Category Archives for Airlines.
Here’s a dismissal notice one pilot reported receiving from their airline. Qatar Airways terminated them effective immediately, and is paying seven days of severance in lieu of notice.
If that was the end of the story it would be unfortunate, but part of the grim reality that aviation and the world are facing today. However that wasn’t the end. Qatar sent the pilot a bill for $162,000.
This past week American Airlines CEO Doug Parker hosted a Crew News question and answer session with employees. He’s been doing town hall-style employee chats since he was CEO at America West and this was the first one done virtually. Instead of live questions, he had an executive who framed ‘frequently asked questions’ from pilots, and separately from flight attendants.
In the flight attendant session Parker laid out American’s philosophy on pricing which is that they will match low fares in the market, but they will not lead discounting. And he explained they won’t even always match fares anyway – because the people who have been traveling recently are the ones who need to regardless of the fare.
For better or worse – and opinions in the comments here are split – many well-known commentators are convinced that Americans will be mostly living their normal life by this summer.
That means traveling – and it perhaps even means socially-distanced Disney World in the manner of Shanghai Disney with limits of 20% of capacity and very frequent cleaning.
A reader who spent 10 weeks in Europe last year misses being back and wonders whether any travel – let alone international travel – will be possible until there’s a vaccine.
And the answer is yes for most – but not for those who are older with pre-existing health conditions.
Let’s mix metaphors for a second. After a game of airline partner musical chairs in South America, everyone is solidifying the relationship with their new dance partner.
Delta began mileage earning and redemption with LATAM a month ago and just signed their joint venture agreement. Now American Airlines has introduced frequent flyer reciprocity with new partner Gol, based in Brazil, which Delta used to own a stake in.
The Points Guy ran a video by Brian Kelly arguing “against any unnecessary travel at all.” I’m not persuaded, and hashing this out publicly should help people make up their own mind.
It can certainly make sense to do limited domestic travel this summer if you aren’t living in a coronavirus hotspot, aren’t heading towards one, and are not in a high risk group (and do not live or work with people that are). I’m not telling anyone that they should travel for leisure but the argument doesn’t hold that no one should.
Southwest Airlines flight WN1392 from Dallas Love Field with 53 passengers and 5 crew on board landed in Austin Thursday night at 8:12 p.m. The plane struck and killed a man on runway 17R, despite seeing him there and – according to the airline – maneuvering to avoid him, though air traffic control audio doesn’t seem to support that explanation.
SkyWest flies as United Express, American Eagle, and Delta Connection. They’re a large passenger airline operating regional jets and they actually made money during the first quarter. That’s because the major airlines largely pay them for capacity whether there are passengers or not.
I’m more excited about air travel today than I have been in a long time, and it’s all because a promotion Air Canada ran became so frustrating, the incredible demand for Aeroplan’s first-ever mileage sale offer.
And that was before Aeroplan decided to award even more bonus miles than they had promised.
Early on in the pandemic I told you to wait to cancel your travel plans. Two months ago I suggested that future plans shouldn’t cancelled right away because if the travel provider cancels on you then you’ll be entitled to a refund, while if you cancel plans when a flight is still operating all you can get is a voucher.
Many consumers were duped by airlines into taking vouchers when entitled to a refund. It’s not too late for them to get their money back.
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 »
