Airlines

Category Archives for Airlines.

Crazy Times Bring Out Dumb Ideas, and Nationalizing Airlines Is The Worst

by Gary Leff on March 18, 2020

Mar 18 2020

Former White House Chief of Staff and former Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel is known for saying ‘never let a crisis go to waste.’ It’s an opportunity to push an agenda. So as the airline bailout train leaves the station some people are advocating the consumer protection rules that they wanted anyway. Others (like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) want the financial reforms they want anyway.

If you hate air travel you want to use this crisis to nationalize the airlines, an idea put forward by the left wing American Prospect.

American Files To Codeshare With Philippine Airlines

by Gary Leff on March 18, 2020

Mar 18 2020

American Airlines interlines a lot of passengers from Philippine Airlines at Los Angeles. They’re picking up a lot of passengers each day from Manila and sending many of them onward to Manila. Now American and Philippine Airlines have filed for permission to codeshare.

American Airlines Hasn’t Stopped Expiring Members’ Miles

by Gary Leff on March 18, 2020

Mar 18 2020

American Airlines still expires miles in your account if you don’t have activity for 18 months. They have not paused this even though travel has slowed down for so many. There are simple ways to make sure your miles don’t expire.

Don’t Ban Stock Buybacks Or Impose Consumer Protection Rules As Part Of An Airline Bailout

by Gary Leff on March 18, 2020

Mar 18 2020

Airline bailouts are a bad idea. Stockholders should take a haircut before taxpayers. Airline bankruptcy does not present contagion risk to the economy. Airlines have flown through bankruptcy successfully – American, Delta, and United have all done it. And any help for workers should address the needs people face independent of industry.. Working for an airline isn’t ‘more special’ than some other job.

However there are very bad ideas circulating around new conditions to impose in exchange for a bailout.

United Has Cut So Much Flying It’s Easier To List The Flights They Run Than Those They Don’t

by Gary Leff on March 18, 2020

Mar 18 2020

United’s April flight schedule is down 60% year-over-year; an 85% decrease for international (and greater than that for transatlantic and transpacific) and a 42% for U.S. and Canada flying.

It’s easier to list the international flights that are actually operating than those that aren’t. Domestically there are a lot of cuts but United emphasizes they’ve only completed stopped flying to one U.S. airport

American Airlines Asks Flight Attendants To Take Leave With No Pay

by Gary Leff on March 17, 2020

Mar 17 2020

American Airlines is telling flight attendants they have “great options” to choose from to voluntarily reduce the airline’s workforce: retirement and no pay but two years of benefits, or leave with no pay but benefits. Pilots are being offered about two-thirds of pay.

Unless there’s some sort of commitment not to furlough employees as part of taking the government bailout package airline CEOs and their lobbyists have been pushing for, I’d expect to see furloughs coming next.

What Should Flight Attendants Be Doing To Stay Safe?

by Gary Leff on March 17, 2020

Mar 17 2020

Most coverage has been about passengers – being afraid to fly, not allowed to fly by their companies, being advised to avoid risk. The President of the United States is advising against discretionary travel that is still mostly permitted. Yet day in and day out airline crew continue to show up at airports, get on planes, and interact with passengers. They’ve continued to work flights to Europe and Asia that many passengers have been unwilling to take.

New Golden Age For Frequent Flyers Is Just Around The Corner

by Gary Leff on March 17, 2020

Mar 17 2020

A lot of people are grounded right now. Most of us are going to travel again. And we’re sure going to be itching to do so.

No matter what happens with the business of any of the airlines, we’re going to have big airlines to take us where we want to go. They are going to have tons of empty seats for awhile – which means deep discounts, award availability, and aggressive mileage promotions.

Paid Travel Subscriptions Need To Waive Fees For Several Months (Or Else You Should Cancel Now)

by Gary Leff on March 17, 2020

Mar 17 2020

Suspending paid services like Gogo and Expert Flyer makes sense. Don’t spend money on a service you aren’t using right now. From a travel company’s perspective they can generate some revenue from customers who forget to cancel, but it’s better to keep all of their customers long term by making it unnecessary to cancel. Many who give up the services temporarily won’t come back

Virgin Atlantic Launches Status And Bonus Miles Promotions While Seeking Government Bailout

by Gary Leff on March 16, 2020

Mar 16 2020

Delta-controlled Virgin Atlantic has its hand out for government subsidies on the one hand, while running new bonus miles and elite qualifying promotions on the other.

I still think it’s too early to move the needle on travel with promotions, but Virgin is in a different boat than U.S. programs whose status years run with the calendar. They don’t have the option of waiting to extend elite status.

Airlines

Crazy Times Bring Out Dumb Ideas, and Nationalizing Airlines Is The Worst

American Files To Codeshare With Philippine Airlines

American Airlines Hasn’t Stopped Expiring Members’ Miles

Don’t Ban Stock Buybacks Or Impose Consumer Protection Rules As Part Of An Airline Bailout

United Has Cut So Much Flying It’s Easier To List The Flights They Run Than Those They Don’t

American Airlines Asks Flight Attendants To Take Leave With No Pay

What Should Flight Attendants Be Doing To Stay Safe?

New Golden Age For Frequent Flyers Is Just Around The Corner

Paid Travel Subscriptions Need To Waive Fees For Several Months (Or Else You Should Cancel Now)

Virgin Atlantic Launches Status And Bonus Miles Promotions While Seeking Government Bailout

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About Gary Leff

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