Category Archives for Airlines.
The CDC has issued a ‘strong’ recommendation for mask wearing on planes, rideshares and across public transportation. Yes, in October. And there are three reasons this will make no difference whatsoever for air travel.
Cathay Pacific will drop its regional Cathay Dragon (formerly Dragonair) brand and eliminate 6000 jobs. That represents 18% of its workforce.
Management had sought to eliminate 8000 jobs but “government intervention” prevented them from doing so.
Singapore Airlines will re-launch New York – Singapore non-stop service on November 9 using an Airbus A350-900. The flight will operate from to and from New York JFK, rather than Newark which the airline’s previous world’s longest flight used. Service will operate 3 days a week.
This isn’t like the old days with all business class service, or even all business and premium economy: the plane will have 42 business class, 24 premium economy and 187 coach seats.
United Airlines MileagePlus is now charging a premium for non-stop partner award tickets booked within a month of travel. Right now, of course, when people book air travel it tends to be at the last minute cause of all the uncertainty in the world. And United hasn’t even told members they made this change.
Delta, like many other airlines, wants the best customers of competitor airlines. And to make it easier to switch, they offer temporary elite status (a status match) and an expedited path to keep that status (a status challenge).
Right now they want the best customers of competitor airlines a lot more than usual and are doing something creative about it.
British anti-lockdown protestors were flying BA from Berlin to London Heathrow and “celebrated their ‘victory’ over airport staff” by sharing photos on social media where they’re flying without masks.
Etihad isn’t just dropping chefs from first class, flight attendants with restaurant experience and who are more expensive for the airline.
They’re also eliminating their Flying Nannies program in partnership with Norland College. And, with Etihad’s Airbus A380s grounded, the ‘butlers’ who serve the A380 Residence (and act as flight attendants on flights without passengers traveling in the Residence) are having their duties re-assigned.
The cheapest tickets on United are a worse value than similar fares on Delta and Southwest (especially) but even American too. Right now most passengers aren’t well-informed and disproportionately book through sites like Expedia – and as a result don’t know that they’re getting less value, because these sites don’t tell them. Online booking sites don’t serve the people who are ostensibly their customers.
Etihad will eliminate first class chefs and business class food and beverage managers. It’s expected that the former may be laid off “by the end of October” while the latter face elimination “by the end of this year.”
Etihad’s first class chefs are flight attendants with restaurant cooking experience. Food and beverage managers are specially trained.
Right now there are some great opportunities to use your miles for the whole family on Qatar Airways QSuites from San Francisco to travel to the Mideast, Africa, or region around India as well as to travel on the new Qantas Chicago – Brisbane flight. Space is generally available throughout 2021, and by the second half of the year we could be past the current unpleasantness.
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 »
