Category Archives for Airlines.
American Airlines CEO Robert Isom just gave investors an unusually direct promise about AAdvantage: he said the airline intends to keep its miles more valuable for travel than competing programs. That matters because loyalty is American’s biggest profit engine, and Isom is effectively arguing that the airline will grow credit card revenue by making AAdvantage more attractive to customers — not by gutting redemption value.
JetBlue just lost an early fight in a case testing where federal aviation law ends and state negligence law begins. A judge let a passenger’s claims move forward after she said she was injured while getting off a flight, keeping alive the argument that once a plane reaches the gate and deplaning begins, airlines may no longer be protected by an exclusively federal standard.
For months, United CEO Scott Kirby has been publicly portraying American Airlines as a huge money loser in Chicago, framing O’Hare as a battleground his airline could dominate. Now American’s CFO is finally answering back — and his argument is that Kirby is using the wrong profit measure, because by the metrics that actually drive decisions, Chicago O’Hare is not a drag on the airline at all.
The people killed in the Boeing 737 MAX crashes were the real victims. But after years of litigation, one of the strongest cases still moving forward is a shareholder fraud suit — raising the uncomfortable possibility that the biggest courtroom payday from the disaster could go not to passengers or their families, but to investors who say Boeing misled the market.
American Airlines has opened one of the best systemwide upgrade opportunities it has offered in years: buy premium economy, request the upgrade by Wednesday night, and business class can clear as long as a seat is still for sale. That makes this promotion unusually broad and unusually valuable, because it bypasses the normal scarcity of upgrade inventory and turns a hard-to-use benefit into confirmed long-haul business class for August travel.
On a flight where a flight attendant left full cans of soda behind for first class passengers, it occurred to me how much I don’t like that practice. And it’s even worse in coach but for different reasons.
American Airlines says it will now start telling passengers, in plain English, what is actually causing their delay instead of burying the explanation in codes or vague updates. The new feature is rolling out across the airline’s app, website, and notifications, giving travelers a clearer read on whether a disruption is tied to weather, maintenance, staffing, or something else entirely.
The debate over kids in business class misses the point. The real issue is not age, it is behavior: a quiet, well-parented child is far less disruptive than the loud, drunk, seat-kicking, aisle-blocking adult passengers airlines tolerate every day in premium cabins.
A passenger who tried to recline her seat says the traveler behind her kept shoving it forward again and again, turning a routine flight into one of the most familiar battles in air travel. Whatever you think about recline etiquette, physically forcing someone else’s seat upright is not how this gets settled.
American Airlines tells elites and even some credit card customers that priority boarding means they can skip the general line and board at any time through the priority lane. But one gate agent at Miami reportedly shut that lane down after Zone 4, turning a benefit meant to preserve overhead bin space and save time into the exact opposite.
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 »
