Category Archives for Airlines.
I’ve been a frequent critic of American Airlines, and that’s largely because I believe no U.S. airline has greater potential to be better than it is today than American. I’m also frustrated with many things about its loyalty program, AAdvantage, but when I sit down to compare AAdvantage to the programs offered by United and by Delta it actually comes out ahead. Here’s why.
She says that her seniority meant she was earning $250,000 a year as a flight attendant and that Delta just wanted to replace her with someone cheaper and younger and she says “her bosses dismissed her for taking a carton of milk off a plane after her line manager gave her permission.”
Reportedly her termination was for “improperly pa[ying] a co-worker to work her position and later fail[ing] to work at her designated position on a different flight. She was also accused of stealing aircraft items for personal use and spiking her coffee with alcohol during a flight.”
The Southwest Airlines elite status challenge, which gives you 3 months of status and an expedited path to keep it for a year, has several quirks. One is that the status lasts literally a year, not the full next year. Another is that once the year is up you can sign up for another challenge.
I discovered a third quirk and that’s that you may want to time just when you complete your challenge. Here’s why.
American Airlines says very little about ConciergeKey status. There’s no published criteria for earning it. Most of the benefits are secret. But ConciergeKey members are taken care of by the airline, even when things go wrong. And that status has just been awarded for next year.
Oscar Munoz is leaving United as CEO and Scott Kirby will take on that job May 20, 2020. Munoz will become Executive Chairman for one year. United’s current chair, former FAA administrator Jane Garvey, will retire from the board at that point. This mirrors predictions I have offered here for some time.
Though there’s been some growth – and will need to be more as Kirby steps into the CEO role – Kirby’s history is one that suggests management from the spreadsheets. He’s taken things too far in the past, such as elimination of elite bonus miles and a plan to charge for water on board at US Airways, moves where he’s had to reverse course. It remains to be seen whether he can moderate those tendencies as he formally takes the reins at United.
American started flying from Dallas to Iceland when Wow Air and Icelandair started service there. When those two airlines pulled out, American shifted their flight to Philadelphia. Now they’ve filed to make their Philadelphia – Reykjavik flight year-round.
As part of Air New Zealand’s commitment to reduce single use items they are trialing a new coffee cup.
When you finish drinking your coffee – and you really do need to drink it down to the last drop – you can eat the cup, because it’s made out of biscotti.
Air France KLM is offering great award space between the U.S. and Europe for this coming summer. There are plenty of routes and dates where you can book business class awards for at least four passengers.
Often Air France and KLM awards can be booked using their own Flying Blue miles – easy to get, they’re a transfer partner of American Express, Chase, Citibank, and Capital One – however in this case most flights appear even to be bookable using Delta SkyMiles as well (Delta is an American Express transfer).
HNA Group has been under pressure from China to divest itself of assets and pay down debt. It had racked up over $100 billion in borrowing as it went on a worldwide acquisitions spree. However it has lacked cash to invest in its businesses. And some businesses have found it difficult to make interest payments or even – like Hong Kong Airlines – to pay employees and for fuel.
Hong Kong regulators have been inspecting Hong Kong Airlines for safety every couple of days, given its financial struggles, and finally gave them mere days to come up with cash or risk having the government shut them down. The deadline is Saturday.
The Department of Homeland Security, along with several airlines, have been testing ‘biometric boarding’ at airports around the country. Error rates are significant as are system outages.
A year ago we learned DHS planned to require all citizens to have their photos taken in order to leave the country. Now it’s become officially part of the agency’s regulatory agenda.
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 »
