Category Archives for Airlines.
A reader who spent 10 weeks in Europe last year misses being back and wonders whether any travel – let alone international travel – will be possible until there’s a vaccine.
And the answer is yes for most – but not for those who are older with pre-existing health conditions.
Let’s mix metaphors for a second. After a game of airline partner musical chairs in South America, everyone is solidifying the relationship with their new dance partner.
Delta began mileage earning and redemption with LATAM a month ago and just signed their joint venture agreement. Now American Airlines has introduced frequent flyer reciprocity with new partner Gol, based in Brazil, which Delta used to own a stake in.
The Points Guy ran a video by Brian Kelly arguing “against any unnecessary travel at all.” I’m not persuaded, and hashing this out publicly should help people make up their own mind.
It can certainly make sense to do limited domestic travel this summer if you aren’t living in a coronavirus hotspot, aren’t heading towards one, and are not in a high risk group (and do not live or work with people that are). I’m not telling anyone that they should travel for leisure but the argument doesn’t hold that no one should.
Southwest Airlines flight WN1392 from Dallas Love Field with 53 passengers and 5 crew on board landed in Austin Thursday night at 8:12 p.m. The plane struck and killed a man on runway 17R, despite seeing him there and – according to the airline – maneuvering to avoid him, though air traffic control audio doesn’t seem to support that explanation.
SkyWest flies as United Express, American Eagle, and Delta Connection. They’re a large passenger airline operating regional jets and they actually made money during the first quarter. That’s because the major airlines largely pay them for capacity whether there are passengers or not.
I’m more excited about air travel today than I have been in a long time, and it’s all because a promotion Air Canada ran became so frustrating, the incredible demand for Aeroplan’s first-ever mileage sale offer.
And that was before Aeroplan decided to award even more bonus miles than they had promised.
Early on in the pandemic I told you to wait to cancel your travel plans. Two months ago I suggested that future plans shouldn’t cancelled right away because if the travel provider cancels on you then you’ll be entitled to a refund, while if you cancel plans when a flight is still operating all you can get is a voucher.
Many consumers were duped by airlines into taking vouchers when entitled to a refund. It’s not too late for them to get their money back.
American Airlines hasn’t been perfect, but it’s charted a path different from United and even Delta through the pandemic. They’ve generally honored refunds for cancelled flights, rather than choosing to illegally conserve cash the way United and others have attempted to do, and they’re plotting a course to avoid employee furloughs.
But they’re not capturing the value from these moves because they’ve failed to craft a narrative for the airline around being a better company, that frames them as the underdog and motivates employees and generates customer loyalty going forward. American Airlines can change that.
Emirates President Sir Tim Clark is set to retire in June after 35 years with the airline and 17 as in his current role.
The 70 year old, who began his career at British Caledonian in 1972, gave an interview offering his perspective on where the airline industry is headed as it grapples with the coronavirus crisis. There are four key takeaways – including a challenging view of the virus itself and why it means we don’t need to remove seats from planes.
Air Canada is launching something really special – what may be the best mileage purchase sale ever. And you can double dip with their offer to let you earn elite status based on earning miles for non-flight activity, including purchasing miles through this deal.
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 »
