Category Archives for Airlines.
On Thursday Air India’s flight AI865 from Delhi to Mumbai was delayed 7 hours prior to finally departing. However while the plane taxied out, it returned to the gate with another issue.
Passengers had had all they could stand, and they couldn’t stands no more. Unfortunately instead of eating spinach they erupted in other, less productive ways.
United Airlines MileagePlus no longer has anything to do with miles at all. You no longer earn points based on distance flown. You no longer earn status based on distance flown. Award costs aren’t based on distance either.
With elite status now based on money spent they’ve put an end to “miles” completely. They’ve been trying to do this for over 30 years.
There’s a new United Airlines status match program. Elite frequent flyers are valuable customers – to the airline they’re loyal, and also potentially to other airlines who might poach their business. The same holds for elites in hotel loyalty programs.
Status makes it difficult to switch, you’re better treated by an airline or hotel chain and it’s tough to start somewhere else from scratch. That’s why many loyalty programs offer to match your current status in order to win your business.
Airlines are tightening their belts, trying to cut what it costs them to give out denied boarding compensation to passengers when they overbook a flight. Both United and American have copied Delta in soliciting ‘bids’ from customers for what compensation they’d accept, hoping to avoid bidding wars at the gate.
In the wake of United’s April 2017 passenger dragging incident – where David Dao was told to give up his seat for two crewmembers and refused, winding up bloodied by airport – there was a huge public backlash against bumping passengers off of overbooked flights. And airlines started paying out far more compensation to avoid involuntarily denying boarding to passengers.
AirAsia wants to create Santan Restaurant and T&CO Cafe as a franchise with 100 outlets within 3-5 years, even expanding to New York. They see a market for an Asian version of American fast food chains. U.S. chains succeed even though they aren’t inherently great and charge more than local equivalents.
A model of bad food and high prices isn’t a great starting place except at airports and tourist spots, but that’s usually driven by high rents and a need to meet highly diverse tastes – people aren’t there for the food.
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.”
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 »
