those miles actually get you much closer to an award than you’d think.

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