Category Archives for Airlines.
I’m going to make some readers mad talking about flight attendant pay for a moment. Flight attendant unions love to highlight the struggles of their newest members, but rarely represent those members well.
A JetBlue passenger is suing the airline, claiming she suffered severe injuries from a “dangerously cold” ice cream sandwich served during an August 20 flight from New York JFK to Paris. Karla Quinonez of New Jersey alleges in a lawsuit filed on October 22 that the frozen treat was so hard that it fractured one of her teeth..
The U.S. Departments of Justice and Transportation have launched a wide-ranging probe of consolidation and anti-competitive conduct in air travel. What they will come to learn is that the federal government has fostered consolidation, and has made it nearly impossible to have competition in aviation as a matter of policy for decades.
Southwest Airlines didn’t exactly surrender to Elliot Management, but they agreed to put 5 Elliot nominees on a 13-member board of directors in exchange for their dropping the petition for a special meeting of the board.
Already, the airline has given Elliot much of what they were asking for. The activist investor spurred movement on assigned seating, premium seating, partnerships, and redeye flying which are things Southwest had moved very slowly on.
There are plenty of people who think modern air travel is inhumane. Today’s coach cabin isn’t fit for people. One man says Alaska Airlines economy is worse than that: it killed his dog.
My former award booking partner Steve (some of you know him as “beaubo” on Flyertalk) literally wrote the book on 30 years of leveraging the biggest miles and points exploits.
One lesson he always reminds me is that if it’s a good deal, you should think about how it might scale.
Here are the 100 busiest airline routes without non-stop service today, and what passengers are paying to connect for each one.
Even if you don’t fly the two airlines, Frontier plus Spirit means a stronger airline flying more planes under an ultra low cost carrier model. That’s capacity charging lower fares driving down the prices that United, American and Delta can charge.
Priority check-in lines are generally for people traveling in a premium class of service. At some airlines this can even mean premium economy. It’s also for an airline’s frequent flyers who hold eligible status. And it can even be for a credit card customer.
The person minding the line, though, generally has no idea whether you’re eligible or not. They’ll ask you if you’re eligible, and if you say yes you can wait in line.
It’s been expected that Cathay Pacific will call its new first class on the Boeing 777-9 “Halo Suites.” We’ve only seen concepts they were playing with for it. It’s delayed, because the 777-9 is delayed now by at least six years, to 2026.
But the commitment Cathey has to the product is extreme, delaying retrofits of Boeing 777s to retain first class until the new product is available, and the airline’s chairman believes when they reveal what is next it will be unrivaled.
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 »
