Category Archives for Airlines.
A passenger noticed an American Airlines employee at Washington National airport offering a prayer over the PA system at one of the gates and videotaped it. They sent it to a friend who shared it to twitter with outrage. Although I don’t really see anything wrong with offering a prayer right now, it may even bring some comfort during difficult times.
The heads of 6 major airline unions wrote to Congressional leadership asking for another 6 months of airline payroll – $32 billion for passenger and cargo airlines and airline contractors – to prevent employee layoffs through March 31.
This is a bad idea.
Turkish Airlines has 4 or more business class award seats available most dates next year, January – May 2021, from a variety of U.S. gateways. You can claim these seats using miles from a variety of different Star Alliance carriers, and connect onward to Eastern Europe, Mideast, Southeast Asia or Africa.
United is also offering wide open business class award space on several transatlantic routes.
American Airlines has a small business program, Business Extra, that gives points to businesses when their employees travel on the airline. This is separate from, and in addition to, the AAdvantage miles that travelers earn themselves.
The airline announced today that they are giving up to 1 million Business Extra points to minority-owned small businesses and also non-profits.
In the aftermath of the May 22 crash of a Pakistan International Airlines flight from Lahore to Karachi a preliminary investigation attributed the cause to pilot error and lack of professionalism. Cockpit crew talked throughout the journey about COVID-19 and its affect on their families, while ignoring standard operating procedures. 97 of the 99 passengers and crew on board were killed.
The investigation further revealed that more than 30% of pilots at the airlines have fake licenses and aren’t qualified to fly.
They say the only true drinking problem is someone who never buys. That isn’t quite right, because when you lose your wine that’s a problem too.
You should always wear your seat belt, even when the seat belt sign is off, because turbulence can be a surprise. But there’s no known wine seat belt. And on one flight the plane shook so badly a bottle of wine was apparently sent shooting off into the ceiling of the aircraft.
And the Allied Pilots Association, which represents pilots at American Airlines, has a creative suggestion. They want the federal government to buy up all the middle seats or more specifically “purchase enough seats on each flight to eliminate the need for any passenger to sit next to a stranger.”
The union says it “has begun discussing the SEATS concept with key lawmakers” to get it included in a CARES Act followup or passed as a standalone. Watch your wallets.
The biggest challenge with how easily SARS-CoV-2 spreads is that pre-symptomatic people are perhaps the most likely to infect others. Some studies suggest that people shed the most virus in the two days leading up to symptoms. So taking temperatures, convincing people to stay home when sick, only goes so far. That’s why healthy people are asked to wear masks, because they may be infecting others without realizing it.
Another big problem though is that even people who test positive for the virus aren’t staying home. Some are hiding their diagnosis, and still traveling.
Omni Air is a profitable ‘deportation airline’ operating charter flights for the Department of Homeland Security, and before securing the $67 million bailout they were awarded a new $78 million Defense Department contract.
They take deportation charters no one else will, billing the government as much as $11,000 per passenger. Their CARES Act funding appears to cover more payroll per person than any other airline receiving government funds.
Several routes where $39 one-ways are available, including Baltimore – Charlotte, Charleston, Detroit, Hartford; Chicago Midway – Indianapolis, Cleveland, Cincinnati; Phoenix – Las Vegas, Albuquerque, San Diego; Houston Hobby – New Orleans, Oklahoma City, Dallas Love Field, San Antonio; Detroit Chicago Midway, Nashville, St. Louis.
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 »
