Category Archives for Airlines.
If airlines are going to receive a bailout, taxpayers should receive some assurance of recovering the funds when times are good. And any deal should be structured to incentivize airlines to get out from under partial nationalization as quickly as possible.
The Treasury Department is asking airlines seeking bailout funds to detail the economics of their frequent flyer programs as one source of collateral.
Elite status is one of the most powerful motivators for frequent customers to stick with a travel brand. When programs extend status outright during this crisis, they’re giving up a tool to encourage business when customers are able to come back. So they’re going to have to reach into a different bag of tricks.
Alaska Airlines is planning to join the oneworld alliance and is scaling its partnership with American Airlines back up. Here’s some inside scoop on why American had been cutting ties with Alaska, and how they changed their mind.
The rejuvenated partnership continues to build even in difficulty times. As of today you can now earn redeemable milesand also elite status miles when crediting flights from one airline to the other airline’s progam.
United today announced that customers can have fees waived for changes to travel through end of the year provided they make their change or cancellation by April 30.
You’re better off waiting for a significant flight change or cancellation and insisting on a refund, and the April 30 deadline should be extended anyway. There doesn’t seem a strong reason to act now.
Israel’s Ministry of Finance turned down El Al’s request for a $350 million government-backed loan. In explaining the decision, the finance ministry said it “did not believe El Al would be able to repay” the money.
El Al has suspended all commercial flights and is operating only cargo and government-sponsored repatriation flights.
Delta and United announced that their elite status would be extended through the end of next year. Air Canada followed on Monday. Now Alaska Airlines has announced their own extension of elite status, along with companion certificates, and shared other things to expect for elite members in the weeks ahead.
There are few flights, few passengers. The airlines are applying for government money that limits their ability to furlough workers.
So instead of sitting idle they’re spending their time making masks. Quality, non-scammy masks are hard to source. Delta even had half a million masks stolen.
Delta can’t take government money and furlough pilots. Without the ability to furlough pilots they can’t get pilots to agree to cuts. And pilots getting full pay while everyone else suffers is going to make it hard for Delta to make the case to other work groups to remain non-union.
Air Canada has come up with a couple of interesting things to make it worth continuing to earn status and make it even easier to do so even while doing something good during the current crisis.
Loyalty programs will need their program members again soon. These are the people who can be incentivized to fill seats and rooms. They’re the ones who will either be chased away by a program which treats them poorly during this challenging time, or lured away by a program who treats them well.
So I think it’s especially notable which programs are still expiring their members’ miles.
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 »
