Category Archives for Airlines.
The story of a “mileage run gone wrong” by a former producer of The Bachelor lit up the internet. It was a crazy story of a last minute flight out of the country to earn American Airlines status that went bad.
Many observers have tried to pick apart the story as ‘too good’. It turns out to be at least mostly true.
The plaintiff says his father owned the Havana airport when it was taken by the Cuban government during the 1959 revolution. He purchased what was then Rancho Boyeros Airport seven years earlier from Pan Am and made investments to “modernize[.] and improve[.] it by extending the runway and building a new terminal building.”
It was taken during the Cuban Revolution and he’s suing American Airlines (and LATAM) under the Helms-Burton Act.
They want your money, more money than ever before, but can’t even make the investment to be ready for their own new system in time.
Andrew Kimmel arrived home in Los Angeles after his last trip of the year to find that he had over 125,000 qualifying miles with American Airlines – but was still about $250 short of the 15,000 qualifying dollars needed for Executive Platinum status.
American will let you ‘buy up’ or ‘buy back’ your status, but Kimmel – a producer for The Bachelor & The Bachelorette between 2012 and 2015, and before that a field producer for Dancing With The Stars – reports that they wanted $1875 for him to keep his status. So he embarked on a mileage run that led to a Mexican prison instead.
In January the doctors said McSorley needed to have his affairs in order – but also to “always have hope.”
A Delta agent said, “We got you. No matter what, we have you.”
India’s aviation market has been a mess. Jet Airways is out of business. oneworld member Kingfisher is no more. And Star Alliance member Air India is teetering on the edge of bankruptcy.
The government-owned airline is currently surviving on subsidies while the country looks for a buyer to take over the flag carrier. However they’ve committed to spend no more cash on the airline, and unless a buyer is found by June the airline is expected to run out of money and have to close.
American Airlines offers same day changes for $75, waived for Platinum Pro (75,000 mile) elite members and higher. The rules for these changes are more restrictive than United’s or Delta’s though.
Fortunately American appears to be experimenting with a more liberal approach to same day confirmed changes, specifically making more inventory available on certain flights to test if that’s something they’re willing to move forward with.
Seven months into the accident investigation Egypt announced that the cause of the crash was terrorism, with traces of explosives found on passenger bodies. Since the plane contained French passengers France conducted its own investigation, and provided assistance. French officials have cast skepticism about the terrorism claim suggesting that the long period of time that bodies were in the water would have made it impossible to identify trace explosives.
The Wall Street Journal obtained a leaked report the casts further doubt on the explanation offered by Egyptian authorities – repeated maintenance issues with the aircraft that went unaddressed.
The top 10 airline routes in the world by how much capacity is scheduled are all generally in the Asia Pacific region. That includes the Mideast (Saudi Arabia’s domestic Riyadh – Jeddah) and it includes Australia (Sydney – Melbourne).
There’s not a single route in the top 10 in the U.S., Canada, or anywhere in Europe. A decade ago South America featured once – Sao Paulo to Rio – but that’s no longer in the top 10.
Ten years ago Delta was fresh off its merger with Northwest Airlines and was the undisputed largest airline in the world. Since that time United and Continental have merged, and American Airlines and US Airways have merged. Delta kept growing, and still sits close to the top. But they aren’t biggest.
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 »
