Category Archives for Airlines.
Starting next year, Starlink will be free onboard Alaska flights for Atmos Rewards loyalty program members. Alaska’s full installation is expected in 2027. Until then, Alaska’s wifi works reasonably well on most aircraft for $8.
The Alaska Airlines Atmos Rewards program is the new name, that Alaska and Hawiian miles will be combined into. Miles no longer expire. Free long haul business class upgrades for elites. Choose your own mileage-earning. And no devaluations are part of this change at all.
Frontier Airlines is offering Gold elite status through December 2026 even if you do not have any status today with another airline. All you have to be is a member of the Southwest Airlines, Alaska Airlines, Spirit Airlines or JetBlue frequent flyer programs.
Air Canada and its flight attendants union have reached a settlement to end what the government declared to be an illegal strike. Terms have not been disclosed. Flights begin resuming this evening.
A reader that has worked as an advisor to the Canadian government, who prefers to remain anonymous, shares what happens next.
A union that “declares or authorizes” an illegal strike faces up to $1,000 per day. The penalty for an officer or union rep is $10,000. Air Canada could win massive damages.
American Airlines told its flight attendants union that it was imposing a new points policy for absences in early August, with just a few days notice. The union flipped its lid, and around July 29th American agreed to hold off immediate implementation of the changes pending further discussion.
The best flyers prefer aisle seats, and airlines even value the business more of those who do. Aisle seats are just better than window seats, and we don’t even need to talk about the dreaded middle.
If you’re in the aisle seat you don’t get those window seat views, but those are better in theory than practice outside of the first and final minutes of a flight. And you do have to get up to let other passengers into the aisle if they need to use the restroom. So there are tradeoffs, but they’re minor compared to the 6 reasons that aisle seats are best.
You need to be very careful Googling airline phone numbers because scam travel agencies have corrupted the results. But even knowing this, here’s a truly strange case.
American Airlines is firing flight attendants for offering other crewmembers incentives to pick up their trips. The union says this is new, and violates their contract. The Chicago base notified crewmembers on Friday that “Posting a trip with an incentive to drop” had led to “The absolute worst outcome available” and that was done without any progressive discipline.
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 »
