Category Archives for Airlines.
American’s oneworld partner Finnair is offering up to a 100% bonus on purchased points and will give you elite qualifying miles equal to 25% of the miles you buy, too. What’s more, the Finnair Plus program lets you convert miles into elite qualifying miles as well. As a result you can buy that mid-tier elite status easily and access American’s lounges, or even buy top tier oneworld emerald status.
In 1996 California voters adopted proposition 209 which provided that “the State shall not discriminate against, or grant preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting.” It banned affirmative action.
Today California voters consider proposition 16, to repeal that affirmative action ban. United Airlines weighed in, and they want to see affirmative action in California.
I’ve written that in the U.S. the major airlines at the most risk are American Airlines (by a wide margin) followed by United. American is likely to end the pandemic with over $45 billion in debt to service, far more than their next-closest competitor. And they underperformed the industry financially to begin with. Unsecured American Airlines debt is a risky bet over the coming years.
Looking at “liquidity, solvency, profitability, leverage and recent financial performance” Bloomberg ranked the 8 biggest airline insolvency risks. After significant subsidies, no U.S. or European airline makes the list.
Beginning today, and expected to last for at least a week, United Airlines has stopped overnighting flight crew at downtown hotels in several cities including Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, Philadelphia, Portland, and Seattle.
The Chicago-based carrier, which has also moved its flight operations out of downtown Chicago to an alternate location, is making preparations for “potential election unrest.”
A first generation vaccine, unless it turns out to be both highly effective and widely taken, won’t end the pandemic on its own. I wrote back in early summer that a first generation vaccine, on its own, probably wouldn’t get us out of the pandemic but combined with other measures would make life – and travel – more normal than it used to be. We now have a new study, with new math, backing up this view.
How effective these first vaccines turn out to be, combined with how many people take them, will drive when mask mandates go away. A ‘vaccine only’ isn’t going to do it. We’re going to be stuck wearing masks on planes for some time.
The subject of Steenland’s addition to the American Airlines board came up at the end of the carrier’s ‘State of the Airline’ question and answer session with employees following their third quarter earnings call, and Parker explained that Steenland was added for his airline experience – something the board previously lacked – and not for a 15-month mechanics strike where he called management and replacement workers “the dream team” of maintenance groups.
American Airlines courted controversy when they began allowing employees to wear makeshift ‘Black Lives Matter’ pins.
The official Black Lives Matter pin is now available for American Airlines employees. It’s called “Stand for Change” and “celebrates the diversity of our team members and our customers.” It must be ordered by any employee who wants one by November 13.
American Airlines has relented and put its full tariff or ‘terms and conditions’ back onto its website after a Department of Transportation complaint.
They had removed the the legalese entirely in favor of a plain language FAQ-style conditions of carriage page. But the contract of carriage incorporated the tariff by reference, customers effectively agreed to it when they purchased a ticket, but the airline had removed those rules from a place customers could easily see it. That document matters.
Thailand’s Bangkok Airways is selling an ‘all you can fly’ card valid for a year for 100,000 Thai Baht or ~ $3210. It comes with elite status for a year, and the unlimited domestic flights earn miles and status so if you use it enough you may more than pay for it in future rewards.
There’s no ‘security issue’ with a 747 taking off from the airport, which was allowed until Lufthansa brought theirs there to store. In tactics one associates more with New Jersey than The Netherlands, Lufthansa doesn’t want to do dismantling work with the on-site company, so the government wouldn’t let them leave. Now that there’s been public scrutiny however it’s been deemed ‘a mere paperwork issue’ and the supposed safety issues have gone away.
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 »
